PicaJet
Search Build shortlist

Nextcloud, Air, Cloudinary, digiKam

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.

Nextcloud

Yes

Air

No

Cloudinary

No

digiKam

Yes

Everything else

Nextcloud
Air
Cloudinary
digiKam
Verdict
Not checked
Not checked
Not checked
Not checked
Price published
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Billed on
Subscription per user per year, cheaper at volume
Credits; users are not billed
Credits: one credit is 1,000 transformations, or 1 GB of storage, or 1 GB of video bandwidth
Free software, no licence fee
Deployment
On-premise, Cloud
Cloud
Cloud
On-premise
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free trial
No
Yes
Yes
No
Transparency index
80%
60%
60%
100%
Most common complaint
It is a file platform with DAM features rather than a DAM: asset-level metadata and rights are thinner
The free tier is described in detail while the paid tiers are named only
Prices are published for the API but not for the DAM, so the product being compared with a DAM still has no price
It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design

“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.

Nextcloud It is a file platform with DAM features rather than a DAM: asset-level metadata and rights are thinner — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Air The free tier is described in detail while the paid tiers are named only — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
Cloudinary Prices are published for the API but not for the DAM, so the product being compared with a DAM still has no price — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.
digiKam It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.

No email required — the page prints as it stands.