Our Verdict
Dreamstime offers 185 million stock photos with subscription plans and credit packages. The pricing starts at $0.225 per image, but you can also get 15 images for free with the 7-day trial. However, the overall quality of Dreamstime’s stock photos is below average.
Pros
- Extended license subscriptions are unique to Dreamstime. You can save a substantial part of your budget with these since extended licenses usually cost around $70, but only $26 with a subscription.
- A special subscription plan gives you unlimited access to a library of 1 million free images for $5/month.
Cons
- Below average image quality, especially of landscape photos, which means you’ll have a hard time finding a quality nature photo if you’re picky.
- The free trial lets you download only watermarked versions of stock photos.
Best for Extended License Photos
on Dreamstime’s website
3.7
| Website | dreamstime.com |
| Pricing | $0.225-$51.78/image |
| Extended license | $19.55-$1,000+ |
| Free trial | Yes (15 images) |
| Licenses | Royalty-free |
Table of Contents
Who Is Dreamstime Best For?
Dreamstime is best for people who need a large number of stock images with an extended license, either due to the larger allowed print distribution or higher indemnification. To clarify, compared to the standard royalty-free (RF) license, an extended license allows unlimited printed and digital items for distribution, multiple seats, and a 25-times higher indemnification.
Dreamstime also offers a variety of other subscriptions, including video and audio subscriptions, and an all-in-one subscription that allows you to download any content of any size–these are the best for users who need a mix of content and not just images.
Best Alternatives
Best Overall & for Graphic Designers
on Adobe Stock’s website
5.0
| Website | stock.adobe.com |
| Pricing | $0.26-$9.99/image |
| Extended license | $79.99 |
| Free trial | Yes (10, 25, or 40 images) |
| Licenses | Royalty-free |
| Review | Adobe Stock review |
Most Popular
on Shutterstock’s website
5.0
| Website | shutterstock.com |
| Pricing | $0.22-$14.50/image |
| Extended license | $67.96 |
| Free trial | Yes (10 images) |
| Licenses | Royalty-free |
| Review | Shutterstock review |
Best for Commercial Use
on iStock’s website
4.8
| Website | istockphoto.com |
| Pricing | $0.22-$9.90/image |
| Extended license | $144–$216 |
| Free trial | Yes (10 images) |
| Licenses | Royalty-free |
| Review | iStock review |
Dreamstime Pricing
Stock image pricing
- Subscriptions: $0.225–$5.00/image. The subscriptions come in multiple sizes (5, 10, 15, 25, 100, and 750 monthly downloads). You get the lowest price per image with the largest plan (750/month) when chosen for a 12-month duration. As a Dreamstime partner, I offer an additional 30% discount on every purchase. Learn more.
- Credit packages: $0.88–$51.78/image. To buy images with credits, you first need to buy a credit package. These come in sizes from 11 to 2000; the larger the plan, the more credits you get per dollar spent. You can then use credits to buy anything on Dreamstime.
- Unlimited access to free images: $5.00/month. If you need a lot of images but don’t have the budget for large subscription plans, the unlimited downloads plan is a good option. However, you get access to only 1 million images that are not very good.
- Extended license subscriptions: $19.55–$26.50/image. Extended license subscriptions are the best way to get images licensed under the extended license.
- All-in-One subscriptions: $14.76–$17.90/image. By using all-in-one subscriptions, you can get any media file of any size, including stock images, videos, and audio. It’s the best plan for those who have versatile needs for stock content.
Compare subscription prices
Notice that the subscriptions for 5 and 15 images per month cost the same, as well as 10 and 25 images per month. Whether that’s an intentional marketing move or a mistake, I don’t know, but it’s been like that for over a year now. So, there’s no point in choosing 5 or 15 images per month plan.
| Images/month | Price/month | Price/image |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | $25.00 | $3.60 |
| 10 | $39.00 | $2.70 |
| 15 | $25.00 | $1.20 |
| 25 | $39.00 | $1.08 |
| 100 | $49.99 | $0.50 |
| 750 | $219.00 | $0.20 |
| 750 (prepaid) | $169.00 | $0.158 |
Compare credit package prices
| Credits | Price | Price/credit |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | $10.49 | $0.95 |
| 15 | $12.59 | $0.84 |
| 30 | $24.49 | $0.82 |
| 60 | $48.29 | $0.81 |
| 120 | $87.49 | $0.73 |
| 260 | $175.00 | $0.67 |
| 500 | $329.00 | $0.66 |
| 1,000 | $630.00 | $0.63 |
| 2,000 | $1,232.00 | $0.616 |
How many credits do photos cost?
Unfortunately, the Dreamstime photos don’t have a fixed price, but it varies based on their size and how often they’re downloaded (represented by levels), which means that the price can change overnight. The price of all stock photos depends on their level, ranging from 0 to 5. Levels are determined based on the age of the photo and the number of downloads.
When bought with credits, stock photos cost from 1 to 38 credits each, and up to 50 credits for extended licenses.
Stock video pricing
- Subscriptions: $6.12–$50/video clip. The subscriptions come in multiple sizes (1, 5, 10, and 25 monthly downloads) and four resolutions (web, 720, 1080, and 4K). You get the lowest price per video with the largest plan (25/month) when for the “web” quality of the video.
- Credit packages: $8.80–$51.78/video clip. To buy videos with credits, you first need to buy a credit package. These come in sizes from 11 to 2000; the larger the plan, the more credits you get per dollar spent. You can then use credits to buy anything on Dreamstime.
- All-in-One subscriptions: $14.76–$17.90/video clip.
Compare video subscriptions prices
| Monthly downloads | Web | 720p | 1080p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15 ($15/video) | $40 ($40/video) | $45 ($45/video) | $50 ($50/video) |
| 5 | $40 ($8/video) | $121 ($24.2/video) | $148 ($29.6/video) | $239 ($47.8/video) |
| 10 | $72 ($7.2/video) | $225 ($22.5/video) | $280 ($28/video) | $450 ($45/video) |
| 25 | $170 ($6.8/video) | $444 ($17.76/video) | $534 ($21.36/video) | $1,070 ($42.8/video) |
Extended license prices
We discussed the pricing of royalty-free content above, including stock images, videos, and audio, but extended licenses cost significantly more. That’s mainly because they give you more usage rights, but more on that in the section about licenses.
| Extended license type | Images | Videos | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Seats | 50 credits | 200 credits | 200 credits |
| Web Usage | 50 credits | 200 credits | 200 credits |
| Print Usage | 50 credits | – | – |
| Extended License Subscription | from $23.00 | – | – |
| 1 Year Exclusivity | from $62.5 | from $250 | from $250 |
| 3 Year Exclusivity | from $150 | from $600 | from $600 |
| Sell the rights | from $250 | from $1,000 | from $1,000 |
| Universal Royalty-Free | from $500 | – | – |
| Universal Extended License | from $1,000 | – | – |
Licenses
Since you’re not the rightful owner of the image, you need to get rights from its creator to use it legally. This is best done by purchasing a license through a stock photo site. The most widely used license is the royalty-free (RF) license due to its versatility and affordability.
Royalty-free
A royalty-free license is a perpetual license, meaning you may use it forever once you pay the initial fee. However, RF licenses are usually limited in the number of allowed copies and generally don’t allow resale and redistribution.
| DO’s | DON’Ts |
|---|---|
| illustrating websites | any item that will be resold or redistributed (i.e, postcards, T-shirts, puzzles, your art, web templates, coloring books, art prints) |
| decorating home and office, interior design | logos and trademarks |
| advertising posters, flyers, postcards | candy wrappers |
| illustrating books, CD covers, booklets | |
| illustrating magazine articles, covers, and newspapers | |
| product and gift wrappings | |
| humanitarian or social campaigns | |
| company presentations |
Extended license
When you need a more broad use of a stock image, you should consider buying an extended license. By default, an extended license extends a royalty-free license to unlimited reproduction, multiple seats, and higher indemnification. However, Dreamstime separated these licenses into multiple specialized extended licenses.
| Extended License Type | What you get |
|---|---|
| Unlimited Seats (U-EL) | Unlimited user seats within the same organization. |
| Web Usage (W-EL) | Get the rights to use the stock media for web templates, screensavers, e-cards, PowerPoint presentations, and wallpapers for resale. |
| Print Usage (P-EL) | Get the rights to use the stock media for T-shirts, posters, mugs, postcards, printed artwork, etc. |
| Sell the Rights (SR-EL) | Get full ownership of the stock image or video. It gives you exclusive rights to the media. |
About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a microstock photo agency that was founded in Tennessee 22 years ago. At the time, it was the main competitor to Shutterstock and iStockphoto (now called “iStock”), but has since slightly fallen behind in recent years. Nowadays, Dreamstime offers 185 million stock photos, illustrations, and vectors to 42 million registered members, contributed by 800,000 photographers.
Nowadays, Dreamstime runs an active blog, is a member of DMLA (Digital Media Licensing Association), was the first to receive CEPIC, and is the founding member of the European Tech Alliance
Dreamstime free downloads
Dreamstime offers a collection of 1.5 million images that you may download for free. The images are licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons 0) license that requires you to attribute the Dreamstime. A typical attribution may look something like this: Free photo 144892350 © Publicdomainphotos – Dreamstime.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dreamstime legit?
Dreamstime is a legit yet not the best stock photo site. It has a rating of 3.1 from almost 1,100 reviews on Trustpilot. Most customers complain about watermarked images with the free trial and having difficulties when canceling subscriptions.
Are Dreamstime images free?
Dreamstime has a large database of 1.5 million free images that require attribution when used. Dreamstime also sells images under royalty-free and extended licenses, which cost anywhere between $0.225 to several thousands of dollars.
Is Dreamstime copyright free?
Dreamstime is not copyright free. You may, however, use CC0 photos for free, but you need to attribute the author and Dreamstime.
How much does Dreamstime cost?
Dreamstime sells royalty-free stock images for $0.225–$5.00 with subscriptions, $0.88–$51.78/image with credits, and $19.55–$26.50/image for extended licenses. You can also get stock footage for as low as $6.12 and up to $50 for a 4K video.
How do I cancel my Dreamstime subscription?
1. Log in to your Dreamstime account
2. Click on My Account
3. Select Payment Management
4. Uncheck Auto-renewal
5. Confirm
Methodology
Photutorial reviewed Dreamstime based on 14 data points in the categories of image quality and variety, pricing, licensing, image number, customer support, and additional features. Photutorial rated Dreamstime based on the weighting assigned to each category.
- Image quality & variety: 20%
- Pricing: 20%
- Licensing: 20%
- Image number: 15%
- Additional features: 15%
- Customer support: 10%
Within each category, we also considered several characteristics, the number of images per most popular searches, technical quality, and added value. We also looked at the variety of pricing plans, minimum, median, and maximum image prices, and free trial terms. Finally, we evaluated Dreamstime’s customer support, licensing, and additional features that would enhance customers’ workflow.
