Intro — May 2026: The Stock Asset Market Has Entered the Post-Generative-AI Era

Since the public release of Stable Diffusion and Midjourney in late 2022, the stock photo industry has undergone its biggest structural shift in two decades. In a world where infinite images can be generated on demand, how do you price a single licensed photo? As of May 2026 the answer has split in two directions. First, **Adobe, Getty, and Shutterstock are folding their own generative AI into their marketplaces** and selling "commercially safe generation" as a differentiator. Second, free libraries like **Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash** are evolving into AI-capable platforms under the ownership of Canva or Getty.

This post is not a marketing matrix. It honestly looks at where assets are bought and sold today, how much contributors actually earn, and where generative AI sits in each marketplace. We cover Adobe Stock + Firefly, Shutterstock AI Image Generator, Getty Generative AI by NVIDIA Picasso, Pond5, Storyblocks, Envato Elements, Crowdpic, PIXTA, Photo AC, Civitai, and more, spanning the global plus Korea/Japan/China landscape in one piece.

Stock Asset Market 2026 — Breaking It Down Into 7 Categories

The stock asset market is not one category. As of May 2026 it splits into seven axes.

1. **Photos and illustrations**: single-image licensing.

2. **Stock video**: 4K/8K clips, motion graphics.

3. **Music and SFX**: BGM for video and podcasts.

4. **Templates and design assets**: presentations, UI kits, fonts.

5. **3D models and motion**: for film, game, AR/VR.

6. **AI generation models and prompts**: a newly formed category.

7. **Training data licensing**: a B2B track.

Categories 1 to 4 were the historic core. Between 2024 and 2026 categories 6 and 7 emerged as new markets. At the same time, contributor payouts in categories 1 to 5 have shrunk, and a "supplier-side crisis" is underway.

Adobe Stock + Adobe Firefly — Flying the "Commercial Safe" Generative Flag

Adobe Stock began with the 2015 Fotolia acquisition. The market shifted in March 2023 when Adobe announced Firefly. By marketing Firefly as "trained on Adobe Stock licensed images, public domain content, and Adobe's own data," Adobe staked out the **commercial safe generative** position.

- **Adobe Stock library**: photos, illustrations, vectors, video, 3D, templates, audio, all unified. Around 400M assets.

- **Adobe Firefly Image Model 3**: shipped in 2024. Image Model 4 expected in Q1 2026.

- **Firefly Video Model**: beta in 2024, GA in 2025. Competes directly with Sora and Runway.

- **Firefly Bonus**: paid to Adobe Stock contributors based on training-data contribution.

- **Content Credentials (C2PA)**: generation and editing history embedded as metadata.

A typical Adobe Stock API flow looks like this.

// Adobe Stock API: search and license

const response = await fetch('https://stock.adobe.io/Rest/Media/1/Search/Files', {

headers: {

'x-api-key': process.env.ADOBE_STOCK_API_KEY,

'X-Product': 'MyApp/1.0',

Authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}`,

},

method: 'POST',

body: new URLSearchParams({

locale: 'en_US',

'search_parameters[words]': 'business meeting',

'search_parameters[limit]': '10',

'result_columns[]': 'id,title,thumbnail_240_url,licenses',

}),

})

const data = await response.json()

Adobe's advantage is the **Creative Cloud integration**. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere license assets with one click, and Firefly Generative Fill edits them instantly. The downside is pricing. Contributor payouts have been cut in stages since 2023, and another reduction in 2025 drew loud complaints from creators.

Shutterstock + Shutterstock AI Image Generator — Partnerships with OpenAI, Then Adobe and Anthropic

Shutterstock, founded in 2003, was the first microstock company. In October 2022 it announced a partnership with OpenAI to **integrate DALL-E 2 into the Shutterstock platform** and to share data-license revenue with contributors. It signed a licensing deal with Meta in 2023, and added Adobe and Anthropic partnerships in 2024.

- **Shutterstock library**: about 450M images, 34M video clips, 2.5M music tracks.

- **Shutterstock AI Image Generator**: DALL-E backend. Outputs are automatically licensed.

- **Shutterstock Studios**: generation + editing + collaboration workflow.

- **Shutterstock Contributor Fund**: redistributes data-licensing revenue to contributors.

- **Pond5 acquisition (2022)**: strengthens the video track.

- **Giphy acquisition (2023)**: adds GIFs and motion graphics.

Using the Shutterstock API looks like this.

Shutterstock API: search

curl -X GET "https://api.shutterstock.com/v2/images/search?query=mountain+landscape" \

-H "Authorization: Bearer $SHUTTERSTOCK_TOKEN"

Shutterstock API: license

curl -X POST "https://api.shutterstock.com/v2/images/licenses" \

-H "Authorization: Bearer $SHUTTERSTOCK_TOKEN" \

-H "Content-Type: application/json" \

-d '{"images": [{"image_id": "1234567890"}], "country": "US"}'

Unlike Adobe, Shutterstock is strong in **B2B enterprise licensing**. Ad agencies, publishers, and media companies are the core buyers. Single-image payouts to contributors saw a major increase in 2024, but subscription payouts remain low.

Getty Images + Generative AI by NVIDIA Picasso — "Trained Solely on Getty-Licensed Data"

Getty Images, founded in 1995, is the traditional premium stock company. It has taken the most conservative stance on generative AI. In January 2023 it filed a copyright suit against Stability AI in the UK, and another in the US in February of the same year. Both are still ongoing as of late 2025. At the same time Getty built its own generative AI: "Generative AI by Getty Images," powered by NVIDIA Picasso and launched in September 2023.

- **Getty Images library**: about 500M images and 7M videos. Exclusive news, entertainment, and sports collections.

- **iStock by Getty**: the microstock track at consumer prices.

- **Unsplash**: the free library Getty acquired in 2021.

- **Generative AI by Getty**: built on NVIDIA Picasso. Trained only on assets Getty has rights to.

- **Contributor compensation**: royalties paid when generative AI uses contributor work.

- **Commercial indemnification**: licensing guarantee for generated outputs.

Getty's differentiator is that **the marketplace assumes the legal risk**. The position is similar to Adobe Firefly, but Getty pairs it with aggressive litigation against Midjourney and Stability AI.

Alamy, Depositphotos, iStock — Three Mid-Tier Players

Beyond Adobe, Shutterstock, and Getty, three mid-tier players show up consistently.

- **Alamy**: UK-based. A subsidiary of PA Media Group. Around 400M images. Strong news photography library.

- **Depositphotos**: a Vista Group (formerly VistaCreate) subsidiary. About 300M images. Value-tier positioning.

- **iStock**: Getty Images' microstock subsidiary. Effectively the microstock-priced edition of the Getty catalog.

Alamy's notable feature is a 60% contributor payout, one of the highest in the industry. Depositphotos has cheap monthly subscriptions that appeal to SMBs and bloggers. iStock gives access to the Getty catalog at microstock prices, which appeals to small and mid-sized media.

Pexels + AI Image Gen — The Free Library Evolves

Pexels was founded in 2014 as a free photo library. Canva acquired it in 2018 and folded it into the Canva design workflow. An AI Image Generator beta opened in 2023, and the service merged into Canva Magic Studio in 2024.

- **Pexels library**: around 400M free images plus video. License is similar to CC0 (Pexels License).

- **Pexels Videos**: free 4K video clips.

- **Pexels AI**: image-generation beta. Integrated with Canva.

- **Canva integration**: callable directly from Canva Magic Studio.

A simple Pexels API call looks like this.

headers = {"Authorization": "YOUR_PEXELS_API_KEY"}

params = {"query": "sunset beach", "per_page": 10, "locale": "en-US"}

r = requests.get("https://api.pexels.com/v1/search", headers=headers, params=params)

for photo in r.json()["photos"]:

print(photo["url"], photo["photographer"])

Pexels has held a clear position — "free, easy to use, simple license" — better than anyone. The catch is that contributors receive no direct revenue. Photographers get exposure and portfolio value, nothing more.

Pixabay, Unsplash, Burst — The Three Free-Library Pillars

Alongside Pexels, the three free-library pillars are these.

- **Pixabay**: founded in Germany in 2010, acquired by Canva in 2019. Around 400M images, videos, music, and illustrations.

- **Unsplash**: founded in Canada in 2013, acquired by Getty Images in 2021. The standard for curated photography.

- **Burst by Shopify**: launched by Shopify in 2017. Specialized for e-commerce use.

All three use licenses close to CC0, but the details differ. Pixabay and Pexels are the most permissive, Unsplash uses the Unsplash License (mild restrictions), and Shopify Burst guarantees free use inside Shopify storefronts.

A typical Unsplash API call looks like this.

// Unsplash API: search

const url = `https://api.unsplash.com/search/photos?query=mountain&per_page=10&client_id=${process.env.UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY}`

const data = await fetch(url).then((r) => r.json())

data.results.forEach((p) => console.log(p.urls.regular, p.user.name))

Pond5 — The Video Stock Leader Shutterstock Acquired

Pond5 was founded in 2006 and became the de facto standard for stock video. Shutterstock acquired it for 210M USD in September 2022, and integration into the Shutterstock video library has been ongoing. By late 2024 the Pond5 brand remains separate while the backend has merged with Shutterstock.

- **Pond5 library**: around 40M video clips, 6M music tracks, and After Effects templates.

- **Pond5 Public Domain Project**: a collection of public-domain footage.

- **Royalty-free**: single license or subscription.

- **Music and SFX**: a strong audio library, not just video.

Pond5's strength is **high-quality 4K and 8K footage**. Documentaries, ads, and feature productions frequently license from Pond5. The drawback is price, which averages two to three times the microstock baseline.

Storyblocks (formerly Videoblocks) — Subscription Video Plus Audio

Storyblocks was founded in 2009 as Videoblocks. The 2018 rebrand to Storyblocks unified images, video, and audio.

- **Storyblocks library**: about 15M videos, 1M music tracks, plus images.

- **Unlimited subscription**: unlimited downloads on a monthly or annual plan.

- **AE/Premiere plug-ins**: direct integration with editing workflows.

- **Mac and Windows apps**: native desktop clients.

Storyblocks' positioning is clear: **unlimited downloads via subscription**. Ad agencies and YouTube creators get a fixed monthly bill for unlimited access. The weakness is catalog depth, which is shallower than Shutterstock and Pond5.

Artlist + Artgrid — Creator-First Music and Video Markets

Artlist was founded in Israel in 2016 as a creator-first music licensing company. Its sister service Artgrid covers video clips.

- **Artlist Music**: around 40,000 tracks. All subscribers get a perpetual license — tracks remain usable in videos even after the subscription ends.

- **Artgrid**: 4K/8K footage curated to cinematic grade.

- **Artlist SFX**: sound effects.

- **Motion Array (subsidiary)**: After Effects and Premiere templates plus motion graphics.

- **FxFactory (subsidiary)**: macOS Final Cut Pro plug-ins.

Artlist's differentiator is **YouTube-creator-friendly licensing**. A track downloaded once continues to work in your video even after you stop paying. Only Epidemic Sound and Artlist offer this policy at scale.

Motion Array, Filmstro — Video Templates and Dynamic Music

Motion Array, an Artlist subsidiary, bundles After Effects and Premiere Pro templates with video assets. It crossed 500K+ assets by May 2026.

Filmstro is a "dynamic music" service that automatically adapts to your video length. Music intensity and mood are controlled via sliders that sync to the edit.

The category also includes **Mixkit** (Envato subsidiary, free video and music), **Coverr** (free video), and **Mazwai** (cinematic free clips). The free tier exists as an SEO traffic funnel that steers users toward premium subscriptions.

Stocksy — The Artist Co-op Model

Stocksy was founded in Canada in 2013 as an artist co-operative. What sets it apart from every other stock company is that **contributors are part-owners**.

- **Contributor payout**: 50% to 75%, the highest in the industry.

- **Year-end dividend**: company profits redistributed to members.

- **Curation**: rigorous vetting before new contributors join.

- **Differentiated content**: diversity, authenticity, lifestyle tone.

Stocksy's positioning — **photos of actual people** — has become sharper as AI-generated imagery floods the market. The catalog is small, but demand for "real photography, not AI" has grown sharply in advertising and brand marketing.

Westend61, Cavan Images — European and North-American Mid-Premium

Two recurring names in the mid-premium tier are Westend61 and Cavan Images.

- **Westend61**: based in Munich. Strong lifestyle photography. Also distributed via Getty, Adobe, and others.

- **Cavan Images**: based in North America. Strong family, outdoor, and adventure verticals.

Both companies frequently use **Rights Managed (RM) licensing**. Use cases are specified and pricing scales with usage. Ad agencies often license RM for individual campaigns.

Eyeem, 500px — Two Companies With a Bumpy Ride

Two firms that grew fast in the 2010s but stumbled later.

- **Eyeem**: founded in Berlin in 2011. A photographer community plus marketplace. Shaken in 2023 by the bankruptcy of parent company Talenthouse, then a 2024 attempted relaunch under new management.

- **500px**: founded in Toronto in 2009. Acquired by China-based VCG (Visual China Group) in 2018. A photo social network plus marketplace. Strong as a social product, weaker as a marketplace.

Both share the same shape: **community first, marketplace second**. Photographer exposure and social features are strong, but revenue distribution lags Shutterstock and Adobe.

Epidemic Sound — The De Facto Leader of Music Stock

The de facto leader of music stock is Epidemic Sound, founded in Stockholm in 2009. It holds music composed by its own roster of in-house composers and licenses it directly.

- **Catalog**: roughly 40,000 tracks plus 90,000 sound effects.

- **In-house composer model**: tracks are written by company composers, not external contributors.

- **YouTube-friendly**: subscribed channels are linked to track licenses, avoiding Content ID disputes.

- **2021 valuation**: 1.4B USD. Subsequently acquired by EQT Partners.

A typical Epidemic Sound API search looks like this.

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_EPIDEMIC_TOKEN"}

params = {"genres": "electronic", "moods": "uplifting", "limit": 20}

r = requests.get("https://api.epidemicsound.com/v0/tracks/search", headers=headers, params=params)

for track in r.json()["data"]:

print(track["title"], track["bpm"], track["duration"])

Epidemic's differentiator is that **both composition and recording rights stay inside the company**. Unlike other stock music, composers do not separately enforce rights, so licensing remains simple.

Artlist Music, Soundstripe, AudioJungle, PremiumBeat — The Music Stock Four

Beyond Epidemic, the four contenders are these.

- **Artlist Music**: as covered above. Perpetual license model.

- **Soundstripe**: unlimited subscription plus metering-dispute indemnification.

- **AudioJungle**: an Envato subsidiary. Single licenses plus a contributor marketplace.

- **PremiumBeat**: a Shutterstock subsidiary. Curated single licenses.

Licensing models differ, so you pick based on use case (ads, broadcast, YouTube).

- **Unlimited YouTube and podcast use**: Epidemic, Artlist, Soundstripe.

- **Single license, ad or brand campaign**: AudioJungle, PremiumBeat.

- **Subscription bundled with video editor**: Storyblocks Audio, Motion Array.

MusicBed, Storyblocks Audio — Cinematic and Bundled

MusicBed, founded in 2008, specializes in cinematic music for films and ads. Video production studios pick MusicBed more often than any other music stock.

Storyblocks Audio is the music library bundled into a Storyblocks subscription. Bundling video, image, and audio under one plan is the appeal.

Envato Elements — The Leader of Design-Asset Marketplaces

Envato Elements, launched in 2016 by Australian company Envato, is the unlimited-subscription marketplace. As of May 2026 it holds around 25M+ assets and is the effective leader of design-asset marketplaces.

- **Categories**: video templates, AE/Premiere projects, music, SFX, photos, graphics, fonts, presentation templates.

- **Unlimited subscription**: not single licensing.

- **Commercial use**: unlimited use during the subscription period.

- **Sister services**: ThemeForest (web themes), CodeCanyon (code snippets), GraphicRiver, VideoHive, etc.

- **Placeit** (Envato subsidiary): a mockup generator.

Envato's edge is **breadth**. One subscription covers every design-asset category a designer needs. The drawback is that, because subscriptions are unlimited, contributor payouts are based on download distribution and per-creator income is small.

Creative Market, GraphicRiver, TemplateMonster — Single-Purchase Marketplaces

Creative Market, founded in 2012, sells design assets per item. Unlike Envato, **single purchase** is the default.

- **Categories**: fonts, graphics, templates, photos, 3D, web themes.

- **Single license**: each asset has its own license.

- **70% contributor payout**: top quartile of the industry.

- **Lite Editor**: in-browser instant editing.

GraphicRiver is Envato's design-asset subsidiary, bundled with ThemeForest and VideoHive under the Envato Market umbrella.

TemplateMonster, founded in 2002, is a web template marketplace focused on WordPress, Shopify, and Joomla themes.

TurboSquid, CGTrader, Sketchfab — The 3D Asset Big Three

The three big 3D-asset marketplaces are these.

- **TurboSquid**: founded in 2000. Acquired by Shutterstock in 2021. About 950K+ 3D models. Strong in film and ad production.

- **CGTrader**: founded in Lithuania in 2011. Around 2M+ 3D models. Strong in games, AR, and VR.

- **Sketchfab**: founded in France in 2012. Acquired by Epic Games in 2021. 3D model viewer plus marketplace. WebXR-friendly.

CGTrader has a strong trend of **direct integration with Unreal Engine and Unity**. Sketchfab is the de facto standard for WebGL viewers and is widely used in e-commerce, museums, and ads.

Related marketplaces include **Unity Asset Store, Unreal Marketplace (now consolidated into Fab), Quixel Megascans (Epic), and Reallusion**. iter71 covered 3D and animation in depth.

Korea Stock — Crowdpic, Getty Image Bank Korea, ImageToday

The Korean stock-asset market is organized around these names.

- **Crowdpic**: founded in 2014. Around 18M+ Korean-style images. Korean photographer-forward branding.

- **Getty Image Bank Korea**: founded in 2009. Getty's Korea partner.

- **ImageToday**: founded in 1999. The oldest stock house in Korea.

- **CG.YONHAP**: news video archive operated by Yonhap. The Korean go-to for journalism footage.

- **Clipartkorea**: illustrations plus photos.

- **Pictopic**: Korean-style pictograms and illustrations.

- **Shutterstock Korea**: the local sales arm of global Shutterstock.

Crowdpic has effectively become the standard for Korean ads and design by focusing on **Korean models, Korean landscapes, and Korean-style concepts**. As K-content has gone global, foreign demand has also risen.

Crowdpic search (example)

params = {"keyword": "meeting room", "page": 1, "per_page": 20}

r = requests.get("https://www.crowdpic.net/api/v1/search", params=params)

for img in r.json()["images"]:

print(img["title"], img["price_won"])

ImageToday, as the oldest player, has strong sales relationships with ads and newsrooms. CG.YONHAP is indispensable for journalism, documentaries, and media producers who need broadcast-grade footage.

Japan Stock — PIXTA, Photo AC, amana images

The Japanese stock market is organized around these names.

- **PIXTA**: founded in 2005. About 90M+ assets. The number-one Japanese stock company.

- **Photo AC**: founded in 2011. A free library that emphasizes Japanese models.

- **Illust AC**: sister to Photo AC. Free illustrations.

- **Silhouette AC**: free silhouette images.

- **Adachi (sozai-page Adachi)**: a free photo library founded in 2006.

- **amana images**: founded in 1979. A premium tier that is strong in ad campaigns.

- **imagenavi**: mid-tier. Strong sales for advertising and publishing.

- **paylessimages**: a value tier.

PIXTA is effectively the standard for Japanese ads and design. Japanese models, Japanese landscapes, and Japanese cultural imagery dominate the catalog. amana images is the go-to for premium campaigns.

// PIXTA search (example)

const params = new URLSearchParams({

keyword: 'meeting',

age_id: 1,

number: 20,

})

const url = `https://api.pixta.jp/v1/search?${params}`

const data = await fetch(url, {

headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PIXTA_TOKEN}` },

}).then((r) => r.json())

Photo AC and Illust AC are effectively the standard for Japanese SMB designers, on a **free plus sign-up plus daily download limit** model. Content makers minimizing ad spend use these the most.

China Stock — VCG, 58Pic, Baotu

The Chinese stock market is organized around these names.

- **VCG (Visual China Group)**: founded in 1995. Getty's China partner plus a sizable in-house library. Around 500M+ assets. Strong in journalism.

- **58Pic.com**: founded in 2010. Design templates plus illustrations. The effective standard for Chinese designers.

- **Baotu**: design templates plus illustrations. SaaS-style library.

- **Pikbest**: founded in 2015. Cross-border global plus Chinese design marketplace.

- **Lovepik**: founded in 2008. Photos plus illustrations plus templates, all unified.

The Chinese market is marked by **frequent copyright disputes**. VCG drew major controversy in 2019 by claiming a license on the famous black hole image, and has been under regulatory oversight ever since.

AI Generation Marketplaces — Civitai, Replicate, PromptHero

The newly formed category between 2022 and 2026 is the AI generation marketplace.

- **Civitai**: founded in 2022. A Stable Diffusion model, LoRA, and embedding marketplace. About 500K+ models and images.

- **Replicate**: a marketplace for running AI models in the cloud on demand. Pricing is per-model-usage.

- **PromptHero**: a prompt and result-image marketplace. Doubles as a learning and sharing community.

- **OpenArt**: a prompt gallery plus generator.

- **PromptBase**: a prompt-selling marketplace.

A typical Replicate API call looks like this.

output = replicate.run(

"stability-ai/stable-diffusion-3.5-large:0123abcd",

input={"prompt": "a serene mountain lake at sunrise, photorealistic", "width": 1024, "height": 1024},

)

print(output[0])

Civitai is **a marketplace where user-generated models (LoRA, Checkpoint) themselves are the asset**. What changes hands is not a photo or illustration but the model that makes generation possible. NSFW-policy controversies in 2025 led to tighter rules.

AI Training Data Licensing — The B2B Track Within Shutterstock, Adobe, and Getty

The 2022 Shutterstock-OpenAI partnership kicked off **AI training data licensing** as a new revenue source for stock companies.

- **Shutterstock + OpenAI (2022 onward)**: image licensing for DALL-E training. Revenue distributed to contributors.

- **Shutterstock + Meta (2023)**: licensing for Meta AI training.

- **Shutterstock + Apple, Anthropic (2024)**: additional partnerships.

- **Adobe Firefly Bonus**: bonus payments to Adobe Stock contributors based on their training-data contribution.

- **Getty Images + NVIDIA Picasso (2023)**: a generative AI built only on data Getty has rights to.

The central dispute on this track is **contributor consent and revenue distribution**. Photographers often learn after the fact that their work was used for training, and the per-asset distribution is small.

Getty vs Stability AI — Status as of May 2026

The biggest legal fight at the intersection of stock and generative AI is Getty Images vs Stability AI.

- **January 2023**: Getty sues Stability AI in the UK High Court. About 12M Getty images allegedly used without license for training.

- **February 2023**: A parallel suit filed in the US District Court of Delaware.

- **2024**: The UK case enters substantive proceedings. The US case advances.

- **2025**: Substantive arguments begin in both jurisdictions. Outcomes uncertain.

- **May 2026**: A first-instance UK ruling reportedly imminent. The US case continues.

The case matters far beyond damages. It is the test of whether **AI training requires licensing**, and the outcome will redraw the industry.

NYT vs OpenAI 2023 — The Text Track With the Same Issue

The New York Times' December 2023 copyright suit against OpenAI and Microsoft turns on the same legal question.

- **December 2023**: NYT files suit.

- **2024**: discovery proceeds.

- **2025**: substantive proceedings begin.

The NYT case sits on the text track, but its outcome will influence the Getty case. Image, text, and video training data licensing are effectively converging into a unified market.

Adobe Stock's AI Content Policy — Disclosure Requirements

Adobe Stock announced in December 2022 that it would **accept AI-generated contributions**. The policy comes with conditions.

- **Disclosure**: the generation tool and a portion of the prompt must be specified in metadata.

- **Quality review**: AI-generated work is reviewed against the same bar as human-made work.

- **Copyright attribution**: pieces that directly mimic another artist's style are rejected.

- **Model and location rights**: generations resembling real people require additional rights clearance.

Shutterstock and Getty have different policies. Shutterstock only accepts generations made via its own AI Generator. Getty rejects regular AI contributions outside its proprietary Generative AI tool. The market is splitting into "disclosure plus review" versus "marketplace-only generation."

Contributor Economy — Payout Cuts, Income Decline, Watermarking, and C2PA

Between 2023 and 2026 the contributor economy went through these shifts.

- **Payout cuts**: Adobe and Shutterstock progressively cut payout percentages.

- **Influx of AI-generated content**: as catalogs filled with AI-generated images, prices for "real photography" dropped.

- **Watermarking and C2PA**: starting in 2024, the C2PA content-provenance standard spread quickly. Adobe, Microsoft, and Sony lead the effort.

- **Contributor consent tracks**: contributors gained options to choose whether their work could be used for training.

- **The relative appeal of co-ops** like Stocksy increased.

C2PA (Content Provenance and Authenticity) was covered in depth in iter60. It is the standard for cryptographically binding generation tools, edit history, and author information to images. Adobe Firefly and Microsoft Designer already support it natively.

Vecteezy, Freepik — The Global Top Two in Vector and Design

In the vector and illustration category, two companies stand out globally.

- **Vecteezy**: founded in 2007. About 15M+ vectors plus photos plus video. Free tier plus Pro.

- **Freepik**: founded in Spain in 2010. About 20M+ vectors plus photos plus illustrations. Runs Flaticon (icons) and Slidesgo (slides) as sister brands.

Freepik was acquired by EQT in 2022 and has grown into one of the largest design marketplaces globally. Adoption among SMB designers in Korea and Japan is the highest of any free-tier service. Vecteezy is strong in North America.

Aggregate Trends, May 2026 — "AI Licensing Is a New Revenue Source, Contributors Are in Crisis"

The aggregate stock-market trends as of May 2026 look like this.

1. **AI training data licensing is a new revenue source**: Shutterstock, Adobe, and Getty are diversifying revenue with B2B tracks.

2. **Commercial-safe generative AI is the differentiator**: Firefly, Shutterstock AI Generator, and Getty Generative all sell licensing guarantees.

3. **Contributor payout cuts**: stepwise reductions are accumulating creator dissatisfaction.

4. **C2PA standardization**: content provenance metadata is effectively becoming the standard.

5. **Free libraries plus AI integration**: Pexels and Pixabay are evolving into AI-capable platforms under the Canva umbrella.

6. **Sustained growth in local markets**: PIXTA, Crowdpic, and VCG continue to dominate their home markets.

7. **3D and game assets as a separate track**: TurboSquid, CGTrader, and Sketchfab have grown apart from the video stack.

8. **Music stock consolidates**: Epidemic and Artlist have effectively standardized YouTube-friendly licensing.

Closing — From "Where Do I Buy This Asset" to "How Do I Make It"

The stock asset market in the 2010s was a marketplace competition: "where can I buy this cheaper and faster?" In 2026 the question has shifted to "which assets are legally safe, and how do I make them?"

It is a hard moment for creators. Payouts have shrunk, and AI-generated content fills more of every catalog. At the same time, new differentiators are emerging — "real photography of real people in the Stocksy mold" and "content with C2PA-attested provenance."

Buyers have more options than ever. Generate directly via Adobe Firefly, license a guaranteed-safe image via Getty Generative, or pull a free shot from Pexels. But for ad and broadcast use, where "legally safe content" is non-negotiable, demand has flowed back to premium licenses from Adobe, Shutterstock, and Getty.

Between 2026 and 2030, the Getty vs Stability AI and NYT vs OpenAI rulings will set the shape of the industry. The outcome will land on one of two extremes — "AI can freely train on any data" or "all training data requires licensing." In the meantime, contributors, marketplaces, and AI companies are all hurrying to claim their ground.

References

- Adobe Stock official documentation: https://stock.adobe.com/help

- Adobe Firefly official page: https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly.html

- Shutterstock API official documentation: https://developers.shutterstock.com/

- Shutterstock AI Image Generator: https://www.shutterstock.com/generate

- Getty Images official page: https://www.gettyimages.com/

- Generative AI by Getty Images: https://www.gettyimages.com/ai/generation/about

- iStock by Getty official page: https://www.istockphoto.com/

- Alamy official page: https://www.alamy.com/

- Depositphotos official page: https://depositphotos.com/

- Pexels API official documentation: https://www.pexels.com/api/

- Pixabay API official documentation: https://pixabay.com/api/docs/

- Unsplash API official documentation: https://unsplash.com/developers

- Pond5 official page: https://www.pond5.com/

- Storyblocks official page: https://www.storyblocks.com/

- Artlist official page: https://artlist.io/

- Artgrid official page: https://artgrid.io/

- Motion Array official page: https://motionarray.com/

- Stocksy United official page: https://www.stocksy.com/

- Epidemic Sound official page: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

- Envato Elements official page: https://elements.envato.com/

- Creative Market official page: https://creativemarket.com/

- TurboSquid by Shutterstock: https://www.turbosquid.com/

- CGTrader official page: https://www.cgtrader.com/

- Sketchfab official page: https://sketchfab.com/

- Crowdpic official page: https://www.crowdpic.net/

- Getty Image Bank Korea: https://www.gettyimagesbank.com/

- ImageToday official page: https://www.imagetoday.co.kr/

- PIXTA official page: https://pixta.jp/

- Photo AC official page: https://www.photo-ac.com/

- amana images official page: https://amanaimages.com/

- VCG (Visual China Group) official page: https://www.vcg.com/

- 58Pic official page: https://www.58pic.com/

- Civitai official page: https://civitai.com/

- Replicate official documentation: https://replicate.com/docs

- PromptHero official page: https://prompthero.com/

- C2PA (Content Provenance and Authenticity) standard: https://c2pa.org/

- Getty Images vs Stability AI (UK case coverage): https://www.reuters.com/technology/getty-images-stability-ai-trial-2025/

- Vecteezy official page: https://www.vecteezy.com/

- Freepik official page: https://www.freepik.com/