Quick Answer
The closest Storyblocks alternative is Envato: unlimited stock video downloads with a lifetime commercial licence for €14.50 a month billed yearly. Artgrid suits filmmakers who want graded or RAW footage, Adobe Stock and Pond5 suit buying a few clips, and Pexels, Pixabay and Coverr are free with no attribution needed.
Prices and licences read from each vendor’s own page on 15 September 2026, in euros where the page showed euros.
Storyblocks alternatives compared on price and licence, read from each vendor's page on 15 September 2026: Envato, Artgrid, Adobe Stock, Pond5, Magnific, free libraries, and generating the clip with AI.
Related next steps
Storyblocks sells unlimited stock video on a subscription. Its alternatives come in four kinds: another unlimited subscription (Envato, Artgrid), paying per clip (Adobe Stock, Pond5), a free library (Pexels, Pixabay, Mixkit, Coverr), or generating the clip you cannot find with an AI video model. The closest match is Envato, which gives unlimited downloads and a lifetime commercial licence for less than Storyblocks' cheapest plan.
Every price and licence term below was read on the vendor's own page on 15 September 2026. Where a page showed euros, the price is the one it showed in Europe; prices in the US can differ.
Storyblocks alternatives at a glance
| Option | What it costs (15 Sep 2026) | Downloads | Licence | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storyblocks ↗ (for comparison) | Essentials €18 a month billed yearly; Unlimited All Access €25; Small Business €35 | Unlimited | Individual, Small Business or Business | Unlimited stock with AI credits included |
| Envato ↗ | Core €14.50 a month billed yearly, or €29 monthly | Unlimited, 29 million+ assets | Lifetime commercial licence | The cheapest unlimited plan |
| Artgrid ↗ | US$239.90 a year (Junior, HD) to US$599 (Pro, RAW and LOG) | Unlimited | Lifetime use on all platforms, YouTube monetisation | Graded, cinematic footage |
| Adobe Stock ↗ | €29.99 a month for 10 credits; a video costs 8 | 1 video a month on that plan | Adobe Stock licence | A few clips a month |
| Pond5 ↗ | Video clips from €41 each | Per clip | Per clip | Buying single clips |
| Magnific ↗ (formerly Freepik) | Premium €12 a month billed yearly, or €16 monthly | 250 million+ premium assets, 240K AI credits a year | Commercial AI licence | Stock and AI generation in one plan |
| Pexels ↗ | Free | Unlimited | Free to use, no attribution needed | Free clips |
| Pixabay ↗ | Free | Unlimited | Free, no attribution, some prohibited uses | Free clips |
| Mixkit ↗ | Free | Per item | Free License on most items, Restricted on some | Free templates and clips |
| Coverr ↗ | Free (Coverr+ is paid) | HD, some 4K | Commercial use, no attribution needed | Background loops |
| Percify | Free plan; Creator $21 a month billed yearly for 1,233 credits | You generate each clip, priced in credits | Commercial rights on every plan, no watermark | A shot no library has |
The closest match: another unlimited plan
Envato (pricing ↗) is the nearest thing to Storyblocks at a lower price. Core is €14.50 a month billed yearly, or €29 month to month, for unlimited downloads from more than 29 million assets: stock video and photos, video templates, music and sound effects, and more. Every download carries a lifetime commercial licence, and the plan includes 20 AI credits a month. Plus, at €33 a month billed yearly, raises that to 200 AI credits.
Artgrid (pricing ↗) is for filmmakers who care about the footage itself. Every plan gives unlimited downloads, lifetime use on any platform worldwide and YouTube monetisation. The plan decides the format: Junior (US$239.90 a year) is HD in H.264, Creator (US$359.90) adds 4K to 8K clips in ProRes or DNxHR, and Pro (US$599) adds RAW and LOG clips. Artgrid refunds within 14 days of purchase.
What you give up by leaving Storyblocks. Its licence ↗ says anything you create and publish while you are a member stays covered forever, and Storyblocks helps with YouTube Content ID claims. Its plans also include AI credits: 3,000 a month on Essentials and 4,500 on Unlimited All Access. The Individual licence covers one person. Small Business (€35 a month billed yearly) is for an employee at a company under 50 staff, excluding agencies, production and broadcast companies, and Business adds $1 million in indemnification.
Paying per clip: Adobe Stock and Pond5
If you need only a handful of clips a year, paying per clip can cost less than a subscription.
Adobe Stock (plans ↗) sells credits. On the plan page we read (the Austrian one), 10 credits a month cost €29.99 and an HD or 4K video costs 8 credits, so that plan covers 1 video a month. 25 credits (€59.99) cover 3 videos, and 750 credits (€199.99) cover 25 at 30 credits each. Unused credits carry over for up to 12 months.
Pond5 (pricing ↗) sells each clip on its own, with video starting at €41. Credit packs add bonus credit: €25 extra on €250, €65 on €500 and €160 on €1,000. It sells subscriptions too.
Set against Envato, one Adobe Stock video on the smallest plan costs €29.99, about twice Envato's monthly price for unlimited downloads. Per clip only wins when you need very few.
Free Storyblocks alternatives
Four free libraries cover most everyday needs. Read each licence for what it rules out.
- Pexels ↗: every photo and video is free to use, and attribution is not required.
- Pixabay ↗: free to use without attribution, subject to the prohibited uses its licence lists.
- Coverr ↗: free for commercial and noncommercial use with no attribution. Clips are HD MP4, some in 4K. Coverr+ is its paid tier.
- Mixkit ↗: most items are under its Free License and some under a Restricted License, so check the licence on each download. Mixkit belongs to Envato.
Magnific ↗, the new name of Freepik, also has a free video section marked suitable for commercial use, and videvo.net now redirects there.
When no library has the shot, generate it
Stock works when someone has already filmed what you need. When nobody has, an AI video model can make it from a text prompt or a still image. Percify runs the current models in one place: its models page listed Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1 Fast, Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, Wan 2.7 and 3.0, and Hailuo 02 on 15 September 2026. Each clip is priced in credits before you run it, and credits come back when a run fails.
What it costs. There is a free plan, and Creator is $21 a month billed yearly for 1,233 credits. No plan puts a watermark on the output, and every plan, the free one included, carries commercial rights.
What it will not do well. Real places, real events and real people: use stock or your own footage for those. Generated clips are also short, a few seconds each (Wan 3.0 runs from 2 to 30 seconds), so they suit B roll, product scenes and concept shots rather than long sequences. Most models output 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1, and some add 3:4; to post in 4:5, see how to crop to 1080 × 1350.
Generate the shot instead of searching for it, or open the video playground ↗.
How to choose
- You download clips most weeks: an unlimited plan. Envato costs least, Artgrid if you need graded or RAW footage, and Storyblocks if its AI credits and YouTube claims help matter to you.
- You need a few clips a year: Pond5 per clip, or Adobe Stock on its smallest plan.
- No budget: Pexels, Pixabay and Coverr, after reading each licence.
- The shot does not exist: generate it.
Ready to Create Your Own AI Avatar?
Make a talking video of yourself from one photo, in your own voice. No watermark on any plan.
Cancel anytime from your profile
Got questions?
Frequently asked
For most people, Envato: unlimited downloads from more than 29 million assets with a lifetime commercial licence, for €14.50 a month billed yearly on its pricing page on 15 September 2026. Filmmakers who need graded, 4K to 8K or RAW footage should look at Artgrid, and anyone on no budget at Pexels, Pixabay and Coverr.
Yes. Pexels and Pixabay are free with no attribution required, Coverr allows commercial use without attribution, and Mixkit offers most items under its Free License. Read each licence before you publish: Pixabay lists prohibited uses, and some Mixkit items carry a Restricted License.
On their own pages on 15 September 2026 (prices shown in euros in Europe), Envato Core was €14.50 a month billed yearly and Storyblocks Essentials €18. Both give unlimited downloads. Storyblocks adds 3,000 AI credits a month and covers what you publish as a member forever; Envato's downloads carry a lifetime commercial licence and 20 AI credits a month.
They charge differently. Pond5 sells clips one at a time, with video from €41 each, while Storyblocks gives unlimited downloads from €18 a month billed yearly. If you need more than a couple of clips a year, the subscription costs less.
Storyblocks says anything you create and publish while you are a member stays covered by its licence forever. Check its licence before you use old downloads in new work after cancelling.
Artgrid includes YouTube monetisation and lifetime use on every plan. Storyblocks itself helps with YouTube Content ID claims. With free libraries, read the licence and keep the download page as proof of where a clip came from.
For B roll, product scenes and concept shots, yes: an AI video model makes a clip from a prompt or an image, usually a few seconds long. For real places, events or people, use stock or your own footage. On Percify, every plan includes commercial rights and no plan adds a watermark.
