15 Best Places to Sell Photos Online (Sell Your Photos 2024)

Selling photos online is one way of making money as a photographer. Whether you sell stock images or printed photographs, selling online can prove to be a reliable revenue stream. Being a professional photographer isn’t easy, so finding the best platform for online selling can give you business a big step up. 

In this article, we look at 20 of the best places to sell photos online. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each platform. And we’ll provide tips on making the most of each one. Finding ways to sell your photos is essential for building a successful photography business.

What Are the Best Places to Sell Photos Online?

Starting a business taking portraits or covering weddings can be fun. But but clients and paid gigs can be inconsistent and fleeting. But if you set up a platform for selling photos online, you can create an evergreen source of income. 

There are plenty of options out there. The most popular ones are stock photo agencies. There are also a few websites where you can sell your pictures directly to clients or even as artwork.

Stock photography sites are significant in two ways. First, stock websites sell your work for you. After you upload the photos, all you have to do is sit back and watch your profits grow.

But apart from helping you sell photos online, stock photo agencies also provide information on current stock photo trends. In other words, they give you ideas and hints on what images will likely make you money.

The problem with these sites is they provide a lot of content, which grows every minute. That means your photos compete with millions of other options on the internet.

Another downside is that it can take a long time to edit and work on images to upload. Stock photo websites have strict guidelines when selling photos online. You must follow plenty of rules around the quality and information needed for every image.

We’ve also included other types of photo selling websites, like those dedicated to selling art by independent artists. The downside is that these sites cover all types of art, not just photography. But it means you can sell the work you love to make, not only photos that relate to popular stock niches. 

Before we look at our recommendations in more detail, here’s a summary of our top picks.

The Best Places to Sell Photos Online

Let’s look in more detail at the best places to sell your photos online.

Picfair is our top recommendation to photographers looking to sell photographs online. It’s one of the most popular platforms for photographers, and with good reason. The account is easy to set up and use, the portfolios look professional, and Picfair helps you out with invoicing and accounting.

Picfair allows you to upload as many as 10,000 images and sell them through their systems. The platform gives you your own site where you can create different portfolios and galleries, allowing you to display your work in a professional way. 

You set your own prices on your work, and Picfair doesn’t add any extra or hidden prices. They also don’t take a commission from your sales, so all the money goes straight in your pocket.

Handling money and organizing earnings is one of the most stressful parts of being a professional photographer. But Picfair makes that part of the business super easy.

Picfair handles all payment processing, streamlining the transfer so it goes directly into one of your financial accounts. UK users can have the money sent directly to their bank account, while international users can use apps PayPal and Wise.

If you’re worried about theft, Picfair take security very seriously. Their platform is completely secure, and they add watermarks automatically so viewers can steal you images. And don’t fear, the watermarks only appear on the images when being viewed by website visitors. They don’t touch the original image and buyers get a clean version. 

Their photo licensing rules favor photographers, so you know they have your interests at heart. They provide you with all the licensing information you need, so it’s totally transparent. There’s also no exclusivity agreement with Picfair, so you can publish, promote, and sell your images on other sites too. 

We mentioned that Picfair doesn’t take a cut of your sales revenue, which is true, but users do have to pay a subscription fee. All the plans are reasonably priced, but it does mean you can make a loss if you don’t sell any pictures. Thankfully, they have plenty of advisory material to help you sell more photos.

SmugMug is an excellent site for those photographers with an entrepreneurial mindset. It allows you to create a professional portfolio to display and sell your work, making it a central hub for your photography business. 

They don’t offer the biggest selection of templates portfolios, but what they do have is excellent. Sleek, professional designs give you an impressive store font presents your work in its best light. 

There’s no limit to the number of JPEG images you can store, allowing you to display all your best work. RAW file storage, however, is an additional extra you need to purchase. 

They provide guidance on pricing your work, but you have final say on how much you charge. You need to bear in mind that SmugMug takes a 15% commission on all sales through the platform, so that might influence your prices. 

Integrated payment systems for the likes of Paypal make the financial side of the business super easy. There are no credit card processing fees, and tax calculations and receipts are generated automatically. 

You can also sell prints as well as digital images, and the printing services are integrated into your account. The number of printing services available depends on your location, but the streamlined process gives you more options for making money from photo sales. Shipment and delivery are also taken care of. 

The 24/7 support channels are a godsend, especially when you’re setting up your account. Both phone and chat are manned by real people, so you always get the answers you need. 

SmugMug makes it easy to run a photography business. Your account becomes a portfolio, a sales hub, an accounting center, and a creative community. 

Check out our full SmugMug Review if you want to learn more. 

Alamy is a British stock photography website that was started in 1999. To date, it has over 60 million photos and videos. There is a reason for this tremendous amount of content. And it’s partly because of the 50% royalty payment on each photograph it sells.

Despite the large commissions, exclusivity agreements are optional, so you can still sell the same images on different platforms. That’s why this is one of the first choices for selling photos online.

And they don’t just accept images. You can also upload stock video footage to help broaden your appeal and generate more sales. Their catalog is extensive, and they have curated galleries to help users find what they need. 

Alamy doesn’t make any changes to your work once the images are uploaded, and the copyright stays with you. You still own the work even if you have an (optional) exclusive agreement. The platform is also completely secure, so no one can steal your work from their platform without paying. 

Alamy‘s pro-creator attitude influences its ban on AI-generated images and videos. Everything on their site has been created by a real-life artist, which is great news for sellers and buyers. 

iStock photo is Getty Images’ microstock branch. It’s a great place to sell stock photos if you are starting because it’s a well-known site with millions of users all looking for stock images and content to illustrate their media. 

iStock has a massive library, which means you work can get drowned out. But with the right research, you can find popular yet under-represented niches.

iStock also includes popular forums and resources that help you understand how to sell photos online. This information is especially useful if this if you’re first experience selling stock images. 

The royalty payment starts at 15% per download. It can increase to 45%, depending on how popular your photos are. If a customer purchases an image using their subscription credits, you only receive 15%.

If you are into exclusivity, iStock Photo will give you 22 to 45%. This rate works on a contract with a 30-day notice period.

You never have to work about your work being stolen or used illegitimately. iStock has excellent security and no one can use your images without making a purchase first. They also use temporary watermarks in the viewer, so people can’t screenshot the images and use them illegally.  

ShootProof is another platform that works as a central hub for your online photography business. It’s a portfolio website with galleries to display your best images. It’s a sales platform that allows viewers to buy your work. It also offers file storage and invoicing and accounting support. 

The galleries and portfolios are simple yet stylish, and you have options to customize the templates to make them more personal and unique. You can also make password-protected galleries for specific clients, allowing you to share your work privately and securely. 

The platform provides contract templates with personalized logos, which is a big help if you’re new to the legalities of professional photography. These include model and property release forms, which can be a pain when you’re starting out. You can also upload contract templates if you already have your own.

eCommerce is simple with ShootProof. You can set prices, create pricing packages and bundles, and arrange discounts. They also help you sell prints of your images, working with several US-based and European printing companies. 

ShootProof offers several subscription plans. They are all reasonably priced, so it’s a case of finding the plan that matches the needs of your business at this time. You can also upgrade at a later date if business picks up.

Read our full ShootProof review for more information. 

Shutterstock houses 184 million images and 91 million videos. They have been enjoying steady growth in sales since its founding in 2003. In 2017, people downloaded 172,000,000 images from this website.

Uploading to the marketplace will net you up to 30% of the sale price of your image. This percentage depends on the size of your image, with payouts falling between $0.25 and $28.

The best thing is that you keep the copyright. So you can still sell the images elsewhere.

 

Etsy is the biggest marketplace on the internet for handmade products. The items you can sell can be physical prints or digital photography downloads. Most of the products are unique. And many are one-off items the creators won’t make again.

With over 30 million users, Etsy is a great platform to sell your photos.

You can also recreate your brand on Etsy. You set the price for your images and even design a page that best displays your photos.

Etsy keeps 20 cents for each product you upload and 3.5% of the sale price. Selling items here can be a challenge. But they offer a helpful handbook to teach you all about branding and marketing. The information they share includes how to price your items, how to sell your photos, and how to succeed.

Canva is one of the most user-friendly graphic design editing platforms. It has drag-and-drop features that allow anyone to create anything from posters to Instagram Story animations.

A lot of the graphics and photos that Canva offers are free. But they also sell other services, including stock photography.

Unlike some traditional stock photography agencies, this stock website makes it easy for people to buy pictures. Users have to drag and drop the photos. Then they click to purchase them to remove the watermark.

Canva’s ease of use means lots of potential to earn money. Many people don’t usually use stock agencies but regularly buy photos from the platform.

With millions of users, Canva continually expands and looks for new stock photos to sell. You can apply and post your stock photos on the website. But they also regularly ask their contributors to photograph custom projects for them.

Zenfolio is another fantastic portfolio and eCommerce platform for photographers. It’s easy to set up and use, streamlining many processes that can be a pain when running a photography business. 

While the templates look fantastic, Zenfolio doesn’t have a wide selection, unlike some competitors. That’s not a problem if you want your work to speak for itself, but it is more difficult to make a truly unique portfolio. 

Security is excellent, with Zenfolio adding in-viewer watermarks and preventing viewers from copying images without purchasing. You can also apply specific security settings to individual galleries.

Zenfolio is a great portfolio option for multimedia creators, as the platform allows you to host videos as well as images. They get the same security treatment as the images, and clients are able to download and redeem prepaid videos. 

As an eCommerce platform, you can sell digital images and physical prints. Thanks to the embedded print partners, selling physical pictures is just as easy as selling digital files. Although, printing options are limited outside the USA.

The easy of use, reasonable pricing, and professional built-in features make Zenfolio a great option for selling photos online.

Adobe Stock (formerly Fotolia) is another microstock photography website. It represents over 57 million images. Adobe repurchased this site in 2014, integrating it into its Creative Cloud service. Here, you can receive royalties between 20 and 46%.

The best part about this site is that your royalties come immediately. Other sites wait until you reach a financial threshold or after 30 days.

Four million buyers use this site, so showing them your images is in your best interest.

Artfinder is one of the best website for independent artists to sell their work online. The site isn’t exclusive to photography. In fact, most of the sellers are not photographers, but Artfinder is becoming more and more popular with those selling photographs. 

Artfinder has over 450,000 active users worldwide and is growing quickly. That means it has 450,000 potential buyers of your work. And all the users are art lovers. They aren’t businesses looking for stock images, which allows you to display and sell your passion projects, not just the in-demand niches. 

Signing up and becoming a seller is completely free. You set your own prices and Artfinder provides you with performance stats and other handy insights to help your online store. They also give you tips on making attractive listings and attracting more buyers. 

A sellers’ forum is another great feature, allowing you communicate with other artists on the platform. You can ask questions, find interesting insights, and make friends. It’s an open, positive, and support community of artists from all over the world. 

There are no exclusivity agreements when listing your work on Artfinder. That means you can use Artfinder as one part of a bigger online sales strategy, incorporating several platforms to maximize exposure and sales. 

Like iStock and Shutterstock, this agency is a perfect starting point if you want to sell online photos. It’s user-friendly. And the requirements aren’t as strict as its rivals.

What makes Dreamstime different is that you get to create and curate your galleries. That way, you have more control over selling photos online. In that respect, you can think of this agency more as a hosting site.

But, of course, that doesn’t mean you can post just anything. Your submissions will still undergo screening to ensure you don’t violate the site rules. For instance, you can’t upload violent or copyrighted content. But if you follow all the guidelines, you can expect to make money once your images are online.

Your commissions start at 25% for a non-exclusive image and 27% for an exclusive option. But as you sell more photos, that can go up to 45% and 49.5%, respectively.

Wirestock is a handy tool to help you sell your photos on multiple platforms. You can upload the images to Shutterstock, Depositphotos, and more… All at the same time! And all with just a few clicks of a button.

Another benefit of Wirestock is that the platform handles captioning and keywording. Your future sales and commissions depend on how easy it is to find your images. As well as how well the keywords capture their essence. Using Wirestock to take care of this tedious process is a real time-saver!

Wirestock allows creators to focus on creating instead of juggling multiple platforms.

Instaproofs is an online photo storefront. The “Insta” part of the name comes from the ease of taking images from your Instagram account to the website.

You define the print sizes and the price tags that come alongside them. The free account lets you create 15 galleries with a 3 GB storage capacity. The site will also take a 12% commission from your sales if you’re not a paying member.

But if you think it’s worth it, you can also subscribe for $10 per month. Doing so lets you sell images without commission, which helps if many people buy your photos.

Fine Art America is a print-on-demand site. That means they only print and ship your images when a buyer buys one. Their focus is on fine arts, such as photography and digital images of painting, etc.

You can set your prices on Fine Art America, and the website will add its markup. You keep 35% of the final price, and they get the other 65%. So if you demand $10 profit, they will price your piece at $47.

But it isn’t bad since you control how much you want to earn per image. Not to mention that you don’t need to print the photos yourself.

FAQs About the Best Places to Sell Photos Online

Here are answers to three questions we get asked about the most. We hope they help you decide where to sell your photos online.

Can I Build My Own Website?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, building your own website is one of the best ways to create an online portfolio and sales hub without fees and commissions. 

There is nothing like selling your work on your own site. If you are tech-savvy, you can find a way to do this for “free” (not counting domain and hosting fees).

If you aren’t proficient in web design or programming, you can join Wix or Square Space. They do all the background work for you.

Once you set up your website, you can offer as many photos as you want! There is no fee or commission to pay third-party sites after each sale.

A quick Google search can help you find the best website builder. Then you can start selling your own high-quality photos.

It’s a great option if you get a lot of traffic to your site.

 

What Is the Difference Between Microstock vs Regular Stock Sites?

Microstock is a pretty new term in photography. It was born with the introduction of sites such as iStock and Shutterstock. Traditional stock agencies generally sell stock photography at a higher price. In contrast, microstock sites offer a low-cost alternative.

The average price that microstock photo sites sell ranges from a few cents to about $5. The photographer then receives a percentage of that sale price. These sites often offer monthly subscriptions to customers for several downloads a month.

Regular stock photography sites, on average, charge a higher price for photos. But it is not unusual for them to sell a photo for a few dollars. So while you may sell more photos on a microstock site, your average sale price will usually be higher on a traditional stock website.

What Is the Difference Between a Managed vs Unmanaged Stock Photo Site?

Some managed stock photography companies have an editor who reviews your photo submissions. And they select the photos that they will want to represent.

So the chosen photos then go through a quality control (QC) process. And this ensures they are good enough for that agency.

An unmanaged agency is one where all the photos you submit are accepted as long as they pass QC. For example, Alamy Stock Photo is an unmanaged stock photo site.

There are pros and cons to using either. The more photos you have online, the more chance of selling one. But on the flip side, the more photos the agency has on its site, the more yours will be lost amongst the crowd.

The other advantage of a managed stock site is that only your best photos will be on sale.

What Should I Look For in the Fine Print?

There are several details to look for. It’s important that after you choose the company that will sell your work, you read and understand the terms and conditions.

There will often be a minimum term that they will want the photo for. So if you decide to pull your images from one agency and move to another, it might be months, if not years, before you can.

You should also be clear on the exclusivity that the agency will need regarding your work. Some stock photography sites will allow you to send the same images to other sites. But some will want exclusive rights to the photos they accept.

That means you won’t be allowed to send those photos to other stock photography sites. This would include similar photos taken that are considered “sister images.”

The other important factor is the commission that you will receive. While one agency might sell your photos at a higher price, they may offer a lower commission.

This could range from 20% to 50% or more. So ensure you check how much you will make from each sale.

Conclusion: Best Places to Sell Photos Online

Stock photography websites are perfect because they take the workload off your shoulders. You can make money just by sharing your portfolio. You can try all the websites we mentioned in this article. Most of them are non-exclusive, so you can add the same image to different platforms and widen your audience.

Non-stock websites will make you more money per image. But they may need more work. For instance, Etsy requires that you print and ship the photos yourself. That process takes time, effort, and energy. But if you stick with it, the long-term payout can be better than stock photography.

So which is the best site to sell photos? We think Picfair is the best choice for selling photos online. This is due to its extensive and varied customer base and worldwide presence. It also has a user-friendly eCommerce features that streamline the accounting process.