Acquia DAM (Widen) vs Brandfolder: Which is better for your DTC brand?

You’re looking for a new DAM for managing your visual content and you’ve come across Brandfolder or Acquia DAM in your research. They’re both well-established DAMs for enterprise companies, but are they the right fit for a fast-growing ecommerce brand?

Before you commit, here’s what you need to know: neither of these DAMs is designed with ecommerce brands in mind. They also come with steep price tags, clunky user experiences, and extra costs for essential features, making them out of reach for smaller businesses. 

Fortunately, there are more affordable and ecommerce-friendly DAM alternatives — like Dash — built for online stores of all sizes. In this comparison, we’ll break down how Brandfolder and Acquia DAM stack up and why Dash might be the better choice for your business.

What is Acquia DAM? 

Acquia DAM (formerly Widen) is a brand asset management (BAM) tool aimed at large enterprises. It’s designed to help teams maintain brand consistency by storing and managing logos, fonts, templates, and other key brand assets. Big companies like Dyson and Crayola use it to keep everything looking polished across multiple teams and regions.

But let’s take a quick step back. What exactly is the difference between a DAM and a BAM?

A digital asset management (DAM) system is built to help you organise, manage, and deploy all types of digital content — from lifestyle photography to product shots and campaign graphics. A BAM (brand asset management) tool is a type of DAM that focuses specifically on brand assets, with features like brand guidelines and templating.

Acquia DAM leans heavily into the BAM category. It was originally known as Widen until it was acquired by Acquia in 2021. Since then, it’s been rolled into Acquia’s suite of enterprise marketing tools, alongside products like Drupal and Site Factory. So if you're already in that ecosystem, it might be a convenient (if pricey) add-on.

That said, Acquia DAM is built for large, complex organisations, and the pricing reflects that. You’ll also need to pay extra for basic features like user seats and portals, which makes it a tough sell for smaller brands.

For ecommerce teams looking to move fast and keep things simple, a tool like Dash will likely be a better (and more affordable) fit.

What is Brandfolder? 

Brandfolder is a digital asset management (DAM) platform built for large, enterprise teams. It’s used by global organisations like MasterCard and Zoom that need to store, manage, and share thousands of visual assets across different departments, teams and partners.

The platform offers a wide range of DAM features — including asset analytics, templating tools, and creative workflows. It also integrates with over 100 third-party tools to support complex content pipelines across multiple teams. If you’re part of a big company managing visuals across global markets, Brandfolder helps keep everything consistent and accessible.

However, Brandfolder is designed with enterprise users in mind. It's not built for growing ecommerce brands, and the price reflects that. Our research shows that Brandfolder starts at around $1,600 per month, and you’ll need to pay extra to unlock certain features or add new users to your account.

So while Brandfolder might be suitable for a large company with layered approval workflows and multiple agency partners, it’s probably more than you need if you're a growing ecommerce brand.

Dash, on the other hand, gives you everything you need to organise and deploy your content — without the enterprise price tag or complexity.

👉 Learn more about Brandfolder alternatives. 

Brandfolder vs Acquia: Features

Now that you have a solid overview of both tools, let’s see how their features compare. 

Here’s how Brandfolder and Acquia DAM compare for some key ecommerce use cases. And we’ll also add in Dash (that’s us), a DAM tool that’s actually built for growing brands:

1. Preset image sizes for marketplaces and social media

Whether it’s Amazon, Instagram, or your own product pages, every platform has different image requirements. But manually resizing images every time you run a new campaign is incredibly time-consuming. That’s why a good DAM will offer in-app resizing and cropping. Here’s how these tools stack up: 

Brandfolder 

Offers cropping and resizing, but custom presets are only available on higher-tier plans. That means your team might still be doing a lot of manual work unless you pay more.

Acquia DAM 

Also offers image cropping and resizing within the platform. However, there’s no information about what plan you’ll need for this feature.

Dash 

Dash has built in image presets for key social media channels including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. That means you can quickly resize an image to meet the requirements of your channels. You can also set your own custom presets like email headers and product pages.  It keeps everything consistent, and means you no longer have to hassle your design team. 🙌

2. Shopify and WooCommerce integrations

Your DAM should do more than just store your content, it should actively support your ecommerce workflows. That includes integrating with some of your key tools like your ecommerce platforms.  

Brandfolder 

Brandfolder doesn’t integrate with Shopify or WooCommerce. You’ll need to download assets and re-upload them manually to your CMS or ecommerce platform.

Acquia DAM

Acquia DAM integrates with Drupal (Acquia’s own CMS) and other enterprise tools. It also has a native Shopify integration, but no WooCommerce support.

Dash 

Dash connects directly to Shopify and WooCommerce, so your product shots are always at your fingertips. You can browse your DAM from within your store’s backend and drop in new images without leaving the page. It’s simple, fast, and super useful when you’ve got new launches to go live. In fact, it’s one of the reasons Forthglade were able to launch their new Shopify store in just 18 weeks!

3. Collecting UGC and creator content

Most ecommerce brands work with creators and influencers to help promote their products. That includes video testimonials, unboxing videos and product review posts on socials. Being able to easily collect that from your creators means it’s easier to repurpose it for your campaigns. Here’s how each DAM tool will help you collect content into your asset library.  

Brandfolder

Brandfolder gives you the option to collect assets through upload links — which is handy if you want to invite someone outside your team to submit visuals. But unless you’re on one of the more expensive plans, you won’t get access to granular admin settings or advanced user permissions. That can make it difficult to control who can upload what, and where those files end up. 

Acquia DAM (formerly Widen)

Acquia DAM also allows uploads via forms or shared links. It’s flexible, but not always straightforward. Permissions can be complex to set up and maintain — especially if you’re collaborating with lots of external partners, freelancers, or creators. On top of that, Acquia’s pricing is tied to user seats, so you might need to pay extra just to allow someone to upload a file.

Dash 

Dash offers a guest upload feature which is purpose-built for ecommerce workflows. You can share a custom upload link with your creators, influencers, photographers, or even your customers, and they can upload their content directly to your Dash account without needing to log in or create an account. Once uploaded, the assets land in a review area where you can approve or reject them before anything gets added to your main library. That means you stay in complete control, and your content stays organised. 

4. Sharing content with retailers and press

As an ecommerce brand, chances are you’re working with retailers and distributors to help sell your products to lots of different audiences. Your DAM should provide an easy way for you to share product imagery and brand assets. Here’s how Acquia DAM, Brandfolder and Dash compare.

Brandfolder 

Brandfolder offers portals to help you curate and share content with external teams. It’s a convenient way to package up assets for different audiences — say, one portal for your retail partners and another for your PR team. But while the basic functionality is solid, the flexibility comes at a price. If you want multiple branded portals, custom access controls, or more advanced settings, you’ll likely need to upgrade to one of the higher-tier (and more expensive) plans. That might not be ideal if you have several different partner groups to cater to.

Acquia DAM 

Acquia DAM also provides access to portals, but they’re considered premium add-ons rather than core features. So even if you’re already paying a high price point for the DAM itself, you might still need to fork out more to unlock portal functionality.

Dash 

With Dash, portals are built in and available on every plan. 🥳 You can create multiple publicly-accesible version of your DAM for all your different stockists, distributors and press teams. Choose exactly which assets they can see, add a welcome message and share a simple link (with the option to be password protected).

Learn how brands like Brewdog are using Dash portals to share assets with bars and partners around the world. 

5. Search and tagging

If you can’t find what you need, your asset  library’s not doing its job. Search should be fast, intuitive, and reliable — no matter who’s using your DAM.

Brandfolder

Brandfolder uses metadata, manual tagging, and AI-powered auto-tagging to help you find assets. But reviews suggest that if your tags aren’t perfect, the search can feel slow and inaccurate.

Acquia DAM

Acquia DAM offers predictive search and advanced filtering, but the interface can feel dated and clunky. It works well once you’ve mastered it — but there’s definitely a learning curve.

Dash

Dash uses AI to tag assets automatically when you upload them. You can also search based on content — like “blue dress” or “three people outside” — even if you’ve forgotten the file name or tag. It’s like having a search engine just for your assets, and it’s built to work for non-technical users too.

Brandfolder vs Acquia DAM: Pricing 

Acquia DAM and Brandfolder aren't public about their pricing, but my research shows that Brandfolder costs around $1,600 per month. And Acquia DAM can cost up to $250,000 per year 🤯. 

Here's a breakdown of their pricing structures.  

Brandfolder pricing 

Brandfolder has two packages: Premium and Enterprise. There's no free plan or trial, but you can book a demo for a personalised product walkthrough with their sales team. 

As I mentioned earlier, Brandfolder’s cheapest plan costs around $1,600 per month — which is super expensive for non-enterprise businesses. And if that isn't bad enough, you need to purchase new features as add-ons. 

“It seems like every single time a new feature comes out that looks interesting, it’s snagged by the fact that it costs $$ to add — even something as simple as adding extra admins. Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of not expecting everything for free. However, we already pay handsomely. It would be nice if not every single thing felt like a price gouge” — G2 Review. 

So, do you get a better deal with Acquia DAM? Let's find out. 

Acquia DAM pricing 

Acquia DAM can be purchased as a standalone product. You can also buy it as an add-on to other products in the Acquia ecosystem. For example, you can purchase Drupal and Acquia DAM for brand management. 

It has three pricing plans: 

• Workgroup: For departments within larger organisations.

• Enterprise: For cross-collaboration among multiple teams in one organisation 

• DAM + PIM: For managing product data and brand assets within the same platform. 

These plans are very specific to the complex needs of a very large organisation — which is why they can cost up to $250,000 per year. If you were paying that much for a DAM, you’d expect all the features to come with it, right?  Not quite. 

• The Workgroup and PIM + DAM plans only allow you to add 50 users. To add more people, you need to purchase additional seats. 

• Features like portals don't come with any plan and need to be purchased as an add-on. 

Dash, on the other hand, gives you all of our DAM features for unlimited users including Portals. Let's dig more into Dash’s pricing. 

Dash pricing 

Dash’s pricing starts at $139/£99 per month. As a Dash user, you get all of our DAM features for unlimited users. You don't have to purchase add-ons or upgrade to access more advanced features. 

We've structured our pricing this way to make it as easy as possible for Dash to scale with your business. As your ecommerce store grows, you'll likely have more people working on product images and videos internally. You can add these people to your Dash without paying for extra seats. 

“I am so glad we picked Dash as our DAM. As a seasonal company, we love the flexible pricing and how easy it is to use from Day 1” — G2 Review. 

Acquia DAM vs Brandfolder: User interface and experience 

User interface and experience are key when choosing a DAM. The last thing you want is a clunky, complicated digital asset management tool with a steep learning curve. 

Unfortunately, Acquia DAM drops the ball here. The user interface feels very clunky, and customers often struggle with simple tasks like uploading assets and adding tags to images. 

Here’s how one Acquia DAM user describes their experience with the DAM. 

“Acquia DAM is feeling more and more dated. Both controls on the admin side, as well as the day-to-day user experience, feel like a legacy enterprise system rather than a powerful new tool that is the future. This is not just the aesthetics, although this, of course, plays into the user experience, but it is also the number of clicks it takes to do anything and how intuitive those clicks are.”

Brandfolder has a better user interface and experience than Acquia DAM — but it’s not without issues. For example, some users say that the thumbnails are too small, making it harder to identify images. 

“The main thing we don't like is the size of the thumbnails on the back end. We'd love to see the assets bigger, but we understand that feature might come later.”

Dash, on the other hand, has a sleek and intuitive user interface that makes it a joy to use. Our customer, RevAir, says that finding images in Dash is like “going shopping,” which helps them make the most of their creative assets. 

“It’s so lovely to go ‘shopping in Dash’ because I can type in different search terms and tags and sort by file type. It not only returns the things I’m thinking of but also shows me other options that might be even better. Sometimes there are assets I didn’t even remember! Dash just makes us work better.” 

But our tool isn’t just about aesthetics. Dash is very easy to use, too. You can drop product shots directly into your store using our WooCommerce or Shopify integration; search for images based on their content and use the preset image sizes to make it easy to use visual content across all your channels. Nathan, from RJ Living, says: 

“Dash makes it easy for anyone to jump in and find what they want, and get back to what they were doing. It saves downloading a 40MB TIF file from Google Drive too which staff members, especially those working from home with slower internet, really appreciate. It’s become a hub for all our images.”

Acquia DAM vs Brandfolder: Customer support 

According to several user reviews, Acquia DAM had great and reliable support when it was still Widen. But things changed after the acquisition. Now, many customers struggle with technical issues, outages and dismissive support.

“Acquia’s customer service and support had already been declining for over a year. But once we communicated our need to offboard, the service became significantly worse. I was stood up for a meeting where I was meant to get instructions about backing up our assets (a service guaranteed in our contract).”

Brandfolder isn’t much better. Reviews suggest that the live chat option is hardly available, and customers have to wait for days for a response to a simple enquiry. 

Consistent and reliable support is something Dash customers love about us 😍. Our support team is super responsive and always available to help you with any issues. You can contact us via in-app chat or ask to speak with one of our reps face-to-face. Here’s how Abi from COAT Paints describes her positive experience with our support team. 

“The Dash team is incredibly responsive to any queries and always quick to find a solution. In my experience, no other platform has matched the level of customer service that Dash provides.”

Which DAM is best for your ecommerce brand?

Ultimately, the digital asset management platform you choose depends on your business needs. If you’re looking for a way to organise your brand assets and ensure consistent visual representation, Acquia DAM might be worth exploring. But remember, it comes with a very hefty price tag that might be unsustainable for a growing business. 

Brandfolder, on the other hand, is built for enterprise businesses. It may not be as expensive as Acquia DAM, but it is still a significant investment for smaller businesses. You’re also likely to struggle with challenges, such as poor customer support and a complex user experience. 

So where does that leave you? Sure, you could pick an expensive DAM that’s not built for ecommerce brands. Or you could consider Dash.

Dash is built for the needs of a growing ecommerce business. We offer many of the features you’ll need to organise and use images and videos for your online store — all at a great price tag. Our DAM is super easy to use and scales with your business. 

Want to test things out for yourself? Try Dash for free for 14 days; no strings attached. For real, we won’t even ask for your credit card.