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Alfresco vs Atlassian Confluence 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Alfresco
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (9th), Document Management Software (4th)
Atlassian Confluence
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (2nd), Enterprise Social Software (2nd), Knowledge Management Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Alfresco and Atlassian Confluence aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Alfresco is designed for Enterprise Content Management and holds a mindshare of 7.7%, down 8.2% compared to last year.
Atlassian Confluence, on the other hand, focuses on Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals), holds 15.1% mindshare, down 19.6% since last year.
Enterprise Content Management
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
 

Featured Reviews

Karthi Keyan - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Rabindra K Maharana - PeerSpot reviewer
Editing features improve document accessibility
There is a holiday calendar, however, I need to install an app or add something to it. The add-on feature is not readily available or well-documented. Guidance on this should be available in a forum. Recently, I used a feature in another tool—perhaps GitHub—where it helped prepare a chart. It involved listing resources, like having fifteen people in the X team, ten in the Y team, and seven in the Z team. It created a bar chart showing these numbers. This chart used AI to offer users the option to create it based on the data. It was then created on a separate page and made available.

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."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the searching elements of the metadata."
"The product allows engineering teams and developers to introduce new things in a seamless and easy way."
"Document repository."
"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."
"Alfresco's technical support is very fast and professional."
"I like the ease of use, sections, and calendar."
"The digitalization of workflow, forms, operations, and business processes is also significant."
"The most valuable features are hyper-linking, the Drawing Tool, and enhanced tables."
"We value the way we can tag documentation to Jira because we can cross-reference a Jira ticket to a Confluence page, and we can also add a Confluence page to a Jira ticket."
"I rate this solution a nine out of ten."
"Confluence is easy to use and integrate with other solutions, including social media platforms."
"With respect to our experiences with Confluence, we haven't had any issues."
"The customization that Confluence offers is one of its most useful features. You can customise it based on the specific project you are working on. It also supports multiple languages."
"It is stable and reliable."
"A simple tool for developers to write and record team decisions explaining the product that they are creating."
 

Cons

"Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities."
"Currently, documents in Alfresco are stored on a file server, which, while good for performance, is a security risk."
"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 think the presentation layer could be improved - currently, it's too complex, and there are too many features cluttered all over the screen."
"Metadata, auto class, disposition log, and legal hold."
"The setup process for Alfresco was complex."
"I would like them to consider document capture functionality."
"The configuration of Alfresco is a big challenge."
"The UI is good but bland. It could be updated a bit to make it more modern and interesting to look at."
"Atlassian Confluence should improve the interface, it needs to be more user-friendly. It is easy to use, but it could be more intuitive."
"The discoverability of documents could be improved."
"Atlassian needs to provide the source editor or a built-in plugin."
"Atlassian Confluence is not really a community-friendly solution."
"I would like to see the text editor upgraded from its current limited abilities."
"The roadmap feature should be made easier to work with and modify. It's not really scalable."
"The user interface is a little bit stale. The file attachments and how they work could be improved. There is also room for improvement when it comes to CDNs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheaper compared to head-to-head competitors."
"If you buy Alfresco through a partner, there is usually a OEM licensing option."
"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."
"There are costs for any upgrade or additional functions."
"When you purchase this solution you get some support."
"For us, it's free to use. We don't pay any licensing."
"Licenses are quite expensive"
"The issues I have with the pricing are in respect to the add-ons."
"We have to pay licensing fees."
"We have a site license for Atlassian Confluence and there are some limitations on external users."
"The price of the on-premises data center version is too expensive."
"Confluence charges an extra fee for analytics."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
9%
Educational Organization
73%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Computer Software Company
3%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Would Alfresco give an organization more benefits in terms of cost, features & security as compared to Sharepoint?
Alfresco scores are high on all features of an ECM solution and tools. Back office processing, rated as 3.36 good. Business Process Application 3.55 Good to excellent. Document Management 4.12...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alfresco?
Pricing is considered mid-range, and there are considerations regarding the cost of licensing.
What needs improvement with Alfresco?
Alfresco could improve workflow digitalization and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities.
What do you like most about Atlassian Confluence?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from its document-controlling feature. In Atlassian Confluence, controlled documents cannot be edited by anyone else.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atlassian Confluence?
With Atlassian, the costs are reasonable. Although higher than before when we used multiple platforms and licenses, having a collaborative platform like this is advantageous. It streamlines license...
What needs improvement with Atlassian Confluence?
There is a holiday calendar, however, I need to install an app or add something to it. The add-on feature is not readily available or well-documented. Guidance on this should be available in a foru...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Confluence
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Over 1,300 companies from 180 different countries. Including EuroStar, Saks Fifth Avenue, NASA Langley Research Center, and KLM.
Facebook, Skype, Microsoft, NASA, Netflix, Adobe, Bonobos, LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, OpenText, IBM and others in Enterprise Content Management. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.