PicaJet
Search Build shortlist

digiKam, Contentstack, Razuna, Piwigo

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

Contentstack

No

Razuna

Yes

Piwigo

Yes

Everything else

digiKam
Contentstack
Razuna
Piwigo
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.
An enterprise headless CMS and composable DXP for developer-led teams needing multi-channel content delivery, with a native asset-management module that's newer and thinly reviewed.
A flat-fee-per-account DAM and MAM with a free 500GB/5-user tier and unlimited paid users, for teams willing to pilot without much recent independent review evidence.
A self-hosted, permission-based photo/video catalog with album hierarchies, tagging and a large plugin ecosystem, for archives and small orgs willing to maintain their own server as the library grows.
Price published
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Billed on
Free software, no licence fee
Quoted per customer
Flat price per account by volume; the vendor states there are no per-user fees
Flat price per account by storage; users are unlimited
Deployment
On-premise
Cloud
Cloud, On-premise
On-premise, Cloud
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free trial
No
No
Yes
Yes
Transparency index
100%
30%
90%
100%
Most common complaint
It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design
A free start exists, but the terms for moving to a paid tier are not on the page
On-premise is available only in the enterprise tier, whose price is not published
A ten per cent price rise is announced for 1 September 2026

“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.
Contentstack A free start exists, but the terms for moving to a paid tier are not on the page — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Razuna On-premise is available only in the enterprise tier, whose price is not published — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Piwigo A ten per cent price rise is announced for 1 September 2026 — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.

No email required — the page prints as it stands.