Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock, with its 40 million-plus royalty-free pictures, is Adobe's answer to stock image stores, such as Getty Images, iStock, and Shutterstock. Sign up and get 10 free standard images to start, and then plans start at $29.99 per month.

Pros

Variety of content: Adobe Stock provides standard, premium, and editorial-grade photos, vector art, illustrations, 3D assets, and design templates. Stock also carries excellent HD and 4K videos.

Creative search methods: Of course you can perform an old-fashioned keyword search to uncover that perfect image, or search through Stock's curated collections. But, with Stock's reverse image search, you can also just drag a JPG or PNG file into the search field to locate similar pictures. The initial results are excellent.

But if you want to filter your results further, you can add a search term or drag another photo that more closely matches your need to the search bar. You can also tap Filters to unlock Stock's aesthetic filters, which enable you to search for photos by shape (vertical, horizontal, etc.), whether people are included or excluded, or by depth of field and color saturation levels.

Integrates into Adobe's Creative Cloud apps: Adobe Stock is integrated into Adobe apps like Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Spark, so designers can search for and license Stock assets directly from within Adobe apps. You can buy Creative Cloud now and save 15 percent.

Try before you buy: Download and preview watermarked images in your project before paying for them.

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A variety of plans: If standard assets are what you're after, then Stock offers a range of pricing options -- from $29.99 to $249.99 -- depending on your monthly image need and whether you're willing to pony up for an annual plan in advance. If you use up your image allowance before month's end, you can purchase additional ones from 99 cents to $9.99, depending on your plan.

First 10 images free: You can get 10 assets free when you sign up for an Adobe Stock trial.

Cons

Premium content and video can be costly: While standard assets are included in Stock plans, premium photos, vectors, illustrations, or templates; 3D assets; or HD and 4K video require the purchase of credit packs that run from $49.99 for just one premium photo to $4,245.75 for 100 premium images or 62 HD videos.

Bottom Line

Adobe Stock offers millions of quality photos, illustrations, vectors, and templates at an affordable rate, but beware that the premium content and video can be costly for an average user.