Symbiostock

Symbiostock allows artists, illustrators and photographers to sell their visual art online quickly and easily.

Author:Symbiostock (profile at wordpress.org)
WordPress version required:4.0.0
WordPress version tested:5.6.4
Plugin version:6.0.0
Added to WordPress repository:09-05-2015
Last updated:04-02-2021
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
Rating, %:80
Rated by:48
Plugin URI:https://www.symbiostock.org
Total downloads:29 007
Active installs:300+
plugin download
Click to start download

Symbiostock is a free, full featured WordPress plugin to sell your digital media. Our software is the preferred choice for independent photographers and vector artists who want to retain maximum control over their digital art, whilst earning a high profit margin. Symbiostock makes the setup process seamless and easy for any avid photographer.

Love taking photos? Why not make money on them?
Ever thought about monetizing all those great travel photos? Just can’t get enough of taking shots of delicious foods? Well, now instead of just storing all these images on your phone or computer, you can showcase them and actually sell them to magazines and bloggers using Symbiostock!

Protect your digital photos.
Symbiostock automatically watermarks your uploaded photos, so that when it appears on your online store, it is safely stamped to deter internet users from violating your copyright. Watermarking your images helps to protect your original work from theft and unauthorised use.

We offer two versions of our core software. A Lite version which is ideal for very basic use, and a Pro version that is complete with everything a photographer or vector artists might need to create a full-fledged digital media store and management centre. Both Lite and Pro versions are 100% free to use – there are no hidden fees or monthly subscriptions and updates are also always free.

Symbiostock Lite

The Symbiostock download on WordPress is Symbiostock Lite and is for basic use. Symbiostock Lite is a WooCommerce extension that allows you to upload JPEGs that will automatically be watermarked and added to WooCommerce as a digital product. Watermarking your images helps to protect your original work from theft and unauthorised use.

Once Symbiostock Lite is installed, you will see a new ‘Upload Media’ tab under your WooCommerce products header. Once uploaded, an image will be added as a digital product in draft mode. You can then edit the title/description/tags for your image and once published it is ready to be purchased and downloaded by customers.

Whilst Symbiostock Lite is good for those who wish to supplement their existing Woocommerce store by offering a limited selection of downloadable images to customers, you can upgrade to the Symbiostock Pro plugin for free to create a full featured photography or vector illustration store.

Symbiostock Pro is a free, fuller upgrade to Symbiostock Lite with many more features. Symbiostock Pro is ideal for hobbyists, amateur to professional photographers and vector artists who want to create a full digital media store and management system, complete with resized images, custom watermarks, licensing, protected downloads, meta data editing and more. Complete information on Symbiostock Pro is detailed below.

Please keep in mind that Symbiostock Lite products are not compatible with Symbiostock Pro, so it is advisable to upgrade to Pro right from the get-go. Remember Pro is also free, so if you think you might want to use Pro features in the future, upgrade straight away to make it easier for yourself in the long run.

Symbiostock Pro Free Upgrade

Check out the Symbiostock demo site to see Symbiostock Pro in action.

Symbiostock Pro is a free upgrade to Lite that offers advanced licensing, image manipulation, and other features, including the option of uploading videos, illustrations and vectors, with optional agency distribution and more. Symbiostock Pro is a full application that allows both professionals and amateurs alike to easily upload and automate the entire management of their online media store. It also allows you to include your media in Symzio, the first contributor controlled agency. Symbiostock Pro is completely free, there are no fees or monthly subscriptions and includes free lifetime software updates.

Features available in Pro include

  • FTP & Web Uploads. Upload all your images via FTP or a browser.
  • Imagick & GD Support. Use either Imagick or the built in PHP GD library for image processing.
  • Automatic thumbnails. All your images are protected via your custom watermark and thumbnails are automatically created.
  • Fully supports Vectors. With Imagick, you can sell vectors as both vectors and raster images.
  • Custom delivery format. Choose JPEG, PNG, GIF or others for customer downloads. Symbiostock converts everything automatically.
  • Robust licensing. Create your own licenses, edit pricing and licensing individually or globally using powerful filters.
  • Secure downloads. All image downloads are protected, files hidden from public view. Decide how many times, and for how much time, images can be downloaded once purchased.
  • Bulk editing. Change titles, descriptions, tags in bulk.
  • Full Metadata support. Symbiostock reads metadata when importing media and can write all your changes back to media. Converts your WordPress install into a full metadata editor.
  • Compatible with any WordPress theme. As Symbiostock is built on WordPress, you can use ANY WordPress theme and it will work beautifully with Symbiostock.
  • EU VAT Supported. With optional third party plugins, works to charge correctly, collect evidence, and even allow business customers to be exempted under the new EU VAT regulations.
  • GPS Geotags Supported Reads GPS information within geotagged images (usually automatically signed with enabled cameras) and displays location on an interactive Google Map on your image’s product page.
  • Optimized Related Products Uses meta data to display highly related ‘Related Products’ on individual product pages.

Fully Automated

Pro only

Once your WordPress site is online and Symbiostock has been installed, all you have to do is upload photos and Symbiostock does the rest. Licensing, pricing, even delivering protected content to customers is all done automatically and all you do is one-click upload. However, if you wish to customize your watermarks, licensing (add/remove/edit licenses), pricing or even change the sizes of the images you sell, you can easily do all of this with Symbiostock Pro.

About Us

Symbiostock started as a plugin for a small group of microstock artists to sell their media online. Symbiostock was created and is maintained by photographers just like you. We are artists who want to be able to sell our media directly to customers without having to rely solely on any third parties for distribution. Along with setting our own prices, having full control over the way in which we market our media has always been a high priority. As a community driven enterprise, we do our best to listen to and meet our community’s needs in order to empower our fellow digital artists.

Support

All support is performed on Symbiostock.org in our forums. Symbiostock provides help guides, extensive in-software tool tips and documentation for all our plugins. You may also submit custom support requests via our premium support system.

Symzio Integration

Pro only

In addition to selling all your stuff on your own WordPress site, you can also become a Symzio contributor and all of your Symbiostock media will automatically be included and displayed for sale on Symzio.com. Symzio connects all member Symbiostock sites together to provide customers one simple front end where they can search all the hundreds of Symbiostock sites at once, and make purchases in real-time.

Large Community

Via the Symbiostock Forums you can meet other Symbiostockers, ask questions and provide assistance to others. Showcase your site and network with others. Even the Symbiostock developers often interact on the official forums. Once you join Symbiostock, you’re part of the Symbiostock family!

Premium Add-ons

Pro only

Symbiostock Express
Our customized, responsive, mobile-friendly Symbiostock theme. Highly customizable, this is used by a majority of Symbiostock users. Symbiostock Express demo.

Symbiostock Video
Adds full video support to Symbiostock. With the Symbiostock Video plugin, you can upload videos directly to Symbiostock just as you would images. Previews are created with your custom watermark and it is fully compatible with the Symbiostock Submitter plugin.

Symbiostock Submitter
Powerful addition to Symbiostock that automatically submits all your new media to stock agencies such as Adobe Stock and Shutterstock. Streamlined so all you have to do is upload your media, keyword it, and the system automatically does the rest. Requires that the agency support FTP uploads.

Symbiostock Maps
Uses the Google Maps API to display your media in a clickable, interactive Google map. Symbiostock Maps is perfect for artists who capture travel locations, architectural marvels and natural wonders, whether it be via photography, video or illustrations.

Symbiostock Google Licenses
Enhances your search engine visibility within Google Images. It uses Google?s proprietary system to tag your media in such a way so that if a visitor sees one of your products in Google Images, it will now contain licensing information that will link directly to you Symbiostock store.

Symbiostock Anytype
An advanced plugin that allows you to sell RAW/ZIP/PDF files and other non-standard files alongside regular Symbiostock media products. Permits you to upload a file that you can associate to any product within Symbiostock to be served to customers upon purchase instead of the original uploaded media file.

Symbiostock Vendors
Transform your site into a multi-vendor marketplace & allow multiple contributors to sell via your site. Symbiostock Vendors enables groups of artists who wish to work together as one entity, to establish their core Symbiostock site whilst at the same time provisioning each artist with the tools needed to control their media products, without affecting the media of other users.

Constant Innovation

Symbiostock is constantly being improved, so keep up to date by joining our forum and introducing yourself.