DAM Vendors 2016 Pricing Survey Released

Late last year, we got in contact with a number of DAM software vendors to ask how many would be interested in participating in a pricing survey.  We sent out a request to all those firms registered on our damvendors.com directory and 36 companies indicated a potential interest with 16 of them agreeing to submit a response (all of whom are listed below).  No vendor got paid to take part, nor did we ask for fees from them.  The pricing data was all recorded anonymously using numeric identifiers to represent each vendor, so there was no promotional benefit to underestimating (or overestimating) costs.

We asked vendors to quote on four scenarios: Graphics Studio, Department DAM, Medium Size Company and Enterprise DAM.  In addition we requested that vendors also enter a control or ‘average’ solution which represents the type of client they usually work with (as measured by number of users, storage capacity and data transfer – for hosted systems) .  The results have been interesting and reveal that there is a a large disparity in pricing between different system suppliers, even though many appear to be functionally equivalent (based on analysis of their feature lists alone).  The depth of the survey allowed quite a diverse sample of data to be collected, in particular relating to the distribution studies measuring the range of pricing applied.  The following are some of the more straightforward broad averages (although please note these do not do justice to the full range of data contained in the research report itself):

• The average cost for a hosted DAM solution in year 1 is $37,846.
• The average cost for a non-hosted DAM solution in year 1 is $71,930.
• On average, DAM solutions have 850 read-only users, 101 upload/edit users and nine administrators.

One of the more intriguing aspects of conducting the study which is covered in more depth in the analysis was the range of reasons why firms did not wish to be involved (in fact, ‘excuses’ might be a more accurate description).  There appears to be a significant degree of fear and confusion across the DAM software industry about how much to charge which suggests that the market is far less mature than it believes itself to be.  Included in the report is some advice for prospective DAM solution buyers to help them identify products whose value is commensurate with the fees being charged (especially as it relates to the service/consulting aspects involved in setting the provision up).

All those vendors who did respond have been issued with a free copy of the research, which includes a 90 page analysis report with charts, summaries and discussion as well as copies of the data (both the original survey responses and summaries used to generate the statistical analysis).  Anyone who is either planning to make a significant investment into a DAM initiative (or who has to research the DAM software market for other reasons) may wish to consider purchasing a copy, especially as we have reduced cost is discounted by $300 to $499 until the end of July 2016.

More details are available here: https://digitalassetmanagementnews.org/features/dam-vendor-pricing-survey/

The firms involved were as follows:

• Asset Bank
• Brandfolder
• Brandworkz
• Daminion
• Digital Collections
• Digizuite
• Freestyle Partners
• hyper Content & Digital Asset Management Server
• Marvia
• Meriworks
• MerlinOne
•  NetX
• Nuxeo
• Picturepark
• Third Light
• Widen

If any company listed above did not receive a copy, please contact us and we will re-send the materials.  Those vendors not listed above are, of course, free to purchase a copy should they wish to see the data that was collected and read the analysis.

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