With the ever increasing popularity of digital photography, there’s an expanding list of stock photography sites where you can buy and sell stock photos. Thanks to this increasing volume of photos, if you’re a website owner, blogger or advertiser, you’ll find it’s very easy to get low priced stock photos… many times you can get what you want for free.

For those times when I’m looking for stock photos, I’ve included a list of my Top 10 favorite stock photography sites.

1. iStockphoto – iStockphoto is my favorite stock photography site. It’s usually the first stock photo site I head to when I’m looking for photos. The have a huge selection of stock photos, illustrations, videos and audio files. The prices vary depending on the size of the photo. In their main collection, small photos are 1 credit with the largest photo costing about 15 credits. Credits vary in price depending on which package you choose. The lowest “Pay as you go” package is for 6 credits, costing $9.75 ($1.63 per credit). The per credit price gets lower the more credits you buy. If you’re in need of a lot of stock photos, then take a look at their subscription packages. They offer a 3 month plan for $979, which gives you 30 credits per day.
2. Getty Images – Getty Images is a more pricey option for stock photography, but the selection is good. The pricing is based on royalty-free (RF) or rights-managed (RM). Royalty free images are a set price based on the size of the image. I’ve only purchased a few very specific images, but they were roughly $20 for a small size. The much higher priced option is the rights managed. When you find an image you have to go through several drop down selections to actually view a price. The selections are very specific depending on your intended use of the photo. In my opinion, this whole rights managed offering needs to be simplified. I think they would sell more of these images if they streamlined the pricing model.
3. fotolia – fotolia is another low priced stock photography site that I like. They offer a credit and subscription model. Credits run about $.75 with images costing 1 credit for small images and upwards of 40 credits for really large images. The subscription model is based on the number of months and daily download limit that you choose. Lowest price option for premium images is 30 days, 25 downloads a day for $249.
4. Shutterstock – Shutterstock offers a great selection of photos and video footage. Prices for stock photography are based on a subscription or package model. Subscriptions start at $249 for one month and a 25 per day limit. Or buy a package such as their starting package of 5 downloads for $49. Videos on Shutterstock/footage start at $10 per clip.
5. Stock.XCHNG – Stock.XCHNG is a free stock photography site owned by Getty Images. The selection is nice, but I’ve often come across images that are a little too amateurish for my taste. However, it’s hard to beat free.
6. BigStock Photo – BigStock photo offers a good selection of professional images with a nice simple pricing model. Images run about 1 to 6 credits, with the starter package of 25 credits costing $49 (or $1.96 per credit).
7. ThinkStock – Thinkstock gives you access to millions of released, royalty-free photos and vector illustrations selected from Getty Images, Jupiterimages and iStockphoto. Three pricing options are available. Image packs, such as 5 downloads for $59. An annual subscription for $149 per month, gives you 25 downloads per day. Or a monthly subscription of 25 downloads for $249 per month.
8. Photos.com – Photos.com currently offers around 2.6 million stock photos. Images packs are available that start at $1.99 for a single web images or $7.99 for a print image. They also offer monthly prices, such as 3 months for $299 which gives you 100 images for week.
9. Clipart.com – Clipart.com offers a nice selection, although I feel a little on the amateur side. Nonetheless, I’ve found a few images here that I’ve used in the past. Subscriptions start at one week for $14.95
10. FreeRangeStock – Last but certainly not least is Free Range Stock. A great free stock photography site with a nice selection to choose from. Create an account and your in. With this and other free stock photo sites… do the right and polite thing, give credit to the photographer.

Do you have a favorite stock photography site that I didn’t mention above. Share your favorites below in a comment.

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