Stock videos are a great way to bring life to your video projects. Whether you are a video editor, content creator, director, designer, or some creative artist, you know how important it is to use high-quality videos. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to shoot your own 4K or HD video or spend thousands of dollars on just a few seconds video – thanks to the stock videos and stock video providing websites, there’s an overwhelming amount of footage available for your needs.
Thousands of video editors and videographers contribute to the stock footage community on a regular basis so the people like us can make something great out of our project videos. We have picked 10 of the best stock video websites (both free and paid).
Here is the list:
Note: the list is in no particular order
1. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most popular platforms for stock footage and pictures. The rates of the videos depend on their size; for instance, a 480P (SD) video would cost you $65, while $79 for 1080P (HD), and $179 for 4K. There are tons of videos to choose from, and 1000s of videos are uploaded on a regular basis – whatever video you want, there is quite a chance that you will easily find it on the site. You can even buy packs of royalty free videos on Shutterstock by paying a reasonable subscription fee.
2. Adobe Stock
Formerly known as Fotolia, Adobe Stock offers quite a user-friendly layout and high-quality footage at decent rates. It consists of an extensive library of footage, and you can find the right video for your project in 4K or HD without putting in too much effort. An HD video’s license on Adobe Stock would cost you $79.99 while $199.99 for a 4K footage. Adobe Stock strikes a perfect balance between quality and pricing – if you are willing to spend a few dollars on an HD or 4K stock video rather than shooting one, then exploring for the desired video on Adobe Stock would be a great option.
According to Adobe, they are continuously improving their search algorithm so the users can easily find the perfect royalty free footage without any extensive searching. You can even get a 10-day free trial and download 10 Adobe Stock assets (with free cancellation).
3. Pond5
With a new stock video uploaded to their database every second, Pond5 is one of the leaders in the stock video industry. The website is used by many news channels, including ABC, BBC, and NBC. If they can use the site to find related videos, you can get the perfect footage as well. Pond5’s extensive video library is not just big but also conveniently searchable. You can find stock footage of nearly any budget, and filter them by resolution, FPS, and specialty (such as 360 VR or panorama).
4. VideoHive
VideoHive is a part of the Envato Network, which is interconnected with different content marketplaces such as CodeCanyon and ThemeForest. VideoHive has thousands of stock videos to choose from, according to your project. All the videos are sorted well and listed in a user-friendly format for easy exploration. For example, if you want a video related to nature, food, or people, just select the specific category and the videos will be displayed.
5. Pexels
People love free stuff! If you are one of them who doesn’t want to spend money on stock videos, Pexels is the best option to go for. It offers tons of professional quality videos with no strings attached, means you don’t have to pay the contributor. All the videos on Pexels are under a creative license (public domain) – you can use them for both personal and commercial projects without getting any copyright strike. Not just stock videos, but Pexels also has a handy mockup category with green screens that can easily be replaced with any background via chroma keying.
The site does not offer 4K but only HD videos, which are perfect enough to be used in your projects without compromising on quality. If you are done selecting the best stock video on Pexels, you can explore royalty free photos there as well.
Whether you want free stock photos or videos, Pixabay is a great platform with an extensive range of free stock footage available in MP4 format. Thanks to the contributors of Pixabay for providing us with free videos without any strings attached. You can explore a vast variety of stock videos on the site that includes motion graphics, 4K videos, and even infinitely looping clips.
The videos are under the public domain, which means you can use them for both personal and commercial projects with no attribution necessary. You can download a particular video in MP4 format, in different resolutions.
7. Videvo
Thanks to a generous community of freelancers, videographers, and generally good people who contribute tons of stock videos to Videvo. The site has evolved in recent years, and the size of their database is continuously increasing. Apart from just stock footage, the site provides motion graphics as well. There are two types of licenses on the platform that you can choose between: The Creative Commons 3.0 (CC 3.0) and Videvo License. The former allows you to use the videos, but you have to credit the author – this is the reason why all the contributors find it reliable to share their footage on Videvo as it gives them free exposure. The latter also allows you to use the video in the desired way, but without requiring you to credit the author.
8. Videezy
If you are looking for a simplified stock footage platform that can provide both HD and 4K videos, Videezy is worth checking. There are different categories available to choose from, including urban, nature, sky, city, and ocean. So, if you want category-specific footage for your project, chances are you will find it easily on Videezy. The content on this website is over a minute long, providing you with thefreedom to further edit your videos and find the perfect snippets according to your project needs.
Videezy offers two plans: Video Pro ($24.99) and Video Plus ($14.99). The former consists of more than 20,000 premium videos and 100,000+ audio files. The latter is similar to the former but does not offer Premium Audio files.
9. VideoBlocks
You can find over 100,000 stock footage on VideoBlocks. If you want to check out the platform before buying a subscription, the site offers a 7-day free trial. The stock videos are sold file-by-file – an excellent option for heavy users who want updated content on a regular basis. You can filter your results to search for audio and video across numerous categories. If you are working on a more extensive project, the site offers ultra HD 4K footage that would increase the overall appeal of your work.
10. Dissolve
To make your project video look exceptional, you should use high-quality snippets from HD videos. Dissolve is an excellent platform that provides HD and 4K videos, shot on extremely high-end equipment, including Arri Alexa, Canon C300, and Red Epic. However, just like most other stock video platforms, you have to pay a bit extra for crystal clear 4K videos. Just enter a simple keyword which is related to the video you are looking for, Dissolve will unfold plenty of videos for you to choose from within a second.
These were some of the best websites available for stock videos. You might also want to know about the websites that provides a variety of free stock photos.