IBM FileNet vs M-Files comparison

The compared IBM and M-Files solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #2 in ECM , with an average rating of 7.9, and holds a 7.3% mindshare in the category. M-Files is ranked #10 in DMS , and holds a 6.0% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of M-Files users who would recommend it.

IBM FileNet

Read 103 IBM FileNet reviews

3,881 Views
3,571 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

M-Files

Read 2 M-Files reviews

1,025 Views
359 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

M-Files

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM FileNet and M-Files based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed Enterprise Content Management Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

November 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

IBM FileNet

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Content Management (2nd)

M-Files

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Document Management Software (10th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Content Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM FileNet is designed for Enterprise Content Management and holds a mindshare of 7.3%, down 10.1% compared to last year.
M-Files, on the other hand, focuses on Document Management Software, holds 6.0% mindshare, down 7.4% since last year.

Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM FileNet	7.3%
SharePoint	13.4%
OpenText Content Management	9.2%
Other	70.1%

Enterprise Content Management

Document Management Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
M-Files	6.0%
Alfresco	13.2%
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management	8.8%
Other	72.0%

Document Management Software

Featured Reviews

Shoichiro Takeshita

Chief Architect at NEUSOFT JAPAN

Business process handling improves while adaptation shows potential for updates

The business process manipulation in IBM FileNet is very effective for implementing business processes. IBM FileNet has content management, and these two features are very good. Compared with Kamunda business process management, Kamunda is easier for implementation than IBM FileNet. There is a significant ROI from IBM FileNet because before its introduction, the company needed to do all the work manually. This significant ROI has been evident since IBM FileNet was first introduced ten years ago. While there might be documentation prepared by the company, it is not currently available.

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Laurie NYlund

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.

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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 is very stable."

"The best part of FileNet includes its advantages and most valuable features, which are its scalability and stability."

"The product has helped with compliance and governance issues. There are some archiving policies which a financial organization has to keep. Our organization can keep up with them because of the IBM product."

"It has given us a whole new environment to do document management and document storage."

"FileNet can for sure cover the requirements of a medium and a big company, because of the scalability and the possibility to connect with many other IBM products."

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

"It is used by large enterprises. It has to be scalable and robust for them to use. We have seen that on multiple projects over the years."

"I would say the workflow is pretty good. Also, the flexibility of being able to create custom objects with a lot of domain-specific attributes that we follow."

More IBM FileNet pros

"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."

Cons

"However, the configuration does take a long time. Every company needs its own configuration design. It depends on how many applications are connecting to FileNet. It can take a long time, depending on the application count."

"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."

"If I had a concern, it would be that we are sometimes not getting to the root cause of the issues from a technical standpoint as quickly as we should. For the most part, it's good. However, when things get a bit dicey with more involved issues, we have had some delays in getting feedback. If I had a concern, it's around the technical support and their responses in regards to things like root cause analysis."

"Ease of use with IBM FileNet is a disadvantage of this tool. It is complex and hard to use."

"The analytics in FileNet are too complicated and they consume too much infrastructure, memory, and CPU. They're too expensive to work with."

"The basic and fundamental point about FileNet is that the interface is very bad. It's just not appealing so people are reluctant to use it."

"The product is expensive."

"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

"The integration with other products needs to be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"The platform is inexpensive."

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

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

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

"There are lots of components to the product. Make sure before you invest that you know which components you need."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

"They have an Optical Character Scanning module but we didn't buy it because it's ridiculously expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

Government

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Government

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	74

No data available

Questions from the Community

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?

We almost do not utilize the automation capabilities of IBM FileNet to streamline our business processes. The process automation and business automation features are barely used. Currently, we prim...

See all answers

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Comparisons

OpenText Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 15% of the time

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 14% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 10% of the time

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 10% of the time

Newgen OmniDocs vs IBM FileNet

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

SharePoint vs M-Files

Compared 21% of the time

Alfresco vs M-Files

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management vs M-Files

Compared 10% of the time

Newgen OmniDocs vs M-Files

Compared 7% of the time

DocuWare vs M-Files

Compared 7% of the time

More M-Files Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

December 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

Document Management Software

December 2025

Download M-Files product report

Overview

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

M-Files is the leading platform for knowledge work automation. With M-Files, knowledge workers can find information faster, work smarter, and achieve more. M-Files features an innovative metadata-driven architecture, embedded workflow engine, and advanced artificial intelligence that enable customers to eliminate information chaos, improve process efficiency, and automate security and compliance. By embedding automation and GenAI into its core, M-Files' platform not only increases efficiencies for organizations but also empowers knowledge workers to focus on what truly matters—innovation and strategic growth. With 10 global offices, M-Files serves more than 5,000 customers in 100 countries. Start your free trial OR Schedule a demo. For more information, visit www.m-files.com.

M-Files

Sample Customers

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

Crowe UK, Stearns Bank, Head Energy, OMV, TK Elevator

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

November 2025

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We monitor all Enterprise Content Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.