Whether you’re an individual creator or make videos as part of a team or a business, you know there’s a huge variety of platforms offering stock content out there. When choosing between them, it’s important to have a solid understanding of what each one offers. You’ll want to know not only what each library contains, but how you’re allowed to use that content and what protections are offered.
Ahead we’ll take a look at Storyblocks vs Pond5, two popular platforms for creatives seeking royalty-free stock content for a variety of projects, including audio, images, and video. We’ll be covering a lot of key differences between them, including their respective libraries, as well as licenses, tools, and the plug-ins they make available.
Table of contents
Overview of companies
Storyblocks is a leading stock media platform with a library of more than 10 million high-quality, stock media assets. It’s known for its user-friendly website, 100% human-made stock library, and flexible subscription options. It offers unlimited download plans, which give subscribers access to a massive library of 8K, 4K and HD footage, video templates, music and sound effects, as well as photos, vectors and illustrations. Their plans also include features and tools to help support every stage of production, so creators can streamline their workflows easily under one subscription.
Pond5 is one of the world’ largest stock marketplaces, with more than 175 million media assets available from artists around the world. It was first launched in 2006 as a platform for video creators to sell their content. It offers several different pricing tiers for its subscription plans, and content ranging from HD video, music tracks, sound effects, motion graphics, and more.
Storyblocks vs Pond5 individual plans
Now that you have somewhat of a sense of what each platform is all about, let’s take a closer look at the subscription plans they offer for individual creators.
Storyblocks’ subscription plans include Essentials, Unlimited All Access, and Small Business, which all offer unlimited downloads. Pond5’s options for individual subscriptions include Music, Music & SFX, and Footage Plus. The model Pond5 utilizes is primarily a pay-per-asset plan, with credit packs available for purchasing individual assets.
Their Music subscription includes 50 downloads per month of all of their music tracks, while Music & SX offers 50 downloads per month of their music tracks and sound effects. Footage Plus offers 10 downloads a month of 4K and HD videos, music, sound effects, and some of their images and After Effects templates.
Licensing
Licensing is an important consideration when choosing a stock media provider. You always want to make sure that the types of projects and distribution channels you have are covered by your stock’s license to avoid running into copyright or legal issues.
Permitted usage
Storyblocks’ individual and small business licenses cover worldwide, unlimited distribution for print, digital, and production, both for commercial and personal projects. Anything that you download and publish while your Storyblocks subscription is active will be covered forever and the license will never expire. While both licenses cover one user, with a small business license assets are licensed to the organization to protect your business.
Storyblocks’ entire library is royalty-free, so you’ll never have to track different licenses per asset or per project.
Most of Pond5’s assets are also royalty-free, however some of the editorial content is limited to single-project use with limited distribution rights. Pond5’s individual license on royalty-free content includes worldwide use in perpetuity, with unlimited productions and distribution across all media.
Indemnification
Indemnification is basically insurance that any stock content you download can be safely used in your commercial or personal projects. This coverage shields you from any third-party attempting to claim the stock content you download infringes on their intellectual property rights.
Storyblocks’ individual plans offer up to $20,000 in indemnification for individual creators, while Pond5 offers up to $15,000 in indemnification with its Individual License.
Restrictions
Content downloaded from Storyblocks can be used for client projects under an individual license. However, it must be incorporated into an original project, or the content must be modified in some way rendering it distinct from the original.
Using Storyblocks content to create an original piece of work which is then shared is permitted by its license. But sharing or selling the unedited, original stock assets is not permitted.
Pond5’s individual license is not approved for business or client work.
Comparing Pond5 and Storyblocks’ content libraries
Let’s talk content. Storyblocks’ and Pond5’s libraries contain a wide variety of both audio and visual media, offering a big selection for creative projects.
Music and sound effects
When you’re looking for music to give your video the mood and emotional heft it needs, both platforms have a lot to offer. Storyblocks’ library includes almost 60,000 music tracks, covering a diverse range of genres, moods, and themes. It also offers exclusive music through Storyblocks Label tracks, which are only available on their platform, making copyright strikes far less likely. Storyblocks also has more than 43,000 professionally recorded sound effects.
Pond5 has over 2 million royalty-free stock music tracks, including songs from PremiumBeat. Its Music subscription gives users up to 10 downloads a month, while its Music & SFX plan includes 10 downloads a month from both its music and sound effect libraries.
Storyblocks’ Essentials plan doesn’t include access to their audio offerings, but its ULAA and Small Business plans include both music and SFX.
Video
You’ll find over 50 million stock footage options on Pond5, including 5K+, 4K, and HD. Storyblocks offers over 3 million high-quality stock video options, including 8K, 4K and HD footage and motion backgrounds. All of Storyblocks’ plans include access to 8K, 4K, and HD video. Both offer stock video in vertical and horizontal orientations, making it easy to create content for any platform.
Storyblocks’ Re: Stock initiative is another differentiator for the platform, striving to offer stock content that resembles the diverse world we live in. Through Re: Stock, Storyblocks engages with artists to produce authentic content that reflects and celebrates the human experience. Representation matters, and that is reflected in the variety of content available in Storyblocks’ library as well as the subjects appearing in it.
Templates
Templates are a great time-saver when creating videos, simplifying production by being easy to drop in wherever they’re needed. Storyblocks provides over 115,000 pre-made and fully customizable templates for Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion. Templates are available across all of Storyblocks’ subscription plans.
Pond5 has more than 40,000 After Effects templates for video editing, as well as over 10,000 Photoshop PSD templates.
Images
The library on Pond5 is one of the biggest out there, with over 100 million royalty-free stock images and photographs, as well as over 30 million stock illustrations and vector art.
Storyblocks’ library contains 2,000,000+ royalty-free photos, vectors, illustrations, and snapshots. Access to their image library is included across all Storyblocks plans.
Download limits
All plans from Storyblocks offer unlimited downloads.
With Pond5, there are three options for downloading assets.
1. The first is on a pay-per-item basis, where users purchase downloaded assets individually.
2. The second option is through credit packs which can be purchased in various amounts and used on any of the assets in its library.
3. Pond5 also offers three subscriptions. Its Music subscription includes 10 downloads per month from their music library. Its more inclusive Music & SFX subscription gives 10 downloads a month from either its music or sound effects libraries. Finally, the Footage Plus subscription comes with 10 downloads per month from a selection of its HD and 4K library (not the full video library), as well as music, sound effects, images, and After Effects template libraries.
Included tools
Now, let’s dive into what Storyblocks and Pond5 offer beyond stock content, including plugins and other workflow tools.
Plugins
Storyblocks’ Pro plan includes the Adobe Creative Cloud plugin for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. The plugin brings its entire library of content directly into your editor, including access to your on-site folders.
Meanwhile, Pond5 offers a free plugin for Premiere Pro CC that lets users browse their library in the app, along with access to folders in your account.
Apps and tools
Storyblocks’ individual subscription plans include access to Maker, its popular and easy-to-use video editor which includes a selection of pre-made templates and directly connects to its entire library.
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, along with their AI Video Generator and AI Image Generator. Meanwhile, the Unlimited All Access and Small Business plans give you access to everything in the toolkit plus AI Voiceover, which lets you generate customized voiceovers via ElevenLabs technology.
Storyblocks also has conversational search, which lets you describe what you’re looking for in their library in your own words, then uses AI to search for the best matches and refine your results in real time.
Pond5 has their VideoAI tool, which is an AI video generator, but it’s not currently included with any of their plans and is only available through a credit system.
Trying to find the right stock media subscription? Check out our comparison posts on Motion Array vs Storyblocks, Envato Elements vs Storyblocks, Adobe Stock vs Storyblocks, Storyblocks vs Shutterstock, Epidemic Sound vs Storyblocks, and Storyblocks vs Artlist.
Final thoughts on Pond5 vs Storyblocks
Let’s take a final look at some of the major points to consider when choosing a stock media platform to ensure it meets your specific needs as an individual creator.
Licensing
- Only Storyblocks offers indemnification up to $20,000 for individual creators and small businesses. Pond5’s indemnification is capped at $15,000.
- Storyblocks’ individual license covers both client and personal use, while Pond5’s individual license only covers personal use for one person. This can be an important consideration when it comes to potential copyright claims, especially for freelancers.
Content
- Pond5’s library offers over 175 million stock assets, including footage, music, sound effects, images, and Adobe Photoshop and After Effects templates.
- Storyblocks offers more than 10 million royalty-free stock assets, encompassing music, sound effects, footage, images, and templates for After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion.
- Storyblocks offers stock video in up to 8K resolution, while Pond5 maxes out at 5K+.
- While Pond5’s library focuses on quantity, Storyblocks focuses on quality with strict standards for the content they allow.
Tools
- The library plugin on Storyblocks works with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, but Pond5 only has a plugin for Premiere Pro.
- Storyblocks also includes Maker, a simple video editor that directly connects to its library.
- All of Storyblocks’ plans include access to their AI Toolkit, which includes Video Editing powered by Runway’s Aleph, Video Generator, Image Generator, and Voiceover, powered by ElevenLabs.
Downloads
The difference in downloads between Pond5 vs Storyblocks is a significant differentiator worth considering depending on your usage needs. Storyblocks only offers subscriptions with unlimited downloads from its entire library, while Pond5 has a limit of 10 monthly downloads for each of its subscription plans, with varying levels of access to its library.
Despite Storyblocks’ smaller library relative to Pond5, Storyblocks’ subscription options include unlimited downloads, giving users the flexibility to play around with different content to see what really works. Pond5 implements a hard monthly download cap, which you’ll want to take into consideration if you need a steady stream of content options versus only a few assets per month. If you need a significant amount of stock footage or any other kind of asset, paying for every download can add up fast compared to a flat fee for an unlimited subscription.
Pond5 vs Storyblocks enterprise plans
Shopping for a stock subscription for your organization or company? Both platforms provide plans with unique offerings for business users.
Licensing
Different stock media platforms impose different licensing restrictions, the parameters of which are important to know to avoid legal issues down the line. Depending on the license, content might not be allowed to be used in certain situations, shared in certain ways, or other potential restrictions.
Be sure you fully understand the extent of these permissions and limitations to avoid running into any usage constraints.
Storyblocks has one business license covered under its Enterprise plan, while Pond5 has three: business, premium, and premium plus/enterprise. Pond5’s licenses aren’t tied to a specific plan (except Enterprise). Instead, they’re tied to the individual assets you download since they chiefly operate as a pay-per-asset library.
Since Pond5 offers custom premium plus/enterprise licenses for businesses, it doesn’t detail its exact license terms to reference here. That means we can’t say with absolute certainty what its specific usage restrictions are. If you have any questions, you’ll want to ask them directly.
Permitted Usage
Storyblocks for Business covers unlimited distribution worldwide for any projects either internal or commercial under a license written directly to your company or organization. Their business license imposes no derivative work requirement, which means you aren’t required to make substantive changes to the assets you download to be able to reproduce them. Storyblocks’ business plan allows users to keep and use any assets you download, forever.
Pond5’s licenses are all royalty-free, with the exception of some editorial videos with the All Media or Digital License options, which have their own restrictions on usage and distribution rights (which are the same as individual licenses).
Indemnification
Indemnification protects creators from legal challenges arising from any stock media you download and use in projects for your company or business.
Storyblocks for Business offers up to $1 million USD in indemnification covering users in your organization. Pond5 uses tiered indemnification protection, including up to $250,000 with its Business plan, up to $1 million with its Premium offering, and uncapped indemnification for its Premium plus/Enterprise plan.
Restrictions
With a Storyblocks business license, users are prohibited from selling, licensing, or redistributing downloaded stock files. You’re also not allowed to create a trademark or logo based on anything in its library.
Users can’t use scripts or programs to download large volumes of stock assets, and doing so manually is also not allowed. Importantly, any assets downloaded from Storyblocks cannot be used to encourage violence in any way, or for any other unlawful purposes.
Any model- or property-released content will be visibly marked as cleared for commercial use. However, for any content that doesn’t specifically enumerate the releases, users must obtain written permission from the model or property owner to ensure coverage applies.
Storyblocks for Business Pond5’s enterprise plan both offer unlimited seats, which opens the platform and its assets to anyone within the organization to use and download freely.
Because of Pond5’s custom licenses for businesses on its Enterprise plan, there’s no one-size-fits-all license to reference here. Because of that, we don’t know all of the restrictions this puts on its business license – so be sure to ask.
However, we do know some of the limitations of Pond5’s business license. For instance, a five-person seat limit. You also aren’t allowed to extract stills from videos, and get no third-party rights transfer. Sensitive use is not permitted, and if offers no injunction relief.
Pond5 vs Storyblocks: Content
As an enterprise user, you may require access to a wider range of stock assets. Storyblocks and Pond5’s libraries differ in important ways, so it’s a good idea to know what you’re getting into before committing to one or the other.
Music and sound effects
Storyblocks has more than 59,000 stock music tracks, covering a wide expanse of varieties, themes, and genres. Storyblocks’ library also includes over 43,000 professionally recorded sound effects.
With Storyblocks Label tracks, you’ll find exclusive music you won’t find anywhere else, which greatly reduces the chance of receiving a copyright strike.
By comparison, Pond5 has over 2 million royalty-free stock music tracks, including songs from PremiumBeat, as well as over 2 million royalty-free sound effects options to choose from.
Video
You’ll find over 48 million stock footage options in Pond5’s library, including 5K+, 4K, and HD. Storyblocks offers more than 3 million high-quality stock footage options, available in 8K, 4K, and HD, as well as motion backgrounds. Both libraries offer video in vertical or horizontal formats.
Storyblocks also invests in stock content that reflects the multicultural world we live in through its Re:Stock initiative. Re:Stock commissions work from artists around the globe to showcase authentic, slice-of-life footage that captures stories and emotions AI can’t possibly replicate.
Templates
Both platforms have a large collection of template options in their respective libraries. Pond5 has over 40,000 After Effects templates for video editing, along with over 10,000 Photoshop PSD templates.
Storyblocks offers over 115,000 pre-made and fully-customizable templates for several different editors, including Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion. Note that templates are not included with Storyblocks’ Starter plans, just ULAA or Small Business offerings.
Images
Storyblocks has over two million royalty-free photos, illustrations, vectors and snapshots for stock image use. Pond5 has over 100 million royalty free images and photos, as well as over 30 million stock illustrations including vector art.
Download limits
How the platforms handle download limits is a big differentiator when comparing Storyblocks vs Pond5’s enterprise options. Storyblocks for Business offers unlimited downloads, while Pond5 offers pay-per-asset options for their business license.
Included tools
When considering a stock media platform subscription, the tools offered can sometimes set one option apart from the rest, depending on your business needs.
Plugins
Storyblocks has the Adobe Creative Cloud plugin for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro included with Storyblocks for Business. The Storyblocks plugin brings its entire stock library directly into your editor, including access to on-site folders.
Pond5 has a free plugin for Premiere Pro CC that enables users to browse their library from within the app, including access to folders in their account. Pond5 mentions that it has custom integrations with Frame.io, Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro X available with Enterprise plans.
Apps and tools
A key differentiator with Storyblocks for Business is the inclusion of Maker for Teams, a simple video editing tool that connects directly to its full content library, including exclusive features for businesses. For example, custom branding settings that can be applied with just one click, complete with pre-set colors, fonts, timing, and even logos, all of which streamline the video creation process. It also features a number of collaboration tools that make it easy for users to share anything they create in Maker for Teams.
Included with Storyblocks for Business is their AI Toolkit, built to help you easily customize stock footage and voiceovers. With AI Video Editing, powered by Runway’s Aleph, you can make edits to any footage clip in Storyblocks’ library using text prompts. You’ll also get access to AI Voiceover to create high-quality narration for any project using ElevenLabs technology, along with AI Video Generator and AI Image Generator to create your own custom content using text prompts.
Storyblocks for Business also includes a handy client billing tool, shared folders, SSO, administrative tools, and download-to-cloud functionality. You’ll also have access to an AI-powered conversational search tool, which lets you search the Storyblocks library using your own words and quickly refine your results through a back-and-forth interface.
Pond5 offers a range of administrative features with its Enterprise plan. They also have an AI video generator tool, VideoAI, but it’s a standalone tool that uses credits and is not included with any of their existing plans.
Main points to consider for Storyblocks versus Pond5
Now that we’ve covered what both platforms have to offer especially for enterprise users, let’s take one last look at some of the most important things to consider when choosing which is best for you.
Licensing
- Storyblocks offers indemnification of up to $1 million, Pond5’s indemnification varies based on the license (up to $250k for a business license; up to $1M for a premium license, and uncapped for Premium Plus/Enterprise).
- Storyblocks’ enterprise plan is available to read online in full, but Pond5’s custom Enterprise deal terms are not accessible.
Content
- Both platforms provide stock footage, music, sound effects, images, illustrations, and After Effects Templates.
- Storyblocks’ library is smaller and more curated for higher quality, more relevant content, and with a broader range of video templates including Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion.
- Storyblocks’ video library includes 8K resolution, while Pond5’s only goes up to 5K+.
- Pond5 has a larger library which ranges from lower quality to very high quality, and offers templates only for Photoshop PSD.
Tools
- With Storyblocks’ AI Toolkit, you can quickly customize any stock footage clip in their library, generate custom images or videos, and create professional voiceovers using their AI-powered tools.
- Storyblocks’ Maker for Teams is a simple video editor teams and businesses can use to save time and ramp up the production process.
- Both Pond5 and Storyblocks provide plugins for Premiere, as well as administrative features for Enterprise plans.
- Storyblocks’ Adobe plugin also works with After Effects.
If you’re part of a team of creatives and looking for a content library that will support production at scale, check out Storyblocks for Business.
Pond5 vs Storyblocks: Which one is right for you?
Individual creators and teams alike need to know what they’re looking for before committing to a stock media subscription, so it’s important to have a solid grasp of what you’re getting. As this article hopefully made clear, it’s not all about the size of the library.
If you need content on a per-asset basis with licensing coverage options, Pond5 is a good option as they’re primarily built to function as a marketplace. But if you want unlimited downloads of high-quality, authentic content for a set price with transparent licensing, Storyblocks is the better solution.
If you have any questions about any of Storyblocks’ plans for businesses or individuals, feel free to reach out or visit our FAQ page.
