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Alfresco vs Box vs SharePoint 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 May 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Alfresco is 7.6%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Box is 3.7%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SharePoint is 16.6%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlining document management with enhanced digitalization features needed
We used Alfresco as a document management system for automating and digitizing manual forms. Those were the main use cases The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes has improved our organization. The most valuable features of Alfresco include its integration with…
Shrikant Pillay - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows you to upload and download files quickly but lacks integration with Office 365
For enterprise users, the data is in a local repository. We use it for files for the end user process. This is a cloud solution. In my current organization, we have over 10,000 people using this solution. I use it very extensively. Users these days are working remotely You can upload your bin,…
Sanil Paul - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined collaboration through seamless integration and customization
I have been an administrator for SharePoint and have used it as an end-user for document storage. Predominantly, I've been involved in administration SharePoint helps a lot since we've moved from using it directly to using it as a backend for Teams, which makes collaboration easier. It supports…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."
"I like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."
"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."
"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 digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes is also significant."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"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."
"Document repository."
"The sharing feature, with its various permission settings, such as viewing or uploading, is convenient and helpful."
"Using Box for cloud storage allows us to focus on the service and maintaining infrastructure."
"The most valuable feature of Box is security."
"The system's performance is impressive, and file sharing is notably straightforward."
"Office Integration. The full integration into the Microsoft Office products is just perfect."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"Governance and ease of use are why I think a lot of people like Box, including ourselves. Basically, we're concerned about what information is being sent to Box, so we use a lot of the Box governance features to make sure that what is being sent to Box is appropriate. If it is not appropriate, it is not allowed to be sent. It is also pretty easy to use. It is the easiest to use for customers and for technologists."
"It is really easy to load files to and from this solution."
"I do like the collaboration around documents. The versioning history has proven useful in some instances as well."
"No code and low code, scalable, and stable collaboration platform. Straightforward to set up. Its support system is good and offers fast issue resolution."
"It offers an easy way to store unstructured content (.pdf, .doc, .xls, images) and to tag them with metadata."
"SharePoint has made things easier with the increased functionality for building the portals, microsites, and total integration with Microsoft categories."
"The most valuable features of SharePoint Online are content management, document management, and approval processes. Additionally, there are a number of features that provide integration with multiple Office services and external services."
"Information is much more readily available."
"The access control is definitely a good feature. We also appreciate the improvements they've made to the online applications, where multiple users can work on the same documents simultaneously. Everything syncs automatically."
"The search feature is valuable."
 

Cons

"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."
"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."
"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."
"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."
"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."
"The price must be lowered."
"In future releases, there could be encryption, to have better security."
"I haven't really come across a case where we're not able to use it for what it is, so I don't really have anything holding us up or any customers holding us up at this point that I know of. There are always some limitations, but as a technologist, I just live with them, and there is always room for improvement, but I don't have anything quantifiable."
"One thing that Box would benefit from is a records management component."
"I find their API to be quite complex and it could be more straightforward."
"I would love to see the ability to invite collaborators extended to a file level, not just the folder level."
"They could integrate better with other platforms."
"With OneDrive, you can continuously save your files over a Box folder. That is something I wish we could have."
"The solution's support services and GenAI could be improved and made faster and more knowledgeable."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly for technical and business people."
"The initial setup is complex and has room for improvement."
"The introduction of AI and automation with Copilot could be a beneficial improvement."
"When you are trying to migrate from a different platform to SharePoint for file storage, the upload utility should be more flexible, taking more files and then updating you on the upload status of the files you are trying to transfer into SharePoint."
"It would be nice if the editing and setting up of SharePoint were more user-friendly, so I do not have to have an expert to deal with it."
"It has worked very well for me. It seems like they've improved everything. I don't have any cons about it as such, but I don't think they have a talk-to-text, speech-to-text, or speech-to-type. That would be cool for accessibility."
"The technical support from Microsoft for SharePoint is often slow and rated a three out of ten."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."
"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"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."
"Better sign a full year's contract to get a discount."
"The pricing may seem steep at first, but delve into the features and you'll soon realize it is incredible value for what you get."
"I have to pay for Box. It could be a little cheaper. On a scale from one to ten, I would give the pricing a five."
"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."
"My organization pays for the license."
"They are very price competitive when pushed. Initially, they come out with a standard list price, but they are willing to be very competitive. The Box price was pretty much equal to or lower than the Citrix price, and Box has more features."
"The more you dig, the deeper the level of tools, and the more expensive it becomes."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"It comes bundled with the Microsoft 365 pricing plans."
"As usual, Microsoft’s licensing structures don’t really seem to fit the needs of their products. This leads to always paying for a project you will never use fully or always be adding to."
"We have purchased add-ons to handle multiple site collections, form creation, and design."
"The replacement costs for it are cheaper if you use only SharePoint."
"Licensing can be by server or by seat."
"The solution's pricing is relatively expensive because it's bundled with other products."
"They are about an eight in comparison to other similar products."
"The product is reasonably priced."
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Comparison Review

it_user8925 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 23, 2013
Jive vs Sharepoint vs Drupal Commons
At Mediacurrent we often get requests to compare Drupal to other platforms used for intranet sites and social business platforms (like https://dev.twitter.com/ for example). This is often referred to as “Social Business Software”, which has grown in popularity in recent years. I decided to do a…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
9%
Educational Organization
52%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Government
4%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 fr...
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk. ...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
Mostly, the primary use case is to store documents related to transactions in our company. These documents could be s...
What do you like most about Box?
The solution is used for data storage and any kind of visualization.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Box?
I was not involved in discussions about paying for Box, so I cannot provide specifics about pricing.
What needs improvement with Box?
Collaborative editing was challenging if multiple people were in a document at once. The installation procedure was t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint?
As SharePoint is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, the pricing is acceptable.
What needs improvement with SharePoint?
The web parts in SharePoint could be more intuitive for end users. Many do not fully understand these features, and i...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010
 

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
Toyota, Aeroports de Paris, ASBBank Ltd., Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals, CambridgeshireConstabulary, D&M Group, NPL Construction Company, and The Regional Municipality of Niagara.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: May 2025.
851,174 professionals have used our research since 2012.