[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1531318673825{padding-top: 0px !important;}”]

StoryBlocks VS Envato Elements

Originally I was going to write this article about the cheapest most effective subscription-based media sites out there for a motion graphic artist. The more I looked, the more I found that two sources stood out the most to me. These two sources also happened to be the ones I have the most experience with. That would be StoryBlocks and Envato elements.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1530619958270{margin-top: 0px !important;}”]

Storyblocks

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”15603″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow” css_animation=”bottom-to-top”][vc_column_text]Storyblocks started as three different sites, Videoblock, Audioblocks and Storyblocks. Now they are all merged into one site. [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Pricing

Although their site has been merged as one, their membership plans are still separate. Each yearly plan comes with unlimited download.

149USD/year for unlimited audio
149USD/year for unlimited images
199USD/year for unlimited Video

Pros

Storyblocks has a wide variety of stock video, video templates for after effects. They even have a wide variety of templates for Motion on Apple iOS.
Everything you download on their site is yours for life. Once you download it, you keep the license even after you’ve ended your subscription with them.
You get unlimited downloads when you subscribe to one of their services.

Cons

Storyblocks does not come in a one package subscription deal. You have to pay a membership for each individual stock library, audio, video, and images.
Their libraries are limited to only audio, video, and images. They don’t have any plugins or add-ons or any other kind of media. What you see is what you get.

Quality

The quality of their product is ok but nothing astounding. Especially for the audio. I’ve scrolled for hours trying to find a good score for a video and always came back unsatisfied with my final choice. Most video templates look kind of cheesy and you can find somewhat usable footage with preserved alpha. All and all, it almost feels like a free stock footage site. The stuff you may find actually appealing always turns out to be one you have to buy.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Envato Elements

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”15612″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow” css_animation=”top-to-bottom”][vc_column_text]If you’re a graphic artist of any sorts, surely you’ve heard of Envato. A great stock site for all digital production separated into 7 different sources: Themeforest, Videohive, Codecanyon, Graphicriver, Audiojungle, 3docean, and photodune. Envato Elements is something slightly different. It is made of parts from almost all their stock sites put into one monthly subscription.

Pricing

only $19/month!!! Billed annually for a total of $228.

Pros

I think this one takes the cake. Envato Elements has 630,000+ licensed items. That’s:

62,000+ video templates & stock footage
400+ WordPress themes & plugins
510,000+ stock photos
23,000+ presentation & graphic templates
31,000 design assets, fonts, 3D & add-ons
1,000+ courses & eBooks from Tuts+. That’s right not only do they sell multimedia stock but they also teach you how to make it.
There is no limit to the amount of downloads.

Cons

As soon as your subscription expires, all the licenses for your fonts, templates and stock media is no longer valid.
They don’t have any audio stock yet. But I’ve read on their forums that they are planning on adding some from Audiojungle.

Quality

Now you may ask yourself, what kind of quality am I looking at? I’ve never been one to buy a lot of digital templates, stock photos or video templates, but Envato’s different stock websites have always been my go-to for quality video templates and graphics. I’ve spent many hours looking through their video and motion graphics market, VideoHive, just drooling over some of their plug-ins and templates for after effects. I figured “It’s probably going to be their lowest quality stuff that no one wants, with just a few here and there that are higher quality.”. Boy, was I wrong. Envato Elements’ library is nothing but high-quality products. Here I was going at it again. Just scrolling through this gorgeous library of fonts, photoshop add-ons and after effects templates, for hours on end. I was a kid in a candy store.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you want to subscribe for a year and download your fill of all the licensed content you can store on your hard drive, then Storyblock might be for you. If you want extremely good stock media of all kinds and want to improve your skills while you’re at it, go with Envato elements. I honestly lean towards Envato Elements for its unbelievable quality library of all kinds of digital media. I cannot sing their praises enough.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]