Dreamstime, despite its massive library of 200 million images and 1 million videos, suffers from significant drawbacks compared to top stock photo sites. Too often, the photographs appear amateurish, heavily edited, and lacking in originality. This seems to indicate weak quality control, resulting in a lot of mediocre content to sort through. The videos and audio aren’t much better.
Unfortunately, an outdated website and interface further hinder your experience on Dreamstime. Slow loading times, annoying captchas, and an inefficient search function create bottlenecks that waste your time. The licensing process is also more complicated than it needs to be, especially compared to its competitors.
Because of these issues, I find it difficult to recommend Dreamstime over industry leaders like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, or iStock. While the sheer volume of media might seem tempting, the drawbacks outweigh the potential benefits. If you’re looking for high-quality, royalty-free images, videos, and audio, you’ll have a smoother and more fruitful experience with Dreamstime alternatives.
Table of contents:
Cost: Average prices but complex pricing system
- Images: $25 to $219 monthly for 5 to 750 images
- 30% discount
Dreamstime pricing aligns with most of its competitors. However, its subscription logic does not make sense to me. The image plans start at $25 monthly for both 5 and 15 monthly downloads and the 10 and 25 monthly downloads cost $39 per month. So, if you want a smaller subscription, pick 10 or 25 downloads and forget about the other two plans.
Here’s your full list of options:
All Dreamstime buying options
| Plan | Prices | You get | Cost per download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image subscriptions | $25 to $219 per month | 5, 10, 15, 25, 200, 750 images | $0.23 to $5 per image |
| Video subscriptions | $15 to $1,189 per month | 1, 5, 10, 25 videos | $6.80 to $55 per video |
| Audio subscriptions | $20 to $100 per month | 1, 3, 10 audio | $10 to $20 per audio |
| All-in-one subscriptions | $199 or $410 per month | 10, 25 assets | $16.40 or $19.90 per asset |
| Credit packs | $15 to $1,750 | 3 to 550 credits | $3.20 to $30 per image $22.40 to $110 per video |
| Extended license | $32–$50 per image; $112–$175 per video/audio | 1 license | $32–$50 per image; $112–$175 per video/audio |
My biggest issue with Dreamstime’s subscriptions is that there are no annual plans. It’s good that they offer monthly plans because these provide more flexibility, but annual plans are cheaper. The only subscription available with a 12-month commitment is the image plan for 750 monthly downloads.
Video subscriptions include download limits of 1 to 25 per month along with web, 720p, 1080p, and 4K resolution choices for $15 to $1,189 per month. Audio-only subscriptions are available with 1, 3, or 10 monthly downloads for $20 to $100 per month. Dreamstime also has All-in-one plans (10 or 25 monthly downloads) for $200 or $410 per month, while Extended license subscriptions range from 2 to 500 monthly downloads for $59 to $11,500 per month.
Instead of a subscription, you can purchase credit packages ranging from 3 to 550 credits for $15 to $1,750 (equal to $3.20 to $5 per credit). The price of an image, video, or audio file depends on its download history and format. Generally, images cost between 1 to 6 credits, videos cost 7 to 22 credits, and music and SFX cost 1 to 5 credits. Extended licenses are also available for purchase with credits, though the pricing structure is complex.
Price-wise, Dreamstime is in the same ballpark as its competitors. Standard royalty-free images range from $0.23 to $30, videos cost $4.76 to $110, and audio files cost $3.20 to $25. For extended licenses, expect to pay between $23 to $175.
I’ve used several stock photo sites, but my favorite is Shutterstock. Their pricing is similar to Dreamstime, with images costing $0.22 to $14.50 and videos costing $8.32 to $120, but the service is better overall. If you primarily work with Adobe software, Adobe Stock is another alternative, with images starting at $0.26. Consider iStock if you’re familiar with the Getty Images family. For affordable footage and audio, check out Envato Elements or Artlist.
Licensing: Dreamstime licensing is good but complex
- Licenses: Royalty Free (RF), Limited Royalty-Free (RF-LL), Public Domain (RF-CC0), Extended Licenses (EL)
- Indemnity: $10,000 for RF and $250,000 for EL
- Commercial use? Yes, for media not marked “editorial”
Dreamstime offers a convenient way to license images, but their system can be complex. Before using any media you download, you should understand the licensing terms. Unlike owning the content outright, you’ll receive a license from the creator that allows you to use the media under specific conditions.
The most basic option is their Royalty-Free License (RF) you get whenever you download media with a standard subscription or credits. This license means you pay once and can use the media indefinitely, both online and in print. You can use RF images for websites, social media, ebooks, book covers, and more. However, you can’t sell products featuring the image as the primary element (like t-shirts or postcards), offer the media for download as-is, or use it online in resolutions exceeding 1080 pixels. Importantly, Dreamstime’s RF license allows unlimited printed copies, whereas most stock photo sites limit this to 500K and require you to get an extended license for unlimited prints.
Images in the free collection come with a Limited Royalty-Free License (RF-LL). This license is similar to the standard RF but you can print a maximum of 10,000 copies only, and the license expires 6 months after download. Dreamstime also has a collection of images it believes have entered the public domain (RF-CC0).
Extended licenses (EL) grant additional rights beyond the standard RF license. Dreamstime offers granular EL options for specific use cases, such as unlimited seats (U-EL), web usage (W-EL), print usage (P-EL), or the ability to sell the rights (SR-EL). All ELs come with increased indemnification coverage of $250,000. Here are all the options:
- Unlimited seats (U-EL) ($32–$50 per image; $112–$175 per video/audio): extends the number of seats within the same organization from 1 to unlimited.
- Web Usage (W-EL) ($32–$50 per image; $112–$175 per video/audio): it gives you the right to use media for electronic resale and distribution, such as templates, wallpapers, presentations, etc.
- Print Usage (P-EL) ($32–$50 per image; $112–$175 per video/audio): it gives you the right to use media for physical resale and distribution, such as t-shirts, calendars, postcards, etc.
- Sell the Rights (SR-EL) (from $250 per image; from $1,000 per video/audio): it grants you full ownership of the media, but not the copyright. This means you can’t resell the file as your work. While you do get an exclusive right to use the media, you should know that it may have been downloaded before you bought the license, so you might not be the only person using it.
- Time Limited Exclusivity (SR-EL1, SR-EL3) (from $62.50/$150 per image; from $250/$600 per image/audio): get exclusive rights to the media for a limited period of time. But customers who licensed it before you bought this license, can still use it.
If you didn’t properly cancel the media before using it, Dreamstime also offers Universal RF and EL licenses. It’s a way of turning yourself in before Dreamstime infringement gets in touch. The licenses cost $500 for RF and $1000 for EL.
Key takeaway: Licensing terms are very good (unlimited print copies with the standard license is a unique feature), but the granular extended licenses are expensive.
Content: there are serious issues with quality
I see the biggest issue of Dreamstime in their image quality and variety. Among all the big stock photo sites, Dreamstime is the one whose images look the most “stocky”. What makes the quality worse is that lots of photos are poorly edited, with even editorial content, which should always represent events accurately, having colors oversaturated. This signals to me that their curation team is not doing their job properly.
In terms of pure numbers, Dreamstime is pretty good. Their library contains 235 million images (photos, vectors, illustrations) of which there are approximately 23 million of those that come with an editorial license. There are also around 1 million videos, 100K audio tracks, and 1 million free images.
Key takeaway: Dreamstime has enough images to make it a solid choice, but the low quality significantly reduces your options.
User experience: outdated website with lots of productivity-stoppers
I have used the stock media website Dreamstime.com for years, but the outdated user interface can hinder productivity. At first glance, the homepage appears familiar, with its search bar and curated image categories. However, frustration sets in once you try to actually find and download content.
One of the biggest annoyances is the clunky captcha system for proving you are not a bot. Instead of modern captcha technology, Dreamstime requires you to hold down a button for an inconveniently long time. This process is especially tedious on mobile, often forcing multiple retries. VPN users may also encounter more frequent captchas. Page load times routinely take 30 seconds or more, even with a high-speed internet connection.
Looking past these issues, the rest of the search process functions relatively smoothly. Helpful filters allow narrowing results by content type, number of people, pricing, orientation, color, resolution, and other categories.
To download media, click the thumbnail then select licensing and resolution options. Users with credits must watch for the content levels that determine pricing. You can also save media in collections or lightboxes for easier access later. The website suggests similar images below each asset, helping you find alternatives or related media.
Key takeaway: The outdated interface of Dreamstime.com severely hinders the user experience and productivity.
Should you use Dreamstime?
I have used Dreamstime in the past to download over a dozen images. However, I have not returned to the site for new content in quite some time, as there are better options available.
Dreamstime offers a wide variety of media with standard royalty-free licensing. Their license includes the standard $10,000 indemnity you find at competitors like iStock, Shutterstock, and Adobe Stock. Surprisingly, Dreamstime even allows unlimited prints by default, which the others do not, and limits it to 500,000 unless you get an extended license.
However, the lower average quality of assets compared to competitors eventually led me to search for alternatives. Combined with the poor, outdated user experience, I found myself frustrated each time I visited the site. Simple searches became tests of patience rather than exercises in creativity.
