Agency metadata rules › Is iStock exclusivity worth it? The rates, the lock-in, and the maths
Under the rate card effective 1 July 2026:
| Where the sale happens | Exclusive | Non-exclusive |
|---|---|---|
| istock.com — photos and video | from 25% | 15% |
| istock.com — illustrations and vectors | from 30% | 20% |
| gettyimages.com and other channels — photos | 20% | 15% |
| gettyimages.com and other channels — video | 25% | 20% |
Rates climb with cumulative paid downloads, up to 45%. Two details matter more than the headline number: your download count resets to zero every 1 January, and during the year your rate can only go up. Your year-end total then sets the rate you start the following year on — which can go down as well as up.
1. Exclusivity binds a media type, not the files you upload This is the most misunderstood part. Being exclusive for photography means every photograph you shoot is off-limits to other royalty-free sites — not merely the ones you submitted to iStock. Shoot ten frames, upload one, and the other nine still cannot be sold on Shutterstock or Adobe Stock.
2. You have to apply, and be accepted It is no longer a switch you flip yourself. Reviewers generally want to see a portfolio of around 50 files showing consistent quality before granting exclusive status.
3. You can leave in 30 days — but you do not get a clean slate You may cancel at any time, and 30 days later you are free to submit elsewhere. However, files already accepted remain under the terms they were accepted under, and contributors consistently report that search placement and sales on iStock drop sharply once exclusivity ends.
4. You do not control pricing Prices, promotions and subscription bundles are entirely iStock's and Getty's decisions. If your work is bundled into a cheaper package, your percentage applies to that smaller number, and there is nothing you can do.
A higher percentage is not higher income. Income = rate × price × volume. Exclusivity trades a better rate for access to exactly one storefront — so the health of that storefront matters as much as the rate.
Getty Images reported Q2 2026 revenue of $221.8 million, down 17%, with content revenue of $165.7 million, also down 17%.
That does not mean exclusivity is a mistake. It means "25% beats 15%" is not the whole calculation: a larger slice of a shrinking pie can still be less bread.
This is the part most comparisons omit, because it is not a percentage — it is an additional income channel open only to exclusive contributors. There are two kinds.
1. Creative briefs — driven by market research Getty analyses what customers are searching for and failing to find, then publishes briefs describing it. You shoot it, submit it to the regular library, and earn royalties at your normal rate as it licenses. The advantage is knowing what the market wants instead of guessing; submissions carry a brief code and Getty supplies relevant keywords with the brief.
2. Custom Content briefs — commissioned and paid by a brand A brand (Getty names American Express, Google and Toyota among them) writes the brief and selects what it likes. You are paid per selected file, and most non-selected work can then move into the stock library and earn royalties afterwards — two bites at the same shoot. The rules are considerably stricter:
Rewards levels
| Level | Threshold | The condition people miss |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 2 brief points | Points must come from submitting to Creative or Custom Content briefs — bonus points alone do not qualify |
| Level 2 | 20 points | Must include 4 Custom Content brief points |
| Level 3 | 80 points | Must include 30 Custom Content download points |
Where points come from: 2–3 points per brief, depending on how demanding the shoot is, plus bonus points for attending the online seminars Getty runs most months. Higher levels unlock things like direct contact with Getty's creative staff, learning invitations and further financial opportunities.
Note that each level constrains where the points come from, not just how many you have — and Level 3 depends on clients actually downloading your Custom Content, which is not something you control.
⚠ Points reset every year, exactly like download counts. Every January you begin at zero, no matter how high you climbed the year before.
Income from licences sold to US customers is treated as a royalty, and the US withholds tax at source.
This is general information for planning, not tax advice. How you declare this income at home, and whether you can credit the withheld tax, is a question for an accountant.
⚠ If you are just starting out: at a few dollars a month it can take a year to reach the $100 threshold. The money is not lost, but it is not in your hands either. Factor that into your plans.
Take your last six months of income and split it in two.
Going exclusive multiplies Pile A by roughly 25/15 = 1.67×, assuming your sales volume holds. Pile B becomes zero.
Example: iStock pays you $100 a month and everything else adds up to $50. Exclusive, that $100 becomes about $167, and you give up $50 — you are roughly $17 ahead. If the others were paying you $80, you break even and accept a binding contract for nothing.
⚠ Two things this formula cannot capture:
Exclusivity is worth considering if
Stay non-exclusive if
Whichever route you pick, keywords submitted to iStock must come from Getty's official Controlled Vocabulary. Terms that are misspelled or simply absent from it are dropped silently or flagged at upload.
For exclusive contributors this matters even more: you have one storefront. If the words are wrong, the work is not found, and there is no second agency picking up the slack.
Among Thai contributors, both routes exist, but most stay non-exclusive.
That is an observation rather than a survey — yet it fits the arithmetic above. Most people begin by submitting to several agencies at once, so by the time exclusivity is on the table, Pile B is already well past two-thirds of Pile A. Signing then means discarding real income for a higher percentage in a single shop.
The sequence many follow, and it is a sensible one: stay non-exclusive, collect six to twelve months of your own numbers, then run them through the formula. Joining later is always possible. Leaving costs you search placement and leaves your existing files bound to the old terms.
Checked 20 September 2026 — rates and terms change. Before deciding, always check the rate card attached to your own account under Agreements in Account Management.
Whichever route you choose, keywords submitted to iStock must come from Getty's official vocabulary. KeywordStock picks them from that vocabulary automatically — 200 files free to try.