How does Pixabay Make Money? | Pixabay Revenue Model (2024)

Images, illustrations, videos are something we all need today. No matter the occasion or need, whenever we want any image, we Google it.

The moment Google images open, we can see an unlimited range of images to select from. But all these images are not free from copyrights.

If you want some images for your work, then it is not correct to use the images with copyrights. So, here comes Pixabay to your rescue. It has images, illustrations, videos, and music. The best part is all these are free from copyright.

Pixabay is like a blessing for creatives. It has attained great success over time with its easy-to-use services. It has a custom Pixabay license that allows you to use the content without any permission.

What is Pixabay?
Things to Keep in Mind While Using Pixabay
How does Pixabay Make Money?
Can you Upload Photos and Make Money on Pixabay?
What Makes Pixabay Stand Out?
FAQ

What is Pixabay?

Pixabay is a website that provides free photography and media. The content available on the site is free from any copyrights as it belongs under the license of Pixabay.

It is a popular website for sharing images, graphics, illustrations, music, video, etc. Most of the material available is free with certain restrictions.

One can use this content for market purposes as well without permission.

Pixabay was launched in the year 2010. It is the creation of Hans Baxmeier and Simon Steinberger.

Things to Keep in Mind While Using Pixabay

Dos:

• The content on Pixabay is available to the users for free. They can use it for any purpose as they like.
• It is not mandatory to acknowledge the source of content to anyone.
• One can make alterations in the Pixabay content according to the needs.

Don’ts:

The free stock image website has certain restrictions for its users. These include:

• The users cannot take content from the site and resell it on other platforms.
• Make sure that you don’t portray identifiable people in an offensive manner.
• Remember not to use the exact image content from the site as a physical product.

How does Pixabay Make Money?

Pixabay is a website that provides free images, illustrations, graphics, and more. It is a great platform for creatives.

Since the site is quite popular now, it attracts huge traffic towards it. There are various ways to monetize traffic. Some of them include:

Traffic

Traffic is the king for any website to be successful. There is no point in a site if it does not attract traffic. Pixabay offers unique products and services that too free of cost. This quality makes it a popular site in the creative market.

Over the years, Pixabay has been able to attract quite a great amount of traffic. It has about 36 million total visits. It possesses a monthly growth rate of 6.39%.

SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In simple words, it means to enhance the website as per the search engines (Like Google).

Pixabay is altered according to the search engines. This helps the site to stand out from the plethora of websites available. SEO helps to attract organic traffic towards the website of Pixabay. This in turn helps Pixabay to monetize.

Social Media

The popularity of social media is increasing by the day. It provides a huge active user base. Pixabay also has its social media presence. The easy accessibility of links over the social media platforms, helps the site to gain traffic.

Pixabay’s Instagram handle has 77.6k followers and the site link available in the bio. It also engages in hashtags for its growth potential. The hashtag is #madewithpixabay.

Over the years, Pixabay has earned a strong follower base on social media. This is another way that helps the site to earn money.

Email Listing

Pixabay is a website that offers free products. So, one of the best sources of monetization is email marketing. This helps the site to maintain its user base.

Email promotions get done by delivering free reports that contain affiliate links in them. Thus, monetization for the site takes place.

Once a user subscribes or signs up to the site, this process can begin. These emails are automated. It means they get delivered automatically whenever a user signs up. In this way, it targets genuine users and does not send spam emails.

Advertising

Pixabay also earns some money from advertising. When you go to Pixabay and look for images, you will find images from Shuttershock.

These images are more professional. These are not free; one needs to pay to have these. In this way, Pixabay acts as an affiliate for advertising Shuttershock.

Can you Upload Photos and Make Money on Pixabay?

The answer to the first part is yes. Yes, you can upload images, illustrations, or other content on the website. But you cannot earn from it. Unlike other websites, Pixabay does not pay the artists for it.

One can upload the content on the website to reach a wide audience around the world. Consider it a charity of art and a tool to earn an audience.

What Makes Pixabay Stand Out?

A number of sites give access to free images. Pixabay not only offers free images but also other content. This includes illustrations, vector, and video content.

The best part is you can enjoy all this creative content for free.

What is Vector Graphics?

A vector graphic is an image that is made up of separate colour blocks. Unlike a regular image, its pixels are not combined but are built by mathematical formulas. This allows a person to modify every part of the image separately.

These are created in a design studio. So, if you have ever made something on Adobe photoshop, it means you have made a vector file.

For example- if you create a vector scenery in a design suite, you can alter every element of it. You can change the colour of trees, mountains and more. Pixabay even provides these vector images for free.

Conclusion

Pixabay is a great platform to get images and other graphics for free. It is a super useful platform for beginners in the creative field. It gives access to a wide range of images, illustrations, videos, and vectors to experiment with.

Pixabay makes money through its traffic, social media, email, and affiliate marketing. All this has helped the site to function in an efficient manner. In 2019, Canva acquired Pixabay. Now, the users can have access to Pixabay’s images through the platform of Canva.

FAQ

Is Pixabay really free?

Yes, Pixabay offers images, videos, and music for commercial and noncommercial use.

Does Canva own Pixabay?

Yes, Pixabay and Pexels were acquired by Canva in 2019.

How much does Pixabay cost?

Pixabay provides images that are free for anyone to download.