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Alfresco vs Hyland OnBase 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 Hyland OnBase is 5.1%, down from 6.6% 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%
Hyland OnBase5.1%
Alfresco6.7%
Other82.1%
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.
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.
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

"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."
"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."
"The initial setup was straightforward, because Alfresco also provides a stack installer that includes the required supporting software."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"The features which are most valuable to us are rapid deployment, ease of installation, ease of use, and Linux platform support."
"The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes is also significant."
"The ROI from Alfresco is highly profitable for the company, helping us accelerate operational excellence and decrease compliance risk while increasing compliance mitigation, saving at least seventy to eighty percent in time and forty to forty-five percent in manual labor, cutting processing time by ninety percent, reducing physical storage costs by eighty percent, and protecting us from massive financial penalties associated with compliance failures totaling approximately two million dollars."
"Document repository."
"Hyland OnBase has had a positive impact on my organization by reducing manual processes and approval times since the documents are centralized and digitized."
"Its most valuable aspect is its flexibility"
"This solution is easy to implement and easy to use as long as you know what your business requirement are or the specifications are straightforward."
"The most valuable features are that it's very secure and provides audit trails for our documents."
"The product's initial setup phase is not difficult."
"A single platform with multiple capabilities to orchestrate processes, complex business rules and all types of business content."
"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."
"I like the flexibility and its modular nature that allows us to create solutions that meet our business needs."
"The lifecycle management is valuable because many of our businesses create content and it passes through a lifecycle."
"It has the ability to categorize and search."
"I am satisfied with OpenText Documentum so far; it has great integration capabilities."
"The tool's most valuable feature is ACL, which helps to control the user groups that access the documents."
"The stability is very good."
"The most impactful thing is the size, which is almost 25 TB."
"The most valuable feature of Documentum for our content management needs is its ability to segregate access based on department and role."
"OpenText Documentum's composition is good. It is convenient and straight out of the box."
 

Cons

"We would like to see improvement in the numbers of documents that can be managed by the repository."
"I could say that it is not a plug-and-play platform. It has a considerable implementation curve, and the technical administration is demanding."
"Technical Support: Average, this might be because I am quite experienced and the questions I have might be difficult to find an answer to quickly as I have probably already exhausted most solution possibilities before I contact support."
"There is need to improve features such as the record management and case management in the product."
"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."
"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."
"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."
"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."
"The solution’s initial setup is a little difficult."
"We need to troubleshoot why our reports didn't get downloaded in a day. There is a workflow feature which powerful but also complicated."
"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 look and feel could be better. The integration with the user could be better. It could also be more user-friendly."
"For user experience, they would have to do more with the interface. It is not easy to work with and is a little messy."
"The dashboards do have some room for improvement as compared to the other vendors which are there in the market."
"Hyland OnBase could be improved in terms of service support response time."
"Hyland OnBase can be improved because Report Services is an additional license and should be included with the base product."
"They should develop something so that bugs don't happen in our project. We make changes manually and some bugs happen."
"While generally secure, some noted security issues need consideration. The installation process for on-premise setup needs improvement as well."
"OpenText Documentum has a lot of scope for improvement in terms of adding some AI integrations."
"The interface of OpenText Documentum could be more intuitive; sometimes it is hard to find where the information is located."
"We get our support from a partner, not from them directly. I don't like the consultancy, they don't have a lot of experience but they sell this solution."
"The user interface can be improved."
"OpenText Documentum is moving to the cloud, and I am concerned about the security aspect of it."
"The biggest issue for us is the price of the product."
 

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."
"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 tool's price is high."
"There are a number of different types of licenses. There are concurrent licenses, individual licenses and imaging licenses."
"The solution costs around $6,000 per month."
"OnBase is reasonably priced."
"The product is expensive."
"The price is considered affordable now."
"OpenText Documentum has announced a new licensing model, which could be more 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."
"OpenText Documentum's pricing is good."
"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%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
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 Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
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 Hyland OnBase?
The main factors that influenced my decision to choose Hyland OnBase over other options available on the market were ...
What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?
I believe Hyland OnBase could improve by making its user interface more user-friendly.I am referring to the learning ...
What is your primary use case for Hyland OnBase?
Hyland OnBase serves as the primary document management solution for all of my company's documents.A concrete example...
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
OnBase
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.
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
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.