Best Stock Photo and Video Site For Drone Pilots

[jaystechvault]

I’ve been experimenting with different ways to sell drone photos and footage, and traditional stock sites (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Pond5, Getty, etc.) haven’t performed well for me or for most pilots I’ve talked to. They work for generic media (or sometimes it says its to "blurry"), but drone content behaves differently because buyers usually care about the specific location, not just a subject keyword.

Where Stock Sites Fall Short for Drone Footage​

Location-Based Searches Are Too Limited​

Most drone buyers—real estate agents, builders, marketers, local businesses—search by city, neighborhood, address, or coordinates.
Stock platforms aren’t built for that. Your footage gets buried behind unrelated content.

Royalties Are Too Low to Be Worth It​

Payouts of 15–40% are typical. Some sites drop to under 20%.
Unless you upload hundreds or thousands of clips, income is minimal.

No Client Connection​

You can’t build relationships with buyers.
You don’t get emails, repeat sales, or job opportunities from people who bought your media.

Drone Deliverables Are Not Supported​

Orthos, models, maps, and progress documentation don’t fit traditional stock systems.


These limitations are why most drone pilots struggle to get meaningful revenue from stock platforms.

An Alternative That I Made To Solve This Problem​

DroneInvoice includes a location-based media library that behaves more like a drone-specific stock system. The difference is that buyers can browse your footage by exact place, you set your own prices, and you keep the relationship for future jobs.

Here’s what has helped pilots so far:

• Upload photos, videos, orthos, 3D models, and point clouds
• Previews are automatically watermarked
• Originals unlock only after payment
• Buyers can search by real locations
• You keep the client relationship, so they can hire you directly for a job
• You keep more of each sale compared to stock royalties

Oh and you keep 60% of what you make. (20-40% more than most stock media sites)

If you want to see how that search looks, here’s the link:

Drone Content Marketplace in the US – United States (us)

Drone Content Marketplace in the US The United States offers a diverse range of landscapes and urban environments, making it an ideal location for drone…

www.droneinvoice.com

Hope this helps, reach out if you have any questions.