Alamy: captions, tags and supertags, step by step

By Marta (Tagvora) · Updated October 2026

On Alamy the caption carries the most weight, followed by up to 50 tags; 10 of them can be marked as supertags and count more. You can upload by FTP with the metadata embedded: Alamy reads the caption, tags and date, but supertags are chosen afterwards on its site.

What Alamy reads from the file

We tested it with a real account in October 2026: over FTP the caption (the IPTC description), up to 50 tags and the photo's date come through, and the photos pass quality control. What you can't send in the file is the supertags.

Step by step over FTP

1. Connect to upload.alamy.com (port 21) with your Alamy username and password.
2. Upload the photos to the Stock folder. Outside it they aren't processed as stock.
3. Wait for quality control and open Alamy Image Manager.
4. Check the caption and tags and mark the 10 supertags: the most important words for the photo.

Caption and tags

• Caption: one or two sentences on what is shown and where. It is what weighs most in its search.
• Tags: at least 5 and at most 50, all relevant. Alamy says irrelevant tags hurt your position in its search.
• Singular and plural: Alamy doesn't group them: “cat” doesn't find “cats”. Where it fits, use both.

What Alamy doesn't accept

• AI: neither AI-generated images nor images partly edited with AI. It may end your contract.
• Small photos: the minimum is 5.7 MP (about 17 MB uncompressed).

Editorial photos are accepted.

How Tagvora makes it easy

Tagvora writes the caption and tags with AI, keeps singular and plural for Alamy, uploads by FTP to the Stock folder and never sends it an AI image.

Sources

• Alamy: captions and tags
• Alamy: contributor uploading

More guides

• Keywords for Adobe Stock and Shutterstock: what's different
• How to upload to iStock / Getty Images with ESP without losing keywords
• Shutterstock: why your photos show “Needs attention”
• What each stock agency requires in 2026: the table
• How to upload photos to several stock agencies at once
• Dreamstime by FTP: how to set categories with its CSV
• 123RF by FTP: no title and the “Upload Via FTP” step
• AI keywording tools for stock photographers (2026)