PicaJet
Search Build shortlist

Phraseanet, ImageKit, Piwigo, Contentstack

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

ImageKit

No

Piwigo

Yes

Contentstack

No

Everything else

Phraseanet
ImageKit
Piwigo
Contentstack
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.
An image and video CDN with an API-first asset library, built for fast developer integration, billed on flat monthly tiers with per-GB overage once bandwidth or storage limits are exceeded.
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.
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.
Price published
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Billed on
No licence fee; implementation and support services may be paid
Bandwidth, storage and user seats, with published per-unit rates above the limits
Flat price per account by storage; users are unlimited
Quoted per customer
Deployment
On-premise
Cloud
On-premise, Cloud
Cloud
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free trial
No
Yes
Yes
No
Transparency index
90%
70%
100%
30%
Most common complaint
The product is mid-generation: Phrasea is announced to replace Phraseanet in 2026
Several units are metered at once: bandwidth, storage, video units and seats
A ten per cent price rise is announced for 1 September 2026
A free start exists, but the terms for moving to a paid tier are not on the 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.
ImageKit Several units are metered at once: bandwidth, storage, video units and seats — 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.
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.

No email required — the page prints as it stands.