Dozens of stock media companies offer a wide range of options, but their services are not all the same. Learning about stock footage subscriptions before deciding saves trouble later. Storyblocks and Envato Elements stand out for folks looking for royalty-free videos, sounds, and images. Both pack a punch with tons of great content, but the differences hide in small details that can make or break your creative work.
For instance, have you compared the available tools and plugins both services offer? Have you read up on their licensing restrictions? What about the protections they offer if you’re hit with a copyright claim? Without this information, you won’t have a complete picture of which service is right for you. But you can relax – we’ve done the homework for you. In this post, we’ll be comparing and contrasting Storyblocks and Envato Elements.
Want to consider all your options? See how other providers stack up with our posts on Artlist vs Storyblocks, Storyblocks vs Epidemic Sound, Pond5 vs Storyblocks, Adobe Stock vs Storyblocks, Shutterstock vs Storyblocks, and Storyblocks vs Motion Array.
Table of contents
Overview of Storyblocks vs Envato Elements
Founded in 2009, Storyblocks provides an alternative to traditional stock media platforms with their subscription plan model. Storyblocks provides creators with unlimited downloads of pre-licensed stock assets, time-saving tools for every stage of production, and industry-leading licensing. Its library contains over 10 million human-made stock videos, photos, templates, sound effects, and more.
Envato Elements offers a range of unlimited monthly subscription plans aimed at creative professionals, agencies, and marketers who need a high volume of content. Its library includes a wide array of graphic design elements and templates, as well as stock footage, audio, and photos.
Storyblocks vs Envato Elements plans for individual users
Both Storyblocks and Envato Elements have subscription plans designed for individual users’ stock footage needs. Storyblocks offers a range of price tiers depending on your budget, what content you want to download, and monthly AI credits. Storyblocks’ subscription plans for individuals include Essentials, Unlimited All Access, and Small Business, which all offer unlimited downloads.
Envato Elements has three different individual subscription plans that include Core, Plus, and Ultimate. Their plans vary based on how many AI generations a month you want access to. Let’s take a closer look at some of the finer points of Storyblocks vs Envato Elements individual plans.
Understanding Envato Elements vs Storyblocks licensing
Storyblocks’ individual license covers unlimited worldwide distribution for print, digital, and production. This includes both commercial and personal projects. Anything you publish using content from Storyblocks while your subscription is active is yours to keep and use forever as you see fit, with a license that never expires. Everything you download from Storyblocks is covered by your license – there’s no need to register assets or re-download past assets to create a new license or instance of it to use it.
The Storyblocks small business license, which is included with their Small Business plan, covers one employee at a small business with less than 50 employees (excluding agencies, production, and broadcast companies.) The main difference between this license and the individual one is that assets are licensed to the organization vs the individual, assuring your business is protected.
Envato Elements’ individual plan, by contrast, requires users to register every file, every time it’s downloaded. It grants an ongoing license limited to a single, specified use. This license allows use of the item on a non-exclusive, commercial, worldwide and revocable basis.
Once your subscription ends, you can no longer use anything you downloaded from the Envato Elements library, which is the same as Storyblocks. Only existing use cases you registered with Envato Elements during your subscription period are still covered.
Indemnification protection offered
Indemnification is legalese for insurance that any stock content you download is safe to use for personal or commercial projects. Storyblocks’ individual and small business plans offer indemnification for individual creators up to $20,000. This provides protection against any copyright claims that arise out of using content from their footage library.
Envato Elements offers one of the lowest indemnities in the industry. The liability protection they offer is equal to the total amount you’ve paid for your subscription in the six months preceding the claim. For its Individual plan, that would be less than $300 at the time of this writing. You also are limited to the types of liability claims you can make. For example, loss of revenue, profit, and customers are not covered.
Individual license restrictions
With Envato Elements, projects containing any registered item you’ve downloaded must be completed by the time your subscription ends. If your project remains unfinished, the license will no longer be valid. This means any items you’ve installed (like fonts) would have to be uninstalled if your subscription lapses. Envato Elements prohibits redistribution of anything in their library, even something you’ve modified.
One other important thing to note about Envato Elements is that they have separate licensing terms for any “output” (or content) generated using their AI tools. These terms are similar to their license for individual plans, requiring you to use the AI-generated output as a part of a larger work (or end product).
Envato Elements also restrict any downloaded files from being used for merchandising purposes. When using Envato Elements content to create an end-product for a client, you must transfer your license to them under a limited sublicense. They are not allowed to use the downloaded items the end-product contains for any other purpose. You will also have to inform them of their obligations under the sublicense. Which could be a bit awkward.
Storyblocks stock assets can be used for client projects under an individual license. However, it must be incorporated into an original project in some way, or the content itself must be altered. This means you’ll be covered when using Storyblocks content to create an original work you intend to share. The one caveat is that sharing (or selling) the original unaltered stock content files with the client is not allowed.
As for content created using Storyblocks’ AI tools, including Video Generator, and Image Generator, only generations that use assets from the Storyblocks library as a starting frame or reference are covered under their license.
Comparing Storyblocks vs. Envato Elements’ stock content libraries
The breadth and quality of content stock footage providers offer is a key distinction when choosing a subscription plan. Some platforms specialize in certain types of footage while others provide a wide range of options. Storyblocks’ 100% human-made library contains over 10 million assets, compared to over 27 million for Envato Elements. But numbers alone don’t tell the whole story.
Video (8K, 4K, HD, etc.)
Storyblocks and Envato Elements both offer professional-grade footage across a broad swath of categories, themes, and resolutions in both vertical and horizontal formats. They also both offer a large collection of motion graphics. Envato Elements individual plans do not impose restrictions on the type of content you can download. This includes 4K video.
Storyblocks’ Essentials, Unlimited All Access, and Small Business plans include unlimited downloads of all of the 8K, 4K, and HD video content in their library.
Storyblocks’ video library also includes exclusive footage created through our Re:Stock initiative, which aims to bring more representation to stock media. Through Re:Stock, we work directly with artists to create footage collections that show authentic human experiences that AI can’t reproduce.
SFX and Music
Both Envato Elements and Storyblocks offer music and sound effects in many genres, themes, and moods. However, Envato Elements’ individual plans all include both music and sound effects. Storyblocks’ Essentials plan does not include stock audio, so if you want access to the music or sound effects in our audio library, choose the Unlimited All Access or Small Business plan.
Storyblocks’ music library is 100% exclusive, giving you a wide range of unique choices for every project. It also includes their Storyblocks Label collection, which features tracks from award-winning artists who aren’t typical stock music contributors.
Templates
Envato Elements’ individual plans include access to every template in their library, as does Storyblocks’ individual and small business plans. Both offer Apple Motion, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro templates. Envato Elements’ library also has templates for Final Cut Pro.
Images
Storyblocks and Envato Elements’ libraries both contain photos, vectors, and illustrations. All of the individual plans from both providers include access to these asset types. Envato Elements also offers graphic templates and a wider variety of graphics, including icons and objects. Storyblocks includes Snapshots in their image library, which are high-resolution images sourced from their 4K footage.
Additional content
Envato Elements’ content library also includes presentation templates, fonts, add-ons, web templates, CMS templates, WordPress files, and 3D renders.
Download limits
All of Envato Elements’ individual plans offer unlimited downloads with no limits.
You also get unlimited downloads with all of the available Storyblocks plans, including Essentials, Unlimited All Access, and Small Business.
Storyblocks vs Envato Elements plugins and tools
Plugins
All of Storyblocks’ individual plans (and small business plan) include access to the Storyblocks plugin for Adobe Creative Cloud for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. The Storyblocks plugin allows you to bring its entire library into your favorite editing program so you can search, download, and add assets in one place, along with having access to your on-site folders through the plugin.
Envato Elements has discontinued their plugins and extensions that connected their library to various editing tools. They do have a plugin for WordPress websites, however.
Apps/Tools
Storyblocks’ Unlimited All Access and Small Business plans also include access to Maker, their easy video editor that connects right to their library. This includes a selection of pre-made templates available for use.
You can also get access to Storyblocks’ AI Toolkit through their individual and small business plans. Essentials gives you access to their AI Video Editing tool, which lets you customize any stock footage clip in their library with text prompts powered by Runway’s Aleph model, plus their Video Generator and Image Generator. Meanwhile, the Unlimited All Access and Small Business plans give you access to all three of those tools plus AI Voiceover, which lets you generate customized voiceovers via ElevenLabs technology.
Envato Elements’ Individual plan includes access to their full stack of AI tools, including generative video, images, graphics, and music, image editing, and voice generation.
The main differences between both Envato Elements’ and Storyblocks’ individual plans comes with their AI tools. For Envato, their Core plan gives you 10 AI generations per month across their AI toolkit, while Plus gives you 100 AI generations and Ultimate gives you unlimited AI generations. For Storyblocks’ plans, Essentials gives you 3,000 AI credits a month, while Unlimited All Access gives you 4,500 and Small Business gives you 6,000.
With Storyblocks, you also have their conversational search tool, which uses AI to let you describe the content you’re looking for and pull relevant results from their library. You can also refine your results easily, and searches are saved to make it easy to jump back in later.
Looking at other stock providers besides Envato Elements? We’ve got detailed breakdowns of Artlist vs Storyblocks, Storyblocks vs Motion Array, Pond5 vs Storyblocks, Shutterstock vs Storyblocks, Adobe Stock vs Storyblocks, and Epidemic Sound vs Storyblocks too!
Final thoughts on Envato Elements compared to Storyblocks
We know there’s a lot of information to absorb here. Now that we’ve covered many of the key differences between Storyblocks and Envato Elements, let’s recap some of the major points.
Licensing
- Storyblocks’ license does not require you to register assets you download for specific projects, while Envato Elements does. With Storyblocks you’ll only have one license to keep track of, as opposed to hundreds of individual, per-asset licenses.
- Under the individual licenses for both Storyblocks and Envato Elements, you cannot use any downloaded asset after your subscription expires. Anything you published while your subscription was active will remain covered forever.
- Storyblocks provides up to $20,000 in indemnification protection if you face any copyright claims arising from use of their content.
- Envato Elements provides minimal indemnification, equal to the last six months of your subscription before the claim was filed. This is equal to around $300 in protection as of this writing.
Content
- Both providers offer large stock media libraries with HD and 4K stock video footage in vertical and horizontal formats, as well as templates, music, sound effects, and images.
- Storyblocks offers a selection of 8K video footage.
- Envato Elements offers a larger library and a wider variety of content types.
- Storyblocks offers exclusive footage created through their Re:Stock initiative and a 100% exclusive music library.
- Both providers give you unlimited downloads with their subscription plans.
Tools
- Storyblocks’ individual and small business plans includes the Storyblocks plugin for Adobe Creative Cloud, which brings Storyblocks’ entire library into After Effects or Premiere Pro. Envato Elements has discontinued their extensions.
- Envato Elements offers an AI stack including generative image, video, music, graphics and voice, as well as an image editor.
- Storyblocks also has an AI Toolkit with a Video Editing, Image Generator, Video Generator, and Voiceover tool. Their ULAA and Small Business plans give access to everything in the AI Toolkit, while the Essentials plan includes every tool but Voiceover.
- The main difference between the plans that both Storyblocks and Envato Elements provide is with their AI tool usage – Envato Elements’ plans vary based on the number of AI generations you get, while Storyblocks plans vary based on the amount of monthly AI credits you’re given.
Envato Elements vs Storyblocks team and enterprise plans
We’ve now covered a lot of what you need to know when comparing their individual plans (and it’s certainly a lot). Now let’s pivot and take an in-depth look at their offerings designed for businesses and teams. Storyblocks’ Storyblocks for Business plan is designed for companies or organizations, while Envato Elements has their Teams (which follow the same naming as their individual plans – Core, Plus, and Ultimate) and Enterprise subscription plan options.
Comparing Storyblocks’ and Envato Elements’ licensing options for teams
Before we dive into the details of both companies’ licenses, there’s an important disclaimer we have to mention. While Storyblocks for Business has their license online for visitors to reference, Envato Elements does not: their website only says they offer custom licensing. The terms made publicly available are only for their Individual and Teams subscription plans. This means we can only compare Storyblocks’ business license to the Teams subscription terms, not Envato Elements Enterprise.
Permitted usage
Storyblocks for Business covers unlimited distribution worldwide for any internal or commercial projects. This includes a license written directly for your team or organization. Storyblocks’ business license does not include a derivative work requirement. This means you don’t have to make substantive changes to the assets you download if you want to reproduce them.
Storyblocks for Business also allows you to keep and use any assets you download for as long as you want. With Envato Elements’ Teams license, you must register every single item every time it’s downloaded. This grants an ongoing license, but only for a single, specified use.
Envato Elements’ ongoing license allows you to use downloaded assets on a non-exclusive, commercial, worldwide, and revocable basis. Once your subscription ends, you can no longer use anything you downloaded from Envato Elements’ library. The one exception is use cases you registered while your subscription was active. Any projects you created containing these assets are also still covered.
Indemnification
As mentioned previously, Storyblocks provides up to $20,000 in indemnification against copyright claims for individuals. Storyblocks for Business ups that amount to $1 million, covering all users in your organization.
Envato Elements’ Teams license offers one of the lowest indemnities in the industry, both for individuals and enterprises/teams. Their liability is only equal to the amount you’ve spent for your subscription in the 6 months before the claim. For their Teams plans, that amounts to less than $400 (based on a Team Core plan with 2 members) as of this writing. You also cannot claim liability for revenue, profit, customers, and more.
The only information Envato Elements has on its website about indemnification protection for its Enterprise plan at the time of writing is that it’s tailored.
Restrictions
Storyblocks’ business license prohibits selling, licensing, or redistributing their stock media files. Users also are not allowed to create any trademarks or logos based on anything in their library. Scripts or other programs designed to download high volumes of stock content, or doing so manually, are also restricted. Any stock files downloaded from Storyblocks cannot be used in any way that encourages violence, or for any unlawful purpose.
Model or property released content will be clearly indicated on Storyblocks’ website for commercial projects. Any content that doesn’t include release information means you’ll need to obtain written permission from the model or property owner. Otherwise you won’t be fully covered.
As for Envato Elements’ Teams license, items registered must be used for a project that’s completed before your subscription expires. If you register an item but don’t complete your project before then, the license will no longer be valid. Any items installed must be uninstalled after the subscription period ends.
Envato Elements does not permit distribution of anything in their library, even when altered. You also aren’t allowed to use anything downloaded from their library for merchandising of any kind. If you use their content in a client project, you have to transfer the license to the client under a limited sublicense. This restricts them from using the item outside of the project you created for them. The responsibility falls on you to inform clients of their obligations under this limited license.
Comparing Storyblocks vs Envato Elements content libraries
Envato Elements and Storyblocks both have large libraries. Envato Elements has over 27 million assets, compared to over 10 million for Storyblocks. Both companies only offer bundled content plans.
Video
Storyblocks and Envato Elements both offer professional-quality footage spanning an assortment of categories and themes. Both also offer motion graphics. While Envato offers HD and 4K resolutions for their video content, Storyblocks has HD, 4K, and 8K video. Both also offer vertical video for creating mobile-first content.
Storyblocks’ footage library includes exclusive collections created through their Re:Stock initiative. These are created by partnering with talented artists to create themed collections that represent diverse perspectives and show authentic human experiences that AI can’t re-create.
Audio
Both platforms offer in-depth selections of music and SFX across numerous moods, genres, and themes.
Storyblocks’ music library is 100% exclusive and includes tracks from their very own Storyblocks Label that are created by award-winning musicians, including artists who aren’t typical stock contributors.
Templates
Envato Elements and Storyblocks both offer templates for After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion. Envato Elements additionally provides templates for Final Cut Pro.
Images
Photos, vectors, and other illustrations are plentiful on both sites. Envato Elements also offers graphic templates and a variety of graphics, including objects and icons.
Additional content
Envato Elements’ library also includes presentation templates, fonts, add-ons, web and CMS templates, WordPress files, and 3D renders.
Download limits
Storyblocks for Business and Envato Elements Enterprise both offer unlimited stock content downloads.
Envato Elements and Storyblocks tools for teams and enterprises
Both Storyblocks and Envato Elements provide a range of integrations, tools, and plug-ins to help speed up your team’s production process. But their offerings are not identical.
Plugins
Storyblocks’ Enterprise plan comes with the Storyblocks plugin for Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes integration with After Effects and Premiere Pro. The plugin brings Storyblocks’ entire library into your editor of choice, including access to any on-site folders you may have.
Envato Elements’ Teams and Enterprise plans do not offer a plugin that connects their library to outside editing programs. However, they do offer a WordPress plugin to simplify website creation.
Apps and tools
Storyblocks for Business includes Maker for Teams, an easy-to-use video editor packed with exclusive business features. Of course, it also directly connects to their entire stock content library. Some of these exclusive features include:
- Apply custom branding settings with a single click.
- Ability to create custom templates with pre-set fonts, colors, timing, and logos to speed up video creation.
- Collaboration tools that make it easy to share anything you’ve created with Maker for Teams.
Storyblocks for Business also includes access to a full AI Toolkit with flexible credit options. This toolkit includes AI Video Editing, which allows you to make changes to any footage clip in the Storyblocks library using a text prompt and is powered by Runway’s Aleph. Another popular feature in the toolkit is AI Voiceover, which allows you to generate professional-sounding narration through text-to-speech, clone my voice, or voice changer options. The newest additions to the AI Toolkit are Video Generator and Image Generator, which let you create personalized content from text prompts or use content from the Storyblocks library as starting points.
Envato Elements’ Teams and Enterprise plans include access to their AI stack, which has generative video, image, graphics, and voice, along with an image editor. MusicGen is not included in their Enterprise plan, but is offered in their Teams plan. While Envato Elements offers three different Teams plans, they vary in the same way as Envato’s individual plans – based on the amount of monthly AI generations allowed with their tools.
Make the informed choice for your team and read our detailed breakdowns of Artlist vs Storyblocks, Storyblocks vs Epidemic Sound, Pond5 vs Storyblocks, Adobe Stock vs Storyblocks, Shutterstock vs Storyblocks, and Storyblocks vs Motion Array.
Final points to consider for Envato Elements versus Storyblocks for Business
You should now have a pretty good idea of both the similarities and differences between these popular stock media platforms. To bring it all home, let’s wrap up with some key takeaways for your team to consider.
Licensing
- If your team is larger than 6 members and you’re interested in Envato Elements’ Enterprise plan, they only do custom licensing. This means you will not be able to view the license prior to contacting them.
- Meanwhile, Storyblocks for Business has always had their business license available online for visitors to read and reference.
- Storyblocks’ business license doesn’t require you to register assets downloaded for specific projects, unlike Envato Elements license for Teams plans.
- With Storyblocks you only have a single license to keep track of, instead of monitoring hundreds of individual licenses.
- Under Envato Elements’ license for their Teams plan, users cannot use any downloaded assets once their subscription has lapsed. With Storyblocks for Business, you’re free to keep and use anything you’ve ever downloaded from the library. Even after your subscription has ended.
- Storyblocks for Business provides up to $1 million in indemnification for your business to protect against any copyright claims.
- Envato Elements’ Team plans license provides only the bare minimum of indemnification protection. No more than the amount you’ve paid for the 6 months of your subscription prior to the claim. As of this writing that’s equal to less than $400 based on their lowest tier Team Core plan with 2 members.
Content
- Storyblocks and Envato Elements both offer robust libraries of HD and 4K stock video footage, templates, music, sound effects, and images.
- Storyblocks also offers a selection of 8K footage.
- Envato Elements boasts a much larger library with a wider variety of content types.
Tools
- Storyblocks for Business includes the Storyblocks plugin for easy integration with Adobe Creative Cloud, including After Effects and Premiere Pro. This makes it easy to work from Storyblocks’ entire content library right from your preferred editor.
- Storyblocks for Business also includes Maker for Teams, a user-friendly video editor that connects to their entire library. Maker for Teams lets even team members with limited experience create high-quality, on-brand videos.
- Storyblocks for Business gives users access to their AI Toolkit, including a Video Editing tool to customize any footage clip in their library, Voiceover, which allows you to generate professional-sounding narration, a Video Generator, and an Image Generator.
- Envato Elements’ Enterprise plan includes access to their AI stack of tools.
- Both Storyblocks for Business and Envato Elements Enterprise plans offer SSO for organizations.
Envato Elements vs Storyblocks: Which one is right for you?
Choosing the right stock media subscription service for your needs is important. That goes for both solo creators and production teams. As you pore over the many available options, make sure you’re aware of each provider’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes a small variation in their offerings can mean the difference between the perfect fit and running into legal issues down the line.
Before you sign up for a subscription stock media service, give each option the Goldilocks test. Some will offer way more than is practical for your needs, others not nearly enough. Educate yourself about what’s out there to find the one that’s just right for you or your team.
