Sre Engineering And Architecture at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 25, 2026
Alfresco could be improved in terms of maintenance and could have a simpler architecture regarding search functionality. If I change the metadata, I have to perform re-indexing of all the content from scratch, which is cumbersome.
The areas where Alfresco can be improved include perhaps the interface, which is not very modern, as you can find other solutions with a more attractive design. The mobile app is quite old and could be modernized.
Manager, Major Accounts at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 23, 2026
Alfresco can be improved as the roadmap went a little stagnant for the past few years, so there had not been any new development, and coming out with a new roadmap with new features and executing and delivering on those new features would be an improvement. Additional needed improvements include the ability to use a NoSQL database versus relying on a relational database, which has capped performance at 50 million documents, so being able to leverage something such as MongoDB, a NoSQL database as part of the architecture would be a big improvement to enable high volume in the hundreds of millions of documents, and claims processing scenarios to be more efficient and performant.
Agile Product Owner - CMS at a tech consulting company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 23, 2026
Alfresco can be improved by having a more intuitive interface and greater ability to be customized without needing a developer, making it a more user-friendly out-of-the-box CMS. There is always a learning curve for users, and more helpful documentation on how to find things for people who are not accustomed to working in a CMS platform would be beneficial.
One area where Alfresco can be improved is the ability to scan directly using Alfresco. Additionally, I would appreciate improvements especially when it comes to the ability to integrate with social network platforms such as uploading and sharing to Facebook or Instagram. The user interface should also be more polished to allow easy customization and navigation for new users.
Alfresco can be improved as REST calls should be improved in terms of configuration such as scheduling the API call. I feel the documentation needs a lot of improvement, especially for Activiti microservice adoption, which is sometimes frustrating or slows me down. One improvement I see for Alfresco is that an option to invoke legacy SOAP APIs should be added.
Technical Project Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 9, 2025
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 finding the extension points and understanding how to extend the system. The workflow was one of the hurdles we had. At that time, it was not that beautiful or feature-rich. Even today, workflow consists of basic workflows. If you want to extend, you have to implement your own customizations. They are using it extensively with features such as records management, CMIS, Share UI, and Web Scripts. All these features are being used extensively. Governance of this system is required. If you don't have proper governance, things can go wrong. If you don't have a proper policy of how documents should be maintained, issues can arise. You have to make rules, such as one folder should not have more than 5,000 subfolders or children. This was advised by Alfresco, but we did not have that advice, so we had challenges when everything was dumped into single folders. It slows down the systems and sometimes becomes unusable. Whoever is going to use it should have that governance system in place.
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 document security if someone breaches the server. It would be beneficial if Alfresco offers different options for document storage, such as databases or cloud solutions. Also, it would be helpful if Alfresco's viewer could be easily embedded in other systems, as its integration is currently complex.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
Oct 1, 2024
The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge. The index fields and their values are not intuitive, making it difficult to find documents. You often need a cross-reference document to navigate categories for specific items like check images.
Head Of Information Technology at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
May 3, 2022
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.
Alfresco offers integration with both cloud and on-premises systems, emphasizing document management, collaboration, and high customization potential. Key attributes include its open-source nature and strong API support, driving efficient content sharing and workflow management.Alfresco stands out as a robust platform for managing content services, records, and business processes. It enables organizations to implement central repositories for document approval, integrating effectively with...
Alfresco could be improved in terms of maintenance and could have a simpler architecture regarding search functionality. If I change the metadata, I have to perform re-indexing of all the content from scratch, which is cumbersome.
The areas where Alfresco can be improved include perhaps the interface, which is not very modern, as you can find other solutions with a more attractive design. The mobile app is quite old and could be modernized.
Alfresco can be improved as the roadmap went a little stagnant for the past few years, so there had not been any new development, and coming out with a new roadmap with new features and executing and delivering on those new features would be an improvement. Additional needed improvements include the ability to use a NoSQL database versus relying on a relational database, which has capped performance at 50 million documents, so being able to leverage something such as MongoDB, a NoSQL database as part of the architecture would be a big improvement to enable high volume in the hundreds of millions of documents, and claims processing scenarios to be more efficient and performant.
Alfresco can be improved by having a more intuitive interface and greater ability to be customized without needing a developer, making it a more user-friendly out-of-the-box CMS. There is always a learning curve for users, and more helpful documentation on how to find things for people who are not accustomed to working in a CMS platform would be beneficial.
One area where Alfresco can be improved is the ability to scan directly using Alfresco. Additionally, I would appreciate improvements especially when it comes to the ability to integrate with social network platforms such as uploading and sharing to Facebook or Instagram. The user interface should also be more polished to allow easy customization and navigation for new users.
Alfresco can be improved as REST calls should be improved in terms of configuration such as scheduling the API call. I feel the documentation needs a lot of improvement, especially for Activiti microservice adoption, which is sometimes frustrating or slows me down. One improvement I see for Alfresco is that an option to invoke legacy SOAP APIs should be added.
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 finding the extension points and understanding how to extend the system. The workflow was one of the hurdles we had. At that time, it was not that beautiful or feature-rich. Even today, workflow consists of basic workflows. If you want to extend, you have to implement your own customizations. They are using it extensively with features such as records management, CMIS, Share UI, and Web Scripts. All these features are being used extensively. Governance of this system is required. If you don't have proper governance, things can go wrong. If you don't have a proper policy of how documents should be maintained, issues can arise. You have to make rules, such as one folder should not have more than 5,000 subfolders or children. This was advised by Alfresco, but we did not have that advice, so we had challenges when everything was dumped into single folders. It slows down the systems and sometimes becomes unusable. Whoever is going to use it should have that governance system in place.
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 document security if someone breaches the server. It would be beneficial if Alfresco offers different options for document storage, such as databases or cloud solutions. Also, it would be helpful if Alfresco's viewer could be easily embedded in other systems, as its integration is currently complex.
Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities.
The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge. The index fields and their values are not intuitive, making it difficult to find documents. You often need a cross-reference document to navigate categories for specific items like check images.
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.