Stocksy
Stocksy is an artist-owned cooperative stock media platform licensing over two million exclusive, human-made photos, illustrations, and videos from contributors in 80+ countries to individual creatives, SMBs, and enterprise marketing teams.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersVictoria, Canada
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Stocksy does
Stocksy United is a privately held, artist-owned cooperative stock media platform headquartered in Victoria, Canada, founded in 2012. The company operates a self-serve e-commerce platform at stocksy.com that licenses over two million exclusive stock photos, illustrations, and videos contributed by a global network of artists in 80+ countries. Stocksy explicitly markets its catalog as 100% human-made and contributor-owned, paying the highest artist royalties in the stock media industry. Leadership includes CEO Trace Cohen and co-founder Bruce Livingstone.
The platform's product surface spans three asset categories (photography, illustration, video) and four licensing tiers: Standard (images $35–$135, videos $75–$400), Team (+$100/asset for multi-user organizations), Enhanced (+$300/asset for products-for-resale), and Market Freeze (from $1,250 for exclusive campaign use). Supporting capabilities include Search By Image (visual reverse-lookup), Curated Collections (themed content bundles), and Stocksy for Business (enterprise tier with centralized purchasing, flexible invoicing, and complimentary curation). Marketing relies on organic SEO, social channels, and an annual Visual Insights Report identifying creative trends; enterprise customers are served by a dedicated Business Solutions sales team.
The business is monetized purely through transactional, pay-as-you-go licensing fees with bundle discounts (5 assets = 10% off, 10 = 12%, 20 = 15%). All licenses are royalty-free. Customer segments are horizontal: individual creatives, SMBs, and enterprise teams, with named marquee customers including Apple, Google, Meta, Havas, Omnicom, Healthline, and Pinterest. Stocksy operates as a cooperative with no disclosed VC/PE backing, no subsidiaries, and no M&A activity in the source data.
Stocksy firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Stocksy
- Legal name
- Stocksy United
- Website
- https://stocksy.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Stocksy is an artist-owned cooperative stock media platform licensing over two million exclusive, human-made photos, illustrations, and videos from contributors in 80+ countries to individual creatives, SMBs, and enterprise marketing teams.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Stocksy industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Stock Media Licensing
- akta.pro primary industry
- Stock Media, Asset Marketplaces & Licensing Platforms (BPAMAJAM)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Footage & Stock Media Licensing (Archival/Newsreel/Stock) (MPADALAD)
Keywords
Where Stocksy is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Victoria
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Stocksy business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Stock Media Licensing: One-time transaction-based licensing fees for stock photos, illustrations, and videos at various resolution tiers. Images range from $35-$135, videos from $75-$400. Additional license tiers (Standard, Team, Enhanced) add $100-$300 per asset.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard License - Individual use with commercial rights |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Team License - Multi-user organization access |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Enhanced License - Products for resale/distribution |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Market Freeze - Exclusivity licensing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Stocksy product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Stocksy licenses royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, and videos from a global cooperative of artists through a self-serve e-commerce platform. Customers purchase individual assets or bundle licenses at tiered price points, with optional upgrades for team-wide usage, product-for-resale rights, and exclusive Market Freeze use. The platform also provides enterprise business accounts with multi-seat access, centralized purchasing, and dedicated account management.
Product overview
Stocksy is a premium, artist-owned stock media platform offering a unified catalog of over two million exclusive stock photos, illustrations, and videos. The platform operates on a cooperative model where member contributors in 80+ countries retain copyright while granting royalty-free licenses to clients. The core product portfolio centers on three content types (photography, illustration, video) with four licensing tiers (Standard, Team, Enhanced, Market Freeze) that scale from individual use to enterprise-wide deployment. Add-on services include Curated Collections for themed content discovery, Business Solutions for multi-seat organizations, and Search By Image for visual reverse-lookup. The 2026 Visual Insights Report represents the company's annual trend forecasting publication for creative professionals.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Stock Photography Premium, 100% artist-owned stock photography available for royalty-free licensing, featuring over two million exclusive images created by a global cooperative of photographers in 80+ countries across categories including lifestyle, business, fashion, and abstract. Resolution tiers (Medium 2.0MP to X-Large 30.1MP) priced $35 to $135 per asset.
- Stock Illustrations Digital illustration assets available for commercial licensing, featuring unique artistic styles contributed by member artists in Stocksy's global cooperative.
- Stock Videos Royalty-free video footage and animations available in multiple resolutions including 720p, 1080p, 4K, and 4K Ungraded formats, priced $75 to $400 per asset, with both graded and ungraded color options.
- Stocksy for Business Enterprise solution providing team accounts with multi-seat shared access, dedicated licensing support, business preferential pricing, flexible invoicing, and complimentary curation services for organizations with ongoing multi-user content licensing needs.
Quantifiable outcome
- Market Freeze ensures brand uniqueness by preventing sale of key assets to competitors during freeze period
Companies that use Stocksy
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Stocksy technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Stocksy partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Stocksy competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Shutterstock: Shutterstock is the largest publicly-listed stock media marketplace with hundreds of millions of assets across photo, illustration, video, and audio, plus AI image generation. It directly competes with Stocksy's core offering but at vastly larger scale and with bundled distribution (Pond5, Giphy, PremiumBeat).
- Getty Images: Getty Images is a global premium stock media and editorial imagery company (including iStock). It competes head-to-head with Stocksy in the premium and editorial tier, serves the same enterprise customers, and offers its own generative AI tools — directly relevant competitor.
- Adobe Stock: Adobe Stock is bundled inside Creative Cloud workflows with Firefly generative AI tools. It competes with Stocksy on the same creative-pro/Marketer personas and benefits from existing Creative Cloud distribution that Stocksy cannot match.
Direct peers
- Pond5: Pond5 (now part of Shutterstock) is one of the largest stock footage and video marketplaces, with contributor-owned content similar to Stocksy's stock video offering. Direct overlap on stock video licensing, royalty structures, and contributor models.
- 500px: 500px is a photographer community and stock licensing marketplace with curated photography and a global contributor base. It directly competes with Stocksy on curated premium stock photography and on the community/contributor-loyalty dimension.
- Depositphotos: Depositphotos is a subscription-led stock photo and vector marketplace serving SMB and enterprise customers globally. It overlaps Stocksy on commercial licensing, contributor economics, and multi-tier pricing in the same SMB-to-enterprise range.
Emerging players
- Unsplash: Unsplash is a free, high-quality stock photo platform with a large contributor community. Different pricing model (free) but overlapping persona (creatives, marketers) and competing for the long-tail of buyers considering a paid stock subscription like Stocksy.
- Pexels: Pexels offers free stock photos and videos with a curated contributor community. It overlaps with Stocksy on persona and category but competes purely on price (free) at the low end, constraining SMB/individual demand for paid platforms.
- Freepik: Freepik is a subscription-based stock image, vector, and design-asset marketplace with a heavy SMB and creator focus. It competes with Stocksy for marketing creatives, particularly on subscription price-sensitive segments and design-asset breadth.
- Storyblocks: Storyblocks is an unlimited-download stock media subscription focused on video and audio for creators and agencies. It overlaps with Stocksy's video and creative-segment positioning through a subscription model that competes for budget-conscious buyers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Stocksy social profiles
Digital presenceStocksy financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Stocksy leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Stocksy funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Stocksy M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Stocksy
What does Stocksy do?
Stocksy licenses royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, and videos from a global cooperative of artists through a self-serve e-commerce platform. Customers purchase individual assets or bundle licenses at tiered price points, with optional upgrades for team-wide usage, product-for-resale rights, and exclusive Market Freeze use. The platform also provides enterprise business accounts with multi-seat access, centralized purchasing, and dedicated account management.
Is Stocksy a public or private company?
Stocksy is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Stocksy founded?
Stocksy was founded in 2012. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Stocksy based?
Stocksy is headquartered in Victoria, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Stocksy make money?
One revenue line is on record: stock Media Licensing.
Who are Stocksy's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Shutterstock, Getty Images and Adobe Stock. Direct peers are Pond5, 500px and Depositphotos. Emerging players are Unsplash, Pexels, Freepik and Storyblocks.
Does Stocksy have an API?
No public API is recorded for Stocksy.
What industry is Stocksy in?
Stocksy's product category is Stock Media Licensing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAM, Stock Media, Asset Marketplaces & Licensing Platforms, with a secondary code of MPADALAD, Footage & Stock Media Licensing (Archival/Newsreel/Stock).