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 6.6% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 10.0% 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

2,019 Views
1,285 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 102 IBM FileNet reviews

3,352 Views
1,921 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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

June 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) (17th), Low-Code Development Platforms (15th)

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 June 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Hyland OnBase is 6.6%, up from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 10.0%, up from 10.0% 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 solution's most valuable features are integration and flexibility."

"The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities."

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

"Hyland OnBase is valued for its security, especially for those in the finance domain who require data confidentiality."

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

"Its most valuable aspect is its flexibility"

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

More Hyland OnBase pros

"The key feature for us is that it keeps our content store small. That helps our DBAs when they have to do the backups of our audit system, or of the content store."

"It puts governance in place around the content and processes. Access levels can be set to certain parts of the document based on role level."

"Stability is really good. We fairly recently upgraded a version of it and have not been having any problems. The resources seem to be really good with this version; it is a little easier to troubleshoot issues."

"One of our clients, a customer of IBM, rolled out and replaced their existing ECM system with FileNet. Their productivity has increased pretty dramatically."

"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."

"IBM provides good support since it's a big company."

"It has a straightforward approach to the install."

"It has a robust API. We are able to have systems communicate with each other, and do business process automation."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"We are struggling with duplicates and would like to have OCR functionality when using this solution."

"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."

"Software malfunctioning usually occurs when we receive documents from external sources."

"The dashboards do have some room for improvement as compared to the other vendors which are there in the market."

"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."

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

More Hyland OnBase cons

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

"FileNet needs improvement in pricing as it has become very expensive."

"Simplifying both training and maintenance would be an improvement."

"It would be nice if they could make it like containers are working in Kubernetes to auto-scale based on demand."

"During the initial setup, all the details and different technical things that we were trying to figure out became complex."

"In Content Navigator we want to see the ability to view different types of video... We are using HTML 5 but it's very limited... We definitely want to see support for most types of video formats in the market."

"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

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

"The tool's price is high."

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

"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."

"OnBase is reasonably priced."

"The cost is about $40,000, plus yearly maintenance."

"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."

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

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

"The platform is inexpensive."

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

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

"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."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Hyland OnBase?

The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities.

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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...

See all answers

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 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 18% of the time

OpenText Documentum vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 14% of the time

SharePoint vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 12% of the time

OpenText Extended ECM vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 6% of the time

More Hyland OnBase Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 17% of the time

OpenText Extended ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum vs IBM FileNet

Compared 15% of the time

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase

June 2025

Download Hyland OnBase product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

June 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

June 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: June 2025.

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