Shutterstock Reviews 2,736

Was suckered into the $19 unlimited dream but once I signed up all the good stuff is NOT INCLUDED in the plan. I regret leaving ENVATO!!! Can't wait for the subscription to be over because I'm being charged every month but can't access quality images. WORST MISTAKE for a content creator on a budget!!!

I have used Shutterstock for years. However, in the past month I have had two extremely poor experiences with their customer support chat. Not to mention, the phone number they list for customer service does NOT work. The first instance was an image I downloaded from my subscription did not open on my computer (computer is less than a year old with latest Adobe creative suite). Though I have spent thousands of dollars for over a decade, they would not give me one download credit as a refund because they claimed it opened on their machines. The second happened when they recently offered a new unlimited downloads plan. I signed up and paid. Then, my next download was taken from my old plan (25 images at a time with auto-renew). Coincidentally, that download was the last on my current plan - so, even though I had signed up for unlimited PRIOR to this download, it auto-charged me for another 25 downloads ($247.50). When I contacted customer service, they said it was their policy not to refund purchase credits. They gave me the run around, made my blood boil and eventually refunded. Once I signed up for unlimited downloads, it should not have been taking from my old plan. Their arrogance to not refund was the worst.

Shutterstock is stupid, I hate it

Avoid this company, their "stock footage" is terrible and they charged me $104 to cancel early. Complete scam and a waist of money never subscribe to this awful company!

paid to use the services got the Reciept emailed, searched for what I needed requested to download and now they want me to pay more money, I purchased 100 prints and this is the first download... went for help with AI - absolute waist of time..... unable to cancel account, so went to delete and it says I can not delete because I have active subscription..... surprised me to be honest, I just dont won't others to go through this...

Pure rip-off....Don't touch this company!

Completely dishonest and fraudulent system sets autopay without notification and secretly bills you. They make it impossible to cancel or remove your credit card. Avoid this company like the plague.

Careful they will rip you off! i signed up for a what i thought was a months trial with shutterstock and turns out they signed me up for a whole year! very misleading and when i went on chat 10 MINUTES after singing up i spent an HOUR with them and they couldn't cancel it!! AVOID AVOID AVOID!

Strange how Enterprise customers who pay more than your "typical customer" do not get access to 24/7 support like those on the entry-level plans on the website, and rely on one person to actually resolve 100% of all issues that ever arise. Sign a 12-month contract, service cuts off after 2 and I'm being told "I need to speak to a sales rep/ my account manager to resolve the issue" despite there being an obvious service level agreement in place.

Service is good when it works but when it doesn't and you rely on this product/service - you're just crippled. Looking for alternatives ASAP.

Used this service since May 2021 and every time there is an issue, it's just a bottleneck to one person who is able to help - and likely has "deals" to close and multiple other businesses contacting for help too...

BUYER BEWARE. WHen you buy an image "pack" they have it set up to auto-renew. So as soon as you have fulfilled your number of images you are charged for a new pack. Super shady practice. They refunded me BUT because I'm in Canada I lost $30 in the exchange. Even tho it was the same day! Total BS. I hate this company

I was a Shutterstock contributor for over a year with no violations. My account was suddenly suspended on April 29, 2025, because one of my images was found on a third-party website. I proved that I’m the original creator by sending multiple photos from the same photoshoot, complete with EXIF metadata showing my camera and shooting data.

Despite following Shutterstock's exact appeal instructions, they ignored my messages for nearly two months. No reply, no decision, just silence.

This treatment is humiliating. Shutterstock depends on contributors, yet shows zero respect when we need support. If you're thinking of contributing to this platform — be warned. They can delete your work and ignore you, even when you're right.

Downloaded an image that was unusable, but refused to refund me a credit. Absolutely obnoxious customer service and have now deleted my account with them.

Purchased Shutterstock’s “unlimited” plan, only to find it was very limited and not as advertised. Customer service unhelpful until I pushed hard, and still no refund for misleading service. Be cautious.

Beware that an approved image for regular license can be demoted to a data license only. Shutterstock's strategy is to make your image unavailable for the regular catalog. After a re-upload process which can take for months, your image will be approved only for data licensing. During such process, i received several image download offers from Shutterstock instead of urgently fixing the market catalog unavailabilty of my photo. Seemed like Shutterstock misunderstood that i wanted to be a stock photo buyer than contributor. When they demoted my license, i deleted all my images and closed my account.

Shutterstock is a scam. I was charged $145 in"early" cancellation fees. Will never use this service again.

Terrible. I have been both a personal and a business user. As a business user for a decade they were fine until they started finding ways to restrict content and charge more for less. As a personal customer, almost all content that is any good is unavailable on the Unlimited plan but that is not divulged anywhere.

As contributor i dont know why they keep rejecting my illustration work as AI content, i even contact cs and give them proof of my figma file they said wait for 7 days but nothing happen. The funniest thing is i submit 5 themes of icons with same style they reject 4 and accept 1 lol mentioning ai content then why even accept the other one. Support not really helping at al. The curator dont have any idea to differentiate ai or not lol i sepnd time working on works and tagging then got rejected and now they make new rules that can not submit rejected content. So when im wrongly choose the categories then my work is on trash forever lol. Better to submit in other platform leave shutterstock

Shutterstock has an unethical and potentially illegal charging scheme. During the trial period, they prompt users to enter their credit card details, making it difficult to remove the card without contacting their support team. Each time assistance is requested, users face long wait times for a response, which is frustrating and may lead people to abandon the platform. Eventually, users may find that their card has been charged. When you do manage to reach customer support, they inform you that a cancellation fee applies, which is 50% of the remaining months on your subscription (six months).

I have been charged for six consecutive months without ever using their services. This situation feels like theft, and I believe that any platform preventing users from removing their credit card details should be held accountable by law.

DO NOT use Shutterstock.

I have been in contact with Shutterstock support for several months, back and forth, attempting to resolve an ongoing issue. They have my money, but I can't place orders. Sometimes it takes them several weeks to respond. And when they do, the responses are beyond comprehension. This support team is by far the most incompetent I've ever experienced. I would never have believed a support team could be this bad until seeing it for myself.