PicaJet

digiKam, Acquia DAM, NetX, Wedia

Side by side on what we have verified on each vendor’s own pages. Where a fact was not checked, the table says so rather than leaving a blank that reads as “no”.

What decides it · Runs on your own servers

If the files genuinely cannot leave your infrastructure, this is not a close race — the platforms marked No below should not be on the call at all.

digiKam

Yes

Acquia DAM

No

NetX

Yes

Wedia

No

Everything else

Verdict
Free, open-source, cross-platform photo cataloging software for large RAW libraries, with tagging, geotagging and duplicate detection, meant to pair with a separate RAW editor.
A quote-only enterprise DAM (formerly Widen) built on configurable metadata and external sharing portals, for organisations already standardised on the Acquia stack.
A digital asset management platform for enterprises, agencies, museums, and nonprofits, paired with in-house consulting and data-migration services.
A DAM, PIM-adjacent and brand-portal platform for large multi-brand enterprises (Michelin, Decathlon, Bayer-scale customers), quote-priced and built around a dedicated admin who configures it.
Price published
Yes
No
No
No
Billed on
Free software, no licence fee
Organisation size, user count, storage volume and feature set
Not disclosed publicly. Plans are differentiated by number of admin users, storage (TB), and number of portals (e.g. Essential: 5 admin users/1TB; Signature: 20 admin users/2TB/3 portals; Premium: 50 admin users/5TB/5 portals); exact per-unit or per-tier prices are not published, visitors must request a consult.
Quoted per customer
Deployment
On-premise
Cloud
Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid
Cloud
Free plan
Yes
No
No
No
Free trial
No
Yes
No
No
Transparency index
100%
20%
Not checked
0%
Most common complaint
It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design
Cost depends on four variables at once, none of them priced publicly
Not checked
Neither tiers nor ranges — only a form and a demo

“Not checked” means exactly that: we have not verified it, not that the platform lacks it. Every other value was read off the vendor’s own pages on the date shown on each platform page.

What to ask on the demo

One question per platform, drawn from what actually goes wrong with it — not a generic checklist. Vendors run the demo; this hands the agenda back to you.

digiKam It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Acquia DAM Cost depends on four variables at once, none of them priced publicly — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Wedia Neither tiers nor ranges — only a form and a demo — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.

No email required — the page prints as it stands.