Try 20 clips free

Free checker

Landmark Restrictions Checker

Adobe Stock, Shutterstock and Pond5 each publish a list of buildings, places and artworks they restrict. Type the place you filmed and see, per agency, whether it is on that list, the exact entry, what the list says about it, and the date we read it. A place that is not on a list is only that: not on the list as read, never a clearance.

A name or a city, in any case, with or without accents.

Type a place to check it against Adobe Stock, Shutterstock and Pond5.

The lists, as we read them

Three lists, three different rules

Adobe Stock’s "Known restrictions" page (last updated September 29, 2026, 320 entries) restricts commercial use only. Most place entries apply when the subject is the main focal point or the footage was shot on the property; most brand entries apply when a logo or design appears in the visual. Some entries are narrower: for the Eiffel Tower it is the illumination and lighting designs, for the Sagrada Família the interior. Adobe takes no traditional editorial content at all, so a clip that its list rules out for commercial use has no other route onto Adobe Stock.

Shutterstock splits its lists into "Restrictions Apply" (commercial needs a property release or is rejected, editorial is generally acceptable) and "Prohibited" (rejected for commercial and editorial use alike). The Eiffel Tower at night is prohibited there even as editorial, while the unlit tower is on a separate list of places Shutterstock says are acceptable. Pond5’s prohibited list repeats most of Shutterstock’s prohibited entries, and adds a few of its own.

The lists do not agree with each other. Schönbrunn Palace is on Adobe’s list and twice on Shutterstock’s, but not on Pond5’s. St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna is on both Adobe’s list (spelled "St. Stephan’s") and Shutterstock’s. That is why the checker answers per agency rather than once.

How it works, and where the lists come from

We read each list on the agency’s public pages, without signing in, on October 29, 2026, and stored every entry as the agency printed it: Adobe’s Known restrictions page; Shutterstock’s Known Restrictions pages for Architectural Designs and Private Land (updated March 25, 2026), Artwork (April 22, 2025) and its list of acceptable places (April 21, 2025); and the Prohibited Content PDF linked from Pond5’s Legal Guidelines page (the PDF carries no date). Shutterstock’s and Pond5’s trademark and event lists are not about places and are left out. The links sit under the checker.

Matching ignores case and accents, so "Schonbrunn" finds "Schönbrunn Palace". The only alternative names are the ones a list gives in brackets, such as "La Pedrera" for Casa Milà. A spelling one letter away from an entry is shown and marked as a close spelling, so a variant like "Stephen" still finds "Stephan". When no name matches, Shutterstock’s and Pond5’s location column is searched, so typing a city lists what each agency names there.

Getty Images keeps its guidance in an Intellectual Property Wiki, one article per subject rather than a list, so it is not part of this check. The checker links to a search of that wiki for what you typed.

Quick tips

  • Read the rule, not just the name: most of Adobe’s entries apply when the place is the main focal point, so a wide skyline that happens to include it is a different case.
  • An entry on Shutterstock’s "Restrictions Apply" list can still go as editorial there; on Adobe it cannot, because Adobe takes no editorial footage.
  • If what you filmed is not on any list, check the agency’s release rules anyway: every list says it is not exhaustive, and Pond5, for one, requires a release for anything filmed inside a venue that charges admission.

Limits

What this tool cannot check

  • It matches names, not pictures: it cannot tell whether a landmark is the main subject of your clip or a small part of a wider view, which is what most rules turn on.
  • The lists change. Each answer is the list as read on October 29, 2026; the agency’s current page is the authority.
  • Getty Images is not checked: its guidance is a wiki of articles, not a list.

Frequently asked questions

Not as commercial on Adobe Stock, whose list restricts the tower’s illumination and lighting designs as the main focal point, and not on Shutterstock, which lists the Eiffel Tower at night (Pierre Bideau’s lighting design) as prohibited for commercial and editorial use. Pond5’s prohibited list has the same entry, "prohibited and will be rejected". Shutterstock lists the unlit tower as acceptable.

On Adobe Stock, yes for commercial use: footage created on the property or showing the palace as the main focal point. On Shutterstock it is under "Restrictions Apply" for the building and for its grounds, so commercial needs a property release and editorial is generally acceptable. It is not on Pond5’s prohibited list as read on October 29, 2026.

No list says so. Each agency calls its list non-exhaustive and reviews every clip on its own, so a miss here means only that the name is not on that list as read on the date shown.

Getty keeps an Intellectual Property Wiki with one article per subject, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Atomium. It is not a list, so the checker links to a search of it instead of summarizing it.