Brandfolder vs Canto: Which should you choose?

Brandfolder and Canto are very popular digital asset management tools that have been around for a long time. So, it’s no surprise you’ve come across them in your search for the right DAM tool.  

For large businesses, these tools are robust DAMs with a wide range of features designed for enterprise companies. But for smaller brands, Canto and Brandfolder are clunky, expensive, and, frankly, painful to use. If you’re a growing ecommerce brand, you’re better off with digital asset management software like Dash (that’s us 👋). 

Dash can do lots of the same things as Canto and Brandfolder without unnecessary cost or complexity.  

What is Brandfolder? 

Brandfolder is an enterprise DAM for automating content production, maintaining brand guidelines, and deploying assets quickly. It’s one of the most well-known DAMs on the market, with companies like Zoom relying on this tool to manage their digital assets. It’s the ideal solution for massive companies with equally massive budgets. But for a smaller brand, it might be hard to justify $1600 a month for a DAM. 

See a list of features and a full comparison between Brandfolder and Dash. 

What is Canto? 

Canto is another well-known digital management tool. It’s not as pricey as Brandfolder, but it’ll still set you back around $600 a month for its basic features. The user interface  is clunkier than Branfolder’s, too, but it might be worth it if you need a digital asset management system that’s not as pricey. 

Dash on the other hand costs just £79/$109 per month and you’ll get all features and unlimited users at no extra cost. 🙌

Read our full comparison of Dash vs Canto. 

Brandfolder vs Canto: Top features  

Here's what you should expect from both digital asset management tools at a glance. 

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As you can see, Brandfolder and Canto offer pretty similar features for mid-market and enterprise businesses. So how does Dash compare? 

For a small business, Dash’s features measure nicely against Brandfolder and Canto. It has all the essential DAM features required for a growing brand, including: 

• Portals for sharing visual assets with external collaborators like retailers and agencies. This is a public view of your Dash where partners can go to download your latest product images. 

• Guest uploads for receiving images and videos from freelancers and photographers. You can review and approve assets here and then add them to your Dash. This is ideal for getting content from your freelancers or collecting assets for user-generated content campaigns. 

• Integrations with core tools like Hootsuite and Shopify to help you deploy product images and videos faster. Dash also integrates with Canva, which is super handy for marketing teams who rely on it to create graphics for their channels. 

• Advanced search functionalities that help you find visual assets quickly. Dash automatically scans new assets and adds relevant tags to make them easier to find. You can also search for images by location or their actual content, such as “chair” or “cactus plant.”

That’s not all. Check out our complete list of digital asset management features to see how Dash can grow your brand.

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Brandfolder vs Canto: Pricing

Although Canto claims “there’s no hidden pricing,” but you literally won’t find any pricing information on its website. Instead, you’ll need to book a meeting with their sales team to know how much the digital asset management platform costs. However, we did some digging around some price comparison sites and found that Canto will likely set you back around $600 per month. 

It’s the same with Brandfolder You’ll need to book a demo and have a lengthy sales chat just to get an idea of the DAM's cost. The more time you spend jumping through hoops to get pricing information, the longer it takes to implement your DAM and start reaping its rewards.  

Nevertheless, we dug around and discovered that Brandfolder’s pricing starts around $1,600/month, while Canto costs about $600/month or $7,200 per year. That’s a considerable investment for a growing ecommerce brand, especially as you'll end up paying for many features you don’t need. 

Luckily for you, Dash is one of the few DAM solutions that’s transparent about pricing and don’t lock you into bloated feature packages. For £79/$109 a month, you get access to all of Dash’s features for unlimited users. You’ll only pay more if you add more assets or increase the number of monthly downloads. 

Remember that Dash offers the core DAM features you’ll actually use as a growing ecommerce business, so you’re getting the best value for money. 

Brandfolder vs Canto: Customer support

Customer support is a biggie when choosing a DAM tool. The last thing you want is an unresponsive support team if something goes wrong. 

Customer reviews on G2 are generally positive when it comes to their customer support. People comment on how quickly they’ll email you back if you reach out about a problem. 

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Brandfolder. Multiple G2 user reviews suggest that customer inquiries can go unanswered for days. 

“Brandfolder’s customer support could use improvement. I would sometimes wait a few days before getting a response. Also, we sometimes felt the support person didn’t know how to answer our question and would feel like the response was scripted.”

At Dash, we pride ourselves on excellent customer support, so much so that we were voted the “DAM with the best relationship” in G2's Winter 2023 awards. Hear from one of our customers: 

“Dash’s customer service is fast, and they never tell you, ‘Have you searched this already?’ They just get on with helping you so you can keep working. You can't ask for better than that. The bigger companies we work with can learn a lot from the team at Dash.”

Brandfolder vs. Canto: Onboarding 

You can't afford to spend weeks learning how a DAM works as a small business. You need an easy-to-understand tool that fits your workflows so you can start enjoying your DAM return on investment ASAP. 

Brandfolder has a steep learning curve. G2 reviews suggest that it takes a lot of time to set it up, especially if you're migrating many assets from a different tool. 

“We had a pretty complicated set-up. The organisation I worked for had a ton of assets, and the sheer volume was unwieldy. Also, we had to be super careful with access and permissions on various instances of external and internal assets. It took a ton of time to get set up properly.”

Reviewers say Canto is easier to set up. But its onboarding process sometimes feels rushed and doesn’t cover all the aspects of the tool, as this user discovered. 

“Some of the more advanced features (like portals and integration) were not as well explained. We've been told that they were possible but not trained on them as part of the onboarding process.”

You know what would make onboarding even faster? If you use a tool that’s designed to get you up and running, fast. That’s one thing Dash is really good at. We offer onboarding support, but it’s also easy to use yourself. Our Google Drive and Dropbox integration will mean you’ll get your visual content into Dash in no time. There’s a reason we won awards for the DAM that’s easiest to set-up and the fastest to implement in G2's reports.

Brandfolder vs Canto: User interface and user experience 

Brandfolder has an edge over Canto when it comes to user experience. Here’s what its interface looks like  

Canto, on the other hand, feels clunky and crowded. In one user’s words, “I'm a long-time Canto user and still find myself scanning the screen for the features I use often.” 

But in our biassed opinion, Dash takes the crown for its user interface - and no, our UX Designer isn’t paying us to say that. Our DAM software brings your visuals to life with beautiful image previews. 

Plus, we have auto-tagging and custom attributes to make searching super easy.

One of our customers says: “You know how the iOS on your phone is intuitive? That's very much the case with Dash. Getting up and running takes very little time. The system is flexible and grows with you as your asset library grows. Finding and retrieving assets is about as easy and seamless as it gets.”

Take a look at the CBD brand, Goodrays’ Dash. It easily passes for a well-curated Pinterest board. 

Brandfolder vs Canto: Which is better for your DTC brand? 

Now that you’ve seen how both tools compare, which one should you choose? It all depends on your business needs.

If you have a large budget and need an enterprise DAM with extensive features that focus on brand templates, Brandfolder might be the way to go. Mid-market businesses with slightly lower budgets might benefit from Canto’s facial recognition and detailed reporting features. 

But for small DTC brands looking for an effective way to manage digital assets, Dash gives you the best value for money. It’s affordable, easy to set up and use, and scales with your business. 

You can find out some of the ways brands are using Dash by checking out some of our customer stories:

• 🪴Watering can brand, Haws, use Dash to help their retailers sell products all around the world 
• 👕Fashion brand, Emmy London, use Dash to plan their marketing campaigns
• 🍹CBD drinks brand, Goodrays, use Dash to keep on top of their marketplaces

Want to see things for yourself? Try Dash for free for 14 days and let us know how it goes. 

And if you’re ready to move your assets from another DAM system to Dash, you can use our free asset migration spreadsheet to get everything ready.