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Alfresco vs M-Files 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

Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Alfresco8.6%
SharePoint15.1%
OpenText Documentum Content Management10.6%
Other65.7%
Enterprise Content Management
Document Management Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
M-Files7.8%
Alfresco15.4%
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management11.6%
Other65.2%
Document Management Software
Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
OpenText Content Management10.1%
SharePoint15.1%
OpenText Documentum Content Management10.6%
Other64.2%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
LN
Good workflows, and it is easy to use with a dashboard that improves contract visibility
My advice for anybody who is looking into implementing this product is to do a pilot first. After you do your research, do an actual pilot before you commit because everyone has nuances and you might find out that it is not what you want, or that it doesn't really do what you think it's going to do. It is not the simplest product to use but because of the robustness of its feature set in the ability with the workflows, and the APIs, to do just about anything you can imagine with it, that's very valuable. I wish it was a little easier to use because we have to spend more time than I'd like with new users, teaching them how it works. We try to hide all that from them but the setup time to get everything the way we wanted was probably two months. That is two months in one resource working on it half time a week, but it just took a lot of work to get the metadata set up, to get the workflows set up, and to get all the documents added to the repository. Now we've got versioning and we know where everything's at, the dashboard is great, but don't assume when they tell you that you'll be up and running in two weeks, that that is the truth. It takes much longer than you think. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Alejandro Stromer - PeerSpot reviewer
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 most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."
"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."
"You can meet your users' expected features without having Alfresco's involvement."
"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."
"Document repository."
"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."
"Using M-Files means anybody on the executive team to go in and immediately look at a dashboard and know the status of a contract."
"The tool's most valuable features are document storage, security, and compliance."
"We can configure the solution with any industry's products per customer requirements."
"The integration of a document management platform with many other applications, e.g. SAP, SuccessFactors, Salesforce, SharePoint, etc."
"It's a very good solution."
"The solution's automatic document numbering, state management, and process flow are very useful features to go through the full cycle of the document."
"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."
"The seamless integration between SAP and OpenText offers a 360-degree view of documents, facilitating a full-text search capability."
"An SAP user can store documents directly into OpenText without a connector."
 

Cons

"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."
"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."
"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."
"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."
"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."
"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."
"The integration with other products needs to be improved."
"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."
"There are no additional features that I would like to see. I am pretty happy with it, but their support could be a bit better."
"Initially there can be stability issues due to unknown factors such as usage of the system, quantity of documents ingested, load during peak hours."
"Pricing could be improved and the stability or the performance needs improvement, which is very important."
"OpenText Extended ECM's user interface could be improved."
"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."
"A few years ago, it would have rated as a ten, but there was a shift to a new support platform that led to significant issues."
 

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."
"If you buy Alfresco through a partner, there is usually a OEM licensing option."
"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."
"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"They have an Optical Character Scanning module but we didn't buy it because it's ridiculously 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 pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."
"The product is pricey."
"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 is an expensive solution."
"The tool's pricing is confusing to the end customer."
"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
12%
Educational Organization
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

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...
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
Currently, the challenge is the general availability to users. Initially, they had poor documentation, but over the y...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
This is mainly for unstructured document management systems with workflow and data classification.
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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...
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.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
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.
Crowe UK, Stearns Bank, Head Energy, OMV, TK Elevator
ATCO Australia, MSIG Asia, Orica, Salt River Project
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: September 2025.
868,304 professionals have used our research since 2012.