Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover stock footage & assets and music licensing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Storyblocks | Thematic | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $21 | From $9.99 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Billing | Annual only | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Not stated | Web |
| Covers | Stock Footage & Assets, Music Licensing | Music Licensing, Stock Footage & Assets |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | YouTube, TikTok, Instagram |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Unlimited stock downloads on one subscription
Storyblocks charges a flat subscription and lets you download as much as you want, which is the opposite of the credit model everywhere else and much easier to budget against. Footage, music, images and templates all sit under the same plan. The library is smaller than Shutterstock's and you notice it on anything specific.
Music from real artists, free if you credit them
Thematic pairs creators with musicians who want the exposure, so the free tier is a genuine trade rather than a trial: you use the track, the artist gets credited and found. Paying removes the credit requirement and adds the trending songs. Everything is cleared for monetised video, which is the whole point of using it over a random upload.
Our note
Start free and see whether the credit line bothers you, because for most channels it does not and the music is good. Uppbeat works the same way and has a bigger catalogue; Thematic has the better relationship with the artists on it.
Only on this side
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.