Best Stock Video Library for Youtube: 2024

You need stock video footage and b-roll content. So you look for a stock video library. But there are so many! Storyblocks, Artlist, Adobe Stock, oh my!

Thankfully VidPlusPlus is here to help by looking at all your options and making things simple for you.

First we'll look at the best for a few criteria (quality, selection, price) and finally address a few other contenders individually.

Best Video Quality: Artlist and Motion Array

What reviewers consistently mention is the quality of the video on both Artlist and Motion Array. Especially if you don't want to waste your time filtering through low-quality footage, these are the best options.

Youtubers consistently rate the quality of the content from Artlist and Motion Array as higher than other options like Storyblock and Envato Elements.

A word on quality though: if you are just starting on youtube and haven't invested in your own video quality (usually lighting is the biggest issue), it can be jarring to mix in professional-grade b-roll, and this can accentuate the problems with your current setup. That said, adding some epic b-roll could be great incentive to improve your own video quality.

Best Selection: Envato Elements

Hands down Envator Elements has the widest variety and selection of stock video content. So if you are using a LOT of B-roll (especially if you are working with multiple channels) this may be important. The downside of course of having so MUCH content is that not all of it is high quality. That's the main tradeoff here.

Worth noting is that with Envato Elements you receive not just the stock video, but also video templates, graphics, music, sound effects, etc. Envator currently is unrivaled in the sheer amount of content you get access to.

Best Price: Envato Elements

There are no opinions when seeing which stock library has the best price, and Envato is the leader here. The exact prices of course fluctuate with time and sales and even your location, but Envato is generally in the $10 /mo range while Artlist and Motion Array are $30 /mo ish.

The real question you need to ask: how important is the difference in b-roll video quality to your audience? And how much time do you lose sorting through low quality content on Envato? If either of those are worth the extra ~ $20 per month, we'd probably recommend either Artlist or Motion Array.

Artlist vs Motion Array

Stock Libraries are a messy business as every option is not JUST a stock video library. Any option you look at will come bundled with some mix of music, graphics, templates, and now even editing software.

For Youtube, ths stock video of both Artlist and Motion Array is great. So choosing between the two really comes down to other factors.

Artlist has the better selection of music, but Motion Array offers video templates, motion graphics, and a Video Collaboration tool.

If music is very important to you, you may want to use something like Epidemic over either of these anyway. Whereas Motion Array's templates and graphics, as well as the collaboration tool, could actually be very helpful for youtube creators.

For those reasons we would currently recommend Motion Array over Artlist for most youtube creators.

What About Storyblocks?

Storyblocks seems to be a very popular stock library that is very "middle of the road". It is not the best option for any criteria, so it's difficult to recommend. If the footage quality is important for you, go with Motion Array. If you'd rather have a wider selection, go with Envato.

We tried, but actually could not find any Youtube creator recommending Storyblocks over another stock library. (if you've found one please let us know!)

Conclusion

Right now Motion Array is our best recommendation for most Youtubers. However if you're on an especially tight budget, or if you need an especially wide selection of content, definitely check out Envato Elements.

If you disagree, if you've had some great experience with a product we didn't recommend, or some terrible experience with Motion Array or Envato, we want to hear from you! DMs are open on X/Twitter or shoot an email to hello@vidplusplus.com 🙏