Accrisoft Freedom vs. Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Freedom CMS
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Freedom is a cloud-based content management system from Accrisoft Corporation.Accrisoft Freedom specializes in membership and events management, social media, online marketing and e-commerce. Freedom is notable for its highly customizable databases, providing full control over HTML layout and complex filter and search capabilities.
$100
per month
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Business Catalyst was a cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores with a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It has been end of life (EOL) since 2020.
$10
per month
Pricing
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Freedom CMSAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Accrisoft Freedom
8.9
2 Ratings
10% above category average
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Accrisoft Freedom
7.6
3 Ratings
0% below category average
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG editor7.73 Ratings00 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness8.63 Ratings00 Ratings
Admin section8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Page templates8.33 Ratings00 Ratings
Library of website themes4.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design7.22 Ratings00 Ratings
Publishing workflow8.82 Ratings00 Ratings
Form generator7.83 Ratings00 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Accrisoft Freedom
7.8
3 Ratings
6% above category average
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Content taxonomy8.33 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO support7.83 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk management7.42 Ratings00 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions7.72 Ratings00 Ratings
Community / comment management8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Accrisoft Freedom
-
Ratings
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
6.6
14 Ratings
15% below category average
API00 Ratings7.911 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Small Businesses
Divi
Divi
Score 9.8 out of 10
Divi
Divi
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Image Relay
Image Relay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Image Relay
Image Relay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Tridion
Tridion
Score 9.0 out of 10
Tridion
Tridion
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(4 ratings)
6.0
(21 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(1 ratings)
9.4
(10 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(4 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
8.6
(5 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Accrisoft FreedomAdobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
Accrisoft
The only thing I believe Accrisoft Freedom is not as well suited is for large e-commerce sites. Accrisoft Freedom actually has an E-commerce module and can do products and online sales, however if this is the majority of what your business does (or your clients' businesses), I would recommend an E-commerce focused CMS.
For almost all other circumstances I can think of though, I would recommend Accrisoft Freedom - ma and pa shops on up to a corporation.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
The service provision is good the accounts customer service is poor so I would struggle to give BC a better than average review, if only they could offer customers a better accounts service then the value would be much higher.
Read full review
Pros
Accrisoft
  • Hosting and maintenance is taken care of. Due to it being proprietary software, everything is built to work together.
  • Simple to use. Basic functionality for websites is built in without having to dig through thousands of potential options.
  • Development is straightforward...no backend languages required. So if someone wants a unique layout for a portfolio, it's very simple to add a new content type and build the new layout using basic html and css.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Probably one of the easiest e-commerce platforms to work in, it does take setup, but compared to a lot of other e-commerce solutions, this is probably the best one that I have seen that can be designed and implemented custom.
  • Their template system works very well and allows you to create and re-use templates across Adobe Business Catalyst.
  • Their pre-built modules are great, giving people a great way to use common web elements without having to use a plug-in or find some solution, it is simply built in and generally works exactly as you would expect.
  • Adobe Business Catalyst is more of an all-around solution, providing elements that most smaller companies would have a hard time figuring out, since it includes the ability to build websites, send and track e-mails, analytics. It really is a powerful tool that would typically require a fair amount of coding knowledge and expertise but with the system already built, it can be easily modified and edited by those with limited or no coding knowledge at all.
Read full review
Cons
Accrisoft
  • Their preview setup for reviewing page changes prior to pushing them live is not good. You basically have to push things live to see how they will look, then go back and tweak it, while the changes in progress are live on the site. They need a sandbox, or a better preview feature within the backend so you dont have to keep pushing changes live to test out functionality.
  • Integration with outside tools is non existent. Instead of trying to force people to use their modules or features it would make much more sense to more easily integrate with leading tools in niche spaces.
  • The UI is pretty old. It could use a big refresh. Things like drag and drop builders and functionality should be standard these days. This is also a plus for non tech savvy users as it keeps their page structures to what works without letting people tinker. But if you want to tinker and be a higher end user Freedom isn't the best bet.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Multi Client Management: The dashboard for managing multiple clients as a reseller is a little difficult to get to. There is also no very easy way for me to manage multiple clients at once. I have to log into and out of individual client accounts to do billing or management.
  • Lack of Server support: There are certain server protocols and languages that are not supported using BC. For example I cannot build a custom php database and upload to BC. I am required to use their tools.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Accrisoft
We switched to WordPress; it was out of my control.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
Actually with Business Catalyst there is no renewal; once you are a partner, you are a partner for as long as you like. It is an investment in your business not simply a product you purchase...and as an investment in partnership with Adobe, both are committed to each other's success.
Read full review
Usability
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Overall it is a "plug and play" interface. The majority of the work is done in other software interfaces. Managing billing, user roles and custom reports are all that you need to manage in the actual BC user interface. For my business this is an incredible benefit as I have to leave my preferred software less.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
very few issues with availability
Read full review
Performance
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Very few issues
Read full review
Support Rating
Accrisoft
This rating is based on personal experience only. I believe majority of people would say their support is top notch & 10/10. The only reason I am personally am giving it lower is because I consider my self a much more advanced user of Freedom than their typical Solution Provider developers. Because I am advanced, I troubleshoot my own issues pretty in-depth before I even contact Accrisoft support. Therefore sometimes I feel it takes longer to get the researched & specific answer I need vs. a simple support question would.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
The support provided by Adobe is excellent. Though the knowledge base, forums, blogs and online chat questions most all answers can be found. In the event that you are unable to find an answer or you have a unique situation simply post a question to the forums. These forums are regularly monitored by Adobe and its users.
Read full review
Online Training
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
bcgurus.com kiyuco
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
Pretty easy to do
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Accrisoft
In all honesty, we have been moving away from Accrisoft Freedom due to its lack of customizability. We as an agency generally prefer open source solutions since our client base primarily consists of those looking for a more custom solution that can be built off of in the future. While yes, these tend to need more care and attention, they have benefited us more.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
As far as the CMS for BC goes, there is none out there that compares. In the past we have utilized Joomla, Wordpress, Mambo, Drupal, Concrete 5 and others. None of them were as easy to use and train on that Adobe's Business Catalyst. Our alternative to BC is WordPress when our clients want a less expensive solution. For the most part that works OK but we have had issues with plugin incompatibility among other issues. We lost at least two clients because of similar issues. The other great part about BC's solution is that we can still work with our favorite site creation tool - Dreamweaver. The whole process continues to be more and more simplified with added features to the system. No other solution (that we've found) offers such an easy way to create custom web sites that are easily editable by our clients.
Read full review
Scalability
Accrisoft
No answers on this topic
Discontinued Products
It's easy to build small sites or large sites and there is lots of templating.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Accrisoft
  • This was the first CMS we had at our company so hard to say positive or negative impact.
  • Prior to this CMS there was a static site that html files had to be ftp to a company to have the site updated. So from that standpoint it made updating the site much less expensive.
  • Compared to a tool like Wordpress this is much more secure and easier to manage, but since we outsource that portion of it to the company that built the site we dont realize those gains.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • As someone who uses it on behalf of other clients, our ROI with BC is definitely positive. We needed a mid-range CMS without huge licensing costs to satisfy mid-range clients who have some dynamic needs but doesn't need the expense or liability of enterprise level products. Without it we would have lost possible customers or taken bigger hits on projects because of the costs involved with satisfying their mid-level needs
  • Our clients are all usually very positive about the BC platform and are able to use it themselves which lessens our Support time/cost.
  • To use the Web App element,. which we do on almost every site, you need to pay for the highest plan. This brings along with it many features most of our clients would never use. A more basic plan with that Web App capability would be a big improvement on our costs.
Read full review
ScreenShots—