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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 Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Alfresco7.1%
SharePoint11.8%
OpenText Content Management6.6%
Other74.5%
Enterprise Content Management
Document Management Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
M-Files4.3%
Alfresco10.9%
OpenText Content Manager6.9%
Other77.9%
Document Management Software
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Content Management6.6%
SharePoint11.8%
Alfresco7.1%
Other74.5%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

UC
Technical Project Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Extensive customization and governance enhance document management experience
Currently, the challenge is the general availability to users. Initially, they had poor documentation, but over the years, their documentation has highly improved. Initially, we had challenges finding the extension points and understanding how to extend the system. The workflow was one of the hurdles we had. At that time, it was not that beautiful or feature-rich. Even today, workflow consists of basic workflows. If you want to extend, you have to implement your own customizations. They are using it extensively with features such as records management, CMIS, Share UI, and Web Scripts. All these features are being used extensively. Governance of this system is required. If you don't have proper governance, things can go wrong. If you don't have a proper policy of how documents should be maintained, issues can arise. You have to make rules, such as one folder should not have more than 5,000 subfolders or children. This was advised by Alfresco, but we did not have that advice, so we had challenges when everything was dumped into single folders. It slows down the systems and sometimes becomes unusable. Whoever is going to use it should have that governance system in place.
LN
Director of IT at JH Kelly
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
Director Consulting SAP OpenText en Entelgy at DCL Consultores EIM SL
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 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."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"Document repository."
"Alfresco is the most widely used open source ECM in the world and it has characteristics that I really like such as a Java based platform, lots of integration points, many protocols for accessing it, advanced workflow support, scripting, easily customizable user interface, a concept of a group/team based working area called site."
"Alfresco allows broad searches with many index fields that you can search on, although the created fields and their values may not be intuitive."
"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."
"One of Alfresco's strengths is the data modeling, as document domain experts can model type and hierarchical associations and metadata constraints in a declarative way, and a graphical user interface model manager now allows users that don't know XML formalisms to build models."
"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."
"M-Files licence model is very flexible. You have the choice of Named User, Concurrent, or SaaS. This gives the business so much room and flexibility to implement new projects whilst maintaining costs and maximizing production."
"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 ability to add metadata and use that to categorize information is a valuable feature of OpenText Extended ECM."
"It's a very good solution."
"The version controls and the business workspace part integrate well with SAP and OpenText, providing granular level control over who accesses the workspace."
"The engineering document management system is one of the most valuable features."
"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."
"Most of our customers are very fond of the upgraded smart user interface."
"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."
"We can configure the solution with any industry's products per customer requirements."
 

Cons

"We would like to see improvement in the numbers of documents that can be managed by the repository."
"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."
"We did encounter some stability issues when there were many simultaneous requests on the server."
"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 setup process for Alfresco was complex."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality. Currently, for document capture functionality (ocr, read document metadata automatically, automatic document classification), Alfresco needs to be integrated with document capture such as: Kofax, Ephesoft, etc., while other Alfresco competitors already make document capture functionality as their default functionality."
"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."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"The integration with other products needs to be improved."
"Technical support is probably the weakest part. We had a number of authentication issues and support has been very slow to respond and get us solutions."
"We had some issues with scalability in the production. So, I would rate it a five out of ten."
"The solution's performance, stability, and consistency could be improved."
"We are looking for new, advanced UI features. Currently, the UI does not look great."
"Compatibility with external source code management tools like RTC is missing. Improvement in analytics and machine learning would help in getting a more holistic view of content."
"More out-of-the-box automation features should be added to OpenText Extended ECM."
"User interface needs improvement (at least in the version we are using, desktop client)."
"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."
"The response time is not effective, and the staff lacks adequate knowledge."
 

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."
"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."
"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."
"The total cost of the product will vary on the capabilities required"
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."
"OpenText Extended ECM is an expensive solution."
"The product is pricey."
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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
8%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
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?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that Alfresco is very cheap and cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
One area where Alfresco can be improved is the ability to scan directly using Alfresco. Additionally, I would appreci...
What is your primary use case for Alfresco?
My main use case for Alfresco is that I implemented Alfresco Content Services to solve complex enterprise problems fo...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenText Content Suite Platform?
OpenText Content Management has changed the licensing concept to one license that includes all features. Although thi...
What needs improvement with OpenText Content Suite Platform?
There are some areas in OpenText Content Management that could be improved, particularly regarding the way you define...
What is your primary use case for OpenText Content Suite Platform?
We are partners of OpenText Content Management in the area of content management and in another area of SAP solutions...
 

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, IBM, Adobe and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: April 2026.
895,151 professionals have used our research since 2012.