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.
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.
An enterprise DAM module within Adobe Experience Manager, for large organizations managing thousands to millions of brand assets across marketing channels.
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.
Price published
Yes
No
No
Yes
Billed on
No licence fee; implementation and support services may be paid
Personal, Family and Business plans; no amounts on the page
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.
Bandwidth, storage and user seats, with published per-unit rates above the limits
Deployment
On-premise
On-premise, Cloud
Cloud, On-premise
Cloud
Free plan
Yes
No
No
Yes
Free trial
No
Yes
No
Yes
Transparency index
90%
50%
Not checked
70%
Most common complaint
The product is mid-generation: Phrasea is announced to replace Phraseanet in 2026
Three plans are named and none is priced on the pricing page
Not checked
Several units are metered at once: bandwidth, storage, video units and seats