Library & Archives · pricing
CONTENTdm pricing
CONTENTdm publishes 3 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
- Entry price
- $1495/year
- Model
- Subscription
- Tiers
- 3
- Free tier
- Not on record
CONTENTdm plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $1495/year | 5 | Entry tier |
| Standard | $2995/year | 5 | +$1500/year, 5 more features |
| Enterprise | On request | 5 | Priced on request |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Basic
$1495/yearThe entry tier. It covers up to 10,000 items, 5gb storage, basic discovery, standard support, worldcat sync.
Standard
$2995/yearOver Basic, this tier adds:
- Up to 50,000 items
- 25GB storage
- Custom branding
- API access
- Enhanced support
Enterprise
On requestOver Standard, this tier adds:
- Unlimited items
- Custom storage
- IIIF support
- Custom integrations
- Dedicated support
What the product covers
The full CONTENTdm feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Core
- Digital collection management
- Metadata management
- Compound object support
- Full-text search
- Faceted browse
- IIIF viewer
- WorldCat integration
- Custom websites
- Batch import/export
Integrations
- WorldCat
- CONTENTdm Website
- OAI-PMH
- IIIF
- Google Analytics
Security
- SOC2
- ISO27001
- GDPR
- SSL
Deployment
- Cloud deployment
Platform
- Web support
- Api support
Localization
- English language support
- Spanish language support
- French language support
People bring CONTENTdm in for digital collections, digitization projects, archival collections, special collections. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to CONTENTdm are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Library & Archives
Too few library & archives tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CONTENTdm (this page) | $1495/year | subscription | - | |
| Ex Libris Alma | On request | subscription | - | vs CONTENTdm |
| ArchivesSpace | Free | open-source | - | vs CONTENTdm |
| CollectiveAccess | Free | - | - | vs CONTENTdm |
| DSpace | Free | open-source | - | vs CONTENTdm |
| Archivematica | Free | - | - | vs CONTENTdm |
| Axiell Collections | On request | subscription | - | vs CONTENTdm |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the CONTENTdm badges page.
Before you pay for CONTENTdm
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 3 tiers between $1495/year and On request, with the jump itemised above. With no free tier on record, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to compare CONTENTdm against the tools that do have one before committing.
CONTENTdm runs on cloud, and is published by OCLC of Dublin, OH. The full record is on the CONTENTdm review, and the rest of the category is under best library & archives tools.
CONTENTdm pricing questions
- How much does CONTENTdm cost?
- CONTENTdm publishes 3 tiers, from $1495/year for Basic up to On request for Enterprise. The cheapest paid tier is $1495/year.
- Does CONTENTdm have a free plan?
- Not on the record we hold: CONTENTdm is listed as subscription. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.
- What is the difference between Basic and Standard on CONTENTdm?
- Standard costs $2995/year against $1495/year, and adds up to 50,000 items, 25gb storage, custom branding, api access.
- Is the Enterprise plan on CONTENTdm worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is unlimited items, custom storage, iiif support, custom integrations. It costs On request against $1495/year for Basic. Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- Which library & archives tools can I use without paying?
- 5 of the 7 library & archives tools listed alongside CONTENTdm have a free tier: ArchivesSpace, CollectiveAccess, DSpace, Archivematica, Evergreen ILS.
- What am I actually paying for with CONTENTdm?
- The record lists 24 features across 6 areas: core, integrations, security, deployment, platform, localization. In practice it is brought in for digital collections, digitization projects, archival collections.
- Does CONTENTdm charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 3 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these CONTENTdm prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare CONTENTdm against before paying?
- The closest library & archives tools in this directory are Ex Libris Alma, ArchivesSpace, CollectiveAccess, DSpace. Each has a side-by-side comparison with CONTENTdm covering price, platforms and features.