Bigstock was founded in 2004 with the goal of providing affordable, royalty-free images – perfect for any type of design project. Since then, Bigstock has grown into one of the world's largest credit-based stock image agencies, offering millions of high quality photographs, illustrations, and vectors. Bigstock's extensive image library, its affordability and strong search engine have made the company an important resource for image buyers worldwide. In 2009, Shutterstock, the world's largest subscription-based stock image company, acquired Bigstock. Bigstock, based in New York City, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shutterstock.