Verdict
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.
A template-driven creative-automation platform for producing localized video and banner ad variants at scale, with asset storage bundled in rather than offered as a standalone DAM.
An enterprise DAM module within Adobe Experience Manager, for large organizations managing thousands to millions of brand assets across marketing channels.
A digital asset management platform for enterprises, agencies, museums, and nonprofits, paired with in-house consulting and data-migration services.
Price published
No
No
No
No
Billed on
Self-hosted: no licence fee. Hosted: a user ceiling per tier
The set of modules required
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.
Not disclosed publicly. Plans are differentiated by number of admin users, storage (TB), and number of portals (e.g. Essential: 5 admin users/1TB; Signature: 20 admin users/2TB/3 portals; Premium: 50 admin users/5TB/5 portals); exact per-unit or per-tier prices are not published, visitors must request a consult.
Deployment
Cloud, On-premise
Cloud
Cloud, On-premise
Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid
Free plan
Yes
No
No
No
Free trial
No
No
No
No
Transparency index
60%
10%
Not checked
Not checked
Most common complaint
The free route is genuinely free of licence fees but moves hosting, upgrades and support onto you
Both lines are marked price on application with no ranges
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