On-premise storage refers to the practice of hosting digital assets on physical servers that are owned and maintained by a specific organisation, rather than relying on external, cloud-based services. 

On-premise storage is often favoured by companies that have stringent data sovereignty requirements or regulatory compliance needs that cannot be met by cloud solutions. However, modern cloud-based DAM systems are usually more secure than on-premise solutions, while typically they’re also compliant with many industry or governmental regulations.

On-premise DAM systems also come with their own set of challenges. The initial setup costs can be significant, as organisations need to invest in hardware, software and the necessary IT expertise to manage and maintain the infrastructure. Ongoing maintenance and upgrades can also be resource-intensive, requiring dedicated personnel to ensure that the system remains secure and up-to-date. Furthermore, on-premise solutions may lack the scalability of cloud-based alternatives, making it more difficult for organisations to quickly adapt to changing storage needs.

Functionality

Custom-built on-premise DAM

Supported on-premise DAM

Cloud DAM

Onboarding & configuration Tick icon Tick icon Tick icon
User training Question Mark Tick icon Tick icon
Bug fixes  Cross icon Tick icon Tick icon
Feature development  Cross icon Tick icon Tick icon
Scalability Question Mark Question Mark Tick icon
Cybersecurity  Cross icon  Cross icon Tick icon
Disaster recovery  Cross icon  Cross icon Tick icon
Data backups  Cross icon  Cross icon Tick icon

Related terms

Cloud storage
System maintenance