Vecteezy accepts photos, vectors and videos from anyone willing to submit ten sample files for review, and it pays in two different ways depending on the licence attached to each file. Work published under the Free licence earns a flat rate per thousand downloads. Work published under the Pro licence earns a share of subscription revenue. The programme is non-exclusive, so the same files can keep selling everywhere else.
What Vecteezy is, and who contributes to it
Vecteezy is run by Eezy LLC, the same company behind Brusheezy and Videezy. Its catalogue is split between resources anyone can download with attribution and resources reserved for paying Pro subscribers, and that split is the single most important thing for a contributor to understand, because it decides how you get paid. Contributors request a licence at the moment of submission, but Vecteezy's review team makes the final call on where a file lands.
The platform takes three content types: photos, vectors and videos. Vecteezy describes what it wants in fairly plain terms — engaging, authentic photography across every category, well-designed illustrations and icon packs, and high-resolution video. There are no assignments and no deadlines, and the company states there are no quotas or minimum requirements on how much you contribute on an ongoing basis. That makes it a low-commitment addition to an existing portfolio rather than something that demands a production schedule.
Who can apply, and what the application actually involves
Vecteezy's own contributor FAQ is unusually direct about eligibility: everyone who has creative resources to share is welcome, enthusiast or professional, and there is no cost to become a contributor. The application itself has a fixed shape.
- Fill in the contributor application form on Vecteezy's site.
- Follow the link that arrives by email and upload your ten best resources.
- Agree to the contributor agreement and submit the application for review.
Ten files is a small sample, which makes curation matter far more than volume. Reviewers are judging whether your work fits a catalogue, not whether you can produce at scale, so send finished work in one coherent style rather than a spread of everything you have ever shot. If you work in more than one content type, decide in advance whether those ten files should showcase a single strength or demonstrate range — both arguments are defensible, but a batch that accidentally does neither reads as indecision.
The two royalty models: Free licence and Pro licence
Every Vecteezy file sits under one of two licences, and the earnings mechanics are completely different. Both pay per download. What changes is how the per-download amount is calculated and how many people are allowed to trigger it in the first place.
Free licence: a flat rate per thousand downloads
Under the Free licence, anyone can download your file provided they credit you. Vecteezy pays a flat $5 per 1,000 downloads for vectors and photos, and a flat $10 per 1,000 downloads for videos. This is a pay-per-download model with a fixed rate, which means monthly income moves only with download volume — there is no revenue variability to model and no subscriber behaviour to guess at.
The trade-off runs in both directions. Free files reach the entire audience rather than only paying subscribers, so download counts run far higher; the rate per download is correspondingly small. Vecteezy positions this licence at contributors who want reach and predictability, and it is worth noting that most sites offering free downloads pay contributors nothing at all, so a flat rate here is not competing against a better free-tier rate elsewhere.
Pro licence: a share of each subscriber's spend
Pro files can only be downloaded by paying subscribers or with purchased credits, and they earn under what Vecteezy calls the Subscriber Share model. The calculation runs per customer, per billing cycle, in three steps: processing fees and refunds come off that subscription's revenue first, the remainder is split 50/50 between Vecteezy and contributors, and your slice of the contributor half is proportional to how many of that customer's downloads came from your portfolio.
Vecteezy publishes a worked example that makes this concrete. A customer paying $14 a month downloads ten resources, three of which are yours. After $0.85 in credit-card fees and refunds, $13.15 remains; split evenly, $6.575 goes to contributors; your 30% share of that customer's downloads earns you $1.97. The same arithmetic runs separately for every subscriber who downloaded your work that month, and the results are added together.
This is why Pro earnings cannot honestly be quoted as a per-download figure. The amount depends on what each customer paid and how heavily that customer leaned on your files, so a month with fewer downloads from a small number of heavy subscribers can out-earn a month with more downloads spread thinly. Vecteezy states that its highest-earning contributors publish under the Pro licence.
What Vecteezy will not accept
The content restrictions are specific enough to be worth reading before you assemble a submission batch. Vecteezy states it cannot accept:
- Logo templates.
- 3D renderings.
- Illustrations supplied as JPG or JPEG.
- Photos with digitally added text.
Everything submitted must also be high-quality, family-friendly and compliant with Vecteezy's published content guidelines. The illustration file-format rule is the one that catches people out most often: an illustration that would sail through elsewhere as a flattened JPEG has to arrive here in an appropriate vector format instead. If you export in batches, check that rule before the batch rather than after the rejection.
Metadata that earns its keep on Vecteezy
Vecteezy runs a human review on every submitted resource, which means your metadata is read by a person before it is ever read by a search algorithm. Titles that describe the subject plainly and keyword sets that stay inside what is visibly in the frame move through review faster than aspirational tagging does. Keywording a concept a buyer might project onto the image is a defensible strategy on some agencies; here it mostly gives a reviewer a reason to pause.
The practical problem is consistency rather than quality. If the same shoot is already going to several agencies, hand-editing a separate metadata set for Vecteezy is exactly where the hours disappear. Writing one accurate metadata set per file and mapping it to each agency's field requirements is a solved problem — that mapping is what Rastock's metadata engine exists to do — and it is worth solving before a Vecteezy portfolio grows past a few hundred files rather than after.
Where Vecteezy fits alongside other agencies
Because the contributor agreement is non-exclusive, Vecteezy is almost always an addition to a portfolio rather than a replacement for one. The interesting decision is therefore not whether to join but which licence to request for which work. Files with broad, everyday appeal tend to do their job under the Free licence, where sheer download volume compounds over years. Work aimed squarely at commercial buyers tends to justify the Pro licence, where a single heavy subscriber can be worth more than a thousand free downloads.
One more thing worth planning for: because Vecteezy makes the final licensing decision, you should treat your requested licence as a preference rather than a setting. Contributors who build an earnings forecast on the assumption that every Pro submission is published as Pro will be disappointed at least some of the time. Build the forecast on the mix you actually get in the first two or three months, not the mix you asked for.
A realistic first ninety days
Nothing about Vecteezy rewards a sprint. Because there is no quota, the sensible opening move is a steady trickle rather than a dump: get accepted with ten strong files, then upload in small, themed batches so you can see which subjects attract downloads before you commit a large archive. Download data on a new portfolio is thin and noisy for the first few weeks, so give any conclusion at least a full month of data before you act on it.
Watch two things in particular. First, which of your requested licences were honoured and which were reassigned — that tells you how the review team reads your work far more precisely than any published guideline. Second, whether your free-licence downloads are concentrated in a handful of files or spread evenly, because a concentrated pattern usually means you have found a subject worth shooting more of.
If you are still mapping out which agencies deserve your upload time, our overview of where to sell stock photos covers the trade-offs across the major platforms, and our notes on Vecteezy bulk FTP delivery cover the mechanics once you have been accepted.
Rastock generates agency-compliant metadata and delivers finished files over FTP to 10+ agencies from one place, so a Vecteezy submission does not mean a separate afternoon of retyping. The 14-day free trial covers the whole path — generation, IPTC embedding, CSV export and a real FTP delivery — and does not ask for a card.
Frequently asked questions
Does it cost anything to become a Vecteezy contributor?
No. Vecteezy states there is no cost to become a contributor. You apply through a form on their site, upload ten of your best resources for review, agree to the contributor agreement and submit. If you are accepted you start earning on downloads immediately, with no listing fees and no subscription charged to you.
How much does Vecteezy pay per download?
It depends on the licence. Free-licence content pays a flat $5 per 1,000 downloads for vectors and photos and $10 per 1,000 downloads for videos. Pro-licence content has no fixed rate: earnings come from the Subscriber Share model, where subscription revenue is split 50/50 after fees and your share depends on how much of each customer's monthly downloads came from your portfolio.
Can I sell the same files on other stock agencies?
Yes. Vecteezy's contributor programme is explicitly non-exclusive. The company states that contributors can continue sharing the same resources on other platforms, so joining does not require pulling anything from Adobe Stock, Shutterstock or anywhere else you already deliver to.
Do I choose whether my file is Free or Pro?
You request a licence at submission, but Vecteezy makes the final decision. Their reviewers decide whether a resource belongs in the Free or the Pro collection, which is how they keep quality consistent within each tier. Plan for the possibility that a file you submitted as Pro is published as Free.
Is there a minimum number of files I have to upload each month?
No. Vecteezy states there are no quotas or minimum requirements on how much you contribute on an ongoing basis. After the initial ten-file application there is no obligation to upload on any schedule, and there is no stated penalty for going quiet for a stretch.
What content does Vecteezy refuse?
Vecteezy states it cannot accept logo templates, 3D renderings, illustrations supplied in JPG or JPEG format, or photos with digitally added text. Everything else must still be high-quality, family-friendly and compliant with their published content guidelines. The illustration format rule is the one most often missed.