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Alfresco vs Atlassian Confluence comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Alfresco
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (7th), Document Management Software (1st)
Atlassian Confluence
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (2nd), Enterprise Social Software (3rd), Knowledge Management Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Alfresco and Atlassian Confluence aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Alfresco is designed for Enterprise Content Management and holds a mindshare of 7.6%, down 7.9% compared to last year.
Atlassian Confluence, on the other hand, focuses on Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals), holds 13.0% mindshare, down 16.0% since last year.
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Alfresco7.6%
SharePoint11.6%
OpenText Content Management8.0%
Other72.8%
Enterprise Content Management
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Atlassian Confluence13.0%
SharePoint22.9%
Drupal16.7%
Other47.400000000000006%
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
 

Featured Reviews

Peter Liam - PeerSpot reviewer
Human Resources Specialist at Unilever Inc.
Unified document workflows have boosted customization, search efficiency, and collaboration
In my experience, some of the best features that Alfresco offers include document management, intelligent process management, and information governance. Out of those features, I find myself relying on document management the most because it helps users to quickly find and access information from anywhere on any device using web-based viewing tools. I presume all the features are very unique, robust, and helpful. Intelligent process management, integrated process, and content service capabilities help to streamline content-centric processes and enable faster, more informed decision-making. Alfresco is very scalable. Alfresco delivers a scalable way to automatically enrich content and metadata and provides key insights by automatically extracting valuable information. I love the full-text search engine, the ability to automate record lifecycle to save time and cost, and storing documentation. Creating rules for documents and folders adds to the overall usability of the features. Alfresco has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to save money by only needing to use one platform to serve our customers, which is Alfresco. The community version is free to use. We charge our customers for customization, so this greatly boosted our sales. Sales engagement and sales were boosted by at least thirty to forty-five percent.
Talha Hussain. - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Manage projects effectively with seamless task tracking and integration, but deployment requires familiarity
We are conducting all our project management using Atlassian tools. We use Atlassian Confluence for task management, reporting, visualization of tasks, and reviewing the progress of tickets and work I use Atlassian Confluence for task management and other project management tasks, such as…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Alfresco allows broad searches with many index fields that you can search on, although the created fields and their values may not be intuitive."
"The most valuable features of Alfresco include its integration with the scanning solution, the ability to search, and the capability to store and index to capture metadata."
"Alfresco has positively impacted my organization as it is open-source with a vibrant community and is very cost-effective compared to other alternatives."
"You can meet your users' expected features without having Alfresco's involvement."
"Alfresco has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to save money by only needing to use one platform to serve our customers, which is Alfresco."
"I like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."
"Alfresco has positively impacted my organization by improving information flow to the shop floor, enabling electronic filing of our parts and drawings, and increasing employee efficiency."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"Confluence is easy to use and integrate with other solutions, including social media platforms."
"It's extremely intuitive."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"Confluence is very easy to use and feature-packed."
"The macros feature in Confluence is quite valuable."
"The interface is good....I didn't face any issues with the scalability. It was very good."
"The most valuable feature is the accessibility from different sites for different colleagues and the search option."
"As for valuable features, the team management features help us to share information very easily."
 

Cons

"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"I feel the documentation needs a lot of improvement, especially for Activiti microservice adoption, which is sometimes frustrating or slows me down."
"One area where Alfresco can be improved is the ability to scan directly using Alfresco."
"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."
"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."
"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."
"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."
"Alfresco has a very steep learning curve, and unfortunately, during the learning process, it's very easy to make errors, which often are unforgiving."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The one way in which this solution could be improved is by offering better design and UI."
"The product is considered expensive."
"Atlassian Confluence could improve how information is shared outside our company. We had some negative experiences with the rights we have with our information when sharing it within Atlassian Confluence and with other teams outside the company. It's due to the limitations on the rights we have on the export capabilities. We don't have sufficient rights to do so."
"The search function is not great."
"Confluence could incorporate stronger records management and automation features. The current management structure is too open, which becomes an issue."
"Concerning the integration capabilities of Atlassian Confluence with Jira, I find it surprisingly simple, meaning it does not really have powerful features in it, but it is easy to set up."
"The product should have a workflow with approvals out-of-the-box."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."
"The license for Alfresco is expensive - not the maximum, but close. There are also extra costs once you start building integrations, as implementation seems to be very costly."
"If you buy Alfresco through a partner, there is usually a OEM licensing option."
"We pay $350 a month to use the solution."
"This is a very expensive solution."
"Licenses are quite expensive"
"Pricing wise, it ends up being an expensive solution. In the beginning it's cheap, but by the time you have all the functions you need, it turns out to be expensive."
"We have a site license for Atlassian Confluence and there are some limitations on external users."
"The issues I have with the pricing are in respect to the add-ons."
"We have to pay licensing fees."
"Maybe we're only using 10% of it, but we have to pay for everything."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise52
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alfresco?
The pricing of Alfresco starts at $100,000, which can be expensive for small projects. There is often a transition from the community version to the licensed version, which incurs migration costs. ...
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
Currently, the challenge is the general availability to users. Initially, they had poor documentation, but over the years, their documentation has highly improved. Initially, we had challenges find...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
This is mainly for unstructured document management systems with workflow and data classification.
What do you like most about Atlassian Confluence?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from its document-controlling feature. In Atlassian Confluence, controlled documents cannot be edited by anyone else.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atlassian Confluence?
Money is a factor because Atlassian Confluence is not free. I need to purchase extra components when adding new projects or employees.
What needs improvement with Atlassian Confluence?
What I would like to improve in the product is definitely the Jira integration. It is hard to tell which product is lagging or lacking because I can usually find a feature on the Marketplace if I a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Confluence
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.
Facebook, Skype, Microsoft, NASA, Netflix, Adobe, Bonobos, LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, IBM, Adobe and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: March 2026.
884,328 professionals have used our research since 2012.