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Alfresco vs Hyland OnBase vs OpenText 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 Hyland OnBase is 5.1%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Content Management is 6.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Hyland OnBase5.1%
OpenText Content Management6.3%
Alfresco6.7%
Other81.9%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

UC
Technical Project Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Extensive customization and governance enhance document management experience
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 finding the extension points and understanding how to extend the system. The workflow was one of the hurdles we had. At that time, it was not that beautiful or feature-rich. Even today, workflow consists of basic workflows. If you want to extend, you have to implement your own customizations. They are using it extensively with features such as records management, CMIS, Share UI, and Web Scripts. All these features are being used extensively. Governance of this system is required. If you don't have proper governance, things can go wrong. If you don't have a proper policy of how documents should be maintained, issues can arise. You have to make rules, such as one folder should not have more than 5,000 subfolders or children. This was advised by Alfresco, but we did not have that advice, so we had challenges when everything was dumped into single folders. It slows down the systems and sometimes becomes unusable. Whoever is going to use it should have that governance system in place.
Abdul_Jabbar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Infosys
Automated workflows have transformed document handling and support daily approvals and billing
The best features Hyland OnBase offers in my experience include being a robust storage solution that integrates well with the Epic solution, allows Unity Forms to be easy to create and use, and has Distribution Services for sending email notifications as reminders.Out of those features, the workflow engine has made the biggest difference for me because it is excellent for automating approval processes, and we use Hyland OnBase for legal requests, hardware requests, travel requests, corporate credit card requests, and file transfer requests. WorkView is an incredible module for gathering and displaying summary information, and we utilize it highly in our subsidiary to manage our legal contracts, their financial billing process, and their travel. We also use the Document Import Process coupled with Unity API for writing custom code to automate processes to send and receive data from other systems that are not yet API enabled. The impact of Hyland OnBase on our organization is that automating manual processes has had an incredible effect on our return on investment, and the man-hours saved by automating processes pays for the system, ranging from one to five hours. I measured the man-hours saved through the tracking of workflows and automation processes. Additionally, Hyland OnBase has allowed us to move away from moving paper around various departments, providing workflow management to keep approval inside the system and out of the email boxes, eliminating the need for paper storage, and saving storage costs with other vendors.
Alejandro Stromer - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Consulting SAP OpenText en Entelgy at DCL Consultores EIM SL
Has provided deep integration with business applications and supported full content lifecycle management
OpenText Content Management has a feature that is unique in the market, which is the deep integration with leading applications, allowing reflection of the connections between different processes and objects in applications such as SAP, SuccessFactors, or Salesforce, visible inside the document management application. Without connecting to the leading application, for example SAP, you can navigate between all documentation, having a full 360-degree view of all information related to the process. This means that when you create some action regarding an object that has a connected document in the content management system, you can automatically see additional information connected, managed and controlled by the leading application, with automatic reflection in the document management system. This is a unique advantage that OpenText Content Management has, which is not found in the market. Another unique feature is the integration with Office 365, where you can work with different folders or binders in the document management system and connect to Teams in a simple way, making all this information available in the Teams you are working with. Digital Asset Management is a big part of the content management solution within OpenText Content Management, allowing full integration of all documentation, pictures, plans, and technical documentation if you have asset management inside SAP. It connects similarly to other modules of SAP but includes a special feature for asset management from a technical point of view and connects with the engineering department, providing the full life cycle from development through deployment to maintenance. This means you have the full life cycle from the beginning when you define the solution, construct it, and finally transfer it to maintenance to keep all information updated easily, avoiding risks and ensuring access to accurate information at the right moment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features which are most valuable to us are rapid deployment, ease of installation, ease of use, and Linux platform support."
"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 like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."
"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."
"Alfresco is a very good product that has very good inbuilt features, and at the same time, it is customizable and we can customize this product the way we want."
"One of Alfresco's strengths is the data modeling, as document domain experts can model type and hierarchical associations and metadata constraints in a declarative way, and a graphical user interface model manager now allows users that don't know XML formalisms to build models."
"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."
"OnBase provides high-value solutions for organizations with much less cost in comparison to other ECM solutions."
"It provided data security features, allowing restrictions on sensitive documents, such as who could view or modify them."
"The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities."
"I like the flexibility and its modular nature that allows us to create solutions that meet our business needs."
"OnBase is a remarkable tool. It is a well-done product. Hyland has a lot of experience in building it and looking for new things for clients in terms of functionalities. It has amazing stability, and it can grow horizontally and vertically. It is built for growth. Their technical support is also quite good and available throughout the year."
"The product's initial setup phase is not difficult."
"I like the cloud and its integrability."
"Hyland OnBase has had a positive impact on my organization by reducing manual processes and approval times since the documents are centralized and digitized."
"Smart Viewing videos are most valuable for the end users. The end users like the look and feel of Smart View. It's similar to SharePoint, with the latest HTML5 features, filters, and everything. It's like online shopping."
"The engineering document management system is one of the most valuable features."
"Scalability is great. We can extend areas horizontally and vertically."
"We also have a module on top of the Content Server called WebReports that has been one of the things that helped us facilitate the workflow and give managers good reporting and visibility into where everything is. Being able to use that on top of the Content Server was a big help."
"OpenText Extended ECM's most valuable features include permissions and security models. I also like the tool's ability to add metadata and use it to categorize information."
"We use Core Share to share documents with external auditors or with vendors, and that prevents them from being able to get into the whole system. It is useful."
"It is a very stable system, and we are using it to store billions of customer documents which are readily available for search and browsing."
"The extra value for both solutions is adding workflow managers, similar to business process management systems, where you can verify flows and sign off documents."
 

Cons

"I could say that it is not a plug-and-play platform. It has a considerable implementation curve, and the technical administration is demanding."
"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."
"We did encounter some stability issues when there were many simultaneous requests on the server."
"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."
"There is need to improve features such as the record management and case management in the product."
"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."
"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"As an ECM solution, there are a lot of improvements needed. For example, the web client should address the next generation of web technologies such as HTML5 and stylish layout."
"For user experience, they would have to do more with the interface. It is not easy to work with and is a little messy. It is getting better, but it is not yet good enough. Other products are comparatively doing better in terms of the user interface. I have been hearing about Box, which is very easy to use and learn for the users. OnBase has to work on this aspect. It should have BPM capabilities. We compete with tools that provide the BPM feature and support those standards. They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."
"The migration is a bit difficult in the tool."
"The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing integration with more solutions."
"Hyland OnBase can be improved because Report Services is an additional license and should be included with the base product."
"Software malfunctioning usually occurs when we receive documents from external sources."
"We need to troubleshoot why our reports didn't get downloaded in a day. There is a workflow feature which powerful but also complicated."
"We found the size of images to be a restriction, though this may have been due to the API used rather than the Hyland application."
"User interface needs improvement (at least in the version we are using, desktop client)."
"More out-of-the-box automation features should be added to OpenText Extended ECM."
"The solution's performance, stability, and consistency could be improved."
"OpenText Extended ECM's user interface could be improved."
"We had some issues with scalability in the production. So, I would rate it a five out of ten."
"The annotation tool needs improvement. In other tools, such as Hyland OnBase, you can easily do annotation. You can easily merge documents. You can easily compare documents, whereas with OpenText, it seems to be a challenge."
"The overall architecture is still a bit cumbersome. The architecture needs improvement, as it's complex."
"A dashboard with information would be nice to see."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"The tool's price is high."
"There are a number of different types of licenses. There are concurrent licenses, individual licenses and imaging licenses."
"They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."
"OnBase is reasonably priced."
"The solution costs around $6,000 per month."
"It is a little more expensive than our previous solution, but because of the fact that it has become a rallying point for different groups to come under, it might end up paying off better in the long run by not having seven siloed solutions. Even though this one solution is a little pricey, it might eliminate other ones."
"The total cost of the product will vary on the capabilities required"
"The pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."
"OpenText Extended ECM is an expensive solution."
"The product is pricey."
"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."
"The licensing is not that complex for the core products, but it becomes more complicated for some additional modules."
"The tool's pricing is confusing to the end customer."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alfresco?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that Alfresco is very cheap and cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
One area where Alfresco can be improved is the ability to scan directly using Alfresco. Additionally, I would appreci...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
My main use case for Alfresco is that I implemented Alfresco Content Services to solve complex enterprise problems fo...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hyland OnBase?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is very cost-effective and affordable.
What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?
Hyland OnBase could be improved in terms of service support response time. More timely updates to solution software s...
What is your primary use case for Hyland OnBase?
Hyland OnBase is used across the entirety of the organization in a variety of different ways, and its primary use is ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenText Content Suite Platform?
OpenText Content Management has changed the licensing concept to one license that includes all features. Although thi...
What needs improvement with OpenText Content Suite Platform?
There are some areas in OpenText Content Management that could be improved, particularly regarding the way you define...
What is your primary use case for OpenText Content Suite Platform?
We are partners of OpenText Content Management in the area of content management and in another area of SAP solutions...
 

Also Known As

No data available
OnBase
OpenText Content Suite Platform, OpenText Core Share
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.
Honda France Industries, Hill County Texas, Hylant Group, ING Lease France, State of South Carolina, Syracuse University, Swindon College, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, Moen, Odense University Hospital
ATCO Australia, MSIG Asia, Orica, Salt River Project
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, IBM, Adobe and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: May 2026.
896,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.