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Adobe Experience Manager vs HCL Connections comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.8
Adobe Experience Manager is valued for ease, scalability, and analytics, aiding large applications with reduced time to market.
Sentiment score
7.2
Users achieved ROI from HCL Connections in nine months by encouraging daily use and eliminating redundant features like chat.
I have seen a return on investment through reduction in time to market, automation through AI, and the availability of very scalable solutions.
project manager at FedEx
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Adobe's customer service is skilled but varies in response speed, prioritizing large companies and challenges exist with cloud transitions.
Sentiment score
6.5
HCL Connections' customer service varies, with mixed reviews on support responsiveness and challenges in reaching knowledgeable staff.
They are attentive to big companies but tend to be negligent towards mid-sized companies.
Managing Partner(Austria) at a integrator with 11-50 employees
There are Adobe engineers, sales representatives, and engineers assigned to Sephora North America.
Digital Asset Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
For P1 tickets, the resolution time is approximately four hours.
Senior Technical Program Manager /Senior Lead Solution Architech- Product Technology & Gen AI at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Adobe Experience Manager is scalable and adaptable, supporting high user numbers despite challenges in cloud transition and configuration.
Sentiment score
7.6
HCL Connections offers high scalability with effective IBM WebSphere support, despite Solr search limitations and manageable storage challenges.
You cannot simply add more servers without purchasing the license.
Infra At Idealake IT Pvt Ltd Head at Idealake Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Adobe Experience Manager's scalability is excellent, as it reduces infrastructure and maintenance costs.
project manager at FedEx
Adobe Experience Manager can handle numerous projects because more projects can be developed, enhanced, and numerous components can be reused in many projects and published.
Senior Project Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Adobe Experience Manager is stable and high-performing, though large-scale storage and custom code may pose occasional challenges.
Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Connections is stable on WebSphere but needs tuning for performance; IBM support addresses occasional instability effectively.
Adobe Experience Manager is a stable tool.
Senior Project Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Since they are enterprise and have significant digital business coming through the digital medium, the stability of the product is very important.
Infra At Idealake IT Pvt Ltd Head at Idealake Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
 

Room For Improvement

Adobe Experience Manager requires better documentation, integration, cost efficiency, and streamlined processes to address complexity and unclear licensing.
HCL Connections needs better document management, interface customization, third-party integration, collaboration, and cloud stability for improved usability.
Technical support could be improved, especially for smaller companies.
Managing Partner(Austria) at a integrator with 11-50 employees
There is a feature missing where if content is created on the UAT environment and needs to be transferred or synced to the production environment, there is no direct way of doing the sync.
Infra At Idealake IT Pvt Ltd Head at Idealake Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Many people complain about the price as it's one of the most expensive tools.
Digital Asset Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Adobe Experience Manager is costly but valuable for large operations; offers various licenses and a free one-month trial.
HCL Connections pricing varies widely, offers discounts, flexible licensing, and competitive pricing compared to Jive or SharePoint.
For large enterprises, the cost is often comparable with other major CMSs.
Managing Partner(Austria) at a integrator with 11-50 employees
Adobe Experience Manager is expensive compared to competitors.
Infra At Idealake IT Pvt Ltd Head at Idealake Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
The price is significantly high.
Senior Technical Program Manager /Senior Lead Solution Architech- Product Technology & Gen AI at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Adobe Experience Manager excels in usability, integration, personalization, and content management, benefitting both technical and non-technical users alike.
HCL Connections enhances collaboration with file sharing, tool integration, expert profiles, mobile access, and efficient content management.
Feature-wise, I believe the dispatcher module is the best aspect of Adobe Experience Manager.
Infra At Idealake IT Pvt Ltd Head at Idealake Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Adobe Experience Manager has made document management smoother because many people use Adobe, making it simpler for me to modify and resend PDF documents.
Founder . Interior Architect & Interior Designer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Adobe Experience Manager increases operational efficiency through centralized assets and reduces time spent searching, editing, and managing files.
project manager at FedEx
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe Experience Manager
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (5th), Web Content Management (1st), Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) (1st)
HCL Connections
Ranking in Enterprise Social Software
16th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Social Software category, the mindshare of Adobe Experience Manager is 3.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL Connections is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Social Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Adobe Experience Manager3.0%
HCL Connections1.9%
Other95.1%
Enterprise Social Software
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2771634 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Program Manager /Senior Lead Solution Architech- Product Technology & Gen AI at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Have faced challenges with setup and pricing but have found flexibility and support helpful
Adobe Experience Manager needs more optimization. The frequency of components where we have vitals of a page or an app needs to be optimized because these are heavy Java codes along with some AEM developments. The code language should be optimized or they should have some string functions or web plugins to create a lighter version rather than implementing large amounts of code lines. They should start implementing industry best practices which are not currently offered. We perform our internal development for customization at our own pace. We have multiple frameworks that help us in various ways. We are advancing in terms of AI integration. We have already started our own POCs before Adobe implements these features.
Hasnain Zahid - PeerSpot reviewer
Talent acquisition & development specialist at Software Productivity Strategists, Inc. (SPS)
A stable tool useful to manage marketing-related activities
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Sometimes, the portal hangs because I find that if I am on a web page, I have to log out, and then I have to log in to the portal again. Since I see that the portal hangs at times, I have to move from one side of the portal to the next, making me feel that some things are scattered in the product. I attended a meeting with IBM recently, and they are improving a few of the things, in my opinion. The concerns that I have related to the product are being improved since I think many other users have reported issues similar to the ones I faced.
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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Performing Arts
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Wholesaler/Distributor
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise26
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Adobe Experience Manager?
It is easy to learn. You don't need to be an advanced Java developer.
What needs improvement with Adobe Experience Manager?
Moving forward, if Adobe implements AI tools wherein a vendor or a stakeholder comes in and gives instructions, they could develop a page or a whole site accordingly in a few minutes or a few days,...
What is your primary use case for Adobe Experience Manager?
Adobe Experience Manager is used for developing components, content management, and developing experience fragments and content fragments. Assets are used for the DAM for storing files and document...
What needs improvement with HCL Connections?
The support is an area where the product can improve. My company faces some support-related issues because whenever we create or generate a ticket, it takes two days for the product's support team ...
What is your primary use case for HCL Connections?
I use HCL Connections for marketing purposes. The IBM product in our company already provides us with direct links to the marketing and HR sides.
 

Also Known As

Adobe Day CQ5, Ektron Social Marketing, Episerver Content Cloud, Adobe CQ5
IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Metra
Yamato Financial Co. Ltd., University of Zurich, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., Telus, Rabobank, Christian Brothers Services, Grupo Financiero Banorte, The Loft Group, Dow Water & Process Solutions, JGC Corporation, College of Medicine, Swansea University, solvito GmbH, Loft Group, Hamm-Reno Group GmbH, Geno SA
Find out what your peers are saying about Adobe Experience Manager vs. HCL Connections and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.