Free stock footage for YouTube: Pixabay vs Pexels, licences and credits
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Pixabay and Pexels are the two biggest libraries of free stock video. Both let you use their clips in YouTube videos, monetised ones included, without paying and without asking. There are a few things their licences do not allow, though, and a few habits that save you trouble later. This is a plain summary for video editors.
This is a summary, not legal advice. Licences can change, so read the current versions: the Pixabay Content License and the Pexels License.
What both licences allow
- Using clips for free, in personal and commercial projects.
- Using them in videos you publish and earn money from, such as YouTube videos.
- Editing them: cutting, colour grading, speeding up, adding text.
- Using them without credit. Both sites appreciate a credit but do not require it.
What they do not allow
The important limits are much the same on both sites:
- Selling the clips as they are, for example uploading them unchanged to another stock site or selling them as a pack. Using them inside your own video is fine.
- Showing identifiable people in a bad light, or in a way that suggests they support your product, channel or opinion.
- Using logos and brands that appear in a clip as if the brand supported you. Brands, artworks and buildings in a clip can have their own rights.
- Anything illegal, misleading or offensive.
Monetised YouTube videos and claims
Your video is a new work made with the clips, which is what both licences are for, so monetising it is allowed. Now and then a stock clip still gets a copyright claim, for example when someone else has registered a video that contains the same footage. If that happens, dispute the claim with the link to the clip's page on Pixabay or Pexels. That is much easier when you saved the link to every clip you used, which is the best reason to keep a credits list even though no credit is required.
How to credit clips
A short line per clip in the video description is enough:
Footage: “Milky Way timelapse” by Jane Doe, Pexels — pexels.com/video/…
“Spiral galaxy” by John Roe, Pixabay — pixabay.com/videos/…
For a long video with hundreds of clips, a full list is better placed in a pinned comment or on your website, with a short “Footage from Pexels and Pixabay” line in the description.
Searching both from Premiere Pro
Both sites offer a free API key, which lets tools search them for you. Pixabay gives a key to anyone with a free account. Pexels had paused new API keys when this was written (October 2026), so a Pexels key is a bonus, not a must.
VoxVision, a free Premiere Pro plugin, uses your own keys to search both sites for every sentence of your voiceover. It downloads only the clips it places, and it writes the credits list (creator, site and link for every clip) for you. Our guide shows how to get the free Pixabay key, and how to add b-roll to a 2–3 hour video covers the editing side.
Questions editors ask
Can I use Pixabay videos in monetised YouTube videos?
Yes. The Pixabay Content License allows commercial use, including videos you earn money from, without credit. Read the current licence on pixabay.com.
Do I have to credit Pexels or Pixabay?
No, both say credit is not required but appreciated. A credits list is still useful as proof of where each clip came from.
Can a free stock clip get a copyright claim on YouTube?
Occasionally, for example when someone else registered a video that contains the same footage. Dispute it with the link to the clip's page on Pixabay or Pexels.
Can I use stock clips that show people?
Yes, but not in a way that shows them in a bad light or suggests they support your product, channel or opinion.