Alternatives to Storyblocks Audio
9 Storyblocks Audio alternatives,
ranked.
Looking for something different from Storyblocks Audio? We rounded up the 9 closest music & sfx tools — what they do, what they cost, who they're for.
Why people look for alternatives to Storyblocks Audio
Storyblocks audio is $149/year unlimited; All Access at $349/year bundles audio with video and stock photos. License is podcast-friendly across plans. The catalogue claims 50K+ tracks and 42K+ SFX — quality is uneven with a long tail of generic loops alongside genuinely useful cues.
The common trade-offs:
- Long tail of low-quality filler tracks
- Tagging shallow vs Artlist or Epidemic
- No stems on most files
The 9 alternatives below all sit in the same music & sfx category and address similar use cases — but each has its own personality. Here's how they compare.
All 9 alternatives to Storyblocks Audio
All-inclusive royalty-free music and SFX subscription
Curated royalty-free music with lifetime track ownership
Cinematic music licensing aimed at premium content
Royalty-free music with built-in podcasting plan
Shutterstock-owned royalty-free music with per-track licensing
Envato marketplace for per-track music and SFX
Indie-artist library from Marmoset's curation team
Marketplace with 2M+ tracks and per-track or subscription licensing
Free music and SFX from inside YouTube Studio
Direct comparisons
Want a side-by-side breakdown? See how Storyblocks Audio stacks up against each alternative.
Frequently asked
What's the closest alternative to Storyblocks Audio?
Epidemic Sound. Epidemic Sound's pitch is owning the master and sync rights to every track, which sidesteps the YouTube Content ID claims that hit creators using pooled-rights libraries. Creator plan now sits at $9.
Why would someone switch away from Storyblocks Audio?
The honest answers: long tail of low-quality filler tracks; tagging shallow vs artlist or epidemic. Whether either matters depends on your specific workflow — for plenty of people, neither does.
Are there free alternatives to Storyblocks Audio?
Yes — Epidemic Sound, Artlist, Musicbed all have free or freemium tiers worth trying first.
How is Epidemic Sound different from Storyblocks Audio?
Epidemic Sound leans into "Single flat license covers podcasts and ads". Storyblocks Audio leans into "Unlimited audio at $149/year (~$12.40/mo)". They overlap in the music & sfx category but solve slightly different parts of the workflow.