Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.7, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Hyland holds a 6.4% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 9.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Hyland OnBase

Read 13 Hyland OnBase reviews

3,322 Views
2,093 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 102 IBM FileNet reviews

3,604 Views
3,316 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Hyland OnBase

IBM FileNet

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

IBM FileNet and Hyland OnBase both compete in the enterprise content management market, with FileNet taking the upper hand for organizations focused on compliance due to its stability and governance features.

Features: IBM FileNet offers robust scalability, integration with various business units, and comprehensive document management. Its automation capabilities improve business process efficiencies and enterprise search functionality. Hyland OnBase is known for its flexible modular approach, integration abilities, and excellent customization across different business functions.

Room for Improvement: IBM FileNet could improve its integration with other systems and enhance the user-friendly aspects of its Content Navigator. Hyland OnBase may benefit from a more intuitive user interface and improved integration with external applications to enhance overall usability and flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FileNet is mostly on-premises, suitable for organizations with stringent security needs, with mixed reviews on technical support responsiveness. Hyland OnBase offers both cloud and on-premises deployment, providing versatility and generally favorable support, though some users find it complex without training.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FileNet is seen as costly but justified by its powerful capabilities for large enterprises, with ROI realized over an extended period. Hyland OnBase also has a high initial setup cost but offers modular pricing for cost control and significant productivity gains contributing to a good ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Hyland OnBase

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

5th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (16th), Low-Code Development Platforms (12th)

IBM FileNet

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Hyland OnBase is 6.4%, up from 6.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 9.1%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Srinivas Rao Kagitha

Senior Onbase Developer & Administrator at HTC Global Services (INDIA) Private

Offers good dashboards and reports but fails to offer better migration features

The migration is a bit difficult in the tool. Whenever we make certain changes to workflow or other stuff, migrating the code from one environment to another is a bit tedious. The tool has an option for export and import, which is not robust. Most of the time, we need to do things stuff manually. For example, if we make any changes in the existing life cycle or any queues, we have to move those changes manually. There is no robust way to migrate code from one environment to a lower environment, like prod. When it comes to the product's technical support, the turnaround time is a bit longer than expected. The issue may be because there are a number of issues or a large number of customers who are reaching out to the support team for help. I believe that the solution's technical team can provide a solution more quickly.

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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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Integrating Hyland OnBase with our systems enabled us to automate document designs and templates, which was extremely helpful in the finance and banking industry."

"The most valuable features are that it's very secure and provides audit trails for our documents."

"I like the cloud and its integrability."

"The solution's most valuable features are integration and flexibility."

"We found the setup process to be okay since they do offer a troubleshooting guide."

"It provided data security features, allowing restrictions on sensitive documents, such as who could view or modify them."

"Its most valuable aspect is its flexibility"

"The product's initial setup phase is not difficult."

More Hyland OnBase pros

"I would highly recommend it to those seeking a robust enterprise content management solution."

"It is really usable. There is a lot of support for it. You have the online components to trawl through the storage. I have a lot of fun with it."

"FileNet has the capabilities to meet compliance and regulatory requirements. It is very secure."

"The most critical benefit has been ease of use. It speeds along our development helping us go to market a lot sooner."

"The most useful feature is its persistent storage. Also, the full-text search and attribute searching are valuable."

"FileNet is highly scalable and suited for implementation in large multinational organizations."

"The most valuable features of FileNet are its comprehensive ability to store content, to get insights from the content, and to use that content for making decisions routed through workflow."

"The most valuable feature is access control."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing integration with more solutions."

"An area for improvement would be the training - getting our people up to speed on how to use it required more training than we expected due to the complexity of the solution."

"For user experience, they would have to do more with the interface. It is not easy to work with and is a little messy. It is getting better, but it is not yet good enough. Other products are comparatively doing better in terms of the user interface. I have been hearing about Box, which is very easy to use and learn for the users. OnBase has to work on this aspect. It should have BPM capabilities. We compete with tools that provide the BPM feature and support those standards. They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."

"The solution’s initial setup is a little difficult."

"The migration is a bit difficult in the tool."

"We need to troubleshoot why our reports didn't get downloaded in a day. There is a workflow feature which powerful but also complicated."

"I find OnBase's monolithic architecture to be expensive, and adopting microservices could be beneficial."

"The look and feel could be better. The integration with the user could be better. It could also be more user-friendly."

More Hyland OnBase cons

"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."

"FileNet and similar enterprise-level tools require substantial costs, starting in the millions, which limits their use to large enterprises."

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

"Programmers have to translate user needs into IBM FileNet, which causes misinterpretations."

"In terms of functionality, what customers might be looking for is a little more in terms of native-records retention. Records Management is an add-on product. If there were just a little more of that built into the core functionality, that would be helpful."

"IBM doesn't offer new technologies every year, they offer new technologies after five years, for each release of the product."

"It needs better collaboration between the IBM teams on the FileNet and CCM sides."

"The setup process is very complex."

More IBM FileNet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."

"The tool's price is high."

"OnBase is reasonably priced."

"The solution costs around $6,000 per month."

"There are a number of different types of licenses. There are concurrent licenses, individual licenses and imaging licenses."

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

"We use extraction. Therefore, we can see 80 to 85 percent accuracy on data extraction. This reduces the manual indexing part, which is definitely a gain on performance efficiency."

"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."

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

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

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

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

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hyland OnBase?

I find pricing to be on the higher side due to its monolithic architecture. I would rate it six out of ten. Transitioning to microservices, allowing users to pay for only what they use, could reduc...

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What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?

I believe the reporting features need improvement, as other competitors in the market provide better analytics. Hyland is working on a new platform (HXP) to integrate features from all products, ad...

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What is your primary use case for Hyland OnBase?

I was a vendor managing Hyland OnBase ( /products/hyland-onbase-reviews ) for Hyland, not as a direct user but as a business partner. We managed the solution and were a partner with Hyland.

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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?

From the company's perspective, the licensing cost for IBM FileNet is still affordable. Though the license cost is somewhat expensive, it remains manageable. The company rates it between 3 and 5 be...

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; we have to use the IBM FileNet native API, which is quite outdated.

See all answers

Comparisons

Alfresco vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 14% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 11% of the time

SharePoint vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 10% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 5% of the time

More Hyland OnBase Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 17% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 15% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 13% of the time

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase

August 2025

Download Hyland OnBase product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

August 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Also Known As

OnBase

No data available

Overview

Hyland OnBase is acclaimed for its robust document management, automating workflows, and improving organizational efficiency across various industries. Praised for its ability to manage records compliantly, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare and finance, the tool also integrates smoothly with other enterprise systems. Users benefit significantly from streamlined processes, reduced manual tasks, and enhanced data accuracy, boosting productivity and customer satisfaction.

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

Sample Customers

Honda France Industries, Hill County Texas, Hylant Group, ING Lease France, State of South Carolina, Syracuse University, Swindon College, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, Moen, Odense University Hospital

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

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

July 2025

Free Report: Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

Find out what your peers are saying about Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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