Hyland OnBase vs IBM FileNet comparison

Hyland and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. Hyland is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.7, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. Hyland holds a 6.7% mindshare in ECM, compared to IBM’s 10.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hyland users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Hyland OnBase

Read 13 Hyland OnBase reviews

2,117 Views
1,364 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

Read 101 IBM FileNet reviews

3,501 Views
2,225 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Hyland OnBase

IBM FileNet

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

IBM FileNet and Hyland OnBase both compete in the enterprise content management market, with FileNet taking the upper hand for organizations focused on compliance due to its stability and governance features.

Features: IBM FileNet offers robust scalability, integration with various business units, and comprehensive document management. Its automation capabilities improve business process efficiencies and enterprise search functionality. Hyland OnBase is known for its flexible modular approach, integration abilities, and excellent customization across different business functions.

Room for Improvement: IBM FileNet could improve its integration with other systems and enhance the user-friendly aspects of its Content Navigator. Hyland OnBase may benefit from a more intuitive user interface and improved integration with external applications to enhance overall usability and flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM FileNet is mostly on-premises, suitable for organizations with stringent security needs, with mixed reviews on technical support responsiveness. Hyland OnBase offers both cloud and on-premises deployment, providing versatility and generally favorable support, though some users find it complex without training.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FileNet is seen as costly but justified by its powerful capabilities for large enterprises, with ROI realized over an extended period. Hyland OnBase also has a high initial setup cost but offers modular pricing for cost control and significant productivity gains contributing to a good ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

March 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

Hyland OnBase

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

5th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (19th), Low-Code Development Platforms (14th)

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 April 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Hyland OnBase is 6.7%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM FileNet is 10.5%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

Phemy Lekalakala

Manager of Information Systems at University of the Witwatersrand

Stable content and workflow management solution with a valuable retention module

We use this solution for record management and digitization of records. We also use it for workflows and to build online forms The retention module is one of the most valuable features. Whatever we scan onto the system can be identified and we are notified when the records are due to be disposed.…

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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

"Hyland OnBase is valued for its security, especially for those in the finance domain who require data confidentiality."

"I like the cloud and its integrability."

"OnBase is a remarkable tool. It is a well-done product. Hyland has a lot of experience in building it and looking for new things for clients in terms of functionalities. It has amazing stability, and it can grow horizontally and vertically. It is built for growth. Their technical support is also quite good and available throughout the year."

"The most valuable features are that it's very secure and provides audit trails for our documents."

"The retention module is one of the most valuable features. Whatever we scan onto the system can be identified and we are notified when the records are due to be disposed."

"Its most valuable aspect is its flexibility"

"The solution's most valuable features are integration and flexibility."

"It provided data security features, allowing restrictions on sensitive documents, such as who could view or modify them."

More Hyland OnBase pros

"It is really usable. There is a lot of support for it. You have the online components to trawl through the storage. I have a lot of fun with it."

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

"If we run into problems, which is inevitable (and we run into problems all the time), we get quick responses and good solutions back from the technical support."

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

"One of the most valuable features is FileNet's ability to capture things from the stack, from e-mail, to scanning of Excel and Word. FileNet can also convert many types of files to PDFs very easily."

"The application, in terms of durability, has been able to withstand the usage, given that it was installed in 2003 and it's still working."

"I like the security and also the configuration. It is easy to configure and most of our business use cases have everything just with the configuration itself."

"The ability to manage the content well."

More IBM FileNet pros

Cons

"We need to troubleshoot why our reports didn't get downloaded in a day. There is a workflow feature which powerful but also complicated."

"The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing integration with more solutions."

"We found the size of images to be a restriction, though this may have been due to the API used rather than the Hyland application."

"We are struggling with duplicates and would like to have OCR functionality when using this solution."

"An area for improvement would be the training - getting our people up to speed on how to use it required more training than we expected due to the complexity of the solution."

"I find OnBase's monolithic architecture to be expensive, and adopting microservices could be beneficial."

"Software malfunctioning usually occurs when we receive documents from external sources."

"The dashboards do have some room for improvement as compared to the other vendors which are there in the market."

More Hyland OnBase cons

"I think some of the technical pieces, when implementing it ourselves, were something of a roadblock until we discovered the Concierge. Those are some things they have to work on."

"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."

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

"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 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."

"In terms of functionality, what customers might be looking for is a little more in terms of native-records retention. Records Management is an add-on product. If there were just a little more of that built into the core functionality, that would be helpful."

"One of the things I know is a bit of a challenge for them - because I know that it lives on top of FileNet, so it's not necessarily living on top of a relational database, per se - is that we also are using it as our system of record for our language management and our language definitions. I know that that was a little bit of a challenge, just because of the underlying architecture."

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

More IBM FileNet cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are a number of different types of licenses. There are concurrent licenses, individual licenses and imaging licenses."

"The solution costs around $6,000 per month."

"They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."

"OnBase is reasonably priced."

"The tool's price is high."

"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."

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

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

"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 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."

"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."

"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."

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Hyland OnBase?

The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hyland OnBase?

As we had an enterprise license, we were not limited in terms of user access. We also paid for workflow licenses, which allowed up to 250 concurrent users.

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What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?

We found the size of images to be a restriction, though this may have been due to the API used rather than the Hyland application. The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing in...

See all answers

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

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

SharePoint vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 14% of the time

OpenText Extended ECM vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs Hyland OnBase

Compared 5% of the time

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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

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 7% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

March 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Also Known As

OnBase

No data available

Overview

Hyland OnBase is acclaimed for its robust document management, automating workflows, and improving organizational efficiency across various industries. Praised for its ability to manage records compliantly, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare and finance, the tool also integrates smoothly with other enterprise systems. Users benefit significantly from streamlined processes, reduced manual tasks, and enhanced data accuracy, boosting productivity and customer satisfaction.

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

Honda France Industries, Hill County Texas, Hylant Group, ING Lease France, State of South Carolina, Syracuse University, Swindon College, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, Moen, Odense University Hospital

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

Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

March 2025

Free Report: Hyland OnBase vs. IBM FileNet

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