Comparison

Presently vs. ScreenCloud: An Honest Comparison for Retail Stores

ScreenCloud is a polished, enterprise-grade digital signage platform used by hospitality chains, corporate offices, and multi-location retailers. Presently is built specifically for independent store owners who want a turn-key solution without the enterprise overhead.

Presently

Audience-aware, hardware-included, private by design. Built for independent retail.

ScreenCloud

Enterprise digital signage CMS. Powerful, scalable, and built for multi-location organizations.

The Quick Answer

Which one is right for your store?

Choose Presently if:

  • You're an independent store owner who wants a true plug-and-play solution
  • You want audience-aware advertising that adapts to who's in front of the screen
  • Your store's internet is unreliable and you need offline-capable playback
  • You want all-inclusive pricing with no separate hardware purchase
  • Privacy is a concern — you need zero data stored or transmitted

Choose ScreenCloud if:

  • You manage signage across multiple locations or a large number of screens
  • You need enterprise integrations (corporate data, ticketing, HR systems)
  • Your organization has IT resources for setup and ongoing management
  • You need advanced scheduling rules and multi-channel content distribution
  • You're in hospitality, corporate, or education rather than independent retail
Feature by Feature

Side by Side

Feature
Presently
ScreenCloud
Starting price
$79/month all-in
$20+/screen/month (hardware separate)
Hardware included
Yes — shipped pre-configured
No — you source your own
Setup time
~2 hours, no IT required
Varies — enterprise onboarding typical
Audience-aware ad targeting
Yes — on-device CV, real-time
No
Works without internet
Fully offline-capable
No — cloud-dependent
Camera/biometric data storage
Never — nothing stored or transmitted
N/A — no camera integration
Dashboard access
Local network (addashboard.local)
Cloud-based web dashboard
Content scheduling
Time + audience rules
Time + trigger-based rules
App integrations
Limited (roadmap)
Extensive — enterprise app library
Multi-screen / multi-location
Single-screen pilot
Yes — built for multi-location
Target customer
Independent retail stores
Mid-market to enterprise businesses
Support model
Founding customer direct support
Tiered (email, dedicated CSM on higher plans)
Free trial
Pilot program
14-day free trial

ScreenCloud pricing sourced from their public pricing page. Presently pricing as of May 2026. Scroll horizontally on small screens.

Go Deeper

Where They're Fundamentally Different

Three areas where the products diverge in ways that matter for store operations.

ScreenCloud is an excellent product — polished, enterprise-grade, and built to serve large organizations with IT departments, multiple screens, and integrations with corporate data systems. It's used in office lobbies, hotel chains, and franchise retail.

Presently is built for the opposite context: a single-location independent store where the owner is also the IT department. Setup should take an afternoon, not an IT project. The hardware should arrive ready to go. The monthly cost should be predictable and all-inclusive.

The honest answer: If you're running a coffee shop, wine store, or boutique — ScreenCloud is more platform than you need and more work to set up than it's worth. If you're managing 20+ screens across multiple locations, the calculus flips.

ScreenCloud starts at approximately $20/screen/month — but that number doesn't include hardware. You're sourcing, purchasing, and configuring your own media player. A capable device runs $60–150. For a single screen, year-one cost at ScreenCloud typically lands $330–500+ before you've uploaded a single asset.

Presently is $79/month with hardware included. More expensive month-to-month, but the device arrives pre-configured. No sourcing, no setup labor, no replacement cost if the hardware fails.

Where ScreenCloud wins on price: At scale. Four screens on ScreenCloud at $20/screen = $80/month. Four screens on Presently = $316/month. For multi-screen operations, ScreenCloud's per-screen model becomes significantly cheaper.

ScreenCloud is a content management and distribution platform. It is very good at reliably playing your content on a schedule. It has no mechanism for detecting who is in front of the screen or adapting what's shown based on the audience.

Presently adds on-device computer vision: the device detects general demographic signals in real time and selects the most relevant ad. No image stored, no data transmitted. This is the core differentiation that no cloud-based CMS can replicate — the inference happens on the device itself.

Any cloud-based platform that offers "audience analytics" routes video or images through external servers. Presently's architecture — on-device only, nothing transmitted — means there's no data to expose and no compliance liability.

Built for independent retail.

ScreenCloud is a serious enterprise platform. If you're managing one store and want intelligent, turn-key digital signage without the enterprise overhead — Presently was built for exactly that.

Join the Presently PilotSee How Presently Works

$79/month · Hardware included · Cancel anytime