# Acrolinx — Content Marketing

Acrolinx by Acrolinx GmbH holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2.5/5), as of 2026-11-04. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: 1 of 6 dimensions proven.

- Vendor: Acrolinx GmbH (https://acrolinx.com)
- Category: [Content Marketing](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/acrolinx
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/acrolinx/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/acrolinx/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-11-04 · oldest source captured 2026-11-03

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Acrolinx GmbH
- Headquarters: Incorporated in United States [S2]
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

Acrolinx, now Markup AI, scores as a content governance layer rather than a content platform: digitized style guides, terminology and Content Guardian Agents checking content inside the authoring tools teams already use. It is strongest on distribution and integrations, at 5 to 7, on a publicly documented API, zero-downtime key rotation and named connectors for Adobe Experience Manager, SharePoint Online, Salesforce, GitHub, Zapier and MCP. It is weakest on editorial planning, at 0 to 1: we found no public information on calendars, briefs, campaigns or due dates. The genuine split is content model and reuse at 2 to 5: two judges score 2 because the product stores no content of its own; others credit the terminology store's documented two-way export and re-import. AI and content rights lands at 4 to 6 on the stated commitment that user data is never used to train external AI models, with open questions on retention and output ownership. Sovereignty scores 3 to 4 on a mixed entity and hosting picture. Starter, Business and Enterprise plans are named; no prices appear.

**Speaks for it:**
- Publicly documented API with an API Reference and Quickstart, bearer authentication, and keys with zero-downtime rotation
- Named connectors for Adobe Experience Manager, SharePoint Online, Salesforce, GitHub and Zapier, plus a command-line interface and an MCP integration
- Deterministic quality gates can block low-quality content before it publishes
- Terminology — term sets, terms and domains — exports to CSV and to an Acrolinx-compatible XML dump that can be imported again
- The vendor states user data and activity is never shared with public models or used to train external AI models, with Azure named as the AI infrastructure

**Held against it:**
- We found no public information on an editorial calendar, briefs, campaigns, owners, due dates or workload views
- We found no public information on comments, version history with restore, human approval steps or an audit log of who released which version
- Hosting is named as AWS, Rackspace and Azure with no region stated on any captured page
- We found no public information on a data processing agreement, data residency for content, or a published subprocessor list with locations
- We found no public information on AI processing location, retention of prompts and outputs, ownership of generated output, or EU AI Act marking of generated content

**Best for:**
- You need to enforce digitized style guides and terminology inside Adobe Experience Manager, SharePoint Online, Salesforce or GitHub, and block low-scoring content before it publishes
- You want to wire automated content checks into your pipelines through a documented API, a command-line interface, Zapier or an MCP integration
- You govern AI-assisted writing and want administrators to control which agents writers can use, alongside a stated no-training commitment
- You maintain terminology as structured assets and need a documented CSV and XML export path that can be imported again

**Avoid if:**
- You need an editorial planning workspace with calendars, briefs, campaign owners and due dates — planning stays in the authoring tools this plugs into
- You need named human approvers, comments, version history and an audit trail of who released which version — the documented gate is a deterministic score, not a person
- You expect the platform itself to store and structure your content with reusable components or locales — on this evidence it governs content living in other systems
- Your sign-off requires a stated hosting region or data residency for content — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v2). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Head of Content | The SME Marketer | The Localisation Lead | The Web Engineer | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Planning, editorial calendar & briefs | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Creation, review & approval | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| Structured content, localisation & export | 2.5/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| Publishing, distribution & integrations | 3.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| AI assistance & content rights | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **1.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Head of Content** (v1.0): Runs an editorial team of six plus freelancers and answers for what goes live. Wants briefs that carry the goal to the writer, a calendar that shows what is late, and an approval trail that says which version legal released — not a status anyone can flip to "approved".
- **The SME Marketer** (v1.0): Is the marketing department of a 120-person Mittelstand company and writes half the content with an AI assistant. Wants to know who owns what the model wrote, whether her drafts train it, and what the plan costs once she adds a second language and the agency as guests.
- **The Localisation Lead** (v1.0): Ships every piece in German, English and French for the DACH region and beyond. Wants locales on the field, not copies of the entry, translation status per language, and a documented export of content, model and locales — because a repository that cannot leave is a hostage, not an asset.
- **The Web Engineer** (v1.0): Builds the website and the integrations the content flows through. Wants a versioned API with published rate limits, webhooks on publish, preview environments, and a migration CLI that works in both directions — and reads "headless" as a promise about the API, not a logo.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Signs off every tool that stores the company's drafts, author profiles and campaign data. Wants the contracting entity and hosting region named, the subprocessor list with the AI providers on it, prompt retention in days, and training on customer content excluded in the terms rather than in a blog post.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has read "AI-powered content at scale", "one source of truth for every channel" and "no lock-in, it's headless" on every page in this category. Reads instead for the export that includes locales and history, the clause on training with customer content, and what the invoice does when the third locale and the API overage arrive.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: 1 of 6 dimensions proven.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Incorporated in US | 0/2 | [S2] |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Certificate download: yes [S3]
- Compliance risk reduction: content generated from approved content to limit compliance risks [S9]
- Csa registry: yes [S3]
- Csa star level 1: yes · 1 [S3]
- Employee training: yes [S3]
- GDPR article 28: yes · yes [S3]
- Guardrail categories: harm · hate · explicit · violence [S9]
- Guardrails content blocking: built-in LLM security guardrails block offensive content [S9]
- ISO 27001 27701: yes · yes [S3]
- ISO audit firm: A-Lign · ANAB-accredited [S3]
- Security program: yes · 24x7 · annual · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S3]
- Security team: (ISC)2 with CISO experience · 2x CISSP · CIPP/E · CEH · TÜV certified DPO · yes [S3]

**Data**
- Not used for training: no · no [S9]

**Hosting**
- Aws: AWS [S3]
- Provider: Microsoft Azure [S9]
- Rackspace: Rackspace · annual · ISO 27001 · PCI-DSS [S3]

**Integrations**
- Actif export available: yes [S5]
- API auth: bearer_token [S6]
- API auth method: API keys · code · hosted MCP server · Zapier · GitHub Action [S8]
- API endpoint example: https://api.markup.ai/v1 · /style/checks [S8]
- API errors: 401 · 403 · 500 [S6]
- API key management: yes · yes · yes [S8]
- API key rotation: yes [S8]
- API key scope: organization permissions [S8]
- API key usage: API key sent as bearer token on each request [S8]
- API key visibility: yes [S8]
- API reference available: API Reference · Quickstart · yes [S8]
- Authoring environments: yes [S1]
- Brand terms CSV export endpoint: GET · /brand-terms/csv [S5]
- CSV export auth: bearer [S5]
- CSV export errors: 401 · 403 · 500 [S5]
- CSV export scope: term sets · terms · domains · yes [S5]
- Idp group mapping: identity-provider group to group mapping · yes [S4]
- Term import available: CSV · ACTIF XML · yes [S5]
- Terminology export xml dump: Acrolinx-compatible XML database dump · GET /style-agent/terminology/export/xml-dump [S6]
- Terminology import xml dump: yes [S6]

**Legal**
- Commercial register: Charlottenburg District Court · HRB 84183 B [S2]
- Entity: GmbH · Markup AI Europe GmbH [S1]
- Entity: Markup AI Europe GmbH · Acrolinx [S3]
- Entity: Markup AI Europe GmbH [S7]
- Entity: Acrolinx GmbH [S9]
- EU tax id: DE 221 166 874 [S2]
- Liability disclaimer: No liability for loss or damage from use of this website [S2]
- Parent company: Markup AI Europe GmbH · Invalidenstr. 73, 10557 Berlin, Germany [S2]
- Website owner: Markup AI North America, Inc. · 2352 Main Street, Suite 303, Concord, MA 01742, United States [S2]

**Product**
- Admin group protected: yes [S4]
- Administrator role: Administrator · manage users and roles · configure style guides · configure terminology · configure Brand Profile · manage organization settings · manage API keys · view reports [S4]
- AI assistant: AI Assistant generates new compliant, on-brand content [S9]
- AI guardrails: Content Guardian Agents / AI Guardrails [S1]
- Analytics: Analytics & reporting on content quality vs performance [S1]
- Automation integrations: Acrolinx Command Line Interface, Acrolinx Content Analyzer, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), GitHub, Salesforce, SharePoint Online [S7]
- Brand review: Review for brand: brand voice, style guide and terminology [S1]
- Citability review: Review for citability by AI search engines [S1]
- Content governance: yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Deterministic scores: yes · yes [S1]
- Editorial assistance: Editorial assistance in dozens of authoring environments [S1]
- Effective access model: default permissions + permissions from all groups [S4]
- Enterprise builtin groups: Writers · Administrators · yes [S4]
- Enterprise group permissions: groups with fine-grained permissions [S4]
- Enterprise groups availability: Enterprise · yes [S4]
- Enterprise guidance: Enterprise guidance: digitized style guides and terminology [S1]
- Grant requires holding: granting requires holding all permissions of the group [S4]
- Human in loop: yes [S1]
- Llm privacy: yes · yes [S1]
- Model flexibility: no [S9]
- Permission change timing: next sign-in [S4]
- Positive only permissions: no · yes [S4]
- Quality review: Review for quality with click-to-fix guidance [S1]
- Real time suggestions: real-time writing suggestions influenced by style guide [S9]
- Rebrand: Acrolinx is now Markup AI [S1]
- Rebranding: Acrolinx is now Markup AI [S7]
- Role change effect: immediate · yes [S4]
- Role change location: Settings → Team Management → Users [S4]
- Security controls: strict access controls · encryption · identity and access management · vulnerability management [S3]
- Starter business roles: Starter · Business · Administrator · Writer [S4]
- Style guide alignment: LLM-generated/fixed content aligned to corporate style guide [S9]
- Use cases: Marketing · Inclusive Language · Support · Technical Communication · Product · Translation · Financial Services · Life Sciences · Technology · Manufacturing [S1]
- Writer default role: Writer [S4]
- Writer role: Writer · no [S4]

**Subprocessors**
- Crashtest security: Crashtest Security · primary vulnerability scanning, fully automated in SDLC [S3]
- Crowdstrike: Crowdstrike · EDR with 24x7 CSOC telemetry [S3]

## Questions

### Is Acrolinx European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Acrolinx is based. Its vendor, Acrolinx GmbH, is incorporated in United States, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/16967).

### Where does Acrolinx store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### Does Acrolinx have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Acrolinx?

As of 4 Nov 2026, the panel rates [StoryChief (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/storychief), [Kontent.ai (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/kontent-ai) and [Scompler (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/scompler) highest among the other 23 Content Marketing products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [StoryChief](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/storychief) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Acrolinx alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/acrolinx/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on pricing on the pages we read (acrolinx.com, acrolinx.com/legal, acrolinx.com/information-security-and-data-privacy, docs.markup.ai/admin/roles-and-permissions, docs.markup.ai/developer-reference/api-reference/brand-terms/export-terminology-csv, docs.markup.ai/developer-reference/api-reference/style-agent/terminology/export-xml-dump-endpoint and 3 more). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- 15 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 data facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 compliance fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://acrolinx.com (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S2] Legal notice — found from the homepage: https://www.acrolinx.com/legal/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S3] Privacy policy — found from the homepage: https://www.acrolinx.com/information-security-and-data-privacy/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S4] Creation, review & approval — found from sitemap: https://docs.markup.ai/admin/roles-and-permissions (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S5] Structured content, localisation & export — found from sitemap: https://docs.markup.ai/developer-reference/api-reference/brand-terms/export-terminology-csv (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S6] Structured content, localisation & export — found from sitemap: https://docs.markup.ai/developer-reference/api-reference/style-agent/terminology/export-xml-dump-endpoint (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S7] Publishing, distribution & integrations — found from sitemap: https://www.acrolinx.com/integrations/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S8] Publishing, distribution & integrations — found from sitemap: https://docs.markup.ai/admin/api-keys (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S9] AI assistance & content rights — found from sitemap: https://www.acrolinx.com/enterprise-llm/ (checked 2026-11-03)

---

Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Acrolinx — Content Marketing", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/content-marketing/acrolinx

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1384?target=page