9:41
istock.com
Screenshot of istock.com
istock.com favicon

istock.com

10 technologies
VerifiedVisit1.2K/mo$15M1.3K10 Tech
Deep Dive

iStock: The Underdog in a Billion-Dollar War

A $15M revenue giant trapped in a legacy playbook

iStock isn't a startup—it's a 23-year-old veteran in a market dominated by giants. Yet with just 1,292 employees and a modest $15M revenue, it's fighting a battle for relevance against AI and competitors 10x its size.

$15.0M
Annual Revenue
1,292
Employees
1.2K
Monthly Visits (Est.)
1.2/5
Trustpilot Score

"In a market where Canva and Midjourney are eating the world, iStock is playing checkers while the competition plays 4D chess."

The Contributor Paradox

iStock's model relies on a global community of contributors, yet its top people include a 'Senior Customer Service Associate' and 'Client Relations'—not a Head of AI or VP of Growth. The organizational chart screams 'legacy support' not 'future-ready innovation.'

The Traffic Cliff

With only ~1,182 monthly visits and a global rank of #13M+, iStock has virtually no organic web presence. For context, a mid-sized Substack newsletter gets more traffic. This isn't a marketing problem—it's a product relevance problem in the age of generative AI.

The Trustpilot rating of 1.2/5 from 82 reviews is a damning indictment. While competitors like Shutterstock and Adobe Stock maintain 3.5+ ratings, iStock's user experience is actively repelling customers. The tech stack—jQuery, Bootstrap, Ruby on Rails—feels like a time capsule from 2015, not a modern SaaS platform.

  • Revenue is stagnant at $15M while competitors scale to billions
  • Traffic is negligible (1.2K monthly visits) indicating zero SEO strategy
  • Tech debt is visible in legacy frameworks (jQuery, Bootstrap)
  • Negative reviews suggest deep product/market fit issues
No AI generation tools
Royalty-free licensing model
No mobile-first experience
Curated human-shot content
No community features
Getty Images backing (enterprise trust)
No freemium model
Niche contributor relationships

The Verdict: A Sleeping Giant in a Commodity Market

iStock has the brand equity and Getty backing, but lacks the innovation velocity to survive the AI revolution. For investors, it's a turnaround play. For founders, it's a cautionary tale.

What tech stack does Istock use?

16 detected
Backend Frameworks1
Privacy & Consent1
Advertising1
JavaScript Libraries1
Tracking & Analytics6
G
Google Analytics
G
Google Tag Manager
M
Microsoft Ads (Bing)
G
Google Tag Manager
G
Google Analytics
G
Google DoubleClick

How much traffic does Istock get?

Traffic & Engagement

1.2K
Monthly Visits
1.2
Pages/Visit
0:13
Avg. Duration
89%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend+207%
385
Oct 2025
Oct
1.3K
Nov 2025
Nov
1.2K
Dec 2025
Dec

How is Istock's SEO?

Meta Tags

title77 chars

Stock Images, Royalty-Free Images, Illustrations, Vectors and Videos - iStock

description164 chars

iStock has millions of exclusive stock photos, videos, vectors, and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community. © 2023 iStockphoto LP.

languageEN

Schema Types

Organization

What is Istock's revenue?

$15M
Annual Revenue
1,292
-4%
Employees
$12K
Revenue/Employee
Calgary, CAN
Headquarters

Who works at Istock?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Istock?

Istock

Istock

1.2
82 reviews

Categories

Photo Agency#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days

Contact Information

Reviews (20)

Filter by rating:
Dace S.
1/15/2026
🇱🇻 Lv1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/31/2025
iStock’s “subscription” is a trap, not a service

iStock’s business model is built on one thing only – locking customers into auto-renewals they cannot realistically escape. Our company hadn’t used iStock for a year. No downloads. No activity. Nothing. Yet the moment the subscription renewed, we were instantly locked into paying another 12 months at €29 per month (€348 total) with absolutely no way to opt out, downgrade, or cancel. We can’t even delete the account. We contacted customer support immediately and explained the situation. We were even a long-term paying customer back when we actually used the platform. But it didn’t matter. Yes, we missed turning off auto-renew. But what isn’t acceptable in the modern world is a system that turns one missed checkbox into €348 of forced payments for a product with zero usage. This is not how modern SaaS works. This is how companies squeeze money out of customers who missed one day to check a box. Meanwhile, AI tools can now generate custom, unique images in seconds, cheaper, faster, and without predatory contracts. I genuinely hope AI completely wipes out this kind of outdated, customer-hostile business model. If you value transparency, flexibility, or basic respect as a customer, stay far away from iStock.

Amy Sanday
1/6/2026
🇦🇺 Australia2 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 10/17/2025
Awful business practices

I'm blasting these guys everywhere I can. iStock is owned by Getty Images so avoid them as well. Same as the others, signed up for what I thought was $29USD/month, which was what the offer had on it. Did not see the toggle button up the top. After realising, I disable the renewal and contacted their support team, only to be told I 'opted into' the annual subscription. The way they set out the subscription page is predatory and I wouldn't be surprised if they have done it this way to trick people. They are now taking $32AUD of mine a month and I can't stop them. Other comments mentioned swapping to another card and then cancelling the card, but they have a legal team that they have used to chase down people who do this. They also completely refused to swap my payment method to PayPal, telling me they 'didn't have access to change that' but I reckon they have clued onto people using PayPal to cancel their subscriptions forcefully.

Nana
11/24/2025
🇲🇾 Malaysia2 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 11/24/2025
Terrible scam

Terrible scam

Martin Denyer
10/6/2025
🇬🇧 United Kingdom18 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 10/6/2025
Keeps showing up when I am trying to…

Keeps showing up when I am trying to find royalty free images

New Home; New Furniture
9/27/2025
🇺🇸 United States3 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 9/22/2025
Same as everyone else

Same as everyone else. Their language makes it sound like you’re paying for a month-to-month subscription, but you’re actually paying for an annual subscription on a monthly basis…with no option to cancel. Whereas most companies make clear the annual pricing by simply charging you that cheaper annual price, they confuse matters by making a trial option for the monthly annual subscription. Get it? Neither did I, now I’m stuck paying $360 USD for a service I don’t need. I hope AI puts them out of business.

👍 1

Frequently Asked Questions about Istock

What is Istock's Revenue?
Istock generates approximately $15M in annual revenue. With 1,292 employees, that's $11,610 per employee.
What does Istock do?
iStock has millions of exclusive stock photos, videos, vectors, and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community. © 2023 iStockphoto LP.
How fast is Istock growing?
Istock employee count has changed by -4% year over year.
What technologies does Istock use?
Istock uses 10 technologies across their website including Backend Frameworks, Cloud & Hosting, Privacy & Consent. Key technologies include Ruby on Rails, Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront, OneTrust.
Who are Istock's competitors?
Istock's main competitors include Shutterstock, Alamy, Unsplash, Pond5. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Istock?
Istock has a Trustpilot score of 1.2 out of 5 (1 stars) based on 82 customer reviews.

Export Data

Unlock all exports

Download CSVs, JSONs & full reports

How to contact Istock?

What are Istock's key pages?

Export istock.com Data

Download the complete tech stack, analytics, leads, and company data for istock.com in JSON or CSV format. Use it for your sales pipeline, competitive analysis, or research.

Raw JSON Data

Click "Show" to view the raw API response data

About istock.com

iStock has millions of exclusive stock photos, videos, vectors, and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community. © 2023 iStockphoto LP.

Company Overview

istock.com
Website
hobbies_and_leisure
Industry
#13,252,842
Global Rank
1.2K
Monthly Visitors
10
Technologies

Contact istock.com

Technology Stack

istock.com uses 10 technologies across their website including Ruby on Rails, Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront, OneTrust, and more.

Backend Frameworks

Ruby on Rails

Cloud & Hosting

Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront

Privacy & Consent

OneTrust

Advertising

Microsoft Ads

Analytics & Marketing

Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics

CSS Frameworks

Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS

Traffic & Audience

1.2K
Monthly Visits
89%
Bounce Rate
1.2
Pages/Visit
0:13
Avg. Duration

istock.com receives approximately 1.2K monthly visitors and ranks #13,252,842 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 89% with visitors viewing an average of 1.2 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 0:13 on the site.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is istock.com?
iStock has millions of exclusive stock photos, videos, vectors, and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community. © 2023 iStockphoto LP.
How much does istock.com cost?
You can view istock.com's pricing and plans on their pricing page. Visit their website for the most up-to-date pricing information.
What technologies does istock.com use?
istock.com uses 10 technologies including Ruby on Rails, Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront, and 4 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How do I contact istock.com?
You can contact istock.com through their contact page.
What are istock.com's social media accounts?
istock.com is active on twitter, facebook, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
Is istock.com hiring?
Check istock.com's careers page for current job openings and opportunities.
How popular is istock.com?
istock.com receives approximately 1.2K monthly visitors and ranks #13,252,842 globally. Traffic is declining by 7.2% month-over-month.

Related Searches

istock.com pricingistock.com reviewsistock.com alternativesistock.com loginistock.com careerswhat is istock.comistock.com tech stackistock.com contactistock.com vs competitorsistock.com featureshow to use istock.comistock.com integrations

This page provides publicly available information about istock.com. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit istock.com directly at https://istock.com.