All businesses / Stock footage and photo
Starting selling stock footage and photos in Europe costs €800–€5,000 in 2026, with first income after about 24 weeks and earnings of up to €1,200 a month working full time.
Last updated: September 2026 · sources at the bottom of the page
Licensing clips and images you already shoot.
| Money to start | €800–€5,000 | What you spend before the first customer pays: kit, stock, licences, launch. |
|---|---|---|
| Hours a week | 8–30 | What it takes to run it properly, from part time to full time. |
| Weeks to first income | about 24 | How long you pay in before any money comes back. You still need to live in those weeks. |
| Kept of every €100 | €90 | What stays with you after running costs, before you pay yourself for your hours. |
| Most it earns a month | €80 part time · €1,200 full time | A realistic ceiling for one person running it. Your own hours are the limit. |
| Competition | high | Easy to enter, so plenty of people already do it. |
| Licence or qualification | not usually | Beyond registering the business and insurance, nothing specific in our research. |
Genuinely passive once uploaded, and that's the appeal. The problem is scale: individual clips earn cents to a few euros, so meaningful income needs thousands of assets — and generative AI is eating the low end of this market fast.
These are the categories this business pays for in the first month. We go through the software side on the tools page.
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LaunchKit · €390 + VAT
A site made for your selling stock footage and photos business, Google profile, domain and email, a QR poster and a 30-day launch plan built on the numbers above. Live in about a week.
Between €800 and €5,000 to begin. That covers camera, editing software, storage and the rest of the setup. It does not cover your own living costs during the 24 weeks before the first income arrives, which is the cost most people forget.
Around 24 weeks to the first euro. Reaching the realistic maximum of €1,200 a month takes considerably longer, and assumes 30 hours a week.
Up to about €1,200 a month working full time, or €80 part time. Of every €100 it takes, about €90 stays with you after running costs.
Yes, at a cost. Part time it realistically tops out around €80 a month, against €1,200 working full time, and it needs 8–30 hours a week.
Competition is high. Crowded markets are crowded because anyone can enter tomorrow, which is also why they tend to keep more of each euro but earn less in total.
Compare further: every business you can start with €1,000 · what it costs to start a business, across all 115 · all 115 ranked by startup cost
Where these numbers come from. Figures are rounded ranges for European markets; check the ones you are about to spend money on. Last checked September 2026.
These numbers are the average case. Whether this business clears your target depends on your money, your hours and how long you can wait. Put them in and see.
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