Alfresco vs IBM FileNet comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #7 with an average rating of 6.8, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9. Hyland holds a 8.8% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 8.2% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Alfresco

Read 14 Alfresco reviews

3,139 Views
2,543 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 103 IBM FileNet reviews

3,640 Views
3,349 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Alfresco

IBM FileNet

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet

September 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

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Document Management Software (1st)

IBM FileNet

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Alfresco is 8.8%, up from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 8.2%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM FileNet	8.2%
Alfresco	8.8%
Other	83.0%

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan

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

Streamlining document management with enhanced digitalization features needed

We used Alfresco as a document management system for automating and digitizing manual forms. Those were the main use cases The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes has improved our organization. The most valuable features of Alfresco include its integration with…

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ARTHUR BRUNO

Consultor at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Has provided robust content management but requires simplification in configuration and usability

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 primarily use it to store content. We are now trying to use all of the functionalities of IBM FileNet, but we have not yet utilized the full capacity of the system. We are trying to reduce redundancy with IBM FileNet by enhancing our business rules. However, we still have significant redundancy. IBM FileNet can help us reduce redundancy, but we need to understand the tool and use all the functionalities to accomplish this. Ease of use with IBM FileNet is a disadvantage of this tool. It is complex and hard to use. When we try to set up IBM FileNet, we have many questions. We do not understand what we need to do in IBM FileNet. There are many configurations we must make but do not know how to implement. While IBM FileNet is very reliable, it is very difficult to set up. When reading the documentation about IBM FileNet, it appears to be very reliable and secure, but setting up configurations, access rules, authorization, and authentication seems to be very challenging.

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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

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

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

"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."

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

"You can meet your users' expected features without having Alfresco's involvement."

"Document repository."

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

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

More Alfresco pros

"The key way that this product has improved the way that that our business functions is by its stability. Its ability to remain up despite other pressures, its consistency, and lack of downtime are really the greatest things that it brings."

"FileNet has the capabilities to meet compliance and regulatory requirements. It is very secure."

"It is a faster, robust solution. The platform compatibility is very good."

"The document collaboration is very good. There is something called Pink Note where departments can collaborate within the document. It has a built-in viewer to see any type of document."

"The usability is really good. Our business users are pleased with it. They seem to get what they are looking for, and it's very efficient."

"The most critical benefit has been ease of use. It speeds along our development helping us go to market a lot sooner."

"The most valuable feature for me is the possibility to share and to collaborate, the possibility to connect FileNet with many other IBM products as well. It helps avoid the possibility of creating "island applications." We have an ecosystem where everything can be interconnected."

"IBM FileNet was more scalable."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."

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

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

"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."

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

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

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

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

More Alfresco cons

"IBM does not do very good marketing for FileNet."

"IBM doesn't offer new technologies every year, they offer new technologies after five years, for each release of the product."

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

"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."

"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."

"I would love it if single sign-on was a lot easier to set up. That's the most difficult part of it."

"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 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."

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."

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	74

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, the challenge is the general availability to users. Initially, they had poor documentation, but over the years, their documentation has highly improved. Initially, we had challenges find...

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What is your primary use case for Alfresco?

This is mainly for unstructured document management systems with workflow and data classification.

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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...

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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; we have to use the IBM FileNet native API, which is quite outdated.

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs Alfresco

Compared 14% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs Alfresco

Compared 10% of the time

SharePoint vs Alfresco

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs Alfresco

Compared 9% of the time

Nuxeo vs Alfresco

Compared 7% of the time

More Alfresco Competitors

SharePoint vs IBM FileNet

Compared 17% of the time

OpenText Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 15% of the time

OpenText Documentum Content Management vs IBM FileNet

Compared 11% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs IBM FileNet

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alfresco

September 2025

Download Alfresco product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

September 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

September 2025

Free Report: Alfresco vs. IBM FileNet

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

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