Alfresco vs IBM FileNet vs OpenText Content Manager comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #7 with an average rating of 6.8, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Hyland holds a 8.6% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 8.4% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Alfresco

Read 14 Alfresco reviews

3,008 Views
2,436 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 102 IBM FileNet reviews

3,699 Views
3,366 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

OpenText Content Manager

Read 23 OpenText Content Manager reviews

2,044 Views
1,553 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Alfresco

IBM FileNet

OpenText Content Manager

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Alfresco, IBM FileNet, and OpenText Content Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Enterprise Content Management Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

August 2025

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Helped 867,349 peers since 2012

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 September 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Alfresco is 8.6%, up from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 8.4%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Content Manager is 5.0%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM FileNet	8.4%
OpenText Content Manager	5.0%
Alfresco	8.6%
Other	78.0%

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan

Head Of Information Technology at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

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…

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Emad Rizki

System integrator at Indépendant

Facilitates seamless integration for large enterprises with strong deployment capabilities

FileNet was scalable and could be implemented into big multinational organizations. However, it has become very expensive recently. Compared to low-code solutions such as Appian and outsystems, FileNet has gaps, mainly because it requires coding, which is not preferred by clients due to pricing concerns in Pakistan. We transitioned clients to cloud solutions, although FileNet has been strongly integrated with on-prem deployments.

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Maurice Riverso

Records Management Officer at ANZPAA

Our our official repository and it has disposal management and retention management

The security architecture is the only problem as it's a little bit complex and too torturous at times. So it could be improved a little bit, but it is regarded as a very good system in Australia. It's probably overly subscribed. Also, what's missing is what people would like, which is basically online collaboration. That's a problem. But it has so many other things to offer that SharePoint, I'm sure, will not have. So, that will be an interesting issue to come up. It's not very good at providing stable and robust add-ins to Microsoft. That's a bit of a problem with Content Manager. They're kind of very volatile. So, that's been definitely something that could be improved.

Read full review

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 product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."

"Document repository."

"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."

"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."

"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."

"I like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."

"The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes is also significant."

More Alfresco pros

"We probably would not have seen adoption so strongly without it."

"For a large company, for the robustness, stability, performance, and the growth — that you can grow it within seconds — I would advise using FileNet, without any doubt."

"I like the security and also the configuration. It is easy to configure and most of our business use cases have everything just with the configuration itself."

"It is a faster, robust solution. The platform compatibility is very good."

"The most valuable feature is the way in which it enables clients and customers to quickly access the content and information that they use for everyday functions."

"The natural interpolatability with IBM Datacap, that is a key component of our solution, as well as with BPM, and WebSphere Portal. That's why we prefer FileNet instead of some other, less world-class solution."

"The document collaboration is very good. There is something called Pink Note where departments can collaborate within the document. It has a built-in viewer to see any type of document."

"One of the most valuable features is FileNet's ability to capture things from the stack, from e-mail, to scanning of Excel and Word. FileNet can also convert many types of files to PDFs very easily."

More IBM FileNet pros

"I did not face issues with the product's scalability...The solution's technical support is good."

"For a records management system, Content Manager is a really good system."

"It has a robust search but has often been difficult for people to learn."

"The product can be integrated with different solutions."

"An advantage is integration with your IP directory."

"The tool's implementation has made life easier for customers. It is sold by SAP. The integration between SAP and the solution is good, making it easy to access the documents. It is widely recognized as a market leader in enterprise document management."

"The most valuable features of OpenText Content Manager are its stability, reliability, security, and workflow engine."

"We like how the solution allows us to have retention of records and workflows, as well as its fire plan."

Cons

"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."

"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."

"If you don't have proper governance, things can go wrong. You have to make rules, such as one folder should not have more than 5,000 subfolders or children."

"Alfresco has a very steep learning curve, and unfortunately, during the learning process, it's very easy to make errors, which often are unforgiving."

"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."

"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."

"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."

"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."

More Alfresco cons

"The FileNet API seems like it is very difficult and not transparent."

"There is room for improvement in the file management. It's very complex."

"We would like to have more automation of rollout solutions."

"The response time and resolution of issues by technical support need improvement."

"The area of migrations to new versions must be made easier. It's quite good that they have now begun to improve the API area, to modernize the interfaces, but there's always a very big investment involved in migrating from one version to another. That prohibits rolling out new functionalities to customers. It's not so easy.... In that area, they really must improve."

"IBM does not do very good marketing for FileNet."

"Our client feels FileNet does not provide them with content searchability. They feel it's cumbersome. They're only using Metadata. If the Metadata is not well-populated, it becomes a problem to retrieve a document."

"I would say the installation process can be very complicated, and you need to to have an experience resource."

More IBM FileNet cons

"The stability of the solution is an area of concern where improvements can be made."

"Support could be enhanced. The first line of support consists of individuals who lack experience with some key aspects. When you create a support ticket, the time to resolve the issue may be prolonged because the first person may not understand the system or the solution."

"The product could improve its scalability."

"Pricing is an issue, as it is too expensive."

"Due to very limited use in the industry, vendor and contract support are hard to find."

"OpenText Content Manager needs to improve its user interface. Its installation process is difficult and can be made easier."

"It's not very good at providing stable and robust add-ins to Microsoft."

"The ease of use should be addressed."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."

"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."

"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."

"Yearly, we pay for the maintenance, which is $20,000."

"When it comes to pricing, IBM needs to make an effort to improve the cost. That's the main issue regarding use of FinalNet in Columbia."

"For small scale industries, they allow different options. They can do open source. It is the complexity of the data security that they should think about before they choose."

"The solution saves time and money. It helps us to be able to accomplish the goals of our business, as opposed to being tangled in the weeds of what we could do."

"For the medium scale or large scale, I would recommend FileNet. FileNet is free of licensing expenses, thus good for the money. It is not expensive, but worth for the money, especially for medium scale and large scale industries."

"The tool is expensive, and I rate its pricing a ten out of ten."

"There are lots of components to the product. Make sure before you invest that you know which components you need."

"IBM FileNet is an expensive solution."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

"The fees incurred are for the licensing and maintenance."

"I would suggest that you do a thorough evaluation of all competing products and look for support for these products in your local area."

"The solution's licensing cost depends on the customer domain. Though its costs are high, the product is worth the money. You have to pay a one-time cost and support costs."

"I rate the product price an eight or nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. The solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Insurance Company

Government

17%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	73

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	8

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...

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What needs improvement with Alfresco?

Currently, the challenge is the general availability to users. Initially, they had poor documentation, but over the y...

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What is your primary use case for Alfresco?

This is mainly for unstructured document management systems with workflow and data classification.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM FileNet?

The product is robust and can process a lot of documents for enterprise content management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM FileNet?

From the company's perspective, the licensing cost for IBM FileNet is still affordable. Though the license cost is so...

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What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?

The API provided by IBM FileNet is a very out-of-date implementation. From the beginning, we cannot use a REST API; w...

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What do you like most about Micro Focus Content Manager?

An advantage is integration with your IP directory.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Content Manager?

Pricing is a disadvantage as it is very expensive, especially in this market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Micro Focus Content Manager?

Pricing is an issue, as it is too expensive. Support and services need to be more user-friendly. The support has been...

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs Alfresco

Compared 14% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs Alfresco

Compared 11% of the time

SharePoint vs Alfresco

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs Alfresco

Compared 9% of the time

IBM ECM vs Alfresco

Compared 4% of the time

More Alfresco Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 15% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 11% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 8% of the time

Box vs IBM FileNet

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

SharePoint vs OpenText Content Manager

Compared 22% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs OpenText Content Manager

Compared 11% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs OpenText Content Manager

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management vs OpenText Content Manager

Compared 8% of the time

Nuxeo vs OpenText Content Manager

Compared 6% of the time

More OpenText Content Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco

September 2025

Download Alfresco product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

September 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Content Manager

August 2025

Download OpenText Content Manager product report

Also Known As

No data available

Micro Focus Content Manager, HPE Records Manager, HPE Content Manager

Overview

The Alfresco Digital Business Platform offers open, secure content services to let you unlock the value from your most important business information. Give users access to their content wherever and however they work with Alfresco’s open, flexible, and highly scalable cloud-native content services platform. Easily integrate and connect with everyday business applications. Find, view, collaborate on, govern, and securely share digital content—and get information to the right person at the right time.

Hyland

IBM FileNet is a leading IBM enterprise content management product family. IBM FileNet is one of the ECM solutions that can change the way a company does business by enabling users to capture, activate, socialize, analyze, and govern content throughout its lifecycle.

There are many IBM FileNet products available, all of which are integrated and based on the FileNet P8 Platform.

IBM

OpenText Content Manager, formerly Records Manager, is a governance-based enterprise content management system designed to help government agencies, regulated industries and global organizations manage their business content from creation to disposal. Regardless of how you create and collaborate on your content, Content Manager gives you the ability to leverage accurate, contextual, and complete information throughout its lifecycle. Managing your content in this way helps you significantly improve services to your customers, business decisions and insight for future strategy.

OpenText

Sample Customers

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.

Suncorp Group Limited, St. Vincent Health, Citigroup, SRCSD, and UK Dept for Work and Pensions.

Missouri State Courts

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

August 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: August 2025.

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