Digital asset management tools - The complete list
What are the best digital asset management tools?
There are many Digital asset management (DAM) tools out there- but in our assessment of the online reviews, five have emerged as outstanding options. These are Pimcore, ResourceSpace, MediaValet, Brandfolder and Canto. Here we talk you through these options.
What does digital asset management software do?
Digital asset management (DAM) software enables you to store and manage digital assets. A DAM software system will help you save time looking for assets when you need them and do a lot of the work of cataloguing, ordering and managing your files. It saves you time when your files are organised, searchable, easy to access and edit for certain platforms.
When files are saved in various locations, in different systems and formats, they can be hard to find and may go unused because they are not easy to locate at the point they are needed.
DAM systems also help you increase campaign productivity and ensure you put the right assets where they need to go and when they need to go out. There are also applications within DAM systems that can track how your assets are being used and how well they are performing.
What does a DAM system enable?
A DAM system organises your assets and images and holds them securely in a model known as a single source of truth. This gives you quick and easy access to the original asset you are after. With a decent DAM system you can:
- Find the digital assets you need- when you need them
- Set levels of user permissions and access
- Share assets within and outside of your organisation
- Automate workflows
- Avoid unnecessary duplication of files which can blow out storage
- Customise your asset organisation and have them ordered in a way that suits your business
- Store versions of the same asset in various sizes and formats for use across multiple channels
- Maintain a strong brand and online presence
Which online tools have the greatest number of reviews, and from which source?
There must be as many sites that review software systems as there are software systems in the market. Some of the most commonly used for software are:
- G2 – which as more than 160,00 reviews on thousands of software solutions
- Capterra – believed to have more than 5 million reviews, coming direct from users and customers
- Forrester – a well-respected research and review company
- TrustRadius – ensures reviewers are verified and guarantees no leads or paid placements so there is no risk of vendors skewing results
Which review sites have the greatest credibility?
Although each of these four technology review sites are popular, through sheer volume of numbers, G2 and Capterra are the go-to online site for helping businesses choose the right software. The benefits of G2 include:
- Video reviews
- Software is extensively categorised
- Product comparisons are provided
- Highest rated and easiest to use options are displayed
- Ability to refine results by region
The benefits of Capterra include:
- Owned by Gartner
- Features buyers guides
- Organised into more than 700 categories
- Enables alerts so you can get notifications about new reviews
- Searches can be refined on price, popularity or market segment
Why are they considered the best DAM tools?
A Digital Asset Management software search on the G2 site results in 237 options across all segments, with 26 of these deemed suitable for enterprise.
Our top five list of DAM tools features the following systems:
These solutions made the top five because they each provide a high-quality asset management system, which is easy enough for non-technical staff to use.
Top five DAM tools- Pimcore
Pimcore has an outstanding digital asset management module (DAM module) that centralises control of your images, graphics, documents, videos and other files. It can manage any file type and can handle any amount of digital assets. The highly flexible system enables performance and scalability, ensuring you have a consolidated library of digital assets at your disposal.
With Pimcore DAM you can empower and enable your content creators and marketing team to access and use your assets for their true purpose. It also delivers exceptional customer experience across all of your channels where your assets are presented and deployed.
Top five DAM tools- ResourceSpace
This nifty DAM is an open source solution then enables a high degree of sharing and security over assets and file sharing. It integrates well with many other technological solution and is a great solution overall for storage and data management.
Top five DAM tools- MediaValet
Just like the name suggests, MediaValet will deliver your assets to you when you need them. It has a great set of resources which can help you reap the full rewards of the systems, and some of the most advanced digital asset management tools that use AI to power searches.
Top five DAM tools- Brandfolder
This DAM is very popular with marketing agencies and companies, and with good reason. It has a great Web to print catalogue and service option, which means you can print from anywhere. Brandfolder also has significant AI that helps you to organise and arrange files. It also offers integration with another of other useful marketing and ecommerce tools.
Top five DAM tools- Canto
Canto is a very popular DAM for schools, universities and historical organisations. It enables a great data organisation and has a very easy and highly intuitive search. It also enables you to share assets with users, customers and collaborators. This has been put to great use by many organisations that want to enable community access to historic images. Canto also offers decent security and permissions, and a quality preview view.
How much should you expect to pay for each of these?
- Pimcore- available completely free in a community edition, or from around $2500 a month for the Enterprise Solution
- ResourceSpace – also available for free, the enterprise cloud solution is around $23,000 a year
For MediaValet , BrandFolder and Canto, pricing is only available through a custom quote from the provider.
How to decide which DAM to use
With so many options out there, and so many diverse customer perspectives, it can be tough to know which DAM is ideal for your business. Using these popular review sites is a great way to get a sense of the perspectives and experiences of other software users.
If the options seem overwhelming, take some time to consider the exact nature of your requirements, and the data problem you are trying to solve. You can read all of the DAM reviews in the world, but if you are not clear about your particular requirements, it will be hard to work out which option is the best match for you. Articulate your need for a DAM before going to deep into the reviews. Do you
- require a central storage system for licensed photographs, to give clear access and information about usage and publication rights
- want to achieve a higher level of compliance and quality assurance with your digital asset collection
- need a storage system that can handle the extreme size of your video and image collections
- require improved search functionality to be able to quickly locate images you know are in the collection
- need a better way of sharing your files with external printers, collaborations and distributors
Working out the true nature of your asset requirements and what it is you really want to be able to streamline and achieve will help you identify an ideal vendor and DAM solution that will make a difference in what you do.
DAM features you need
The next considerations relate to the features you need from your DAM system, and reading reviews related to each of these functionalities will help you clarify your needs. Assess the reviews and their coverage of the following elements of a DAM solution:
- Searchability
- Scalability
- Degree of customisation
- Metadata method and structure
- Integration with other and existing tools
- Cloud based
- Mobile access and use options
- User permission options
Other DAM tools to consider
If none of these DAM solutions seem ideal for your enterprise business, there are others out there that it might be worth considering. Rounding out our top ten DAMs are the following solutions:
- Wiredrive – which is popular with production houses who specialise in media development
- Intelligence Bank – a specialist knowledge management solution for media handling and monitoring
- Image Relay – a nice solution with cloud storage
- Salsify – used by some big-name brands for customer experience management, this system also has a DAM component
- MediaBeacon – single source management of digital assets, however this product scores only 3.5 out of 5 on G2
Pick Pimcore for your DAM
As we have seen, there are many DAM systems on the market. But Pimcore consistently received excellent reviews from individual users and businesses. When you invest in a DAM solution, you want to feel confident that you have chosen the product that will best serve your needs. Pimcore DAM is a great choice for any organisation that needs to take control of a digital asset collection. The Pimcore DAM reviews speak for themselves.