Looks good!

When istock comes in and with bb and envato, i will probably be around 700 dollars. Considering i haven't really uploaded since april, i think this is decent passive income.

next year will be y first real mostly stock year, probably from spring going forward.

October 2025 was a good month. Total image income from all agency sources up 30% on monthly average for the year.

Below average November, with Adobe's share exceeding 50% mostly at the expense of Shutterstock.

Thanks for sharing, Zero Talent.

Which agency is FAA?

FAA is probably Fine Art America - a print on demand company.

I finally got around to adding up my sales for the last few months yesterday. For the most part it is not a great picture. Almost every site is down from last year or a site with sales so low it doesn't make much impact on the bottom line. Probably the biggest dog compared to last year is Canva which has dropped in half and is threatening to enter the barely relevant category.

It looks like the only sites that are actually up compared to 2024 are DT (last year was horrible there and it is still a small total though), IS (just a few holdover images), and possibly Alamy if December is good.

when istock comes in and with blackbox, envato, November will probably be around 930 dollars, the majority from Adobe.

And November25 is 25% less than Nov24 for Adobe.

Considering that I have 80% less uploads this year, I am very grateful, I thought it would be much worse. I uploaded only 1 file in November, so this is really passive income for that month.

An average December, and about 3.5% drop in revenue for the whole year, which is not as bad as I thought (still over $40k). But the overall trend is.

...

Decent January, thanks to AS.

January will probably be around 520 dollars. Last year it was around 800, but since I have not been uploading for several months, it is fine.

My Jan 2026 was almost the same as Jan 2025 across 3 agencies I work with (AS, Alamy and DT), while my number of assets increased by about 3% during that time frame. So actually, not so bad.

Lower than January 2025. Canva is deleting items without any explanation, Shutterstock's Level 1 is the worst (0,22 average), Pond5 died a year ago, iStock is alway unknown, Adobe stock is doing better, since most clients went there. Vecteezy died, freepik too. If it wasn't for AS, I would quit already.

$790 this month with SS as my best agency for January 2026.

January is a slow month for me so I'm happy with that.

Quote from: danielvisuals on February 02, 2026, 23:13
$790 this month with SS as my best agency for January 2026.

January is a slow month for me so I'm happy with that.

Just so there is no misunderstanding: I made $790 in January across all agencies. On SS I made $290.

I've published my monthly report now.
https://backyardsilver.com/making-money-from-online-photography-january-2026/


Steve

Below average February, but better than February 2025.
AS dominated, with SS falling to 3rd place.

Pretty good month for me. Just short of $3000 in total.


Full report can be found here on BackyardSilver. https://backyardsilver.com/monthly-earnings-from-online-photography-february-2026/

Steve

From my own experience - and what I've seen with clients - something definitely shifted on Shutterstock. After the rate cuts my RPD dropped, I slowed uploads... then suddenly a few very high SODs appeared. Not small bumps - real premium sales. It does feel like parts of the library are now more visible to higher‑end buyers (agencies, brands). If your files are strong, commercial, high‑production - they can land there. But let's be honest: the majority of downloads are still low‑value subs. One big SOD can "save" a month - that doesn't mean the system changed fundamentally. Video is even more niche‑dependent. If you targeted low‑budget internet buyers, margins are tighter now. If you shot for advertising‑level clients, you're in a better place. In the end, it still comes down to what you shoot - and who actually needs it.

Quote from: videostock.system on March 04, 2026, 08:33
From my own experience - and what I've seen with clients - something definitely shifted on Shutterstock. After the rate cuts my RPD dropped, I slowed uploads... then suddenly a few very high SODs appeared. Not small bumps - real premium sales. It does feel like parts of the library are now more visible to higher‑end buyers (agencies, brands). If your files are strong, commercial, high‑production - they can land there. But let's be honest: the majority of downloads are still low‑value subs. One big SOD can "save" a month - that doesn't mean the system changed fundamentally. Video is even more niche‑dependent. If you targeted low‑budget internet buyers, margins are tighter now. If you shot for advertising‑level clients, you're in a better place. In the end, it still comes down to what you shoot - and who actually needs it.

Right... I got these video sales yesterday, but while these were normal two years ago, today they are only a rare exception:

FWIW I sold a simple food camera clip on Adobe today for 22 dollars.

January was 505 USD

February was 678 USD over all agencies combined.

No payout from istock in these months.

It is roughly 30-40% lower than Jan/Feb last year, but since I haven't really uploaded I think this is more than fair.

Came out to 469 and 623 euros respectively

Could be worse.

Videos via Blackbox was 133 dollars on February, and I haven't really added, maybe 5 clips, still at around 570 videos. January around 75 dollars on BB.

I am trying to commit to uploading at least tiny volume every week, 10 files or something. I have enough for processing.

It will get better in summer.

Shutterstock - 60% down from January 1st. Dunno what happened.
Adobe stock - holding the position (kind of)
Canva - TOTAL disaster. -50% for 3 straight months. What happened this year?
iStock - february was -40%. December and January were OK.
Pond5 - one low sale only.
vecteezy - 5$ a month for 24 months straight. Makes no sense.

I don't feel motivated at all.

Quote from: Bobcast78 on March 09, 2026, 16:40
Shutterstock - 60% down from January 1st. Dunno what happened.
Adobe stock - holding the position (kind of)
Canva - TOTAL disaster. -50% for 3 straight months. What happened this year?
iStock - february was -40%. December and January were OK.
Pond5 - one low sale only.
vecteezy - 5$ a month for 24 months straight. Makes no sense.

I don't feel motivated at all.

Pond5 died quite some while ago but now it seems Shutterstock is also not creating sales anymore. Time to say goodbye. Adobe and Istock in the final. Battle of the microstock companies

I wouldn't entirely count pound5 out.

Some months are bad yet some months are surprisingly better.

Also, as long as an annual ai training payout happens then it can make up for the drop in sales.

Quote from: SimonSays on March 09, 2026, 16:53

Quote from: Bobcast78 on March 09, 2026, 16:40
Shutterstock - 60% down from January 1st. Dunno what happened.
Adobe stock - holding the position (kind of)
Canva - TOTAL disaster. -50% for 3 straight months. What happened this year?
iStock - february was -40%. December and January were OK.
Pond5 - one low sale only.
vecteezy - 5$ a month for 24 months straight. Makes no sense.

I don't feel motivated at all.

Pond5 died quite some while ago but now it seems Shutterstock is also not creating sales anymore. Time to say goodbye. Adobe and Istock in the final. Battle of the microstock companies

When it comes down to the last three, each has it's own best area. They will all share according to that. iStock/Getty archives and new, Editorial. Adobe no editorial or news, but more graphics and creative. Alamy with less of each but everything above, more news oriented and European.

I'd say that's will be all that will exist, at least for anyone serious. If someone here wants the leftovers and scraps, that's fine, but why waste your time and effort on spare change?

This is only Microstock, not anything else.

Second best March ever, surpassed only by March 2017!

Adobe continues its strong performance, with sales exceeding $1900 for the 3rd consecutive month.
SS surprised me with the best month since November 2024.