Verdict
A modular, metadata-heavy DAM aimed at large organisations with IT capacity to manage taxonomy, sold through quote-based pricing with on-prem and private-cloud options.
A Windows-only photo cataloging tool for large image libraries (50,000+ files), built by a single developer, sold as a one-time perpetual licence instead of a subscription.
An open-source, community-governed digital repository platform on Drupal, for libraries, archives, and museums to manage digital collections.
An enterprise DAM module within Adobe Experience Manager, for large organizations managing thousands to millions of brand assets across marketing channels.
Price published
No
No
No
No
Billed on
A modular model — you pay for the modules you take
Perpetual licence, no subscription
No published price on islandora.ca — the core software is free open source ("free to use and always will be"). Paid options are hosting/installation/migration/support/training contracts sold by independent third-party service providers listed on islandora.ca/service-providers (e.g. Born-Digital, discoverygarden); islandora.ca itself does not publish their rates or billing units.
No public price list; sales quote required for both packages (Prime and Ultimate). Adobe's own on-premise product description sheet lists separate license metrics per component — AEM Assets itself is licensed 'Per Instance', 'Users' are licensed 'Per User', Brand Portal is licensed 'Per Brand Portal User', and Dynamic Media/Personalized Media are licensed by 'Page Views per month' — so billing is multi-metric and only available via custom quote, not a single flat per-user or per-GB rate.
Deployment
Cloud
On-premise
On-premise, Cloud
Cloud, On-premise
Free plan
No
No
No
No
Free trial
No
Yes
No
No
Transparency index
10%
60%
Not checked
Not checked
Most common complaint
The pricing page works as a lead form rather than a price list
Windows only, so it is out of the question for a team on Macs
Not checked
Not checked