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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Freedom CMS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AFreedom 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

    HCL Digital Experience

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AHCL Digital Experience is based on the former IBM Web Content Manager and IBM WebSphere Portal products, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in late 2018. The product allows the user to create, manage and deliver engaging omnichannel digital experiences to audiences with responsive content, targeted offers, seamlessly integrated applications and consistent branding across channels (web, mobile, and hybrid mobile/web applications and more).N/A
    Pricing
    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
    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
    Features
    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Accrisoft Freedom and HCL Digital Experience
    Feature
    Accrisoft Freedom
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    8% above category average
    HCL Digital Experience
    5.0
    5 Ratings
    47% below category average
    Role-based user permissions8.92 Ratings5.05 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Accrisoft Freedom and HCL Digital Experience
    Feature
    Accrisoft Freedom
    7.6
    3 Ratings
    3% below category average
    HCL Digital Experience
    2.9
    5 Ratings
    84% below category average
    WYSIWYG editor7.73 Ratings7.04 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness8.63 Ratings3.15 Ratings
    Admin section8.03 Ratings3.15 Ratings
    Page templates8.33 Ratings1.15 Ratings
    Library of website themes4.32 Ratings1.15 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design7.22 Ratings4.04 Ratings
    Publishing workflow8.82 Ratings1.14 Ratings
    Form generator7.83 Ratings3.02 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Accrisoft Freedom and HCL Digital Experience
    Feature
    Accrisoft Freedom
    7.8
    3 Ratings
    4% above category average
    HCL Digital Experience
    1.9
    5 Ratings
    111% below category average
    Content taxonomy8.33 Ratings1.15 Ratings
    SEO support7.83 Ratings2.15 Ratings
    Bulk management7.42 Ratings2.13 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions7.72 Ratings2.14 Ratings
    Community / comment management8.02 Ratings2.13 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Accrisoft Freedom and HCL Digital Experience
    Feature
    Accrisoft Freedom
    -
    Ratings
    HCL Digital Experience
    4.1
    5 Ratings
    64% below category average
    API00 Ratings4.14 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings4.15 Ratings
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    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
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    Score7 out of 10
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    Score6.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Square Online
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Sitecore Digital Experience Platform
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    Progress Sitefinity
    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.7
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Freedom CMSHCL Digital Experience
    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    HCL DX does really well at managing and maintaining the site. It allows the business to basically maintain the site while IT spent time developing new and enhanced functions. The main issue I currently have with HCL DX is not directly with the product but it does play a role. It is difficult finding skilled resources to support HCL DX in my experience.
    Incentivized
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    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    • With Version 8.5, IBM Web Content Manager introduced in place editing capabilities which allow authors to make content edits on sections of the page instead of going to the content itself. This feature allows authors to make changes in context of the page and preview changes within the actual look and feel of a live page.
    • Projects provide a collaborative atmosphere for the author community so that authors can interact and work as a team to manage inter-dependent content changes under one project and publish all changes at once, instead of working separately on individual content changes. This brings awareness across authors in an organization and easy knowledge share.
    • IBM Digital Data Connector is a cool feature that allows [users] to integrate external content sources onto the portal using IBM Web Content Manager presentation components. This allows UI/UX designers to present integrated external data in any manner they want, manage UI changes with an underlying approval process and leverage syndication to push changes live immediately.
    • IBM Web Content Manager offers a targeted content feature that allows business users to deliver personalized content to customers based on customer demographic information, browsing history and other transaction related information. Any rules created follow the publishing process thereby making it just a configurable item resulting in less turn around to turn on the feature on a website.
    • IBM Web Content Manager offers 'multi lingual solution' out of the box which allows content creation for almost all popular languages.
    • Syndication feature has improved a lot and it now provides a detailed views comprising of 'failed items', 'items that have syndicated successfully, 'items in queue'. Failed items view provides detailed and clear cut information of what resulted in failure helping IT to troubleshoot problems easily.
    Incentivized
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    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    • IBM Web Content Manager should provide some easily usable connectors through a GUI to connect to bring content from custom data sources including connecting to Salesforce and custom databases.
    • Should further optimize and enhance creation of rich and responsive content driven UIs on various digital channels.
    • Should further optimize and enhance content personalization features.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Accrisoft
    We switched to WordPress; it was out of my control.
    Read full review
    HCLSoftware
    IBM products always moves forward to adapt to new requirements and technologies. I have used versions 6, 6.1, 7 and 8 of IBM WCM, and I know IBM is ready to revamp the tool based on emerging needs, and still provide the capabilities to migrate your old system to the newer versions.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Accrisoft
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    New versions has increased user experience facilitating usability.
    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    We had some issues related with performing and the support was suitable and sucessful.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Accrisoft
    No answers on this topic
    HCLSoftware
    Implementation was successful due to Websphere application server used.
    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    Magento and Prestashop are E-commerce CMS platforms. They are used in a different scale of application than WCM.
    Concerning Joomla, it's a useful CMS forsmaller website. Once again this is an other scale of application than WCM Liveray can compete WCM 7 concerning the : ¤ specific development ¤ security ¤ responsive
    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.
    Incentivized
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    HCLSoftware
    • Negative: Very complex architecture for on-premise deployments (too many servers to installed)
    • Positive: Easy customization
    • Negative: Architecture limited to cloud solutions
    • WCM is an old product and needs an update
    • Blog, and community are not integrated in Digital Manager for discussion
    • Templates are not available to integrate basic services (FileNet, more complex BPM , e-commerce)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots