Best Stock Video Sites: Where to Get Quality Stock Footage

In today’s crowded online marketplace, video is an important tool to get messages out there. In fact, 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool on their website, social media platforms, blogs, and almost any place they can.

But when you don’t have the time or resources to shoot your own footage, where do you turn?

Welcome to the wild and crazy world of stock video footage. (OK, so it’s not that wild, but you can find amazing niche footage like a person joyously preparing meat or carefully peeling a banana.)

If you’ve ever gone down the rabbit hole of weird stock photos, then you know that finding great content can be a challenge.

But we’ve done the hard (and weird) work for you by compiling the best stock video sites, where you can find high-quality, royalty-free stock video clips for your next personal or commercial project.

1. Pond5

With more than 20 million video clips, Pond5 is among the world’s largest video marketplaces, with a comprehensive library that is easily searchable. Filmmakers, media organizations, and marketers worldwide, including BBC, Disney, Netflix, and Facebook, use stock footage from Pond5 in advertisements, feature films, TV series, documentaries, corporate presentations, and more.

Pond5 includes footage in many categories, including animals, celebration, travel, business, medical, technology, cinematic, drone, and more. This site will transform your ideas about stock footage, as it offers 4K, animation, aerials, greenscreen, 3D, and background footage.

Features:

• More than 17 million stock video clips
• Thousands of videos added daily
• Upload a video for similar footage
• Integration with most major video editing software
• Filter by resolution, FPS, and specialty video

Best for: Serious content creators who create video frequently and need a comprehensive library of high-quality footage.

Cost: Pay-as-you-go plan for royalty-free stock video, starting as low as $25/clip. Membership is $999/year or $199/month with clips as low as $8.30.

2. Adobe Stock

Just as Adobe is a leader in editing software, they are also a leader in stock photos and videos. Adobe Stock has thousands of high-quality, royalty-free stock videos in HD and 4K resolution. After downloading, you can use the videos as many times as you would like.

Adobe Stock offers HD clips, 4K clips, motion graphic templates, and video loops. The company gives 35% of each sale to the stock video producers, so you can feel good knowing you support their work.

Features:

• 2 million high-quality stock video clips
• New videos added daily
• Filter by resolution, frame rate, and color
• Stock photos, illustrations, vectors, royalty-free music, templates, and 3D assets
• App that can be used across devices
• Multiple users on one plan

Best for: Entrepreneurs and content creators who need high-quality stock footage and don’t mind paying for it.

Cost: Pay-per-video, using credits. HD and 4K videos are 8-20 credits each and credit packs start at $149.99 for 16 credits. Monthly plans are available for other stock resources, but video is not included in those plans.

3. Freepik 

Freepik is one of the best banks of free design assets and stock videos that can add serious creativity to any multimedia and design project. You can find an array of royalty-free footage on Freepik, ranging from cityscapes and airports to people living their daily lives.

Freepik offers an easy-to-use interface with advanced search capabilities to help you find the perfect video clip for your project. You can download these high-quality videos in various formats, such as MP4 and MOV, to create anything from advertisements to explainer videos or full-length movies. Freepik is an excellent resource for anyone looking to add an extra layer of visual appeal to their creative projects.

Features:

• More than 462k videos, including over 24,000 free videos
• New videos added daily
• It offers video categories, making the search process easier
• Filter by resolution, video type, duration, and license (free or premium)
• It can be used for both commercial and personal purposes
• Quick download of previews
• 4K and HD resolution
• Vectors, photos, illustrations, 3D mockups, fonts, PSD files…

Best for: Content creators, entrepreneurs, organizations, marketers, video editors, and videographers who want high-quality and royalty-free stock videos.

Cost: Royalty-free videos require attribution for free users. If you want to use the videos without crediting or having access to premium assets, you can get a premium subscription starting at $8.50/month.

4. Vimeo

While you may not think of Vimeo for stock videos, Vimeo Stock is an excellent option for organizations looking for exclusive footage from talented creators. Vimeo partners with talented creators worldwide to curate footage not found anywhere else. Vimeo also pays its content creators 70% of the revenue for their clips — one of the industry’s highest rates.

Vimeo offers high-quality video clips in a broad range of industries, including drone, animation, families, cities, technology, space, travel, fitness, business, and music. They have royalty-free clips in HD and 4K.

Features:

• Thousands of exclusive video clips from international contributors
• New videos added daily
• Upload an image or video thumbnail for similar footage
• Filter by price, quality, frame rate, or duration
• 1,000 free clips from the Essentials collection with a Vimeo Stock membership

Best for: Content creators looking for unique 4K or HD stock videos and want to feel good about knowing the video producers are compensated at an industry-leading rate.

Cost: HD clips start at $64, and 4K clips start at $164. Members save 20% off every clip, and get free clips from the Essentials collection. Memberships start at $67.20/year or $7/month.

5. Pexels

Pexels is well-known for its free stock photos, but it also has a reputation for some of the best free stock videos available. Pexels offers a wide array of videos under a Creative Commons 0 or public domain license. You can use the stock media on Pexels for personal or commercial purposes without attribution.

The videos are available in high-definition MP4 format. While Pexels does not carry many free 4K videos, they do have a healthy collection of HD stock footage, including time-lapse video clips and mock-up stock videos.

Features:

• Unlimited downloads on over 1,000 free stock video clips
• Video clips can be used without attribution
• Time-lapse and mock-up video clips available
• Search collections or trending topics to find relevant stock videos

Entrepreneurs and content creators on a budget or those looking to add free stock videos to the mix.

Cost: All videos are free for personal and commercial use.

6. Shutterstock

Shutterstock offers royalty-free footage to use on personal or commercial projects. With Shutterstock, you can download professional-grade videos in high resolution with access to both 4K and HD video clips.

This stock footage site has one of the best-curated video collections, including a new curated collection each month with fresh clips on trending topics.

Features:

• Millions of high-quality stock videos
• More than 70,000 clips added each week
• Upload an image for similar footage
• Filter video clips by resolution, FPS, duration, and category
• Stock photos, vectors, and music

Best for: Business owners already using Shutterstock for stock images or who want to commit to an annual membership.

Cost: Varies based on the clips. Memberships start at $99/month for an annual commitment, which offers five free clips each month and $19.80 for each additional video clip.

7. Yay Images

You’ve come to know and love Yay Images over the past year for their 12 million high-quality stock photos, but you may not know that the platform is now home to a fast-growing stock footage collection, with a continued commitment to quality. Yay Images launched stock video assets in July 2020, and now offers over 225K royalty-free stock video clips, in both HD and 4K resolutions. You can use these videos again and again for your company or project. Plus, Yay Images continues to offer 50% commission to stock video contributors, which helps support creators and gives them a fair share for all their hard work.

Features:

• 225K high-quality stock video clips, with thousands of new videos added every day
• Curated collections & categories
• Advanced search with filters
• Stock videos, vectors, and photos all available with Unlimited Plan for Unlimited Downloads, Users, and Flexible Licensing

Best For: Content creators, startups, entrepreneurs, and agencies looking for high-quality royalty-free stock videos for a wide range of purposes

Cost: Yay Images offers some of the most affordable subscriptions with:

• Pay-per-video, from $5 to 149 a clip
• Subscriptions, as low as $2.33 a clip
• Unlimited as low as $30 a month for Unlimited Downloads, Users, and Flexible Licensing across our whole collection of images, vectors, and videos

8. RocketStock

While RocketStock isn’t a stock video website per se, it is a vital tool for those who want to elevate stock footage for their video projects. RocketStock offers a comprehensive collection of video effects and After Effects templates to help you differentiate your stock footage.

Recently acquired by Shutterstock, this site offers a comprehensive collection of video elements and effect packs. Video production effects include sand and dust, water and rain, particles, vintage light, snow and ice, fun video transitions, and more.

Features:

• Wide range of video element packs
• Comprehensive After Effects template collection
• Built-in video customization tool
• Detailed tutorials of how to use the elements

Best for: Video editors, filmmakers, and videographers who want to elevate their stock footage with customized assets and After Effects templates.

Cost: Video element packs start at $79

9. Dissolve

Dissolve aims to transform stock footage from “so-so” to “spectacular,” and they do this with over a million stock video clips from today’s best visual storytellers. The team hand-picks its video and image collections based on aesthetic style, technical quality, and cultural relevance.

The stock video footage is in SD, HD, and 4K formats, with royalty-free and rights-managed clips. You can search video clips by commercial, editorial, and archival footage to find the right videos for your project.

Features:

• Over 1.1 million stock videos clips
• Over 150,000 videos exclusive to the platform
• Videos are shot by professional filmmakers for commercial clips
• Filter by orientation, price, size, license, release, and exclusive
• Stock photos

Best for: Content creators who want exclusive footage or budget-friendly 4K or HD footage.

Cost: Clips start at $29.

10. Story & Heart

Story & Heart is one of the best resources for story-driven video clips. This platform curates story-driven footage that you can search based on the mood or energy you want to convey with your video project.

Much of the footage on Story & Heart has a cinematic feel, allowing you to create a different type of video for your personal or commercial projects. When you choose multiple clips from the same story, you can create your own mini-story with a coherent narrative.

Features:

• Quality stock video clips, driven by a unique story
• Search by keywords, color, mood, or energy
• Story-based footage that helps connect with your audience
• Videos from filmmakers across the world

Best for: Content creators who want authentic, story-driven footage for their video projects or those who want to search clips based on the mood they want to convey.

Cost: Varies per clip and license (standard or extended).

11. iStock

iStock by Getty Images is a popular site for stock photos, and it offers an extensive collection of high-quality stock video content.

Video categories include abstract, science and technology, sports, business, family, healthcare, nature, and more. High-definition and 4K video clips are available, including aerial, time-lapse, and slow-motion videos.

Features:

• Thousands of exclusive, royalty-free stock video clips
• Unlimited uses after download
• Filter by duration, resolution, aspect ratio, and upload date
• Stock videos and illustrations

Best for: Content creators who need access to a comprehensive library of clips with the option to pay as you go for licensees.

Cost: Credit packages start at $33 for three credits, and higher credit packages offer increased savings. Videos from the Signature Collection are 18 credits each, and videos from the Essentials collection are six credits each.

12. Distill

Distill is popular with creative agencies because it offers a library of free, high-quality, royalty-free videos for commercial and personal projects. While there are fewer videos than other stock video sites, this is a good platform to add to your resource list.

Distill offers user-submitted video content, including nature, city, food, people, architecture, technology, animal, object, and abstract categories. When you join their email list, you’ll get 10 free HD videos straight to your inbox every 10 days.

Features:

• Free high-quality stock video clips for commercial or personal use
• 10 new, free HD videos every 10 days
• Exclusive video content
• Content searchable by category

Best for: Entrepreneurs and content creators looking for an additional stock video site to add to their list of options.

Cost: All videos are available for free through the Creative Commons license.

13. Pixabay

While Pixabay is well-known for its free images, it is a great site for free stock video footage. Submitted by Pixabay’s community of users, the videos on this platform are sometimes of variable quality but they cover a wide range of topics, including abstract and niche topics.

All clips are free for personal or commercial use, with no attribution needed. Clips are in MP4 format, and are available in multiple resolutions.

Features:

• Thousands of options for free footage
• Videos cover a wide range of subjects
• Free 4K video clips available
• Stock images, illustrations, vectors, and music

Best for: Entrepreneurs and content creators looking for niche video clips or those on a budget who need 4K video, motion graphics, and looping clips.

Cost: Free, under the Creative Commons license.

14. Videezy

Videezy is another great site for free footage including both HD and 4K videos. Content is royalty-free for personal and commercial projects. Quality varies across clips but tends to be high-quality. In addition to free stock videos, the site also offers premium clips marked “pro” and available for credits.

Videezy offers clips across a range of categories, including animals, art, travel, urban, nature, abstract, and more. The site also has an impressive collection of aerial, abstract, and slow-motion footage.

Features:

• Thousands of high-quality stock video clips
• Downloads available in MP4 and MOV file formats
• Filter videos by license type, resolution, and format
• Includes motion backgrounds and After Effects templates
• Also offers vectors and brushes

Best for: Organizations on a budget who need free and affordable high-quality stock footage, including 4K video.

Cost: Much of the video content is free, with pro footage available for one credit each. Credit packages include $19 for one credit, $39 for 5 credits, or $49 for 10 credits.

How to Pick the Best Stock Video Site for Your Next Project

With so many options available, it may be difficult to choose just one option on our best stock video list.

But the good news is that you don’t have to choose!

With many free and pay-as-you-go options, you don’t have to commit to just one stock video site. Instead, you can pick and choose stock footage from different sites depending on what you need for your project.

If you’re looking for stock photos or other video tools, keep an eye on AppSumo deals as we’re always adding new stuff!