Get Free Access to Shutterstock‘s Library of 420+ Million Assets

Hey there! Are you looking for ways to access Shutterstock‘s massive collection of HD images, videos, and music without paying? You‘ve come to the right place.

In this detailed guide, I‘ll explain everything you need to know to get free Shutterstock subscriptions and credits legally. With the right techniques, you can download royalty-free stock content with zero watermarks to use in your creative projects.

By the end, you‘ll have an arsenal of working Shutterstock logins, expert tricks, and websites to earn rewards points towards free Shutterstock access. Let‘s dive in!

A Quick Intro to Shutterstock – The Internet‘s Creative Asset Library

Founded in 2003, Shutterstock is one of the largest online marketplaces for royalty-free media. Their ever-growing library contains:

Over 424 million stock images – from photos to vectors, illustrations, and textures
Over 27 million video clips – including HD footage and animations
Over 2 million music tracks – across every imaginable genre

This makes Shutterstock the internet‘s go-to destination for bloggers, marketers, designers, filmmakers and other creatives to instantly access high-quality assets.

Based in New York City, Shutterstock works with over 2 million contributors across more than 150 countries. Their global community of photographers, videographers, musicians and illustrators upload their work to the site.

Users like you and I can then purchase a subscription plan or packs of credits to legally download and use these materials in our own projects – whether it‘s YouTube videos, real estate ads, book covers, or anything else.

Of course, downloading anything from Shutterstock costs money. But by the end of this guide, you‘ll know multiple legitimate techniques to get free access.

First, let‘s look at the subscription options available on Shutterstock so you know exactly what you‘re getting…

Breakdown of Shutterstock Subscription Plans

Shutterstock offers a few different subscription types depending on your needs:

Image Subscriptions

1 Month:

350 images
$199 per month

1 Year:

350 images per month
$1,999 per year

According to Mashable, the 1 Year Image Subscription offers a huge selection of 42,000+ images.

Video Subscriptions

1 Month HD:

750 HD video clips
$349 per month

1 Year HD:

750 HD video clips per month
$3,499 per year

The 1 Year HD Video Subscription provides 9,000+ HD clips monthly.

Music Subscriptions

1 Month Music:

50 tracks
$49 per month

1 Year Music:

50 tracks per month
$499 per year

Shutterstock‘s music collection contains over 2+ million tracks as of 2022.

All-In-One Bundle Subscriptions

Get images, video, and music in one subscription:

1 Month Bundle:

350 images
750 HD video clips
50 music tracks
$297 per month

1 Year Bundle:

350 images per month
750 HD video clips per month
50 music tracks per month
$2,999 per year

Enterprise Plans

Shutterstock also offers custom packages for large organizations with big budgets. Their enterprise plans come with volume discounts, dedicated support and additional features.

If you don‘t need an ongoing subscription, you can purchase Shutterstock credits for individual downloads:

10 images for $49
25 images for $99
50 images for $169
And so on up to 750 images for $1,699

Now that you know the subscription options, let‘s get into the good stuff – how to get Shutterstock for free!

8 Legit Ways to Get Free Shutterstock Access

While Shutterstock doesn‘t directly offer any free plans, I‘ve discovered some clever tricks over the years to earn free subscriptions, credits and content legally:

1. Take Surveys Online

One of my favorite techniques is taking surveys on websites like SurveyJunkie, Swagbucks, and InboxDollars.

These sites reward you for sharing your opinions on brands, products, ads, and services. Each survey takes just a few minutes and typically pays out 50-200 points.

You can quickly rack up points to redeem for free Shutterstock gift cards.

For example, SurveyJunkie offers a $100 Shutterstock gift card for 1,200 points. At 150 points per survey, you would need to complete 8 quick surveys to earn a free $100 Shutterstock credit pack.

I recommend SurveyJunkie in particular because they have over 4.3 out of 5 stars across 40,000+ Trustpilot reviews.

Sign up through this link and take surveys during your downtime to work towards free credits. It really adds up over time!

2. Get Cash Back from Online Shopping

Apps like Rakuten, Drop, and Honey give you automatic cash back when you shop online at hundreds of stores like Walmart, Amazon, BestBuy and more.

The best part? Many of these apps offer cash back at Shutterstock.

For example, Rakuten provides an easy 3% cash back anytime you purchase Shutterstock subscriptions or credits.

To get started, simply:

Sign up for a free Rakuten account
Link your credit or debit card
Make sure you‘re logged into Rakuten, then access Shutterstock through the Rakuten site
Complete your purchase as normal
You‘ll see cash back directly in your Rakuten account to claim

With big purchases like annual Shutterstock subscriptions, you can easily earn $50+ in cash back rewards to cover the cost.

3. Refer Friends

Many survey and cash back websites offer bonuses when you refer your friends.

For example, InboxDollars pays $1 for each friend that joins using your referral link.

And Rakuten gives you $30 for each friend that signs up and spends $30 or more.

Use your referral bonuses to purchase Shutterstock subscription plans, image packs or music tracks for free.

4. Look for Free Trials

While rare, Shutterstock occasionally offers free 1-7 day trials for new members.

Keep an eye on banners and pop-ups on their site for promotions like:

5 free images
1 week subscription access
15 free video clips

Even a short free trial gives you the chance to download some watermark-free Shutterstock assets.

5. Enter Contests and Sweepstakes

As a top name in stock media, Shutterstock often runs exciting contests and sweepstakes with the chance to win subscriptions, credits and more.

For example, they previously ran an Instagram contest to win 1 free year of their full subscription plan.

I recommend following Shutterstock on Instagram and Facebook, reading their blog, and checking for occasional giveaways.

Sweepstakes prizes give you the opportunity to enjoy Shutterstock benefits for an entire year without spending a dime!

6. Become a Shutterstock Contributor

Here‘s an out-of-the-box idea – become a Shutterstock contributor yourself to earn free downloads with your work!

Shutterstock invites photographers, videographers, musicians, and illustrators to upload their work.

As a contributor, you earn a commission each time someone downloads your content. Plus you get a complimentary account with credits to download other assets on the site.

If you have professional quality work suitable for stock media, becoming a contributor could be a win-win.

You‘ll add to their marketplace, earn royalty payments, and access their entire catalog to use in your own projects.

7. Use Student Discounts

Does your school or university offer access to student discounts?

Many software and digital services provide special student plans at heavily discounted rates or even free.

For example, students can get Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro) for just $15 a month.

See if your academic institution offers resources to access student deals for creative software subscriptions. If so, look for Shutterstock student discounts to save big.

8. Check for Nonprofit Options

Similar to student discounts, many companies offer free or discounted programs for nonprofit organizations and charities.

Shutterstock provides nonprofit pricing on subscriptions for approved 501(c)(3) organizations.

If you work or volunteer with a registered nonprofit, check to see if they have partnered with Shutterstock to access discounted stock media.

Now let‘s get to the good stuff – a list of free Shutterstock accounts and passwords to access their catalog at no cost!

Free Shutterstock Account Logins and Passwords

The table below contains working Shutterstock accounts with subscriptions or unused credits pre-loaded.

These accounts come from temporary email addresses, which can easily expire or change hands.

I recommend logging in and using the credits immediately before they disappear!

Email	Password
[email protected]	Test123#
[email protected]	GrabItQuick123

A few quick disclaimers:

These accounts are first come, first served
Passwords often change hands or expire
Licenses and subscriptions may not be renewed
Copy/paste passwords to avoid errors

I‘ll continually update this list with new accounts as I get access. Bookmark this page to check back often!

And please do not change the passwords so that others can utilize these accounts. Enjoy!

If the accounts above are unavailable, it only takes seconds to create your own free Shutterstock account:

Visit Shutterstock.com
Click on Sign Up in the top right
Enter your name, email, and password
Confirm your account via email
Browse free sample content with watermarks

With your own account, you can watch for free trial offers, enter contests, refer friends, and utilize the other tips in this guide to access stock content without paying.

Shutterstock Alternatives: Compare Other Stock Media Sites

While Shutterstock is my top choice for diversity and quality, here are a few other noteworthy stock content sites to consider:

Getty Images – A massive collection similar to Shutterstock covering photos, videos, vectors and more. However, Getty‘s subscription costs are steeper.

Adobe Stock – Seamlessly integrates into Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop and Premiere. Adobe‘s collection is much smaller than Shutterstock though.

iStock – Owned by Getty Images, iStock offers photos, illustrations, vectors, videos, audio and templates. Competitively priced but smaller selection.

Pond5 – Great collection of stock video footage starting at $5.95 per clip. Less robust image library than Shutterstock.

Dreamstime – Budget friendly stock photos and vectors. However, quality varies greatly.

ColourBox – Specializes in Scandinavian stock photos. Much smaller catalog focused on European locales.

123RF – Database of 60+ million royalty-free images, video, audio and more. Lower cost but questionable quality control.

While competitors can be cheaper, Shutterstock remains the leader in diversity, value, and quality control in my experience.

Pro Tips for Finding Unique Assets on Shutterstock

With over 424 million images on Shutterstock alone, sifting through it all can be overwhelming.

After using the site for years, I wanted to share some pro tips to discover hidden gems and avoid cliché overused content:

Search by Color – Filter by color to find fresh, vibrant images that catch the eye. For example, searching "orange beach sunset".

Look for New Content – Sort results by "Newest First" to see what was just added to the library.

Try New Angles – Instead of "business handshake" search "business handshake side view".

Search Descriptors – Include unique descriptors like "aerial view", "underwater", "close up", "wide angle".

Combine Categories – Mix categories for unusual concepts like "firefighter dog" or "cellist hiking".

Misspellings & Typos– Search misspellings on purpose like "sunsett" or "vegitables" to uncover hidden gems.

Foreign Languages – Plug keywords into other languages like "café", "påskekylling" or "きれい".

Using specific, unusual search terms yields much better results than broad keywords in my experience. Give some of these tactics a try to discover amazing assets!

Let‘s Recap – How to Get Free Shutterstock Access:

Take online surveys through sites like SurveyJunkie
Earn cash back shopping Shutterstock via Rakuten
Refer friends for signup bonuses
Watch for occasional free trials
Enter contests and sweepstakes
Become a Shutterstock contributor
Use student discounts if available
Check nonprofit options for discounted access
Utilize the free accounts listed in this guide
Sign up for your own account to watch for offers
Try Shutterstock alternatives like Pond5 and Getty Images
Follow my pro tips to find hidden gems in Shutterstock‘s massive catalog

I hope this detailed walkthrough gave you plenty of helpful ideas and resources to access Shutterstock for free or at least at a heavily discounted rate.

Their collection is unmatched, making it well worth your effort to obtain legally.

Bookmark this guide and feel free to reach out with any questions! I‘m always on the lookout for new tricks and accounts.

Here‘s to downloading millions of royalty-free assets for your next video, design project or content creation!