IBM FileNet vs M-Files vs OpenText Content Management comparison

The compared IBM and M-Files solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #4 in ECM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 9.4% mindshare in the category. M-Files is ranked #7 in DMS , and holds a 9.0% 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 102 IBM FileNet reviews

3,570 Views
3,284 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

M-Files

Read 2 M-Files reviews

960 Views
278 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

OpenText Content Management

Read 21 OpenText Content Management reviews

3,298 Views
2,902 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

M-Files

OpenText Content Management

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Executive Summary

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

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

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:

Mindshare comparison

Enterprise Content Management

Document Management Software

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

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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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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Jaideep MS

Practice Director at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Enables effective document control yet requires better affordability and clarity

I use extended ECM for procurement, sales, engineering documents, and sometimes invoices and accounts payable or receivable The version controls and the business workspace part integrate well with SAP and OpenText, providing granular level control over who accesses the workspace. The seamless…

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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 integration feature of IBM FileNet is most effective for document management."

"The API's extensibility and new user interface are its most valuable features."

"In terms of stability, we haven't experienced any big technical issues or downtime with IBM FileNet, which is a difference compared to smaller products."

"The product is very stable."

"It has a straightforward approach to the install."

"The ability to manage the content well."

"FileNet provides a compact solution for midsized companies."

"We have probably cut out at least 40 percent of what the work process was by easing out that whole distribution of paper."

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."

"We can configure the solution with any industry's products per customer requirements."

"Scalability is great. We can extend areas horizontally and vertically."

"The engineering document management system is one of the most valuable features."

"The version controls and the business workspace part integrate well with SAP and OpenText, providing granular level control over who accesses the workspace."

"We also have a module on top of the Content Server called WebReports that has been one of the things that helped us facilitate the workflow and give managers good reporting and visibility into where everything is. Being able to use that on top of the Content Server was a big help."

"WebReports has a lot of capabilities that offer good opportunities to customize the applications the way we want to."

"Most of our customers are very fond of the upgraded smart user interface."

"Smart Viewing videos are most valuable for the end users. The end users like the look and feel of Smart View. It's similar to SharePoint, with the latest HTML5 features, filters, and everything. It's like online shopping."

Cons

"The response time and resolution of issues by technical support need improvement."

"It would be nice to have additional integration features, which could be integration with IoOT-based products and solutions that also have automation requirements on the IOT side. Anything can be integrated from a Gateway or API perspective would be a plus."

"The new user interface is not easy to set up, so some improvements along these lines would be good."

"The initial setup was pretty complex. There are too many options, and it can get a bit confusing."

"To start with there are too many add-ons, which makes it hard for us. If they simplified the add-ons and plugins to be added to our existing systems, it would definitely help us in the future."

"I would say the installation process can be very complicated, and you need to to have an experience resource."

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

"A little better control into the ACLs of FileNet and databases."

More IBM FileNet cons

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

"User interface needs improvement (at least in the version we are using, desktop client)."

"OpenText Extended ECM's user interface could be improved."

"The solution needs to improve the user interface."

"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."

"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."

"The solution's performance, stability, and consistency could be improved."

"A dashboard with information would be nice to see."

"The tool's documentation is not proper and has missing information like steps."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The biggest issue is the cost of the FileNet, because the license cost is very high. If a customer doesn't have good technical guides that are aware of the license calculation, they will pay too much. FileNet's license calculation depends on the processor and number of users. So my advice to a new customer is to be very careful with your calculations before purchasing FileNet."

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

"The licensing cost of FileNet is comparable."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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."

"OpenText Extended ECM's pricing and licensing are aggressive and confusing for the end customer."

"The solution is expensive."

"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."

"OpenText Extended ECM is an expensive solution."

"The tool's pricing is confusing to the end customer."

"The pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."

"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."

"The total cost of the product will vary on the capabilities required"

More OpenText Content Management pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

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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 so...

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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; w...

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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...

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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.

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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 ...

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Comparisons

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 17% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 14% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 8% of the time

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 7% of the time

Box vs IBM FileNet

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

SharePoint vs M-Files

Compared 33% of the time

Microsoft Purview Records Management vs M-Files

Compared 14% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs M-Files

Compared 9% 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

SharePoint vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 18% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 17% of the time

Alfresco vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 7% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Content Management vs OpenText Content Management

Compared 2% of the time

More OpenText Content Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

July 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

Document Management Software

July 2025

Download M-Files product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Content Management

May 2025

Download OpenText Content Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpenText Content Suite Platform, OpenText Core Share

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

OpenText Content Management offers seamless document storage and advanced search features. Ideal for organizations needing integration with SAP and other applications, it enhances workflows while ensuring security and compliance across multiple platforms.

OpenText Content Management stands out with its advanced integration capabilities, allowing seamless connectivity with SAP and other applications. Its enhanced security and permission systems safeguard information, vital for industries like banking, utilities, and oil & gas. Metadata categorization and customizable workflows aid in managing complex document lifecycles. Although improvements in visibility and integration with external tools are needed, the platform provides powerful collaboration tools, enhancing productivity. Users leverage document retention and WebReports features to ensure compliance. Challenges with support, performance during peak times, and architecture complexity are noted. Automation features and analytics require enhancement, alongside more user-friendly SmartUI and record management functionalities.

What key features define OpenText Content Management?

Powerful Search Functionality: Delivers rapid, accurate search results across content repositories.
Extensive Integration: Seamlessly integrates with SAP and other applications for enhanced workflow management.
Enhanced Security Systems: Advanced security measures and permission systems protect sensitive data.
Metadata for Document Categorization: Organizes documents efficiently with metadata tagging.
Customizable Workflows: Adaptable workflow options cater to diverse organizational needs.
Collaboration Tools: Boosts team productivity through efficient document management and tagging capabilities.
WebReports and Retention: Offers robust reporting and records retention to maintain compliance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Productivity: Streamlined collaboration tools enhance team efficiency.
Regulatory Compliance: Comprehensive retention management ensures adherence to policies.
Enhanced Security: Advanced protective measures secure critical information.
Seamless Integration: Consolidates data flow and operational processes.
Efficient Document Management: Lifecycle management improves organization and retrieval time.

OpenText Content Management is widely utilized in sectors such as banking, utilities, and oil & gas. It is implemented to manage software development projects, engineering documents, and workflow automation. Organizations leverage OpenText Extended ECM for document lifecycle management, post-project archiving, and records retention. Integration with platforms like ServiceNow allows efficient handling of document management across global operations, supporting information governance, tax return compilation, and capital projects.

OpenText

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

ATCO Australia, MSIG Asia, Orica, Salt River Project

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Content Management

July 2025

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