Depositphotos pays contributors on a five-tier ladder, and the tier is set by lifetime downloads rather than by revenue. Pack sales earn 30% to 38% of what the buyer actually paid, while subscription sales earn a flat $0.25 to $0.33 per file. Climbing a level takes longer than most people expect, because a subscription download counts as only one third of a download toward your tier.
How the five contributor levels work
Your level on Depositphotos is not tied to portfolio size, acceptance rate, or how long you have been on the platform. It is tied to one number: how many of your files have been downloaded. The thresholds are published openly on the contributor pricing page, and they are the same for photos, vectors, video and audio.
- Green, Level 1 — up to 499 downloads
- Bronze, Level 2 — 500 to 4,999 downloads
- Silver, Level 3 — 5,000 to 24,999 downloads
- Gold, Level 4 — 25,000 to 149,999 downloads
- Platinum, Level 5 — 150,000 downloads and above
The detail that catches people out sits in the footnote. A file downloaded through Packs counts as one download toward your level. A file downloaded through a subscription plan counts as one third of a download, so three subscription sales are needed to move the counter by one. Since subscriptions drive most of the volume on microstock platforms, the practical distance between Bronze and Silver is far longer than the raw numbers suggest.
What Pack downloads pay
Packs are the credit-style purchase on Depositphotos, used under both the Standard and the Extended licence. For photos and vector images the royalty is a straight percentage of the sale, and that percentage depends only on your level — not on licence type, not on file size, not on category.
Green earns 30%, Bronze 32%, Silver 34%, Gold 36% and Platinum 38%. Eight percentage points separate the bottom of the ladder from the top, which means a Platinum contributor earns roughly a quarter more per Pack sale than a Green one does on the same file at the same price. It is a meaningful gap, but it is not the kind of multiple that changes a business on its own.
One qualifier matters more than the percentage itself. Royalties are calculated from the amount the buyer actually paid, not from the list price of the file. If the buyer used a promotional discount, your cut is a percentage of the discounted figure. The same logic applies where Depositphotos has to pay a third party, such as tax on an in-app purchase, in which case the royalty is calculated on what the agency receives after that deduction.
What subscription downloads pay
Subscription royalties work on a different principle. Instead of a percentage you receive a fixed amount per file, set by your level: $0.25 at Green, $0.27 at Bronze, $0.29 at Silver, $0.31 at Gold and $0.33 at Platinum.
A fixed rate has a predictable consequence. It severs the link between what a file is worth and what you earn from it, so a subscription download of a complex studio shoot pays exactly what a simple flat-lay pays. It also caps the upside: even at Platinum, the ceiling on a subscription sale is thirty-three cents.
Put the two systems side by side and the strategy comes into focus. Pack income scales with price and with level; subscription income scales only with volume. Contributors who earn well here generally do it on volume, which is why upload throughput and metadata quality matter more on Depositphotos than they do on agencies built around higher per-sale values.
The Revenue Share Special Program
Alongside the fixed subscription rate, Depositphotos runs a Revenue Share Special Program in which participating contributors collectively share 40% of net subscription revenue. Earnings are prorated according to the share your files represent of each individual subscriber's downloads, with higher contributor levels weighted upward.
Two practical differences are worth understanding before you read your statement. Payment is awarded in aggregate at the end of each month rather than per download, so daily figures behave differently from what a per-sale model produces. And because a pool is divided by proportion, your result depends partly on what other contributors in the pool are doing, which is the one variable no amount of work on your own portfolio can move.
Video and audio royalties
Video sits on the same percentage ladder as photos and vectors, with one simplification: whether the clip is bought through Packs or through a video subscription plan, the rate runs from 30% at Green to 38% at Platinum. There is no separate fixed per-download figure for video subscriptions the way there is for images.
Audio pays better at every step. Pack purchases of audio files earn 34% at Green, 36% Bronze, 38% Silver, 40% Gold and 42% Platinum, four points above the photo ladder throughout. Music subscriptions follow the pooled model instead, with 40% of net subscription revenue allocated among contributors and earnings released in bulk at the end of the subscription period.
Getting the money out
The withdrawal threshold is $25, which is low by industry standards and reachable within the first months for most active contributors. Payments go out through PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill, and the request is initiated by you once the balance clears the minimum rather than arriving automatically on a set date.
One line in the contributor terms deserves attention if you plan to model your income seriously. Depositphotos also distributes files through partner websites, platforms and services, and states that royalty rates in those channels may differ from the standard rates depending on market conditions. The published tables describe the main storefront, not every route a file can travel.
How this compares with other agencies
Read the percentages in isolation and Depositphotos looks mid-pack. Read them next to the level mechanics and the picture sharpens: a 30% entry rate is higher than several competitors start at, but the climb is governed by download count with subscriptions discounted to a third, so the top of the ladder is genuinely distant for a part-time contributor. The structures used by Shutterstock and Alamy are worth reading alongside this one, because each agency draws the line between volume and value in a different place.
It is also worth being clear about what Depositphotos will not take. The contributor terms state that AI-generated files are not accepted, citing intellectual property concerns. Anyone running a mixed portfolio needs a distribution plan that routes that work elsewhere. The field rules themselves are covered in the Depositphotos metadata requirements, and the patterns behind refusals in what inspectors actually reject.
What actually moves the number
Because level is driven by downloads and subscription downloads carry most of the volume, the levers available to a contributor are narrow but real.
- Findability. A file that search never surfaces is never downloaded, and under a fixed-rate subscription model every missed download is a flat loss rather than a discounted one.
- Portfolio breadth. The ladder rewards cumulative downloads rather than per-file performance, so more accepted files means more chances to appear at all.
- Metadata that passes inspection first time. Files refused at review never enter the counter, and a resubmission cycle is time you do not get back.
- Distribution beyond one agency. The same shoot counting toward one level here can earn independently elsewhere, which is why nearly every full-time contributor runs multi-agency.
That last point is where tooling earns its place. Rastock AI writes titles, descriptions and keywords that follow each agency's own field rules, then delivers the finished files over FTP to 10+ agencies from a single upload, with no revenue share and no claim on your files. You can see how the pipeline works or check the plans and the 14-day free trial, which does not ask for a card.
If Depositphotos is one destination among several rather than your only one, the honest summary is that its ladder rewards sustained volume over individual strong sellers. Build the portfolio, keep the metadata clean enough to pass inspection every time, and let the download counter do the slow work.
Frequently asked questions
How many downloads do I need to reach Silver on Depositphotos?
Silver starts at 5,000 downloads and runs to 24,999. What counts is the level counter rather than your raw sales figure. Each Pack download adds one, while each subscription download adds only one third, so three subscription sales move the counter by one. For a portfolio selling mostly through subscriptions, the real sales volume needed is considerably higher than the headline number.
How much does Depositphotos pay per subscription download?
Subscription royalties are a fixed amount rather than a percentage, set by your contributor level: $0.25 at Green, $0.27 at Bronze, $0.29 at Silver, $0.31 at Gold and $0.33 at Platinum. Because the rate is fixed, neither the price the buyer paid nor the complexity of the file changes what you receive for that download.
What is the minimum payout on Depositphotos?
You can request a withdrawal once your balance reaches $25, paid through PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill. The request is initiated by you rather than paid automatically on a fixed date, so the money sits in your account balance until you ask for it. The threshold is low compared with several other agencies, which makes the first payout reachable relatively early.
Does Depositphotos accept AI-generated images?
No. The contributor terms state that AI-generated files are not accepted, citing potential intellectual property issues. This sets Depositphotos apart from agencies that accept AI work under a labelling requirement, and it means contributors producing generative content need a separate distribution route for those files rather than submitting them here.
Do video and audio files earn more than photos on Depositphotos?
Video sits on the same 30% to 38% ladder as photos and vectors, but that rate applies to both Pack and subscription purchases, with no fixed per-download figure. Audio pays more at every level, running from 34% at Green to 42% at Platinum on Pack purchases. Music subscriptions instead draw from a pooled 40% of net subscription revenue.