Once you know what to look for in a DAM system the next big hurdle is in picking the right DAM system. The market is abundant with choices that can spoil you for choices. To make the choice difficult, these DAM systems also offer differentiators and features tailor-made for SMB and enterprise customers.
To make things easy for you, we are comparing nine of the most popular DAM systems. We will compare them on common parameters like asset organization capabilities, collaboration and integration capabilities, security, scalability, and much more.
Brandfolder
Brandfolder is a DAM system that streamlines the management and sharing of digital assets. It is particularly beneficial for marketing professionals, brand managers, and creative teams, enhancing efficiency by simplifying access and organization of digital content. Brandfolder supports a range of integrations, including project management tools like Trello and Jira, and is backed by Smartsheet for additional capabilities. It also offers robust privacy controls and user-level permissions to maintain asset security and usage.
Canto
Canto is another popular DAM system ideal for marketing teams, creative professionals, and organizations seeking efficient media file management. It offers streamlined organization, easy file sharing, and facilitates seamless team collaboration on digital assets. Canto’s platform empowers businesses to organize, find, and distribute digital assets, thereby eliminating operational challenges and increasing efficiency. Canto’s USP is its DAM platform, media delivery cloud, and video enhancements all of which make it a cloud-ready system for accelerating media delivery on the web.
Cloudinary
Cloudinary’s DAM products, Nexus and Assets, cater to different user needs. Nexus is designed for creative teams and small to medium-sized businesses, while Assets is tailored for large organizations and enterprises. Cloudinary’s DAM solutions have become industry leaders owing to their AI-powered workflows, collaborative tools, and developer-friendly features for optimizing media content delivery.
Filestage
Filestage is a review and approval platform designed to streamline the process of feedback and approvals for documents, images, and videos. It offers features like version control, automated workflows, and integrates with other tools to facilitate collaboration.
MediaValet
MediaValet stands out with its robust security features, offering a scalable cloud-based DAM solution. In addition to fulfilling fundamental digital asset management requirements, MediaValet also aids in advanced search, version control, and AI capabilities for auto-tagging and categorization. Although suitable for SMBs, MediaValet positions itself for enterprises. Even the pricing information is obtained through a custom request.
PhotoShelter
Catering to creative professionals, PhotoShelter offers a DAM platform that emphasizes ease of use and real-time workflow capabilities. It includes AI tagging, powerful integrations, and tools for photographers to manage and deliver their work efficiently. It is an ideal tool to consider if images form a larger chunk of your digital asset workflows.
Bynder
Bynder provides a centralized DAM solution that is highly configurable to meet various business needs. It offers features like AI-powered asset tagging, automated asset optimization, and seamless sharing capabilities within and outside the organization. Forrester has named Bynder as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems, Q1 2024 making it an ideal choice for all sorts of businesses.
Adobe
Adobe’s DAM solution forms part of the bigger Adobe Experience Manager suite. It integrates well with the Adobe Creative Cloud, which is the most popular suite of image and video editing tools used by creative professionals. As a result, managing the entire content lifecycle with Adobe DAM is easier. However, it might require some training and extensive experience before users can become adept at using it on a daily basis.
ImageKit
ImageKit is a popular API-driven Digital Asset Management system that allows for seamless management and distribution of images and videos. It supports a browser-based UI for easy uploading, retrieval, and sharing of assets across various platforms. Further, it also allows seamless transformations and optimizations on images and videos and their delivery across web and mobile aplatforms. ImageKit's USP is its ability to integrate your own cloud storage server or use its storage. Further, it also offers a globally-distributed CDN network that delivers media with negligible latency.
A tabular comparison of DAM systems and their capabilities
We can compare the above-mentioned DAM systems and their capabilities on three factors:
- Business Considerations
- Product capabilities
- Collaboration features
Business Considerations
| DAM | Target Market Segment | Pricing | User Reviews and Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandfolder | Enterprise DAM | Custom pricing based on needs | 4.8/5 on Capterra 4.5/5 on G2 |
| Canto | SMB and Mid-Market DAM | Custom pricing based on needs | 4.5/5 on Capterra 4.3/5 on G2 |
| Cloudinary | Enterprise DAM | Free plan Plus - $89 per month Advanced - $224 per month |
4.6/5 on Capterra 4.4/5 on G2 |
| Filestage | SMB and Mid-Market DAM | Free plan Basic - $49 per month Professional - $249 per month |
4.7/5 on Capterra 4.6/5 on G2 |
| MediaValet | Enterprise DAM | Custom pricing based on needs | 4.7/5 on Capterra 4.6/5 on G2 |
| PhotoShelter | SMB and Mid-Market DAM | Basic - $10 per month Standard - $25 per month Pro - $45 per month |
4.6/5 on Capterra 4.3/5 on G2 |
| Bynder | Enterprise DAM | Custom pricing based on needs | 4.5/5 on Capterra 4.5/5 on G2 |
| Adobe | Enterprise DAM | Custom pricing based on needs | 4.7/5 on Capterra 4.6/5 on G2 |
| ImageKit | SMB,Mid-Market & Enterprise DAM | Forever-free plan Basic - $49 per month Enterprise - $500 per month |
4.8/5 on Capterra 4.6/5 on G2 |
Collaboration features
| DAM | Collaboration Features |
|---|---|
| Brandfolder | Intuitive Search and UI Asset Collections Brand Portals Sharing Options Guest Upload |
| Canto | Upload Links for External Collaborators Workspaces for Project Collaboration Comments and Annotations |
| Cloudinary | Adding Comments on Assets Sharing Assets Internally and Externally Requesting External Uploads (Beta) Public Link Sharing |
| Filestage | Online Proofing Tools Intuitive Interface Robust Feedback Tools |
| MediaValet | Robust Search Capabilities Seamless Integration with Various Platforms |
| PhotoShelter | Grouping, Sharing, Commenting on Assets Real-time Feedback Easy Content Curation Intuitive Approvals |
| Bynder | Drag & Drop File Management AI-powered Search and Tagging Share Collections to Users or Externals Annotations and Comments for Collaboration |
| Adobe | Collaboration among IT, Creative, and Marketing Teams Real-time Asset Tracking and Modifications |
| ImageKit | Media Collections for Grouping Assets Sharing Files and Folders Public Shareable Links Access and Permission Management Commenting between versions |
Final verdict
The choice of a DAM system is not always straight-forward. There are a combination of factors and business-specific requirements that influence the final choice.
The above comparison should give you a direction on how to go about shortlisting the final contenders. It will make it easy to compare the top three and then pick the right choice of a DAM system for your business.
If you are looking for a no-strings attached free trial, give ImageKit a shot. It is the only DAM system that is offering a forever-free plan with a generous 20 GB storage. You can upgrade whenever you are convinced of its utility.
Sign up for ImageKit.