Alfresco vs IBM FileNet vs OpenText Content Management 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 Management

Read 21 OpenText Content Management reviews

3,437 Views
3,025 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Alfresco

IBM FileNet

OpenText Content Management

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Alfresco, IBM FileNet, and OpenText Content Management 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 866,956 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 Management is 10.1%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
OpenText Content Management	10.1%
IBM FileNet	8.4%
Alfresco	8.6%
Other	72.9%

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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Jaideep MS

Practice Director at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Enables effective document control yet requires better affordability and clarity

I use extended ECM for procurement, sales, engineering documents, and sometimes invoices and accounts payable or receivable The version controls and the business workspace part integrate well with SAP and OpenText, providing granular level control over who accesses the workspace. The seamless…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"You can meet your users' expected features without having Alfresco's involvement."

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

"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."

More Alfresco pros

"The integration feature of IBM FileNet is most effective for document management."

"It has a very broad market share and a lot of people know about it."

"We have made our service routes more efficient, as far as moving work through the system and being able to react to customer situations and needs better by improving things, such as, address and beneficiary changes. I know that we have definitely made improvements in the process."

"The most valuable feature is access control."

"Everybody ties into Active Directory and things like that, but on top of that are the extra layers of security for encryption, so they can meet standards required by PCI and by HIPAA: encryption at rest, encryption in flight, encryption in the database, all together. There are really only three products on the market that know how to do that, and FileNet is one of them."

"The most valuable features for us are Wex (Watson) for search, Datacap for OCR/ICR, and Automation Anywhere for RPA."

"It is very stable and reliable."

"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."

More IBM FileNet pros

"We can configure the solution with any industry's products per customer requirements."

"Scalability is great. We can extend areas horizontally and vertically."

"It's a very good solution."

"The tool's most valuable features are document storage, security, and compliance."

"Simplicity to roll out, features available, customization options."

"Being able to tag metadata on documents and being able to have different workspaces in there for our documents is valuable. We do loan documents, and different types of documents have different types of retentions. We are able to categorize based on that, and we are able to do tag searching to find what we are looking for."

"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."

"Being able to search is valuable. Its search is pretty powerful. We are able to search for specific text, and it points us to the document that has that text. That is pretty powerful."

Cons

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

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

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

"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."

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

"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."

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

More Alfresco cons

"One of the things I know is a bit of a challenge for them - because I know that it lives on top of FileNet, so it's not necessarily living on top of a relational database, per se - is that we also are using it as our system of record for our language management and our language definitions. I know that that was a little bit of a challenge, just because of the underlying architecture."

"This solution could be improved with the ability to present the file system from FileNet."

"The most valuable features of IBM File Manager are workflow, content, and process capabilities."

"For end-users there is a lack of administrative features. The interface of basic FileNet is not very good."

"The API provided by IBM FileNet is a very out-of-date implementation. From the beginning, we cannot use a REST API; we have to use the IBM FileNet native API, which is quite outdated."

"It may be a little complex to implement and take some effort."

"What I would like to see is more integration."

"I would like IBM to improve with each release, continue moving towards a continual, tighter integration, and build solutions that take advantage of all the different modules the platform has from one place."

More IBM FileNet cons

"We are looking for new, advanced UI features. Currently, the UI does not look great."

"Pricing could be improved and the stability or the performance needs improvement, which is very important."

"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 solution should work better with partners and be more developer-friendly."

"Initially there can be stability issues due to unknown factors such as usage of the system, quantity of documents ingested, load during peak hours."

"More out-of-the-box automation features should be added to OpenText Extended ECM."

"The tool's documentation is not proper and has missing information like steps."

"The cost of the product could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"It is still a leading ECM solution provider, however the cost to implement and maintain are higher than other solutions."

"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."

"It has reduced operating costs by reducing the amount of manual work needed."

"My customers have seen ROI. There have been productivity gains, time savings gains, and things that they have been doing much more efficiently in a more modern way than they were before."

"The physical space that we have gained back pays for the service. Therefore, it has reduced our operating costs overall. We have definitely seen ROI. I would estimate $30,000 a year."

"Licensing costs depend on the size of the storage."

"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 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."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive."

"OpenText Extended ECM is an expensive solution."

"The licensing is not that complex for the core products, but it becomes more complicated for some additional modules."

"The pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."

"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."

"OpenText Extended ECM's pricing and licensing are aggressive and confusing for the end customer."

"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."

"The product is pricey."

More OpenText Content Management pricing and cost advice

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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

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

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	13
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about OpenText Content Suite Platform?

We also have a module on top of the Content Server called WebReports that has been one of the things that helped us f...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenText Content Suite Platform?

The cost is a significant factor that may deter medium-sized businesses from using OpenText extended ECM.

See all answers

What needs improvement with OpenText Content Suite Platform?

The cost of the product could be improved. Currently, there are certain snags in document viewing, and communication ...

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

Nuxeo vs Alfresco

Compared 7% of the time

Newgen OmniDocs vs Alfresco

Compared 5% of the time

More Alfresco Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 12% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

SharePoint vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 13% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 8% of the time

Adobe Experience Manager vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 5% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 5% of the time

More OpenText Content Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco

September 2025

Download Alfresco product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

August 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Content Management

August 2025

Download OpenText Content Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpenText Content Suite Platform, OpenText Core Share

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 Management offers seamless document storage and advanced search features. Ideal for organizations needing integration with SAP and other applications, it enhances workflows while ensuring security and compliance across multiple platforms.

OpenText Content Management stands out with its advanced integration capabilities, allowing seamless connectivity with SAP and other applications. Its enhanced security and permission systems safeguard information, vital for industries like banking, utilities, and oil & gas. Metadata categorization and customizable workflows aid in managing complex document lifecycles. Although improvements in visibility and integration with external tools are needed, the platform provides powerful collaboration tools, enhancing productivity. Users leverage document retention and WebReports features to ensure compliance. Challenges with support, performance during peak times, and architecture complexity are noted. Automation features and analytics require enhancement, alongside more user-friendly SmartUI and record management functionalities.

What key features define OpenText Content Management?

Powerful Search Functionality: Delivers rapid, accurate search results across content repositories.
Extensive Integration: Seamlessly integrates with SAP and other applications for enhanced workflow management.
Enhanced Security Systems: Advanced security measures and permission systems protect sensitive data.
Metadata for Document Categorization: Organizes documents efficiently with metadata tagging.
Customizable Workflows: Adaptable workflow options cater to diverse organizational needs.
Collaboration Tools: Boosts team productivity through efficient document management and tagging capabilities.
WebReports and Retention: Offers robust reporting and records retention to maintain compliance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Productivity: Streamlined collaboration tools enhance team efficiency.
Regulatory Compliance: Comprehensive retention management ensures adherence to policies.
Enhanced Security: Advanced protective measures secure critical information.
Seamless Integration: Consolidates data flow and operational processes.
Efficient Document Management: Lifecycle management improves organization and retrieval time.

OpenText Content Management is widely utilized in sectors such as banking, utilities, and oil & gas. It is implemented to manage software development projects, engineering documents, and workflow automation. Organizations leverage OpenText Extended ECM for document lifecycle management, post-project archiving, and records retention. Integration with platforms like ServiceNow allows efficient handling of document management across global operations, supporting information governance, tax return compilation, and capital projects.

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.

ATCO Australia, MSIG Asia, Orica, Salt River Project

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

August 2025

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