If you’re searching for the perfect Dollar Photo Club alternative, you’ve come to the right place.
I’ll not only introduce you to other stock photography sites but also explain how they stack up against the Dollar Photo Club, helping you find the best alternative.Plus, I’ll share the top websites where you can download stock images for free – ideal if you’re on a budget, as these options won’t cost you a cent.
What Are the Best Dollar Photo Club Alternatives in 2024?
99Club
Credit:shop.stockphotosecrets.com
Pros
Monthly new content
Affordable
Commercial license
Cons
No videos or audio
Limited membership
No rollover
The first Dollar Photo Club alternative to consider is the 99 Club, a membership offer within Stock Photo Secrets. This is actually a better alternative because it offers twice as much as the Dollar Photo Club.
The 99 Club subscription costs $99 and includes up to 200 downloads annually. That’s twice the number of royalty-free photos than the Dollar Photo Club.
The 99 Club will auto-renew at the end of the year. So, disable this setting if you want to cancel your membership.
Additional images are available for $o.99 cents per download. However, if you use less than 200, the credits don’t carry over to the next year.
You can download high-res photos, vector files, and fonts without restrictions – videos are not included. There’s limited membership availability, so sign up soon.
Shutterstock
Pros
Over 400,000 royalty-free images
Multiple pricing options
Cons
No video or audio included
Premium stock photos sold separately
Another Dollar Photo Club alternative is Shutterstock.
Shutterstock is one of the most popular stock photo agencies, which makes its image library one of the most extensive. However, the prices are higher than those from the Dollar Photo Club and Stock Photo Secrets’ 99 Club.
Subscription plans are divided by type of asset and quantity. For a photo and vector plan, you’ll have different choices starting at $29 per month.
However, this means that the price per photo is $2.9 – three times more than the Dollar Photo Club plus an annual expense of $348.
To get the best prices, you need to pay a higher total expense. For example, if you get a subscription for 350 downloads per month, you’ll pay $129. This way, each photo costs $0.36, which is a much lower price than the one from the 99 Club.
Shutterstock also offers credits, which are ideal if you don’t want a subscription to the service. Unfortunately, the price per photo is higher this way.
On the plus side, you can return and re-download your photos in different sizes for as long as your plan is active.
Depositphotos
Pros
Curated collections
Advanced search and filter tools
Free watermarked comp.
Supersize files
Cons
Packs have a 1-year expiration date
No video or audio included
The next dollar photo club alternative is Depositphotos.
This stock photo website also offers videos, illustrations, music, and sound effects. It has a large thematic collection with over 289 million files.
Some photographs can be used for free. However, the vast majority are paid assets. To purchase images, you can subscribe to a plan or you can buy packs to use as you go.
Depending on the plan or pack, you can get the same price per asset as the Dollar Photo Club. For example, you can get a monthly subscription plan of 30 images/month for $29, which is about $0.97 cents.
However, you get the best prices if you commit annually. Let’s say you get the annual subscription for 30 images/month. Then, you get a much lower price per download, about $0.82 cents.
For more information about Depositphotos and to learn about its helpful tools, you can check this comprehensive overview. Price-wise, this is the perfect alternative to the Dollar Photo Club.
iStock
Pros
Adobe plug-in integration
AI-powered search
Reverse image search
Exclusive content
Cons
Unresponsive customer service
Difficult cancellation
iStock is part of Getty Images, which is renowned for its quality. Fortunately, this branch offers royalty-free images for a lower price – which is why I’m proposing it as a Dollar Photo Club alternative.
This stock website offers millions of stock images, videos, illustrations, vectors, music, and AI-generated visuals.
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To purchase images, you need to choose between a plan that only includes essential images or a premium plan that includes exclusive content.
To stick with the low prices, let’s choose the basic one. The starting price is $29 per month for 10 images, which brings the cost per image three times as high as the Dollar Photo Club.
To lower the cost per image, you need a subscription that includes at least 50 images per month, costing $69. This will bring you closer to the DPC price of 1 dollar, but the yearly cost is definitely more expensive.
Image packs are also available, but the cost gets even higher. So, I only recommend them if you don’t use many assets.
Adobe Stock
Pros
Integration with Creative Cloud
Mix and match assets
Millions of photos
This is a great Dollar Photo Club alternative – especially if you are an Adobe Creative Cloud user because it’s perfectly integrated within the apps.
Also, you have around one million assets you can use without additional fees. Furthermore, the Premium Adobe Express subscription includes the entire Adobe Stock collection of over 195 million assets – although they come with a limited license.
If you have an active CC membership or buy one without a trial period, you get a 30-day trial of Adobe Stock. Alternatively, you can start a 7-day trial of Adobe Stock when you activate the trial for any of the other CC apps.
In any case, you can also use Adobe Stock downloads independently – in other words, you can download any royalty-free photos, vectors, music, templates, etc., and use them in the program of your choice.
Unlike the other Dollar Photo Club alternatives I’ve discussed, you can get credit packs and subscriptions that allow you to mix media.
Again, the lowest subscription plan results in a cost per image three times higher than the DPC because it’s $29.99 per month for 10 standard assets.
The next two options lower the price to $1.99 per image, but of course, the overall cost is higher: 25 assets for $49.99 and 40 assets for $79.99.
However, the most expensive plan offers the lowest price per download at $0.21 per standard asset. However, the total price is $159.99 per month to download 750 stock photos.
To get further information, see our guide to using Adobe Stock.
What Happened to the Dollar Photo Club?
Adobe Stock acquired the Dollar Photo Club.
Members of the Dollar Photo Club got the option to transfer their accounts so they could download images from Adobe Stock using their remaining downloads – there wasn’t a refunding option if they declined.
Free Dollar Photo Club Alternatives
Credit: Fotios Photos
Since the Dollar Photo Club ended, many of its members have been left looking for alternatives within the many stock photo agencies.
Above, you’ll find some of the lower-priced options. However, there are also free alternatives to the Dollar Photo Club. Here are some of them, and you can check out more in our guide to the best sites for free images.
Pexels
Pexels is a great stock site that offers images and videos with a royalty-free license. It offers downloads without payment or accounts for most of them, but you can also access premium content if you subscribe.
Pixabay
Pixabay is a stock site that offers royalty-free images, video footage, vectors, music, sound effects, GIFs, and illustrations. There are plenty of assets you can use for free. However, they have their own license terms for use, so please review it before using this service.
StockSnap
This stock site is the perfect alternative to the Dollar Photo Club, as it only offers free stock photos. All images have a CC0 license, which means they’re free for editorial and commercial use.
Unsplash
Unsplash is another great stock site with many free resources. There’s a library with additional images for members-only called Unsplash+. It’s worth mentioning that Unsplash has its own license. Please review the terms before downloading.
Canva
Canva is an online graphic design tool with a free and a premium version. It offers images for you to incorporate into your designs. Some are free, while others are available only to premium users.
FAQs About the Best Dollar Photo Club Alternatives
Is Adobe Stock worth it?
Adobe Stock offers premium stock images, videos, and music. Whether it’s worth it depends on the type of assets you need and how you plan to use them.
What makes Adobe Stock special it’s how easy it is to use within the Creative Cloud apps. Generally speaking, Adobe Stock is well-rated among its users.
What is better than Adobe stock?
There isn’t a stock photo service that’s in itself better than others. You can find one that’s better for you based on your needs.
The 99 Club is better because of its low-price deal, while Shutterstock is better because it has a wider library. It’s important that you make your choice according to your budget, the type of images you use, the type of license, and other needs.
Where can I get free images without a subscription?
StockSnap offers millions of photos that are completely free to use for commercial and editorial purposes.
Also, Unsplash and Pexels have a wide selection of free images you can download without a subscription. However, you do need to subscribe if you want to use their premium assets.
