PicaJet
Search Build shortlist

Phraseanet, digiKam, imgix, Mylio

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.

Phraseanet

Yes

digiKam

Yes

imgix

No

Mylio

Yes

Everything else

Phraseanet
digiKam
imgix
Mylio
Verdict
A free, self-hosted GPLv3 DAM used by French public-sector, cultural and broadcast institutions with in-house technical staff, now being sunset by its vendor in favor of a paid successor, Phrasea.
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 image and video API for real-time resizing, compression, and format conversion via URL parameters, built for developers at ecommerce, media, and agency teams.
A peer-to-device photo sync and library tool for individuals and families with photos spread across computers, phones and tablets who want them synced without uploading to a public cloud.
Price published
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Billed on
No licence fee; implementation and support services may be paid
Free software, no licence fee
Consumption-based credits, sold in monthly tiers ($25–$500/mo self-serve, custom above that). Credits are spent on Management (2 credits/GB/month for stored assets), Delivery (1 credit/GB bandwidth), and Transformation (variable by operation). Per-credit rate drops as plan tier rises ($0.25 down to $0.12, monthly billing; slightly cheaper on annual commitment). Each plan also states an implied storage/bandwidth cap in GB.
Personal, Family and Business plans; no amounts on the page
Deployment
On-premise
On-premise
Cloud
On-premise, Cloud
Free plan
Yes
Yes
No
No
Free trial
No
No
No
Yes
Transparency index
90%
100%
Not checked
50%
Most common complaint
The product is mid-generation: Phrasea is announced to replace Phraseanet in 2026
It has no collaboration, permissions or approvals by design
Not checked
Three plans are named and none is priced on the pricing page

“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.

Phraseanet The product is mid-generation: Phrasea is announced to replace Phraseanet in 2026 — 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.
Mylio Three plans are named and none is priced on the pricing page — ask them to answer this in writing before the trial.

No email required — the page prints as it stands.