Shutterstock Reviews 2,736

Don't waste your time here as contributors. They are professionally scamming contributors.

Would be zero if I could give zero stars. Downloaded image was blank,I was charged for 2 images was cut off twice from chat, then got Olek who was the customer service guy from hell, so rude I’m in process of getting my money back

Shutterstock are thiefs and misinformers. Do not buy their service. They promisse things and misinform you and then make a mess on your visa card. If you send mails they do not reply and you get 10 mails back that each time the person is not working for this company anymore.

Do not sign up for a monthly plan with Shutter stock! They make you pay the annual fee when you want to cancel your monthly subscription! They make it very hard to cancel and are not helpful over chat.

Ended up with a yearly subscription without my knowledge. Customer service not responding. Came to check the reviews and seen that thousands of customers ended up in the same situation. I wonder why it is not classified as a fraudulent website

Misleading Subscription & Poor Quality Content

I strongly advise avoiding Shutterstock. Their subscription service is deliberately confusing, making it unclear how and when you can cancel. When I finally decided to leave, I was hit with an unexpected early termination fee — a nasty surprise that felt like a trap.

To make matters worse, the content quality is extremely disappointing. A huge portion of the library is now cluttered with terrible AI-generated images that look cheap, unrealistic, and unusable for professional work. For the price they charge, the quality and transparency are shockingly poor.

Save yourself the frustration — there are far better and more honest stock image platforms out there.

I used Shutterstock to find an image, then paid for it but couldn’t find my way back to the image. I called the company and spoke to one of their team who was very helpful and helped solve the issue. I would recommend anyone who has trouble navigating the website to just phone the company and ask for help. Highly recommended.

Never enter your debit/credit card details. They will try to withdraw without your consent. This company is untrustworthy and there are much better options out there. Check on Google, you’ll find a much better company to work with.

worst stock imagery platform there is. Expensive for a plan with a 10 download limit considering there are platforms with unlimited download that have the same images. GOOD LUCK cancelling your plan without having to pay a huge cancellation fee that wasnt even communicated at the beginning. Dirty scum of a company.

Shutterstock sucks a bag of D's. I thought I enrolled in a monthly plan and was charged a half a year to end my enrollment. There is no ease of use on this platform whatsoever and it's beyond tedious for a person to simply post some photos to see if they can sell any.

Turning into a scam. I was trying to get 10 photos and clicked on the download. Takes you straight to payments, where I apparently signed up for 1 year subscription. I went to cancel and they have a no refund policy. So one wrong click and they try to rope you in for a year. On top of that, the professional looking photos were not included in the subscription. You're essentially paying for crappy snapshot that you can walk outside and take with your phone. The "premium" photos all had an additional charge to the plan they already sold you. I don't know what happened to this company. They used to be good. I will never use them again.

No stars. charged over £79 to cancel my plan early because ai don’t use it.
Do not sign up with Shutterstock,an absolute mugging!

Don't try to sell on Shutterstock. my recent attempts at uploads have been met by rejection due to automated AI detection that falsely flags work as "AI Generated" I don't know what the the bigger insult is. my Vector designs being called AI or the hostile warning of "attempts to upload AI generated content will result in account suspension"

The customer service team at ShutterStock needs a bit more training I think!
After speaking with someone on live chat about a copyright issue, I was left asking myself why I was being asked so many pointless questions that I'd already answered prior. Maybe their chat is manned by bots but if so, the bots can't spell or type properly....

After that, I've ended up having an email conversation with someone about my issue where they are repeatedly asking me questions I've already given answers to and outright refusing to read what I am writing. If they did read, they'd know I've ALREADY told them everything they need to know to help me with my problem.

In short :
Live chat - Useless and stricken with typos
Emails - Generic copy paste responses and no intention of reading information to actually help you with your issue

TOTALLY USELESS

Given the state of the other reviews this company has, I'd stay away. It's incredible they've gotten this large in the industry!!

My ID 2714431
I’m a contributor on Shutterstock and have been trying to change my payout email. The system gives me an error saying "This email already exists", even though I’ve never added this email before, and I’m 100% sure it doesn’t belong to any other Shutterstock account.

I’ve contacted support several days ago, tweeted, and still haven’t received any response.
This seems to be a system error, and it’s preventing me from receiving my payments.

Please help me resolve this issue as soon as possible.

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.

call no2 video call no2 video

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!