In today’s fast-paced digital commerce landscape, businesses are investing heavily in high-quality visuals and detailed product information to meet the evolving expectations of online shoppers. However, managing this wealth of content across various channels presents significant challenges. Enter Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Product Information Management (PIM) systems. When it comes down to it, a lot of ecommerce organizations are unsure how to differentiate, so let’s break down: PIM vs DAM.

While each software serves distinct purposes, integrating both can provide a comprehensive solution to streamline content management and enhance the digital commerce experience.

As organizations are investing more in their visuals, there’s an increased need to store them effectively – and ensure they’re always associated with the correct product data. This has organizations looking at additional solutions: namely, digital asset management software and product information management software.

Although a DAM and PIM share similar benefits, they each serve a different core purpose. In this post, we’ll review the definition of PIM and DAM, the key differences between the two, and how they can work together to help your company thrive.

What’s the Difference: PIM vs DAM

Although there are some overlapping functionalities between a PIM and a DAM, their core purposes are different. DAM is primarily meant for managing digital assets like images, videos, and documents, and ensuring brand consistency across an organization. PIM is primarily meant for managing product information and making sure it’s accurate and consistent. PIM is used to centralize product information and optimize the product lifecycle, while a DAM is used to manage your own company’s digital assets.

Let’s look at each solution in more detail.

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

A digital asset management system (DAM) helps companies manage, organize, share and distribute their digital assets all from within one central library. It improves the productivity of marketing teams and increases the ROI of content and creative programs. A great example of a DAM is MediaValet.

Here are three key benefits organizations see with a DAM:

1. Organizing Rich Media: DAM makes storing, managing and finding brand and marketing material (photos, videos, etc.) easy with artificial intelligence, keywords, and advanced searches.
2. Ensuring Media Security: Access permissions for internal and external users give organizations tighter rein on their digital media, plus it offers version control and history tracking.
3. Providing Better Media Sharing: A DAM includes features that enable easy sharing of large media files, such as high-res images, large-format video asset management, etc., over email or branded portals.

Who Needs a DAM?

A DAM solution is best suited for organizations that are dealing with a high volume of digital assets and need a central location to store them where they can be easily accessed by a range of stakeholders—both internal and external. A cloud-based DAM is a perfect fit for geo-dispersed teams who need access to their assets any time, from anywhere, and who require varying user permissions. Teams that frequently share assets back and forth and may need access to different versions of those assets will benefit greatly from a DAM. It is very useful for teams that use their creative assets inside other platforms (like Adobe InDesign for example), and those who have brand assets on various channels.

Interested in how a DAM works? Take the self-guided tour of MediaValet here:

Product Information Management (PIM)

A PIM is a system used to optimize product distribution and ensure that all information and product-related content is managed in one centralized location. A great example of a PIM is Akeneo.

To better understand how it works on its own, here are 3 key benefits of PIM:

1. Managing Product Information: PIM makes it easy to ensure that all product information that reaches your audience is correct, consistent, and complete.
2. Creating Positive Customer Experiences: With a PIM, your audience can get a better understanding of your products through various visuals alongside relevant product information, providing them with additional confidence of the product and potential purchases.
3. Sharing Information Across Sales Channels: A PIM acts as a central hub for all your product information, that helps ensure that your content is always up to date across all your sales channels.

Who Needs a PIM?

PIM is the ideal solution for any retailer with multiple SKUs and a dynamic product range. It best suits organizations that use multiple sales and marketing channels to support a sophisticated product portfolio that needs frequent updates. PIM helps all stakeholders have access to up-to-date product data, which is useful for those using multiple channels with data generated from multiple sources. Retailers who are employing eCommerce tools and providing an expansive amount of product information for online customers are an especially great fit as PIM is crucial for companies who prioritize fast time-to-market.

PIM vs DAM: A Comparative Overview

The Power of Integrating PIM and DAM

While PIM and DAM systems serve different functions, integrating them can significantly enhance your digital commerce strategy.

Benefits of Integration:

• Unified Content Management: Synchronize product data with corresponding digital assets, ensuring consistency across all channels.
• Accelerated Time-to-Market: Streamline workflows by enabling teams to access both product information and related assets from a single platform.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: Deliver rich, accurate, and engaging product content, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Integrating PIM and DAM eliminates content silos, optimizes discoverability, and scales your commerce strategy by delivering product and branded content across all marketing channels.

There aren’t many scenarios where an organization would need a PIM without a DAM. PIM could maybe be used on its own by companies who are dealing with a lot of product information and data, but not necessarily a large amount of complex visual assets that support product sales. For example, a company that is just getting set up with eCommerce and only has a small suite of basic images. On the other hand, companies who are not dealing with a large amount of product information or data, but are looking to manage, organize and distribute a vast amount of digital assets would benefit from using a DAM on its own.

PIM vs DAM: It’s Complementary, not Competing

While a DAM can store similar information to a PIM using custom attributes, that information is used to search for the asset, not pushed to different platforms. PIM is designed to manage products and product information, while a DAM is designed to manage digital assets.

So, how do they work together? Here, we highlight 3 key benefits of a PIM and DAM Integration in order to answer that question:

1. Eliminate Content Siloes: Seamlessly sync product information between your PIM and DAM.
2. Optimize Discoverability: Establish a single source of truth for all your product data and digital assets.
3. Scale Your Commerce Strategy: Quickly deliver product and branded content across all marketing channels.

“Product information management (PIM) users can turn to digital asset management (DAM) to win the digital shelf, and DAM users can accelerate the shift to omnichannel with PIM.”
Forrester

To address the question: If I already have a PIM, do I still need a DAM? The answer is YES. After a deep dive into the functionalities and benefits of both a PIM and a DAM, it becomes very clear that the systems are extremely complementary to each other and are not competitors. Having both a PIM and DAM in place gives your company a steep competitive advantage in a variety of ways. Learn more about our PIM and DAM integration here.

It’s time to build a business case for DAM. Follow these six steps and watch your digital asset management solution become a priority.

Getting new technology prioritized within your organization can be a challenge in itself – especially when it affects each department differently. A priority for the marketing team could be closer to the bottom of the list for say, operations or accounting. When there are competing priorities between departments, it can be difficult to get initiatives pushed through. Especially on a timeline that works best for your team and, ultimately, your organization as a whole.

Like many marketing and creative department leaders, you’ve identified the need for a digital asset management solution (DAM). Now, how do you ensure the initiative is prioritized? You need to demonstrate to stakeholders and decision-makers—who likely don’t know much about DAM—why it’s worth the time and investment to implement the system. To do this, you need to build a solid business case for the investment.

Here, we offer a six-step guide to building your business case to prove the value of DAM and that the ROI will be more than worth it…for everyone. The six steps are:

1. Gather Details on your Current State
2. Get Buy-in from Others
3. Showcase the Benefits
4. Highlight Success Stories
5. Have an Implementation Plan
6. Be Clear with Your Ask

Step 1: Gather Details on Your Current State

Identifying and highlighting current challenges that you’re hoping to solve is a good starting point for making a strong business case. Not only does benchmarking quantify the need for a DAM, it also enables you to measure success down the line. Use real, quantifiable examples, when possible. For example, you could record the average time your team spends trying to track down digital assets in a given week or how many days that projects are typically delayed due to response times for content.

The University of Windsor proved the value of a DAM by recording how much time their design team spent per week responding to asset requests (read their full story here).

If the challenges trickle down into other departments, be sure to point that out too. Your business case is only strengthened when the issues affect multiple areas of your organization. Additionally, it is important to benchmark what you’re currently spending on digital asset storage and transfer software, in order to fully understand the true cost of switching to a DAM, balanced with the savings on time that it can provide for your team.

Step 2: Get Buy-In from Others

In many cases, the more people that want to implement a DAM, the more likely it is to get approved. It’s important, then, to know how others on the team will be impacted during your DAM implementation so you can get them on board from the start. What functionalities do they need and how can you help them be successful? Make sure you’re communicating with them over the course of your DAM journey to ensure they understand how the system will benefit them. Here we outline three categories of users to consider when implementing a DAM, along with their priorities.

As a DAM can be beneficial for multiple departments within an organization, you should spend some time outlining how a DAM would benefit other departments, too. Aligning with other teams enable you to share costs and better showcase the value of a DAM – if the other departments are interested, your business case will gain more traction. It’s important to put some thought into who can use it and how, in order to align with their goals and increase your chances of getting them on board.

To build a compelling business case for DAM, it’s important to speak to the specific goals of each stakeholder.

For CMOs, it’s about speed and scale without sacrificing brand integrity. A DAM system ensures that every campaign uses approved assets, accelerates production timelines, and enables brand-compliant personalization across regions, channels, and teams.

CFOs care about the bottom line. DAM drives measurable cost savings by reducing duplicate asset creation, cutting agency spend, and reclaiming hours lost to inefficient workflows. With usage metrics and time-saving data, the ROI is easy to quantify.

CIOs prioritize secure, scalable systems that integrate seamlessly. A modern DAM fits into the existing tech ecosystem with cloud-native architecture, enterprise-grade security, and API-driven integrations—without adding complexity.

Legal and compliance teams need control and visibility. DAM provides detailed audit trails, embeds rights information directly into assets, and enforces permission-based access—ensuring compliance with licensing and regulatory standards.

Creative and brand teams want to focus on meaningful work. DAM removes bottlenecks like asset hunting and review loops, giving creatives more time to innovate while protecting brand consistency through structured templates and version control.

Each of these perspectives contributes to a unified case for DAM—not just as a tool, but as a business-critical platform.

Step 3: Showcase the Benefits

Although you know the advantages of implementing a DAM, others may not have the full picture. Showcase it by highlighting immediate benefits to your department, as well as key benefits to the overall organization. If you can effectively illustrate benefits on both a micro and macro level, you’ll build a stronger DAM business case. This can increase your likelihood of implementing a DAM.

When relevant, your business case for DAM can also include the potential ROI – more on how to calculate that here.

Step 4: Highlight Success Stories

A key way to strengthen your business case is by showing how similar organizations are improving their productivity with a DAM solution. With many examples out there to choose from, it’s important to understand what you’re trying to achieve, as well as what’s important to your decision makers. Depending on your use case, you can use stories that align with:

1. Your industry,
2. Your use case,
3. Your company size and/or,
4. Specific features & integration requirements.

Sharing the success of others that faced similar issues to those of your own can increase the likelihood of your decision makers understanding the importance of a DAM and the expected outcomes of the implementation.

Need some help finding something that your organization can relate to? Here are a number of DAM success stories.

Step 5: Have an Implementation Plan

Stakeholders and decision-makers of your organization may (understandably) be concerned about time-to-value on large projects and investments. With a number of possible integrations and add-ons, it’s easy to see the potential scope of the DAM grow. It’s important to come prepared with both short- and long-term vision for the DAM, in order to set proper expectations. Breaking down the DAM implementation into meaningful milestones and manageable steps, including dates and timelines, can better show stakeholders quick time-to-value, and build confidence in the long-term vision.

Many DAM leaders recommend taking a crawl, walk, run approach to get value from the DAM as soon as possible (and keep your project scope reasonable). Here at MediaValet, we’ve developed the DAM Maturity Model as a blueprint to get you there.

Step 6: Be Clear with Your Ask

It’s important to be up-front about the budget needed to invest in the right DAM for your organization. There are multiple factors to consider when talking about budget, such as upfront costs, ongoing expenses and what it will cost to scale. Here, we cover all of the major points about digital asset management pricing.

Be clear about when you want to purchase the DAM and how much time you need to choose a vendor. Is there a compelling event that the project could be tied to, such as an acquisition or a rebranding? Linking the implementation of your DAM with another initiative can help kickstart the project.

Additionally, it’s important to understand and identify competing priorities that could stall your DAM project. Here are the five most common DAM project stallers and how to address them to keep your implementation on track.

Know Your Audience

While these six steps can help you build your business case, it’s important to align the proposal with each individual decision maker’s goals and priorities. For many organizations, executive buy-in was critical to getting their DAM initiative prioritized. Make sure you’re prepared with our post, Getting Executive Buy-In for DAM.

Ready to get started with digital asset management? Book a demo today.

If you’re overwhelmed by scattered files, endless asset requests, or inconsistent branding, you’re not alone. In today’s fast-paced digital world, teams are producing more content than ever—and struggling to keep it all organized. That’s where digital asset management platforms come in.

In this guide, we’ll break down what digital asset management (DAM) is, explore why it’s critical for growing businesses, and compare the top DAM platforms of 2025 to help you choose the right solution for your team.

What is a Digital Asset Management Platform?

A digital asset management platform (DAM) is software that stores, organizes, manages, and distributes digital files like images, videos, documents, templates, and more. Think of it as your team’s centralized library and control center for every branded or approved asset.

Instead of digging through folders or sending files over email, teams can easily search, access, and share content—all from one secure, scalable platform.

Why Use a DAM? Key Benefits for Modern Teams

DAM platforms aren’t just a nice-to-have—they’re a must-have for organizations managing large volumes of content across departments and channels.

Here’s why:

Key Features to Look For in a DAM Platform

Not all DAM platforms are created equal. Here are the core features to evaluate:

The Best Digital Asset Management Platforms in 2025

Here’s a closer look at some of the top-rated DAM platforms, based on industry reviews, capabilities, and user feedback:

1. MediaValet

Best For: Enterprise, mid-size, and small teams, higher education, manufacturing, and nonprofit organizations with video-heavy creative workflows, growing or large asset libraries, and complex approval processes

Highlights: AI-powered search and tagging, native video management tools, secure CDN delivery, accessibility compliance, Templating, Proofing, and unlimited users

Why It Stands Out:

• Scalability: MediaValet is purpose-built for scaling digital content operations, especially for teams working with large volumes of video, branded content, and visual media.
• Proudly Canadian: As a Canadian-based company, MediaValet is known for its robust data security, privacy compliance (including support for Canadian and international regulations), and enterprise-grade cloud architecture.
• Artificial Intelligence: With AI capabilities like auto-tagging, facial recognition, and duplicate detection, MediaValet speeds up content discovery while reducing human error.
• Support and Service: MediaValet also stands apart for its white-glove onboarding, dedicated customer success managers, and ongoing 1:1 training and support—at no extra cost.

2. Bynder

• Best For: Global brands focused on brand consistency
• Highlights: Brand portals, creative automation, version control
• Why It Stands Out: Strong in brand management and creative workflow integrations

Read more about Bynder here.

3. Brandfolder

• Best For: Marketing teams that need intuitive UI and powerful sharing tools
• Highlights: Smart CDN links, analytics, user-friendly UX
• Why It Stands Out: Emphasis on usability and real-time brand insights

Read more about Brandfolder here.

4. Acquia DAM (Widen)

• Best For: Organizations with complex metadata and taxonomy needs
• Highlights: Metadata management, analytics, DAM + PIM capabilities
• Why It Stands Out: Ideal for large-scale digital ecosystems

5. Canto

• Best For: Small to mid-sized teams looking for quick setup
• Highlights: Easy interface, image-centric libraries, simple sharing
• Why It Stands Out: Great for marketing teams that want a light DAM without heavy customization

Read more about Canto here.

6. PhotoShelter

• Best For: Media-heavy organizations, sports teams, higher ed, and nonprofits
• Highlights: Lightning-fast visual search, branded portals, live photo workflows
• Why It Stands Out: Built specifically for rich media teams that need to capture, distribute, and publish visual content in real-time

How to Choose the Right DAM Platform for Your Business

Selecting the right digital asset management platform depends on your team’s structure, content output, and future goals. Ask yourself:

• How many users and departments will access the DAM?
• Do we need advanced integrations (e.g., with CMS, design tools, project managers)?
• Is speed, security, or branding our top priority?
• Do we require partner or external access (portals, CDN, etc.)?

💡 Pro Tip: Start with a platform that allows you to “crawl, walk, run.” A scalable DAM will support your current needs and future growth without over-complicating the setup.

Interested in learning more about how DAM Platforms compare to one another?

When it comes to investing in or migrating to a new DAM solution, it can be difficult to decide which platform is right for your organization. There are so many DAM platforms available that it can become overwhelming. So, to help you make an easier choice, this post will break down the most important features and functionalities to look for in a DAM system and detail Frontify alternatives. 

We’ll cover: 

• MediaValet vs. Frontify 
• Frontify’s Pros and Cons 
• The Top Frontify Alternatives 
• How to Choose the Right DAM 

MediaValet vs. Frontify 

G2 is the largest and most trusted third-party software and professional services review site and according to their reports, MediaValet has been ranked as a “Market Leader” in the DAM space, based on high customer satisfaction ratings and an impressive market presence. 

Market Leader is the top level in the ranking system. Products in the Market Leader level are rated highly by G2 users and have considerable market presence. 

Who is MediaValet? 

Voted as a leader in the Digital Asset Management space in 2025 by G2 Crowd, MediaValet makes assets instantly more searchable, discoverable and sharable. 

With a roster of customers across higher education, nonprofit, manufacturing and countless other industries, MediaValet stands at the forefront of the enterprise, cloud-native, software-as-a-service digital asset management and creative operations industries. 

Built exclusively on Microsoft Azure and available across 61 Microsoft data center regions in 140 countries around the world, MediaValet delivers unparalleled enterprise-class security, reliability, redundancy, compliance, and scalability; while offering the largest global footprint of any cloud DAM solution. 

MediaValet is the #1 DAM on the market for security. SecurityScorecard rates MediaValet 98/100. 

Based on the 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers report incredible achievements with their DAM: 

• 82% achieve ROI in just 1 year 

• save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks 

• 89% are highly satisfied with their DAM 

Take a self-guided tour of MediaValet here!

How Does MediaValet Compare to Frontify? 

MediaValet vs Frontify: Fast ROI 

Based on G2 reviews, MediaValet users achieve ROI 9 months faster than Frontify customers. 

These time savings have in turn led to exceptional business outcomes including stronger brand consistency, improved productivity, and better team collaboration and 78% of our customers can reallocate resources to more impactful tasks. 

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Support 

Every MediaValet customer is partnered with a dedicated onboarding manager from the start—someone who understands your goals and ensures you’re set up for long-term success. 

Once implementation is complete, your journey continues with a dedicated customer success manager who provides tailored training and best practices to drive adoption and ROI. 

Support is unlimited and included with your subscription. Whether you prefer phone or email, our North America-based support team is ready to help—no extra cost, no ticketing tiers. 

“The quality of support has been game changing.” – Emily Hegranes, US Naval Institute 

By contrast, while Frontify also offers onboarding, G2 reviewers give MediaValet a higher rating for Quality of Support (9.4 vs. Frontify’s 8.8). 

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Product Direction 

At MediaValet, we believe product development should be a two-way street. Our customers get full visibility into our roadmap and have direct input into what we build next. 

We don’t just listen—we act. Recent feature releases like MediaValet Templating, powered by Marq, and our new, more intuitive UI are the result of customer feedback and evolving industry needs. 

“It’s great to have a DAM that is constantly evolving into a better platform.” – James Langan, ACAMS 

Frontify focuses heavily on brand guideline features, but MediaValet’s commitment to continuous innovation and customer-driven updates is reflected in our higher Product Direction score on G2 (9.1 vs. 8.7). 

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Video Management 

Video content is one of the most powerful tools for marketing, education, and communication—but only if your DAM can handle it. 

MediaValet is built for video. With support for high-resolution video formats, AI-powered transcription and speech-to-text capabilities, and built-in tools for video previewing, clipping, and sharing, MediaValet helps you manage, distribute, and get more value from every frame. 

Users can generate closed captions automatically, search for spoken words across their video library, and clip highlight reels—all from within the DAM. 

“Our video production workflow has never been smoother. MediaValet lets us centralize and organize hundreds of hours of footage for quick access and reuse.” – Columbia Business School Executive Education 

Based on G2 reviews, users note that Frontify lacks the depth of native video functionality MediaValet provides. MediaValet scores 89% on video management vs Frontify’s 80%. 

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Analytics 

MediaValet’s built-in analytics go far beyond surface-level metrics. Visual dashboards and exportable reports provide deep insight into asset usage, adoption, and engagement—helping you optimize your content strategy. 

From tracking top-performing assets to monitoring portal engagement, MediaValet turns data into action. 

“We’re still seeing the payoff from MediaValet and we’ll continue to see more as we learn new ways to use it.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute 

While Frontify offers basic analytics, MediaValet scores higher with 82% vs Frontify 79%, ensuring you’re not only tracking performance—but actively improving it. 

MediaValet vs. Frontify: Ease of Doing Business 

MediaValet isn’t just a vendor—we’re a partner. We believe a DAM should be easy to buy, easy to launch, and even easier to use. 

That’s why we provide unlimited training sessions, user-friendly administration, and responsive support to ensure your team is always set up for success—without the red tape. 

“MediaValet was an easy sell – it costs way less, does way more, everybody can access it, and it’s easy to use.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute (CAI) 

On G2, MediaValet earns a 9.3 for Ease of Doing Business With, outperforming Frontify’s 8.9—proof that the right DAM partner makes all the difference. 

When evaluating Frontify and MediaValet, both platforms offer distinct advantages tailored to different organizational needs.  

Frontify Pros and Cons 

Pro—Brand Management and Guidelines 

Frontify excels in providing comprehensive brand management tools, making it ideal for organizations focused on maintaining brand consistency. 

• Brand Guidelines: Frontify offers robust brand guideline features, scoring 9.3 on G2.

• User-Friendly Interface: Users appreciate Frontify’s intuitive and user-friendly interface, facilitating ease of use.

Con— Less Powerful for Large Libraries and Complex Needs 

While Frontify is a solid tool for managing brand guidelines, users managing large volumes of content or more complex asset libraries may find its capabilities limiting. 

• Search Functionality: Some users report that Frontify’s search functionality can be clunky, returning all text around the search term.

• Versioning Capabilities: Frontify’s versioning capabilities are rated at 8.0, which is lower compared to MediaValet’s 8.7.

Other Available Frontify Alternatives 

Canto 

Canto has been in business for more than 30 years and is a good Frontify alternative for smaller organizations with a tighter budget. 

Based on Gartner reports, easy integration and deployment are some of Canto’s top-rated features. 

Interested in more information? You can learn more about Canto alternatives here.

Bynder 

When considering Frontiffy alternatives, Bynder will always show up as a competitor. As one of the more established DAMs on the market, Bynder works with some huge brands and organizations. 

Where do they win against Frontify? According to Gartner, Bynder wins when it comes to scalability and ease of deployment. 

You can read more information on Bynder alternatives here. 

Acquia DAM (Widen) 

With more than 20 decades on the market, Acquia DAM (Widen) is a strong Frontify alternative. 

When compared by Gartner reviews, Acquia comes out on top with ease of deployment and integration. 

Brandfolder 

When considering Frontify alternatives, Brandfolder will always show up as a solid DAM competitor. Boasting an incredible strong market presence, and massive client logos, Brandfolder is usually better suited to larger organizations. 

Where do they win against Frontify? According to Gartner, Brandfolder wins when it comes to scalability and pricing flexibility. 

Learn more about Brandfolder alternatives here.

What Should you Look for in a Digital Asset Management System? 

When choosing a digital asset management solution, it’s crucial to consider your organization’s unique needs. 

• How much content will the DAM need to store? 

• Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM? 

• We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all? 

Your buying team needs to define your requirements and identify non-negotiable features. But as a rule of thumb, there are several key factors that will ensure a DAM can meet your more general organizational needs effectively: 

Security Features: Protecting your digital assets from unauthorized access and data breaches is paramount. Look for a system that offers strong security measures such as encrypted data transfer, secure access controls, and regular backups. These features help safeguard your assets and ensure compliance with data protection regulations. 

Ease of Use: The DAM system should have an intuitive interface that allows users of all technical levels to access and manage assets efficiently. This includes easy navigation, quick access to files, and simple tools for uploading, tagging, and organizing content. A user-friendly interface reduces the learning curve and helps in achieving higher adoption rates across the organization. 

Advanced Search Capabilities: With the vast amount of digital assets that organizations accumulate, the ability to quickly find an exact file is crucial. Look for a DAM system that offers robust search functions including metadata tagging, keyword searches, and advanced filtering options. This ensures that users can retrieve assets efficiently without having to sift through irrelevant files. 

Integration Capabilities: The DAM system should seamlessly integrate with other tools and systems used by your organization, such as content management systems (CMS), marketing automation tools, and creative software. Integration facilitates a more streamlined workflow and ensures that assets are easily accessible across different platforms and departments. 

Scalability: As your organization grows, so will your digital asset needs. A good DAM system should be scalable, accommodating increased storage needs and additional users without performance issues. This includes having flexible cloud storage options and the ability to handle various file types and sizes. 

Support and Maintenance: Reliable technical support and regular updates are vital to maintaining a DAM system’s efficiency and security. Choose a provider that offers excellent customer support, training resources, and proactive maintenance to ensure that the system continues to meet your needs over time. 

Did you know that more than 1 in 3 organizations are using DAM across the entire business? According to the 2025 DAM Trends Report, the number of organizations using a DAM system as the heart of their tech stack is only trending upwards. As digital asset management systems become more ingrained within digital ecosystems, more organizations are on the lookout for the right DAM vendor.

When it comes to investing in or migrating to a new DAM solution, it can be difficult to decide which platform is right for your organization.

There are many DAM systems out there to choose from, so to help you make an easier choice, we’ll break down the most important features and functionalities to look for in a DAM system and detail Brandfolder alternatives.

We’ll cover:

• MediaValet vs. Brandfolder
• Brandfolder’s Pros and Cons
• The Top Brandfolder Alternatives
• How to Choose the Right DAM

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder

G2 is the largest and most trusted third-party software and professional services review site and according to their reports, MediaValet has been ranked as a “Market Leader” in the DAM space, based on high customer satisfaction ratings and an impressive market presence.

Market Leader is the top level in the ranking system. Products in the Market Leader level are rated highly by G2 users and have considerable market presence.

Who is MediaValet?

Voted as a leader in the Digital Asset Management space in 2025 by G2 Crowd, MediaValet makes assets instantly more searchable, discoverable and sharable.

With a roster of customers across higher education, nonprofit, manufacturing and countless other industries, MediaValet stands at the forefront of the enterprise, cloud-native, software-as-a-service digital asset management and creative operations industries.

Built exclusively on Microsoft Azure and available across 61 Microsoft data center regions in 140 countries around the world, MediaValet delivers unparalleled enterprise-class security, reliability, redundancy, compliance, and scalability; while offering the largest global footprint of any cloud DAM solution.

MediaValet is the #1 DAM on the market for security. SecurityScorecard rates MediaValet 98/100.

Based on the 2025 DAM Trends Report, MediaValet customers report incredible achievements with their DAM:

• 82% achieve ROI in just 1 year
• save an average of 13.5 hours per week on asset-related tasks
• 89% are highly satisfied with their DAM

The MediaValet Difference: Fast ROI

Based on G2 reviews, MediaValet users achieve ROI faster than Brandfolder customers.

These time savings have in turn led to exceptional business outcomes including stronger brand consistency, improved productivity, and better team collaboration and 78% of our customers are able to reallocate resources to more impactful tasks.

How does MediaValet Compare to Brandfolder?

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Support

Each and every MediaValet customer gets assigned a dedicated onboarding manager that ensures they’re set up for success from day one.

Once you’re confident and ready to go, a dedicated customer success manager takes over to provide ongoing coaching and training to ensure both ROI and high adoption rates.

MediaValet support is available via phone or email. Unlimited support is included in your DAM subscription to ensure you can make the most of your DAM.

The quality of support at MediaValet “has been game changing.” – Emily Hegranes, US Naval Institute

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Product Direction

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Brand Guidelines

MediaValet is the premier DAM in the enterprise space for Brand Guidelines.

Branded Portals, Advanced Search, and AI-powered tagging help to streamline the management and distribution of the most current brand assets, enabling organizations to maintain a consistent brand image across all channels and touchpoints.

“We’re an international company . . . MediaValet is effectively empowering our employees and reps to confidently grab-and-go for current assets.” – Jon Grusky, HYTORC

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Analytics

MediaValet’s reporting and analytics functionality is one of the best on the market.

Built-in reports and dashboards help organizations make smarter, data-backed decisions. Customers can view high-level snapshots or dive deep into data to gain powerful performance and activity insights and ultimately, do more with their DAM.

“We’re still seeing the payoff from MediaValet and we’ll continue to see more as we learn new ways to use it.” – Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute

MediaValet vs. Brandfolder: Ease of Doing Business

MediaValet excels when it comes to partnering in business.

Offering unlimited, interactive training sessions, MediaValet enables administrators and users alike to maximize the value of the DAM without compromising on access management.

“MediaValet was an easy sell – it costs way less, does way more, everybody can access it, and it’s easy to use.” Cori Candi, Community Associations Institute (CAI)

Brandfolder Pros and Cons

Simply put, Brandfolder is massive. Boasting megalith clients like Zoom and Slack, new clients will be in good company if they choose Brandfolder.

And as with any large company, comes a large slew of resources. Which is why, the number one pro of Brandfolder, is their range of features.

Pro – Impressive Feature List

Jammed with a list of available features, Brandfolder can do anything from storing your assets to applying rights management to reporting and analyzing how they perform.

There are about 100 features listed on their website – ideal for organizations who have giant libraries and massive user numbers.

Con – Pricing is High

With a ton of features however, comes a big price tag – and with Brandfolder geared so heavily towards enterprise organizations their pricing can leave some smaller businesses or smaller budgets out in the cold.

Pricing is only available on request but generally starts low year one and increases significantly in year two.

“I’d like their pricing to be more transparent – I don’t like having to ask a sales rep for every tiny detail if we want to add a collection or an admin.” SMB Financial User, G2

If you’re interested in understanding more about digital asset management pricing, we detail it here.

Other Available Brandfolder Alternatives

Canto

Canto has been in business for more than 30 years and is a good Brandfolder alternative for smaller organizations with a tighter budget.

Based on Gartner reports, easy integration and deployment are some of Canto’s top-rated features.

Want to read more about Canto alternatives? Read this blog post.

Bynder

When considering Brandfolder alternatives, Bynder will always show up as a competitor. As one of the more established DAMs on the market, Bynder works with some huge brands and organizations.

Where do they win against Brandfolder? According to Gartner, Bynder wins when it comes to scalability and ease of deployment.

Interested in more information on Bynder alternatives? Check out this post.

Acquia DAM (Widen)

With more than 20 decades on the market, Acquia DAM (Widen) is a strong Brandfolder alternative.

When compared by Gartner reviews, Acquia comes out on top with ease of deployment and integration and ties with Brandfolder on quality of support.

What Should you Look for in a Digital Asset Management System?

When choosing a digital asset management solution, it’s crucial to consider your organization’s unique needs.

• How much content will the DAM need to store?
• Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM?
• We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all?

Your buying team needs to define your requirements and identify non-negotiable features. But as a rule of thumb, there are several key factors that will ensure a DAM can meet your more general organizational needs effectively:

Security Features: Protecting your digital assets from unauthorized access and data breaches is paramount. Look for a system that offers strong security measures such as encrypted data transfer, secure access controls, and regular backups. These features help safeguard your assets and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Ease of Use: The DAM system should have an intuitive interface that allows users of all technical levels to access and manage assets efficiently. This includes easy navigation, quick access to files, and simple tools for uploading, tagging, and organizing content. A user-friendly interface reduces the learning curve and helps in achieving higher adoption rates across the organization.

Advanced Search Capabilities: With the vast amount of digital assets that organizations accumulate, the ability to quickly find an exact file is crucial. Look for a DAM system that offers robust search functions including metadata tagging, keyword searches, and advanced filtering options. This ensures that users can retrieve assets efficiently without having to sift through irrelevant files.

Integration Capabilities: The DAM system should seamlessly integrate with other tools and systems used by your organization, such as content management systems (CMS), marketing automation tools, and creative software. Integration facilitates a more streamlined workflow and ensures that assets are easily accessible across different platforms and departments.

Scalability: As your organization grows, so will your digital asset needs. A good DAM system should be scalable, accommodating increased storage needs and additional users without performance issues. This includes having flexible cloud storage options and the ability to handle various file types and sizes.

Support and Maintenance: Reliable technical support and regular updates are vital to maintaining a DAM system’s efficiency and security. Choose a provider that offers excellent customer support, training resources, and proactive maintenance to ensure that the system continues to meet your needs over time.