Verdict
An open-source, community-governed digital repository platform on Drupal, for libraries, archives, and museums to manage digital collections.
An on-premise DAM known for deep metadata and search, for existing Portfolio users who size and maintain their own server, now under Axle AI ownership after a March 2026 acquisition.
A team file library billed as a flat monthly fee with unlimited users, aimed at organisations where most people only need to download an approved file a few times a month.
An open-licence, self-hosted DAM for teams with in-house server admin capability, trading a free licence for the time to run upgrades, tune dependencies and troubleshoot it themselves.
Price published
No
No
Yes
No
Billed on
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.
Quoted per customer; the licensing model was preserved through the change of owner
Flat price per account — users are not a billing unit
Self-hosted: no licence fee. Hosted: a user ceiling per tier
Deployment
On-premise, Cloud
On-premise
Cloud
Cloud, On-premise
Free plan
No
No
No
Yes
Free trial
No
No
Yes
No
Transparency index
Not checked
25%
70%
60%
Most common complaint
Not checked
It changed hands in March 2026, so anything written before that date describes it as an Extensis product
Storage ceilings are modest next to enterprise platforms, so large video libraries outgrow the tiers quickly
The free route is genuinely free of licence fees but moves hosting, upgrades and support onto you