Best PIM software: how to compare and choose

The four types of PIM software

Put PIM tools side by side and you quickly end up comparing apples with oranges. A comparison only makes sense once you know which type of tool you are looking at. For what a PIM is and what it holds, read what a PIM system is. Here we go one step further and compare the types.

1. Enterprise PIM

Built for brands, manufacturers and large retailers with a complex data model: many product families, many attributes per family, content in several languages, an approval flow and dozens of users with their own roles. It often comes with a DAM, a media library for photos, manuals and videos. inriver calls itself a PIM platform ³ and Salsify describes an enterprise-grade PIM solution within a product experience platform ⁴. Expect an implementation project with a partner, not a weekend of setup.

2. Open source and open core PIM

You download the software and host it yourself or with a hosting provider. Akeneo offers its PIM Community Edition free and open source, to install, host and customise yourself ¹. The Pimcore Community Edition falls under the Pimcore Open Core License (POCL): free for non-production use, academic and non-profit institutions and companies with annual revenue under 5 million euro or dollar; above that a paid edition is required ². The licence is free, the work is not: installation, updates, hosting and connectors need developers.

3. PIM inside an e-commerce integration platform

Here the PIM is part of a tool that also connects your suppliers, webshop and marketplaces. You manage product data in one place and the same tool sends it to your channels, keeps stock in sync and brings orders back. StoreLinkr is this type. The data model is built around what webshops and marketplaces ask for, so you go live quickly, but you have less freedom for unusual data structures.

4. The spreadsheet as "PIM"

Many shops start with an Excel or Google Sheets file per supplier. That works up to a few hundred products and one channel. After that it breaks: versions get mixed up, nobody sees which products lack a photo and every new marketplace means another manual export.

PIM tools compared by type

This table compares types, not brands. Within each type the differences are large, so use it to build a shortlist and then test the tools themselves.

Checklist: ten questions for every PIM vendor

Put these questions to every vendor and write the answers down in one overview. That way you compare PIM tools on the same points.

1. Data model. Can you create product families with their own attributes, or is the model fixed? Do you need variants, metafields and product relations?
2. Number of SKUs. How many products do you have now and in two years? Does the tool stay fast when you edit thousands of items at once?
3. Languages. Do you sell in one language or several? Does the PIM store translations per field, and who writes them?
4. Channels and connectors. Which webshops and marketplaces does it feed directly, and where do you need an extra connector or custom work?
5. Enrichment. Does it fill in missing data from the EAN or with AI, and do your own improvements survive the next supplier import?
6. Data quality. Do you see missing photos, invalid EANs, a missing brand or dimensions before a channel rejects the product?
7. API. Is there a documented API, so your ERP or own tools can read and write data?
8. Users. How many people work in it, and do they need their own roles and approval steps?
9. Pricing model. Do you pay per user, per product, per channel, by order volume or a fixed licence plus hosting? Ask what happens when you grow.
10. Implementation effort. Can you start yourself or do you need a partner? How long until your first channel is live?

Ask your shortlist for a trial with your own data. Do not pick your best products, pick the hardest ones: items with variants, without a photo or with a cryptic supplier name.

Two examples: which PIM fits?

A bike parts wholesaler

Eight thousand items from three suppliers, its own webshop and two marketplaces, one language and a team of four. The pain is not the data model, it is keeping supplier data, own texts and stock right on three channels. A PIM inside an integration platform fits: imports from the suppliers, rules that keep your own titles and connectors that send everything out. With an enterprise PIM you would pay for workflows and a DAM the team does not use.

A home goods brand selling in five countries

A manufacturer with two thousand products, its own webshop in five languages and dealers who need manuals, lifestyle photos and spec sheets. Here translations per field, a DAM and an approval flow between product management and marketing are core needs. An enterprise or open source PIM fits better, possibly with a separate tool for the sales channels behind it.

Where StoreLinkr fits

StoreLinkr is a PIM plus integration platform for webshops, wholesalers and retailers. This is what you get:

• Own and imported products. PIM products next to products from suppliers, POS systems and webshops. You turn an imported product into a PIM product in one action.
• Product rules. Your own name, description, prices or category stay in place per product when the next import comes in.
• A broad product model. EAN and extra barcodes, prices, weight and dimensions, attributes, metafields, product relations, variants, images with alt text and attachments.
• Quality and enrichment. A data quality dashboard, bulk actions and enrichment from the EAN via the product catalogue, Google Books or your own AI. See AI product enrichment.
• Channels. Per sales channel its own product selection, price list and stock locations, with connections to WooCommerce, Shopify, Lightspeed, Bol and Kaufland among others. See all integrations.
• Stock and orders. Stock stays in sync across your channels and marketplace orders land in one overview. There is also an API with scoped keys.

The price follows your number of orders per month, not your number of products or users. See the pricing.

When an enterprise PIM is the better choice

Being honest now saves you a migration later. StoreLinkr does not do the following:

• Translations. No translated product content per language and no different description per channel.
• DAM. No separate media library, only product images and attachments.
• Roles and workflows. You can invite users, but there are no roles or permissions per user and no approval steps.
• Export to file. No CSV or Excel export of your PIM data.
• Every platform. Magento, Shopware, Odoo and Business Central are not supported.

If one of these is a hard requirement, choose an enterprise or open source PIM. That applies above all to brands and manufacturers that create content in several languages, supply media to dealers or have several departments working on the same product data.

Frequently asked questions