← All data types
Images
Stock photos, illustrations and archives
Median per image
$0.098
Range
$0.02–$0.16
Based on
3 prices
median $0.098
$0.01$0.1$1
Claimed 1 Public 2
0 of 5 anonymous seller reports needed before they're added to this range. Add yours
Images are mostly priced per image, from a couple of cents for large archives to dollars for rare, well-captioned content.
What drives the price
- Captions and metadata. Well-described images are worth far more.
- Rarity of the subject matter.
- Resolution and quality.
- Clear model and property releases.
Before you sign
- ✓Check you have rights to every image, including releases for people in them.
- ✓Ask whether contributors get paid a share.
- ✓Large archives sell for cents per image. Price curated sets separately.
Deals
| Date | Seller | Buyer | Reported price | Normalized | Terms | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2024 | Photographers and contributors Still images submitted for training | Adobe Big tech | $0.06–0.16 per image | $0.06–$0.16 per image | Per unit Training | Public Source ↗ |
| 2024 | Shutterstock Images, video, audio and 3D assets | Apple Big tech | $25–50M | — | One-time Training | Public Source ↗ Shutterstock earned $104M from AI licensing in 2023 across all buyers. |
| 2024 | Photobucket 13B photos and videos under negotiation | Several tech companies Multiple buyers | $0.05–$1 per photo (asking) | $0.05–$1 per image | Per unit Training | Talks only Source ↗ Asking price in negotiations, not a closed deal. |
| 2024 | Freepik Most of a 200M-image archive | Two large tech companies Big tech | ~$0.02–0.04 per image | $0.02–$0.04 per image | Per unit Training | Public Source ↗ |
Published rates & benchmarks
Ranges and medians published by reporters, vendors and brokers. Not single deals.
| Date | Seller | Buyer | Reported price | Normalized | Terms | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Image sellers (various) Median price for existing images | Various Multiple buyers | $0.098 per image (median) | $0.098 per image | Per unit Training | Claimed Source ↗ Published by AIData.Broker, a broker that takes a fee on sales. |
| 2024 | Image sellers (various) What buyers will pay at the top end | Buyers via Defined.ai Broker | Up to $2 per image | — | Per unit Training | Claimed Source ↗ Broker-reported ceiling, so it's left out of the typical range. |