Shutterstock Reviews 

What a scumbag company, they auto-renew you on sign up. I noticed the charge on my bank statement today and it turns out I have been paying this company for eight years for a service I don't even use. Somehow they have still managed to take payments despite the credit card expiring years ago. In the end companies like this always go bust, what comes around goes around.

Beware – Impossible to Cancel, Cost Me Several Hundred Dollars.

They will not cancel your monthly draft. We were charged for almost 3 years after requesting cancellation.

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Extremely Disappointed – Account Closed Without Just Cause

After working with Shutterstock for nearly two years, our team is deeply disappointed. Without warning or a valid explanation, our account was closed, and our hard-earned earnings were withheld. Despite providing 100% proof of our legitimacy and compliance, Shutterstock has failed to present any evidence of wrongdoing on our part.

This action has not only wasted two years of dedicated work but also resulted in the loss of valuable designs created by our team. It feels like our content and revenue were simply taken without accountability.

We strongly advise others—especially designers and content creators—to stay away from this platform. Our experience reflects a serious lack of transparency and fairness. Protect your work and your time. There are better and more ethical marketplaces out there.

When signing up for a yearly rate, it doesn't tell you that you will pay a cancellation fee for the remaining amount of the year to cancel. So to avoid paying $19.99/mos because my business is struggling, I had to pay $85 to get out of it. Not small business friendly billing.
I am sick of these companies that loop you into these memberships that you cannot get out of.
Worse than a timeshare. Will not use again!

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.