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IBM FileNet vs OpenText Documentum Content Management vs SharePoint 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

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of IBM FileNet is 9.1%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Documentum Content Management is 11.4%, up from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SharePoint is 15.9%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

Emad Rizki - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Salih çakır - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly content management but needs more customizations
We use OpenText Documentum for managing the command life cycle and for content management Documentum helps by saving time during daily operations. The product is user-friendly. The BPM side should be improved. It would be beneficial to have more ability to customize features for specific use…
Madhur D'silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Collaborative work benefits while user-friendliness challenges persist
The most valuable feature of SharePoint is its user interface, which is very easy to use. I do not have to be very technical to use it. Its rights management capabilities and ability to restrict access to certain people are also very useful. Furthermore, I can access SharePoint from any device, whether it is a phone or laptop, which is very convenient.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is access control."
"The most critical benefit has been ease of use. It speeds along our development helping us go to market a lot sooner."
"We probably would not have seen adoption so strongly without it."
"The ability to manage the content well."
"IBM FileNet was more scalable."
"IBM FileNet has improved our organization with its single collaboration space."
"We use IBM Datacap's capabilities to capture data and then we use FileNet's capabilities for filing, to create an archive of documents... We [also] use FileNet's ability to expose information via APIs and interoperate with other systems."
"The most valuable features are the interconnectivity and the collaboration. No longer do I have to wonder what system I need to go to for the data I need. I know it's in FileNet."
"The product is user-friendly."
"It stands out for its impressive records management capabilities and the ability to handle an extensive volume of documents, even reaching into the billions."
"We primarily use it for storing documents. We host a variety of documents in OpenText Documentum. This includes raw files, analyzed files, and documents in multiple formats."
"We like Documentum for its capacity and reliability."
"The storage of metadata content, workflows, and life cycles are the most valuable features of OpenText Documentum."
"Two things are excellent in Documentum. One is business process management. The other is its support for metadata."
"The most valuable feature is the good automation engine, which helps in reducing the development cost and allows easy development of applications."
"The stability is very good."
"Tech support tops off as excellent."
"It's stable. It's very widely used by companies. Also, the knowledge of the product has improved over the years, and by other companies that support it or are Microsoft SharePoint partners. So if there are problems, there's always a user or company that knows the information or can help you; even with very uncommon problems."
"The ability to quickly and easily create team sites has been great."
"Information is now available instantly to managers on all devices."
"It has improve our organization by speeding up document sharing."
"OneDrive and SharePoint provide a secure, fully auditable way of storing information."
"There is not just one valuable feature; it is all of them working together."
"It allows for simultaneous users to be on it."
 

Cons

"Programmers have to translate user needs into IBM FileNet, which causes misinterpretations."
"The area of migrations to new versions must be made easier. It's quite good that they have now begun to improve the API area, to modernize the interfaces, but there's always a very big investment involved in migrating from one version to another. That prohibits rolling out new functionalities to customers. It's not so easy.... In that area, they really must improve."
"Simplifying both training and maintenance would be an improvement."
"I would like to see expanded search features, like content search."
"The response time and resolution of issues by technical support need improvement."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
"I would love it if single sign-on was a lot easier to set up. That's the most difficult part of it."
"There is room for improvement in the scanning solution, Datacap. It's improving all the time. But since it's more an end-user software, the end-users are constantly improving their processes, and I believe that sometimes we're not catching up with their requirements."
"While generally secure, some noted security issues need consideration. The installation process for on-premise setup needs improvement as well."
"OpenText Documentum needs to improve its support."
"We mostly use the Life Sciences package. That package is somewhat dated. There should be enhancements to the Life Science package and additional offerings to support pharma in particular."
"It's difficult to manage and customize Documentum."
"The documentation often leaves customers feeling somewhat frustrated, as OpenText seems to expect customers to remind them constantly about the need for better documentation, as they don't provide clear guidance on their documentation practices."
"They should develop something so that bugs don't happen in our project. We make changes manually and some bugs happen."
"The biggest issue for us is the price of the product."
"It needs a better UI and it should also be cloud-ready. The UI has not changed in years."
"There's room for improvement in the search functionality, although it has matured significantly over the years."
"There are some limitations on storage."
"The solution lacks collaboration features."
"The workflow engine cannot support the business needs."
"The solution's support services and GenAI could be improved and made faster and more knowledgeable."
"The search functionality could be improved, especially when dealing with 'lift' lists, where there are performance issues."
"The technical support process should be more streamlined as it usually involves contacting vendors and arranging calls for resolution."
"SharePoint designer workflows can be buggy sometimes without any apparent reason."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The platform is inexpensive."
"For the medium scale or large scale, I would recommend FileNet. FileNet is free of licensing expenses, thus good for the money. It is not expensive, but worth for the money, especially for medium scale and large scale industries."
"Talking about the cost is difficult because IBM has offers that combine different products, and each of these offers has different types of licensing. IBM also has a policy that the actual price for a given customer may be very different from the stated book price. It's hard to say whether it's expensive or not."
"Yearly, we pay for the maintenance, which is $20,000."
"It is still a leading ECM solution provider, however the cost to implement and maintain are higher than other solutions."
"1. It will be more expensive than estimated to setup. 2. You will need to double the staff while you are running the old system and installing the new system. 3. Depending on the number of documents to be migrated, make sure you understand the potentially massive amount of time and effort required to migrate the existing content to the new platform."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
"OpenText Documentum's pricing is good."
"It falls in line with a lot of things that are out there on the market. There is nothing extraordinary in terms of great or bad."
"The price is considered affordable now."
"It is quite an expensive product."
"OpenText Documentum has announced a new licensing model, which could be more expensive."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The replacement costs for it are cheaper if you use only SharePoint."
"As usual, Microsoft’s licensing structures don’t really seem to fit the needs of their products. This leads to always paying for a project you will never use fully or always be adding to."
"They are about an eight in comparison to other similar products."
"For this type of solution, it is not wise to buy it without Software Assurance."
"Any extended support from Microsoft is expensive."
"SharePoint is included with our Microsoft license."
"The pricing is competitive."
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Comparison Review

it_user8925 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 23, 2013
Jive vs Sharepoint vs Drupal Commons
At Mediacurrent we often get requests to compare Drupal to other platforms used for intranet sites and social business platforms (like https://dev.twitter.com/ for example). This is often referred to as “Social Business Software”, which has grown in popularity in recent years. I decided to do a…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Insurance Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Documentum?
It falls in line with a lot of things that are out there on the market. There is nothing extraordinary in terms of gr...
What do you like most about OpenText Documentum?
The most valuable feature of Documentum for our content management needs is its ability to segregate access based on ...
What needs improvement with OpenText Documentum?
The interface of OpenText Documentum could be more intuitive; sometimes it is hard to find where the information is l...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint?
As SharePoint is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, the pricing is acceptable.
What needs improvement with SharePoint?
The web parts in SharePoint could be more intuitive for end users. Many do not fully understand these features, and i...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell EMC Documentum, Documentum , Documentum xCelerated Composition Platform
SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Suncorp Group Limited, St. Vincent Health, Citigroup, SRCSD, and UK Dept for Work and Pensions.
Agility; Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Capitec Bank; Department of Social Development, Republic of South Africa; County of Los Angeles, Department of Human Resources; Fresenius Kabi; Heathrow Airport; Lahey Health; Linde PLC; Milestone Pharma Co. Ltd; National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development; Open Grid Europe GmbH; REPCO NEX Industrial Solutions; Springer Nature; Syngene International; Tata Power DDL; University of Texas Austin
Toyota, Aeroports de Paris, ASBBank Ltd., Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals, CambridgeshireConstabulary, D&M Group, NPL Construction Company, and The Regional Municipality of Niagara.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: August 2025.
865,140 professionals have used our research since 2012.