Alfresco vs IBM FileNet comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #9 with an average rating of 6.3, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Hyland holds a 7.6% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 10.2% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Alfresco

Read 13 Alfresco reviews

2,157 Views
1,715 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 101 IBM FileNet reviews

3,433 Views
2,196 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Alfresco

IBM FileNet

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Alfresco and IBM FileNet are in the enterprise content management system category. IBM FileNet often has the upper hand due to its advanced features and comprehensive solutions, justifying a higher price tag.

Features: Alfresco supports open-source capabilities, flexibility, and modern content services for customizations. IBM FileNet offers robust security features, scalability, and sophisticated document management.

Room for Improvement: Alfresco could enhance its security and scalability to better compete with large enterprises. IBM FileNet might improve its user interface for easier setup and customization. Alfresco needs to develop a more comprehensive set of enterprise-level functionalities, while IBM FileNet should focus on simplifying the deployment process for quicker implementation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Alfresco's cloud-native design allows easy deployment and minimal setup challenges with responsive customer service. IBM FileNet is more complex to implement due to its extensive features but includes thorough documentation and professional support.

Pricing and ROI: Alfresco offers a lower setup cost favorable for smaller enterprises seeking specific customizations, yielding quicker ROI. IBM FileNet requires higher initial investment with longer ROI, matched by extensive capabilities and scalability benefits, preferred by large organizations seeking robust infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet

April 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

Alfresco

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

9th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Document Management Software (3rd)

IBM FileNet

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Alfresco is 7.6%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 10.2%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan

Head Of Information Technology at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Flexible and customizable but lacking integration with Microsoft

I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen. Alfresco also needs to be well-integrated with Microsoft, as it's currently a nuisance for customers who rely on Microsoft's Office 365 solutions. There's a pretty obvious gap in the overlap between SharePoint when customers go to O365 and are presented with the SharePoint license and storage to start with, which Alfresco isn't taking advantage of.

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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

"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."

"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."

"The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes is also significant."

"I like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."

"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."

"Alfresco allows broad searches with many index fields that you can search on, although the created fields and their values may not be intuitive."

"The most valuable features of Alfresco include its integration with the scanning solution, the ability to search, and the capability to store and index to capture metadata."

"Document repository."

"There aren't very many ECM solutions that scale properly, both up and out. We have customers who hold billions of documents. There aren't very many that can scale that far, and that can also scale out so that they can handle lots of users, lots of documents, and that understand how to handle external users. FileNet is one that can."

"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."

"The product is very stable."

"It saves our customers time by 30 to 40 percent by eliminating the time to process paper."

"The most valuable feature is access control."

"There are a lot of valuable features, but the biggest advantage is that this system is stable; it's always online, it always works... once it's configured and running, we don't need to touch it and constantly make changes to it. It's a low-maintenance platform."

"The product is robust and can process a lot of documents for enterprise content management."

"The features that I have found most valuable include the Data Capture and Case Manager features."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."

"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."

"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."

"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."

"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."

"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."

"I think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."

"Alfresco has a very steep learning curve, and unfortunately, during the learning process, it's very easy to make errors, which often are unforgiving."

"I would like IBM to improve with each release, continue moving towards a continual, tighter integration, and build solutions that take advantage of all the different modules the platform has from one place."

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

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

"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."

"The only downside is that it takes a dedicated staff to maintain it and the learning curve is pretty steep."

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

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

"Needs a better administration tool."

More IBM FileNet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license for Alfresco is expensive - not the maximum, but close. There are also extra costs once you start building integrations, as implementation seems to be very costly."

"If you buy Alfresco through a partner, there is usually a OEM licensing option."

"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."

"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"The licensing cost of FileNet is comparable."

"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."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alfresco?

The pricing of Alfresco starts at $100,000, which can be expensive for small projects. There is often a transition from the community version to the licensed version, which incurs migration costs. ...

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What needs improvement with Alfresco?

Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk. Clients, especially large enterprises such as banks, are concerned about documen...

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What is your primary use case for Alfresco?

Mostly, the primary use case is to store documents related to transactions in our company. These documents could be signed documents, invoices, purchase orders, etc. While transaction records are s...

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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?

The product has become more expensive and requires significant investment for enterprise solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM FileNet?

FileNet needs improvement in pricing as it has become very expensive. Also, in comparison to local solutions, the need for coding is a disadvantage.

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Documentum vs Alfresco

Compared 19% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs Alfresco

Compared 18% of the time

SharePoint vs Alfresco

Compared 11% of the time

OpenText Extended ECM vs Alfresco

Compared 9% of the time

Nuxeo vs Alfresco

Compared 7% of the time

More Alfresco Competitors

OpenText Extended ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 17% of the time

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

OpenText Documentum vs IBM FileNet

Compared 16% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 8% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco

May 2025

Download Alfresco product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

May 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Overview

The Alfresco Digital Business Platform offers open, secure content services to let you unlock the value from your most important business information. Give users access to their content wherever and however they work with Alfresco’s open, flexible, and highly scalable cloud-native content services platform. Easily integrate and connect with everyday business applications. Find, view, collaborate on, govern, and securely share digital content—and get information to the right person at the right time.

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

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.

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

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet

April 2025

Free Report: Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet

Find out what your peers are saying about Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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