Pond5 review

The best Pond5 coupon codes today:

• HELLO20 – 20% on your first order
• MUS50 – 50% off music
• SFX50 – 50% off sound effects
• AE50 – 50% off After Effects
• PHOTOS50 – 50% off images

Pond5, now owned by Shutterstock, is one of the best stock footage sites, has the largest collection of videos, is relatively expensive, and comes with one of the best royalty-free licenses with up to $1M legal coverage.

The provider has 46 million videos and 125 million images, as well as millions of accompanying assets, such as music and SFX. In comparison, Shutterstock, the company that acquired Pond5 in 2022 and the largest stock media library on the market, has 40 million videos and 503 million images.

My Pond5 review summary:

• How much does Pond5 cost?
• One of the best royalty-free licenses, plus high indemnification
• Familiar user interface & good search filters
• Outstanding video and audio quality and variety
• Pond5 lacks tools and integrations
• Pond5 review: Scorecard
• Is Pond5 worth it?

How much does Pond5 cost?

Pond5 is known as a high-end footage source, and the prices reflect that. The cheapest way to license audio and videos from Pond5 is subscriptions, and there are three of them: Music, Music & SFX, and Footage Plus.

• Music ($25/mo or $150/yr): 10 downloads per month of music tracks
• Music ($30/mo or $180/yr): 10 downloads per month of music tracks and sound effects
• Footage Plus ($199/mo or $999/yr): 10 downloads per month of music tracks, sound effects, images, AE templates, and up to 4K videos

While I like the music and SFX subscriptions, Pond5’s footage subscription gives you access to only a tenth of their footage library (4.2M videos of the total 46 million), so I often have to buy credit packs to buy footage not included in the plan.

Other times, I rather choose an alternative. For instance, I get 10 videos for $159 per month at Shutterstock or for $99 per month at iStock. My favorite is Adobe Stock, where I get 6 videos for $80 per month, and its collection of 37 million is also natively integrated into Premiere Pro.

An alternative to subscriptions is credit packs, which, while giving you more flexibility, will cost you more per download. However, these credit packs work a bit differently from what I’m used to from other stock video sites. They work exactly like buying video and audio with your cash, except that you get a bonus of 10% to 20% credit based on the credit pack size.

• Pay $250 and get $25 bonus credit (10% bonus)
• Pay $500 and get $65 bonus credit (13% bonus)
• Pay $1,000 and get $160 bonus credit (16% bonus)
• Pay $2,500 and get $500 bonus credit (20% bonus)

With credits in your account, you can now license any asset or get any license (including extended licenses) at Pond5. The main drawback is that they are valid for 1 year only (that’s common to all stock footage platforms).

On-demand footage and image prices are average for the industry and may tip slightly toward the higher end.

• Video: $39 to $119
• Music: $3 to $9999
• Sound effects: $2 to $9000
• After Effects templates: $5 to $900
• Images: $1 to $5500

Note: Some of these prices are rare outliers since Pond5 allows contributors to set their own prices. Most assets cost between $10 and $100.

Score: 4.0/5

One of the best royalty-free licenses, plus high indemnification

The above-average Pond5 prices come with licensing benefits—one of the best royalty-free licenses.

With every asset you download, you get the Individual license by default. Because it’s a royalty-free license, you can use it in as many projects as you want, including commercial purposes. It’s also worldwide and perpetual. Pond5’s basic license offers more indemnity ($15K) than other providers (up to $10K).

If you need broader use, you can buy extended licenses that come with more indemnity (up to $1M), merchandising rights, no print limits, and unlimited users. You can buy an extended license by clicking Upgrade from an asset’s page.

Here’s a summary of everything I’ve told you about Pond5 licensing.

Note: Digital License applies only to specific content (Reuters and British Movietone clips).

Score: 5.0/5

Familiar user interface & good search filters

Pond5’s search interface has the same layout as all other stock media platforms: a search bar at the top, a carousel of asset previews in the middle, and search filters in the left sidebar.

I always start my search by entering a rather specific keyword, such as “A couple dancing tango” or “bald eagle flying above a city”—the more specific, the better. While Pond5 doesn’t have an AI search like Envato or Artlist, its basic algorithm gets the job done.

However, it’s very rare to find the right asset right away because there’s too much choice in a collection with tens of millions of video clips, so I use Pond5’s plethora of filters next. For footage, you can filter by resolution, duration, and FPS, while for audio, you have filters for mood, genre, and tempo.

If you purchase a subscription, the filter for collections will be really useful. You can even use them before subscribing to Pond5 to see if their subscription footage selection fulfills your requirements. You can also use these filters to find Pond5 exclusive content as well as their Marquee videos (Premium quality, hand-curated footage priced at a flat rate.)

Lastly, in the top right corner, you have filters that let you sort media based on best match, price, duration, and popularity—I rarely use the latter because it shows you the videos that everyone else uses, which is the biggest drawback to using stock footage anyway. So I rather stay away from those.

At all times, you will notice that every thumbnail has a price tag attached to it, which is really useful to me when I am trying to stay within a budget since Pond5 has no search filter to limit the upper cost of an asset.

Once you find a media that you fancy, you can hover over its preview thumbnail to reveal more options. Along with resolution and duration, the overlay will reveal a link View Similar that I like to use when I fancy a file but would like to see more options.

You can also add them to collections, your cart or even download a watermarked preview. Please note that you may not use watermarked media in your final projects, and you also may not remove the watermark—these are for preview only. Or, if you really like the media, simply click on it.

Score: 4.5/5

Outstanding video and audio quality and variety

Pond5 has an impressive collection of high-quality videos and audio. Although its parent company, Shutterstock, has a comparable video library and an even larger image collection, Pond5 remains a good option for video editors.

Currently, Pond5 media library contains:

• 46 million videos, including commercial, editorial, exclusive, and vertical videos
• 2.5 million music and 2.5 million SFX
• 125 million images (photos and illustrations)
• 42,000 After Effects templates and 10,400 Photoshop templates

My experience with Pond5’s video editing resources has been mostly positive. With a great selection of super-high-quality videos and music available in various resolutions (up to 5K+) and ProRes format, I have always been able to find the right content for my needs, provided it fits within my budget.

There’s also archival footage, supplied by world-renowned media houses like Reuters. This puts Pond5 among editorial competitors to Shutterstock and Getty Images.

While Pond5 originally gained popularity as a stock footage site, it has since expanded its offerings to include exceptional music, sound effects, and After Effects collections. However, if you’re strictly in the market for images, you may find Shutterstock or Depositphotos to be more suitable options.

Although Pond5’s creative photo collection is not as extensive as its competitors, it does offer a unique selection of archival photographs at reasonable prices for smaller sizes. However, be prepared for higher costs if you require larger resolutions.

Score: 5.0/5

Pond5 lacks tools and integrations

When I work with stock media, I love using various tools and integrations to make my life easier. For example, Adobe Stock is natively integrated into all Adobe apps, such as Premiere Pro. Other platforms offer their own extensions for creative software, while Artlist has Clearlist to help resolve copyright claims and AI Voiceovers for text-to-speech generation.

Almost every platform has something—Pond5 has nothing, and that’s its biggest drawback. For me, integration into Premiere Pro would be the number one priority.

Alas, I found something to give Pond5 1 point in integrations and tools. There’s a tool called “Data & Trends” meant for contributors to see what’s selling so they can make more of those features. However, as a buyer, you can use it in the same way as Getty’s Visual GPS Insights. For instance, this can help you follow the trends and be a reminder for you if you forget about holidays, such as Valentine’s Day.

Score: 1.0/5

Pond5 review: Scorecard

Is Pond5 worth it?

Absolutely, Pond5 is good value for your money if you prioritize high-quality content and are willing to invest in it. Their stock footage, music, and images are exceptional, and the licensing terms are favorable with high indemnification. If you’re a professional video editor with a flexible budget, Pond5 is a great choice.

However, Pond5 may not be the best fit for budget-conscious users. Their prices are generally higher than competitors. If cost is a major concern, and you can compromise a bit on quality, other cheaper stock footage sites might be a better option.

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Matic Broz

Matic Broz is a stock media licensing expert with over 10 years of experience using and testing creative platforms for his own creative work. He has personally licensed over 5,000 stock assets and helped 20,000+ creators choose the right subscription services through his work at Photutorial.

Tags

• Images
• Video & audio

Mentioned apps

• Pond5