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Alfresco vs Box vs OpenText Documentum Content Management 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Alfresco is 6.7%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Box is 3.8%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Documentum Content Management is 6.1%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Documentum Content Management6.1%
Alfresco6.7%
Box3.8%
Other83.4%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

Jaspreet k - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of development at Flash
Streamlined compliance workflows have reduced manual document handling and improved governance
Alfresco offers many features that I value highly. The first is the open architecture that provides extensive REST API and support of open standards such as CMIS, allowing our development team to easily extend their capabilities. The second valuable feature is the activity workflow engine, a powerful BPMN compliant workflow engine that automates complex and multi-step processes natively alongside the content. Another favorite feature is smart document processing. Due to its built-in AI capabilities, Alfresco can automatically classify documents based on our business requirements and tagging. This directly helps us find those documents by tagging them and locating them more easily. The smart document processing in Alfresco has helped us extract information via OCR and identify entities without requiring manual data entry, as it works on a metadata approach that is directly searched via OCR. The text is assigned as a token in the backend, and using the AI capabilities, Alfresco can automatically classify and read via OCR. Alfresco also provides automated lifecycle management that helps us enforce legal holds, retention schedules, and secure disposition of records, keeping the files secure and ensuring that our organization remains compliant with legal requirements.
Chirag Morajkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Ai Tech And Tech Automation Engineer at a individual & family service with 11-50 employees
Structured cloud storage has streamlined document collaboration and automated workflows
The biggest friction point I have encountered with Box is mainly the pricing part; I think five dollars for this platform is not necessarily justified. While I have used it for integrating and using it as a cloud platform, I have not encountered any significant negative aspects. A few times, I might have faced performance issues, but I am uncertain whether that was due to the automation platform or Box itself. Overall, the only thing I could mention is that it can take a little time to understand how the integration works with Box; setup and figuring out what can and cannot be done might take some time, but other than that, I do not think anything else bothered me. One thing I would want Box to introduce to improve the platform and make it stand out even more would be incorporating AI. For example, the only way to identify documents shared in Box currently is by their names, and if those names are not precise, I can get confused. If Box had an AI feature to summarize and identify documents based on their contents, it would significantly enhance usability. AI is essential for making work easier, so that would be an excellent addition to the platform.
Ashish Shelar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at IBM
Offers version control capabilities, easy to set up but highly-priced
The main thing is the cost. Most of the time, organizations move away from Documentum due to cost. It's highly-priced, and the support costs are high. Now, SharePoint and other options. Microsoft gives free licenses, so organizations mainly look for cost-effective products. The second thing is updates and patching. We patch very often, every six months or a year. We have SP1, SP2, and SP3, and then suddenly, it's moved out of support. That's the organization's main pain area. They don't want to keep investing from a storage perspective. The licensing model should be changed. The product itself is out of support. They have not considered it for AI initiatives. The new version should be on the cloud. I'm not sure if the new version of Documentum, xECM, is cloud compatible or on which cloud it is compatible, but the OpenText server itself is on a cloud, which would be beneficial to the business. And it would also be easier for migration.

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."
"Alfresco is the most widely used open source ECM in the world and it has characteristics that I really like such as a Java based platform, lots of integration points, many protocols for accessing it, advanced workflow support, scripting, easily customizable user interface, a concept of a group/team based working area called site."
"I have seen a return on investment with Alfresco because errors due to outdated documents have been reduced, processes have been improved, and process flow has also been improved."
"Alfresco is the only enterprise CMS that has features like contribution, sharing, workflows, automation and robust content and record management, that are also Open Source."
"If you are looking for a product which has all the common functionalities such as document and media management, record management, workflows, document indexing and searching, then in that case, Alfresco is the platform that you need."
"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."
"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."
"Document repository."
"The most valuable feature of Box is security."
"The ease of using Box on multi-platforms, including my phone and tablet, along with the collaboration features means I've been able to use it with my family (including my non-tech-savvy parents) for simple sharing, as well as with colleagues for team collaboration."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"The beauty of Box is that you don't need to download the document on your computer to edit it and then upload it again, because you can edit the content while the document is in the cloud."
"The editable features and upgrading capabilities are great."
"Box is very user-friendly; more so than SharePoint."
"The solution is scalable."
"File sharing, authorization on the back, its ease of use and reliable uptime performance are valuable features of this solution."
"The most valuable feature of OpenText Documentum is the versioning."
"The storage of metadata content, workflows, and life cycles are the most valuable features of OpenText Documentum."
"Documentum is a highly scalable document management solution because it's built on a solid platform."
"OpenText Documentum's composition is good. It is convenient and straight out of the box."
"I am satisfied with OpenText Documentum so far; it has great integration capabilities."
"It has reduced the amount of paper documents; reducing time and errors in the process."
"The stability is very good."
"I recommend Documentum as it supports big systems and offers good integration."
 

Cons

"We did encounter some stability issues when there were many simultaneous requests on the server."
"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."
"There is need to improve features such as the record management and case management in the product."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"Some of the user interface could be more intuitive, such as the new record category, where the expression is a term and not really a dynamically evaluated expression as it might imply."
"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."
"We would like to see improvement in the numbers of documents that can be managed by the repository."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality. Currently, for document capture functionality (ocr, read document metadata automatically, automatic document classification), Alfresco needs to be integrated with document capture such as: Kofax, Ephesoft, etc., while other Alfresco competitors already make document capture functionality as their default functionality."
"I truly believe that Box should have a box consulting division which would really enable customers who do not necessarily want to work with ISVs."
"Search function remove layers."
"If you want to delete something in Box, you have to do it manually, one by one."
"The solution's data security should be improved."
"The upload speed needs improvement."
"They could integrate better with other platforms."
"I wish the search was faster, like a google search."
"In future releases, there could be encryption, to have better security."
"The product needs to improve the way documents are logged together. I believe running it on the cloud or containerization will bring value to it. The tool's Time to Market and deployment cycle need to be improved. Finding suitable training materials for OpenText Documentum is also a bottleneck. If we can find the training modules easily, we can bring together people, give them quick training, and start working on the deployment. It can help with quick outputs."
"Documentum is a very robust system. Everything can be improved, but at this time, I do not have anything in particular. If anything, they can put our software in their standard."
"Documentum xCP 2.3 still has some drawbacks such as dependent filtration among multiple drop down lists in result list, unable to access all user tasks from all processes in user inbox, and unable to include task link in task notification mail automatically."
"The biggest issue for us is the price of the product."
"The user interface can be improved. Searching for documents is complex and should be easier."
"The price is quite high as the licensing prices are significant."
"It's difficult to manage and customize Documentum."
"OpenText Documentum has a lot of scope for improvement in terms of adding some AI integrations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."
"If you buy Alfresco through a partner, there is usually a OEM licensing option."
"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."
"Box's pricing is excellent."
"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"I'm in Higher Ed, so we purchase through Internet2-Net+. I absolutely recommend going that route for Higher Ed customers."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"A business account has a minimum of three users. If you are more than three people in-house, go for the Enterprise version. All the external users are free of charge."
"Better sign a full year's contract to get a discount."
"There's a free version that allows you to use it with almost full-feature access. Even in the free version, it gives you all you need."
"The price is considered affordable now."
"OpenText Documentum's pricing is good."
"OpenText Documentum has announced a new licensing model, which could be more expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"It falls in line with a lot of things that are out there on the market. There is nothing extraordinary in terms of great or bad."
"It is quite an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alfresco?
My experience with the price, implementation cost, and platform licenses has been that it has been a fair price, the ...
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
For the moment, I have not had any complaints about how Alfresco could be improved that I could escalate.I could say ...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
My main use case for Alfresco is to centralize client records, loan documentation, digital contracts, onboarding proc...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Box?
I found the pricing reasonable because when I was working for an IBM partner, Box was free for us. We did not go to p...
What needs improvement with Box?
The biggest friction point I have encountered with Box is mainly the pricing part; I think five dollars for this plat...
What is your primary use case for Box?
My main use case for Box is storing cloud content on its cloud and managing it as a collaborating platform so that I ...
What needs improvement with OpenText Documentum?
The interface of OpenText Documentum could be more intuitive; sometimes it is hard to find where the information is l...
What is your primary use case for OpenText Documentum?
We are using it to archive the information about our sales.
What advice do you have for others considering OpenText Documentum?
One of my colleagues has found some automation features. It is not my responsibility regarding security features; I a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Dell EMC Documentum, Documentum , Documentum xCelerated Composition Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.
GE, Toyota, P&G, Caterpillar, Flex, Schneider Electric, Sally Beauty, Eurostar, AstraZeneca, AirBnB, Whirlpool, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Nationwide, Aeropostale etc
Agility; Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Capitec Bank; Department of Social Development, Republic of South Africa; County of Los Angeles, Department of Human Resources; Fresenius Kabi; Heathrow Airport; Lahey Health; Linde PLC; Milestone Pharma Co. Ltd; National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development; Open Grid Europe GmbH; REPCO NEX Industrial Solutions; Springer Nature; Syngene International; Tata Power DDL; University of Texas Austin
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, IBM, Adobe and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: May 2026.
899,917 professionals have used our research since 2012.