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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Pexels

    Score8 out of 10
    N/APexels, headquartered in Berlin, offers stock photos and video under the Creative Commons Zero license, from a global network of creators.N/A

    Pixabay

    Score9 out of 10
    N/APixabay headquartered in Germany offers a digital content platform, which they present as a community for sharing copyright-free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons.N/A

    Venngage

    Score10 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Venngage is an infographics creation platform. Users can create inforgraphics for their marketing team from scratch or from a template.

    $19

    per month per user

    Pricing
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Premium
    $19
    per month per user
    Business
    $49
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    starting at $499
    per month 10+ seats (billed yearly)
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details50% discount for Premium and Business plans for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Considered Multiple Products
    Pexels
    Chose Pexels
    They are similar tools, both owned by Canva. Pexels seems easier to use, although there is some crossover in terms of the images that show up in search results. Either are great tools to use to find quality images and video content to use in your content. I would suggest …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    I would put Pexels library up against Unsplash. iStock and Shutterstock are both SUPER pricey, and I haven't used either of them in YEARS simply due to the fact that they remain to be cost-prohibitive. Pixabay is fine, but the quality seems far less curated or just like more …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    I know Pixabay and Unsplash and both are similar to Pexels. All of them have similar features in regards to searching, filtering, or collections. But if I am not wrong, only Pexels has the option to download an image in a customised size.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    Pexels provides a plethora of videos to choose from and you can get the right size. The platform is free and if you use great keywords you can easily find what you are looking for. Users can also contribute to the community and it has challenges which I think are great …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    Pexels have by far the biggest database for our needs, 9 out of 10 pictures we find is from Pexels.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    Pexels has a few unique features that stand out, the most important being a 1-click download from the search results. No need to navigate to another page to find a "download" button. This reduces the time required to find and download an appropriate image. The search results …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    In my opinion, they are all very similar. Sometimes when I am searching for something more specific, one or other might well be suited. But, in general, I tend to open at least 3 or 4 different image banks at the same time and use the same search terms on all of them. Since …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pexels
    Pexels so far has the best user-submitted selections for free photography. They are royalty-free and include a wide variety for all business needs. From personal blogs or your own business to any company type, you can find what you need here without having to buy a stock …
    Incentivized
    Pixabay
    Chose Pixabay
    We selected Pixabay due to its affordability, clear licensing, and vast range of imagery that fit our needs. Unsplash and Pexels were on par for affordability and licensing, but we felt Pixabay had a broader range of content. Shutterstock and Getty were coat prohibitive for our …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pexels is free and fully licensed for commercial use, as is Unsplash to a certain extent. I generally open all 3 to search for free stock images for budget-sensitive clients; that being said, I always find myself searching Pixabay first. They have the best user interface of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pexels is very high quality but has a less professional collection of images. Most of the images in Pexels feel like they would be more at home in a local coffee shop or Millennial hangout. While Pexels' image offering is stunning, the images do not fit in alongside data sets …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pexels is the closest competitor to Pixabay and I did sometimes use both. However, I found that Pixabay overall had better moderation of its content and therefore I was able to find a better range of results with higher quality than what I would typically find on Pexels. And …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is one of several sites I visit when I need content. I don't necessarily select it over others all the time - sometimes they have the image I want and sometimes I find it elsewhere - but they're always one of the ones I check with when I need media.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    In my opinion, stock photos are kind of all over the place, depending on how specific of an image you're looking for. I think Pixaby is on the higher / more positive side of the scale -- there are definitely sites that are not offering as polished of photos or the variety that …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is a far more legit and easy-to-use free stock photo platform than the others I have listed above. Before using it I made sure that I was abreast of certain issues within the rules and systems that need to be followed by the letter. If you do not do this you will have …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay gets around the language barrier by being available in more than 20 different languages. The website doesn't have any ads. They do have "sponsored images" from Shutterstock, but I really like that there are no other ads. When I download an image, I can choose from a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is free, easy to use, and has images, videos, vectors, illustrations, music, and sound effects—basically everything you need to make content on a budget. Getty only licenses images and videos, so I'd have to go elsewhere to find music and sound effects (and likely pay a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay has a few key features that stand out. The search results load fast, with an easy user interface and advanced filtering options. I often travel as I work, and at times my internet connection can be slow or unstable. Even on a slower connection, the search results are …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Overall, I really like Pixabay as the quality of images has never let me down. On top of that, I really love the community/creators as they're very supportive. I would say that you will have not many problems or complaints when you use Pixabay and will definitely help in your …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is adequate but needs to up its image game in order to compete with other free stock sites, which have more extensive and better quality imagery available. I personally moved from using Pixabay to other free image sites due to the quality and range of images not …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is my starting point for any image search as it provides cross-over/reference to other sites but isn't so overwhelming with images. I feel with the other sites I could get lost in the endless pages of stock imagery, especially when they seem so similar.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay provides better images and a variety of search results. The filter options are really good. It's very easy to use and find what you are looking for.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay has given me the free vectors I need for my whiteboard animation videos, which aren't available on the other sites, in addition to the video and audio clips. They've been around for a long time and have stayed consistent, valuable, and easy to use throughout the years. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    It's definitely one of the best free options and while the image results aren't always as good as Depositphotos, that's understandable as it's free. 8 times out of 10 I'd say I find a suitable image on Pixabay.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    While Pixabay doesn’t offer the same variety that other paid stock image sites, they offer a good enough variety for my needs. And you really can’t go wrong with free. If you’re starting out in the blogging world or don’t have enough money, or simply don’t want to spend the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is free, easy to search and find, user friendly, offers a great variety of stock images.
    Incentivized
    Chose Pixabay
    Pixabay is way ahead of Adobe Stock, as it provides better Image & graphics quality, a very improved design tool. Pixabay provides a variety of search results when compared to Adobe Stock or other tools or software. Pixabay provides really great online support. Pixabay …
    Incentivized
    Venngage
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    36 Answers
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    36 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    83%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    36 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    38 Answers
    67%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    29 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    67%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    30 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    30 Answers
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Small Businesses
    Depositphotos
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Pexels
    Score8 out of 10
    GIMP
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Pixabay
    Score9 out of 10
    Pexels
    Score8 out of 10
    Adobe Illustrator
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Stock
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Pexels
    Score8 out of 10
    Adobe PhotoShop
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (36 ratings)
    9.0
    (41 ratings)
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.4
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PexelsPixabayVenngage
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Pexels
    1. Small businesses with small or non-existent budgets still need assets to create content 2. Individual content makers or freelancers who need stock assets 3. Corporate eLearning wants to modernize and replace all old-fashioned, outdated, brightly lit studio photos with more realistic and relevant imagery that will resonate with modern audiences and learners.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    This is perfect for any individual or organization that's working on a budget. You'll get stock photos that, while there's a more limited selection than the usual paid sites (Getty, iStock, etc.), are often just as high-quality. For smaller businesses and nonprofits where every dollar counts, I've found myself leaning on Pixabay quite a bit for stock images and, from time to time, will end up buying one of the linked commercial images when Pixabay doesn't have what I need. However, if you have a large budget for stock images, Pixabay will likely not be your best choice, as the paid services offer generous discounts for bulk credit purchases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    I find it great for personal use especially when you are a visual person. As an assistant that needs a lot of organizing, it's wonderful. It helped me a lot and I usually don't require a lot of features. I also find it great for accessibility stuff, I respect that since I have a relative who has special needs. I didn't really need that specifically, but it's nice to know it was considered.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Pexels
    • High-resolution images – Pexels is full of images that are high enough in resolution to look beautiful on their own, but also high quality enough to be combined with other images without distracting pixelization
    • Stock videos – other free stock sites are often limited to just images, but Pexels has a wide range of videos available as well, which we use to plus up decks
    • Good search functions – while not as robust as some paid sites, Pexels' search functions make it pretty easy to track down what you need
    • Licensing – it's very straightforward to know what you can and can't do with a Pexels photo, which protects my company and our clients
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    • Separate photos, illustrations, and vectors—Many competitors have these images all lumped together with a limited ability to sort through them, while Pixabay has a robust library of all of these, making it easy to find what you're looking for.
    • Free, high-quality images and easy-to-understand licensing rules—Often a new client will have bad image usage habits, freely snagging any image off of google. Pixabay is an excellent resource to give clients a huge range of photos without the fear of getting into copyright trouble.
    • Sound effects—Free, good-quality sound effects are surprisingly difficult to find amongst competitors, but Pixabay has them in their lineup as well.
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • Extremely user-friendly: simple, easy-to-follow interface really made ramping up on the offering incredibly fast and painless.
    • Variety of templates: Venngage has a HUGE assortment of templates ranging from corporate reports and business decks to more visually-engaging, "fun" content such as infographics, awesome charts, and highly customizable social graphics.
    • Brand-alignment: we really appreciated the opportunity to tee up our brand guidelines and have those remain on the back-end and let us apply our style guide to multiple templates instantaneously.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Pexels
    • I do think that the library should grow. For example, I was looking for an image of a living room with a fireplace and there were only a few options
    • I get tricked sometimes because I see images I want to use but they are from some other company and they are paid
    • Improve search understanding for multi-word searches
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    • One thing that kind of sticks out is that with so much to choose from, you can feel overwhelmed.
    • Some of the photos I sometimes can find separately by googling. In the music business, it seems like many photos rotate on the web so there isn't as much to pick from.
    • I didn't see an option for more vertical videos for use in Instagram or TikTok.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • It's hard to lock graphics into place in Venngage once you create something.
    • Layering is next to impossible. The feature is there but is very difficult to use and most times the user is better off copying the object over instead
    • Unless you have a business account (we have a professional account- middle grade) you cannot sort and organize your infographics. This is messy and cumbersome to go through and the price difference between professional and business grade accounts was quite large.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Pexels
    No answers on this topic
    Pixabay
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    I use Venngage for a new project 1-2 times per week... I could not see using another program at this point.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Pexels
    Pexels is extremely easy to use. Because it integrates with Canva, it makes our workflow smoother. This also saves us a significant amount of time running our business. The interface is also clean and easy to understand and follow, leading to an increase in productivity and much greater efficiency. Overall, this saves us time and money
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    A lot of times, it can be difficult to find things on a website. Pixabay search works extremely well. This way we don’t have to search and keep searching. The results along with the recommendations are very tailored and work well
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    I find it very user friendly, straight to the point, and the minor issues I found wasn't really impacting on my role. So I think it would depend? but personally I find it perfect for me. There were lots of templates I could use, and they were very open to feedback and customer service was very accommodating.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Pexels
    No answers on this topic
    Pixabay
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    I think that the attention that I get as a small business owner from Venngage is excellent. They quickly respond to questions and provide information that helps to resolve the issue that I am having.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Pexels
    Pexels has a few unique features that stand out, the most important being a 1-click download from the search results. No need to navigate to another page to find a "download" button. This reduces the time required to find and download an appropriate image. The search results load fast, with lazy loading, so there's no annoying pagination at the bottom. I often travel as I work, and at times my internet connection can be slow or unstable. This kind of feature may seem minor to some users, but when on a slower connection, it makes a big difference. If a search term is too broad, it can recommend related keywords to search for - this helps to find the right image faster.
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    Pixabay has given me the free vectors I need for my whiteboard animation videos, which aren't available on the other sites, in addition to the video and audio clips. They've been around for a long time and have stayed consistent, valuable, and easy to use throughout the years. They were my first site for free downloads and remain my favorite image download site to this day.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    We prefer Canva but feel Venngage is easier for us. In comparison to Adobe, we prefer Venngage because of the ability to have everything in one system and not have to jump around.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Pexels
    • Social media campaigns created with photos from Pexels achieves 40% higher engagement vs others.
    • Thanks to faster and easier content sourcing provided by Pexels, our campaign generation period has dropped to an average of 4 hours, instead of 2 days.
    • Their stock images adorn our offices.... and it's a much lore cheerful space for that reason. Staff are happier, and stay in the office longer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pixabay
    • We don't lose any money trying to buy images
    • Our videos get more views if we put the good quality images we find in Pixaby
    • The posts we make with their images always get a professional aspect, and get more engagement from a diverse social media users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • It was frustrating to be required to purchase a full month, not be able to download into PowerPoint and edit, and not be given a refund.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots