Alfresco vs IBM FileNet vs OpenText Extended ECM comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #9 with an average rating of 6.3, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Hyland holds a 7.6% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 10.2% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Alfresco

Read 13 Alfresco reviews

2,157 Views
1,715 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 101 IBM FileNet reviews

3,433 Views
2,196 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

OpenText Extended ECM

Read 21 OpenText Extended ECM reviews

3,102 Views
2,381 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Alfresco

IBM FileNet

OpenText Extended ECM

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Alfresco, IBM FileNet, and OpenText Extended ECM 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: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

May 2025

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Helped 851,174 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 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 IBM FileNet is 10.2%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Extended ECM is 11.4%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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

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

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

"Document repository."

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

"Alfresco allows broad searches with many index fields that you can search on, although the created fields and their values may not be intuitive."

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

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

"It has the ability to mix document management and process automation."

"The product is very stable."

"We are able to find the proper documents which are needed for business processes."

"There is a high degree of usability with this solution. It is highly compatible with our clients' and customers' work environments, making it easy to deploy and implement."

"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 are the interconnectivity and the collaboration. No longer do I have to wonder what system I need to go to for the data I need. I know it's in FileNet."

"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."

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

More IBM FileNet pros

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

"Retention is useful. I have been pleased with the search functionality and the extensibility for tying it into integrations with other systems and building workflows on top of it."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Most of our customers are very fond of the upgraded smart user interface."

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

"The integration of a document management platform with many other applications, e.g. SAP, SuccessFactors, Salesforce, SharePoint, etc."

More OpenText Extended ECM pros

Cons

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

"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 setup process for Alfresco was complex."

"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."

"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."

"The application's processing engineer needs to be more advanced."

"I would like to see it able to capture NLP in an advanced search. It would also be good if it could capture images and segregate them in categories within a span of seconds."

"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."

"The installation and configuration to start up needs expert level knowledge."

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

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

"I would rate the technical support as medium. I do not like the login process. It is not great."

"The initial setup is complex. It is complex because there are several pieces of software that have to be installed in the right order to make it work alright."

More IBM FileNet cons

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

"The solution's performance, stability, and consistency could be improved."

"We had some issues with scalability in the production. So, I would rate it a five out of ten."

"The response time is not effective, and the staff lacks adequate knowledge."

"I have not used it enough to start running into issues. Some of my technical guys could name a couple of things, but in terms of support, we did have challenges getting good responses from them."

"When it comes to addressing complex use cases, three or four years ago, we ended up purchasing an additional OpenText product called AppWorks because we started to run into some limitations with the workflow that can be done in Extended ECM. It was a little limiting, so we ended up getting another product."

"User interface needs improvement (at least in the version we are using, desktop client)."

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

More OpenText Extended ECM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

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

"FileNet is not cheap, but you absolutely get what you pay for. "

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

"The platform is inexpensive."

"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."

"1. It will be more expensive than estimated to setup. 2. You will need to double the staff while you are running the old system and installing the new system. 3. Depending on the number of documents to be migrated, make sure you understand the potentially massive amount of time and effort required to migrate the existing content to the new platform."

"FileNet is quite expensive, although Documentum is expensive too."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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

"The tool's pricing is confusing to the end customer."

"The product is pricey."

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

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

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

"The solution is expensive."

"The total cost of the product will vary on the capabilities required"

More OpenText Extended ECM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

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...

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What needs improvement with Alfresco?

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

See all answers

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...

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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?

The product has become more expensive and requires significant investment for enterprise solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?

FileNet needs improvement in pricing as it has become very expensive. Also, in comparison to local solutions, the nee...

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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 vs Alfresco

Compared 19% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs Alfresco

Compared 18% of the time

SharePoint vs Alfresco

Compared 10% of the time

Nuxeo vs Alfresco

Compared 8% of the time

DocuWare vs Alfresco

Compared 6% of the time

More Alfresco Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 8% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

M-Files vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

OpenText Documentum vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 21% of the time

SharePoint vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 19% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 7% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 6% of the time

Newgen OmniDocs vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 5% of the time

More OpenText Extended ECM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco

May 2025

Download Alfresco product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

May 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Extended ECM

April 2025

Download OpenText Extended ECM 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 Extended ECM (formerly OpenText Content Suite Platform) is an enterprise content management platform that securely governs the information lifecycle by integrating with leading enterprise applications, such as SAP, Microsoft 365, Salesforce and SAP SuccessFactors. Bringing content and processes together, Extended ECM provides access to information when and where it’s needed, improves decision-making and drives operational effectiveness.

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

May 2025

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

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