PIM comparison – Pimcore and Akeneo

Does your business require a professional approach to managing information about the products in the assortment and you can’t afford inaccuracy? In this case, you need the right PIM (Product Information Management) system. With it, you can create and distribute product information in various channels, e.g. in e-commerce systems, mobile applications, websites, as well as in catalogs and PDF files.

Thanks to modern technologies, you can simplify and improve many processes in your company. From ordering to distribution. Even seemingly impossible to manage processes, they turn out to be possible thanks to appropriate programming equipment.

The most popular PIM systems are Pimcore and Akeneo. Which one is best for your business? Check the comparison of the two and find out which features of PIM software best suit your business!

Pimcore system vs Akeneo system – characteristics

To compare the two systems, it is worth looking at their individual parameters such as technology, flexibility of adjustment, interaction with other systems, personalization options, ease of integration, scalability, features and functions, price list, ways of managing customer data and brand intended use.

Pimcore and Akeneo technology

The latest version of Pimcore is Pimcore 5. It is fully based on the Symfony 3 framework. It is a type of open source software, so you can easily use and develop it according to your needs. The system has powerful API modules, user permissions, setting workflows and its own messaging system.

Akeneo, like Pimcore, also uses Symfony 3 modular technology. Its operation is based on open source access. It also uses the API and can be adapted to many different requirements.

Due to the technology, both PIM systems are very similar to each other.

Flexibility of PIM systems

In the Pimcore software, you can freely organize all data entered, enrich it with further information and import or export via standard APIs. Because Pimcore is also an MDM system, it makes it easy to control a wide range of data – offer texts or statistical attributes of the media, as well as information about the customer, product and its supplier.

Pimcore is fully adapted to support many levels of product hierarchy. The specification of a given product variant is unlimited and may have many differentiators. What’s more, data configuration can be done using the graphical user interface (GUI), which is a lot easier.

By choosing Akeneo, you can manage products using the Entily Attribute Value model. Single-level hierarchies are supported for product families instead of multi-level hierarchies, as is the case in Pimcore. You can select up to two product differentiators to create one variant. Akeneo also does not allow access to the data model configuration in its graphical user interface. In this respect, this system is recommended for companies that do not have a large product range.

In addition to product information management, the Pimcore system integrates content management (WCM – Web Content Management). So it works seamlessly with both product data and other basic data. In addition, embedded digital asset management (DAM – Digital Asset Management) and integrated sales (Integrated Commerce) allows you to easily manage the content published on the website of the online store. Akeneo, on the other hand, only offers PIM solutions for companies that only manage information about their products.

Personalization of Pimcore and Akeneo

The Pimcore system allows personalization in CMS, which allows you to automatically adapt content to users. This is done by analyzing their behavior. The Pimcore solution therefore increases audience engagement through personalized digital experiences based on behavioral targeting, user profiling, data collection via web analytics and business analysis.

For Akeneo, personalization is limited to managing product information only. It is therefore not possible to adapt the system to the customer. However, user experience can be personalized through external tools, e.g. through recommendation engines (RichRelevance, Avail and Prediggo) and through search tools (e.g., Fredhopper or Endeca).

Easy integration of PIM systems

In terms of possibilities and ease of integration, both systems also differ from each other. Pimcore includes the “connect everything” option. So it can integrate any amount and type of digital data for any size of enterprise from a selected industry. Its API allows connection to CRM, ERP, ESB, BI or third-party applications. So Pimcore is ready to integrate in any situation. When importing and exporting, the file format generally doesn’t matter and is not a limitation for the system. The integration of endpoints is possible for all types of connections.

Akeneo, in turn, offers its own integrator ecosystem. These are custom connectors for any product information source. The idea behind this system is that partner solutions can help with business and taxonomic issues to ensure seamless integration between Akeneo and other systems. For import and export, only Excel and CSV files are supported. Endpoint integration does not support connections to Java Massage Queus, Hotfolders and others.

Pimcore and Akeneo scalability

Pimcore is a highly scalable and ready-to-use web application. It is adapted to agile global environments. Including huge amounts of data, digital resources and a large number of products, as well as to many editors (content managers) and millions of users visiting the site during the month. Because of this, Pimcore’s scalability is unlimited. Modeling and receiving new data is fully flexible.

In September 2017, when Akeneo PIM 2.0 appeared, its scalability and ease of managing complex catalogs increased. Due to the fact that Akeneo is open source software, it is possible to develop additional components for it. However, the ready version lacks support for data modeling and other requirements.

Pimcore features

One of the most important features of Pimcore is that it gives you the opportunity to:

– flexible data modeling,

– enterprise data management and their use in business processes,

– personalizing solutions and providing necessary data,

– ensures high quality of data and its organization for better business intelligence (BI) and analytics,

– Workflow Management to create and modify other workflows.

Akeneo features

Akeneo offers you:

– editing and translating data,

– guarantee of quality and completeness,

– data import and export,

– organization and classification of products.

Price list

As we have already mentioned, Pimcore is open source software. This means that it is free for all users, i.e. small businesses, developers and huge global enterprises. You don’t have to buy any licenses for it. The company earns from the sale of optional Guaranteed Service Level Agreements (SLAs), training and other professional services such as consulting and implementation assistance.

Although Akeneo is also open source software and has a free social version, a fairly expensive license is required for businesses.

Customer data management

If your company uses Pimcore, it will easily be able to manage customer data in combination with product data. The collected data can be used for marketing purposes and to carry out automation. In Pimcore, you can easily sort and filter data.

With Akeneo, you will create uniform experiences in contact with the product in many different sales channels and regions of the world. This will speed up the time to introduce new products or gain a completely new market. However, this does not contribute to marketing automation in any way. Because there is only one level in the product hierarchy, you cannot filter the value list by product family.

Pimcore and Akeneo brands

The Pimcore brand is associated primarily with the best solutions in the field of product information management, digital resources, content and e-commerce. It offers PIM / MDM, DAM, CMS and e-commerce for enterprises to streamline and increase their work efficiency. It makes it faster, including by eliminating the need for comprehensive integration. It connects key applications, ensuring high return on investment (ROI).

Akeneo, as a product information management system (PIM), was designed for retailers in response to their diverse needs.

We hope that the presented characteristics will help you make the right decision. Remember that by properly adapting the PIM system to the specifics of your business, you ensure yourself more efficient service for your company!