Envato Vs Freepik: Which Design Resource Tool is The Best for You?

Having said that, when you are on the lookout for design resource tool that suits best to you, the first two names which appear in front of creators all around the world are Envato & Freepik. This article by RankMarket delves into the pros and cons of each platform in detail, allowing you to make the right decision based on your creative requirements. The guide will give you a comprehensive step-by-step breakdown; whether you looking for premium assets or a wider array of free options.

What is the Envato?

Established in 2006, Envato is a premium digital marketplace that allows creatives access to quality digital products and tools. Based in Melbourne Australia, Envato is a global company serving millions of customers, through two primary services Envato Market and Envato Elements.

Envato Market is a suite of niche marketplaces – ThemeForest, CodeCanyon, VideoHive, AudioJungle, GraphicRiver – that you can use to purchase assets (website templates, themes, stock videos, music, graphics etc) individually. Envato Elements, on the other hand, has a subscription-based system which provides unlimited downloads and all you get is one commercial license for each digital resource.

The particular model is very attractive to the designers, developers and content creators who aims to have flexible and cost effective solutions. Lastly, Envato is the parent company for Placeit, a mockup and logo-making tool, and Tuts+, an education platform for creative courses.

Shutterstock ramped up its content library and global footprint in 2024 with a purchase of $245 million of Envato. This was really nice, and along with a huge directory of products and promise of creative quality, makes Envato an amazing go-to place for professionals and businesses using digital art.

Features and Services Offered by Envato

Envato has established an entire creative ecosystem, which their subscription service Envato will live at the center of as a marketplace for digital assets. With a comprehensive and diverse resource library for design, video, and web development practitioners.

• Huge Store: 15+ Million digital goods from graphics, video snippet, font, sound effect and even WordPress, web template, etc.
• One Subscription for All: One subscription provides access to nearly every category of content, making it well-suited for professionals who work in multiple formats and mediums.
• Video and audio resource support: Royalty-free video clips, royalty-free soundtracks, motion graphics for YouTube video creators, filmmakers, marketers.
• Presentation Templates: Keynote, Google Slides, and PowerPoint template to communicate better in all the areas of business and education.
• Commercial Licensing: Each item has a commerce license that can be used for personal as well as client projects.
• More Marketplaces: They give access to their affiliated marketplaces such as ThemeForest for individual purchases and CodeCanyon, again individually outside the subscription model.

Pros and Cons of Envato

Pros of Envato Elements:

• Unlimited Downloads: With the all-access subscription, users can download as many items as they want from an extensive library, keeping their projects flowing without having to pay an extra dollar.
• Low Cost: For $16.50 per month, Envato Elements provides an inexpensive way to access a wide range of creative assets.
• Easy Licensing: Every asset includes a simple commercial license for various projects.
• Vast Collection Of Assets: The platform offers millions of stock photos, videos, audio tracks, graphics, and templates to suit any creative need.
• Access to Learning Tools: for subscribers, Envato Tuts+ includes a ton of tutorials and courses to develop one’s skills.

Cons of Envato Elements:

• Absence of Exclusive Elements: There are some of the bestsellers from Envato Market that you would not find in the platform.
• Learn More About Envato Market Envato Market: WordPress Themes and Plugins No Support: Anything related to WordPress themes and plugins doesn’t come with a support, nor any other kind of updates, which could be a bit problematic if you require a long-term team to help you through it.
• Re-registration: In order for a user to utilize an asset in a new project, they will need to re-register that asset, adding steps to the workflow.
• Inconsistent Quality: Users have noted that some assets, especially stock photos, can look a bit dated or lower quality.

What is Freepik?

Freepik is one of the largest digital platforms with Spanish roots, launched back in 2010 by Alejandro Sánchez, Pablo Blanes, and Joaquín Cuenca. Founded as a search engine to index free graphic resources, Freepik has grown into a complete creative ecosystem with a creative content catalog of over 250 million assets such as stock photos, illustrations, vectors, templates, and videos.

Freepik has become a major player in the generative AI space in the last couple of years, providing premium source assets but also very sophisticated, AI-driven tools. Its suite of tools includes:

• AI Image Generator: Turns text prompts into photographically-realistic images.
• AI Video Generator: Short video clips made from text prompts & images.
• Text to Speech : convert to speech.Audio – Speech generation for any App Text.
• Retouch: AI-powered photo enhancing and image editing
• Image enhancer: increases the resolution of your image to the extent of 4K
• Background Remover: Remove image backgrounds automatically.
• Reimagine: Users can convert an image into an editable prompt.

These tools are built to make the creative process more efficient, even available to professionals and amateurs alike.

Freepik is a freemium business model which means it has free and premium subscriptions. What you get: Premium users now have access to exclusive content and more features. It has also extended its umbrella by acquiring other services such as Videvo, Iconfinder, Original Mockups and EyeEm, which add to a really diverse selection of content available on the platform.

Headquartered in Málaga, Spain, and rapidly expanding in the American continent, Freepik is in constant evolution maintaining its position among the front-runners of the digital design and artificial intelligence-powered creative products industry.

Features and Services Offered by Freepik

Freepik is known for graphic design assets that are frequently used by designers, educators, social media managers, and marketing teams. Its curated collections and integrations with sister platforms (mainly Flaticon and Slidesgo) further enhance its creative utility.

• Huge Graphic Store: It has more than 50M resources to download vectors, PSDs, illustrations, stock photos, and mockups.
• Editable Templates: offers templates which can be used in Photoshop, Illustrator, and online tools, for a fast visual edit.
• Flaticon integration: Access thousands of icons in different formats (you can get SVG and PNG formats) on websites, mobile apps, as well as in presentations.
• AI Tools: AI-powered image generation and background removal for improved design capabilities.
• Concentration on Visual Content: More specialized in graphics for social media, infographics, and digital ads—where fast and good-looking visuals are necessary.
• Slidesgo Presentations: A large collection of pre-made professional presentation templates for Google Slides and PowerPoint, suitable for both education and business

Pros and Cons of Freepik

Pros of Freepik:

• Vast Collection of Assets: Freepik has millions of graphic resources, from vectors, to illustrations, to photos, and templates of great quality for any artist.
• AI-Powered Tools: The platform also comes with new features such as image generation, background removal, and upscaling that rely on AI and leverage the technology to speed up the creative process.
• Freemium Model: Plenty of free content available to users, premium subscriptions empathetically open up hefty assets and additional tools.
• Ease of use: The Freepik platform is simple and practical to navigate, which makes it friendly for beginners and professionals alike.
• Variety of Content: Freepik contains not just graphics, but also videos, mockups, icons, and even voice generation tools.

Cons of Freepik:

• Attribution Needed for Free Users: Free content often requires attribution to the creator — this can be limiting for certain types of commercial use.
• Reduced Customization: AI tools could help creativity but some function may not provide a high-degree of customization that designers need
• Subscription Price: The premium plans can be expensive for individual users or small companies that are on a budget.
• Inconsistent Asset Quality: The diversity of the library is a double-edged sword; some assets may differ significantly in style or quality, necessitating a more discerning selection by users.

User Reviews and Ratings

User (or ex-user) sentiment around these platforms directly correlates to the nature of their strength. Envato is a one-stop shop for solid and extensive content that is often praised. Especially in video production and web development, users value the range of template choices and its simplified licensing system. A few admitted to some crossover in asset style but maintain that this value continues to be unmatched for those with diverse creative needs.

On the flip side, Freepik gets constantly complimented for its clear design, categorization of resources, and quick downloads. Often preferred by social media managers and graphic designers that need engaging visuals consistently. In light of Freepik’s assets, some reviewers mention that These are more meant for lighter design needs and that the unique option in the free tier might be a little scarce.

To explore more about what each platform offers, you can visit Envato Elements and Freepik for a better understanding before making your choice.

Conclusion

The great debate of which one to use essentially comes down to the specific need of your project and budget. While Envato provides premium assets with unique features, Freepik offers a large catalog of free and paid resources which are suitable for different needs. To have the best experience and get authentic licenses, we suggest you buy your subscriptions through RankMarket. Not only does RankMarket always assure secure transaction & real services but it also enables you to buy trending services at a reasonable price & provides you round-the-clock customer support, hand