IBM FileNet vs OpenText Extended ECM comparison

IBM and OpenText are both solutions in the Enterprise Content Management category. IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0, while OpenText is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 10.5% mindshare in ECM, compared to OpenText’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

IBM FileNet

Read 101 IBM FileNet reviews

3,501 Views
2,225 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

OpenText Extended ECM

Read 21 OpenText Extended ECM reviews

3,195 Views
2,455 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM FileNet

OpenText Extended ECM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

IBM FileNet and OpenText Extended ECM are competing in the enterprise content management category. OpenText Extended ECM appears to have the upper hand with its superior integration capabilities enhancing its functionality.

Features: IBM FileNet is known for its strong governance and compliance features, providing excellent data security. It also offers robust document management and scalability. OpenText Extended ECM stands out with its seamless integration with business applications, enhanced collaboration, and workflow management. Additionally, it benefits from strong search and indexing capabilities.

Room for Improvement: IBM FileNet could enhance deployment flexibility and more user-friendly interface options. Improving initial deployment costs could also be beneficial. OpenText Extended ECM could improve its information governance features, strengthen compliance capabilities, and optimize document security.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OpenText Extended ECM offers flexible cloud deployment options, which enhance scalability and provide quicker response times in customer service. IBM FileNet, with its traditional on-premises deployment, suits organizations with stringent security needs and offers a reliable support process.

Pricing and ROI: IBM FileNet generally incurs higher initial setup costs due to its on-premises nature but offers long-term ROI through data security and compliance benefits. In contrast, OpenText Extended ECM's cloud-based model provides a more economical entry point, reducing infrastructure costs and delivering faster ROI through improved integration.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM FileNet vs. OpenText Extended ECM Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet vs. OpenText Extended ECM

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

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

OpenText Extended ECM

Ranking in Enterprise Content Management

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of IBM FileNet is 10.5%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Extended ECM is 11.5%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Content Management

Featured Reviews

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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Jaideep MS

Practice Director at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Enables effective document control yet requires better affordability and clarity

I use extended ECM for procurement, sales, engineering documents, and sometimes invoices and accounts payable or receivable The version controls and the business workspace part integrate well with SAP and OpenText, providing granular level control over who accesses the workspace. The seamless…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It is used by large enterprises. It has to be scalable and robust for them to use. We have seen that on multiple projects over the years."

"We shred all our paper and no longer need the cabinet space. We used to have about six to 12 inches of cabinet space per customer, which is now gone."

"Users are able to create their own content, and they can manage their own sets of tasks, to work at their own pace and get their jobs done."

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

"It is very stable and reliable."

"One of our clients, a customer of IBM, rolled out and replaced their existing ECM system with FileNet. Their productivity has increased pretty dramatically."

"It allows for multiple people to access content simultaneously."

"FileNet provides a compact solution for midsized companies."

More IBM FileNet pros

"OpenText Extended ECM's most valuable features include permissions and security models. I also like the tool's ability to add metadata and use it to categorize information."

"The ability to add metadata and use that to categorize information is a valuable feature of OpenText Extended ECM."

"The integration of a document management platform with many other applications, e.g. SAP, SuccessFactors, Salesforce, SharePoint, etc."

"Being able to tag metadata on documents and being able to have different workspaces in there for our documents is valuable. We do loan documents, and different types of documents have different types of retentions. We are able to categorize based on that, and we are able to do tag searching to find what we are looking for."

"We use Core Share to share documents with external auditors or with vendors, and that prevents them from being able to get into the whole system. It is useful."

"We can configure the solution with any industry's products per customer requirements."

"We also have a module on top of the Content Server called WebReports that has been one of the things that helped us facilitate the workflow and give managers good reporting and visibility into where everything is. Being able to use that on top of the Content Server was a big help."

"The engineering document management system is one of the most valuable features."

More OpenText Extended ECM pros

Cons

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

"I would like to have more governance features with more supervisory layers."

"The basic and fundamental point about FileNet is that the interface is very bad. It's just not appealing so people are reluctant to use it."

"Needs a better administration tool."

"A little better control into the ACLs of FileNet and databases."

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

"FileNet needs improvement in pricing as it has become very expensive."

"Programmers have to translate user needs into IBM FileNet, which causes misinterpretations."

More IBM FileNet cons

"OpenText Extended ECM's user interface could be improved."

"A dashboard with information would be nice to see."

"The architecture needs improvement, as it's complex."

"Initially there can be stability issues due to unknown factors such as usage of the system, quantity of documents ingested, load during peak hours."

"The annotation tool needs improvement. In other tools, such as Hyland OnBase, you can easily do annotation. You can easily merge documents. You can easily compare documents, whereas with OpenText, it seems to be a challenge."

"The cost of the product could be improved."

"When it comes to addressing complex use cases, three or four years ago, we ended up purchasing an additional OpenText product called AppWorks because we started to run into some limitations with the workflow that can be done in Extended ECM. It was a little limiting, so we ended up getting another product."

"Pricing could be improved and the stability or the performance needs improvement, which is very important."

More OpenText Extended ECM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"The biggest issue is the cost of the FileNet, because the license cost is very high. If a customer doesn't have good technical guides that are aware of the license calculation, they will pay too much. FileNet's license calculation depends on the processor and number of users. So my advice to a new customer is to be very careful with your calculations before purchasing FileNet."

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

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

More IBM FileNet pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive."

"It is a little more expensive than our previous solution, but because of the fact that it has become a rallying point for different groups to come under, it might end up paying off better in the long run by not having seven siloed solutions. Even though this one solution is a little pricey, it might eliminate other ones."

"The total cost of the product will vary on the capabilities required"

"OpenText Extended ECM's pricing and licensing are aggressive and confusing for the end customer."

"OpenText Extended ECM is an expensive solution."

"The tool's pricing is confusing to the end customer."

"Both Open Text ECM and IBM File share are expensive."

"The pricing is costly. It's costly to integrate with Office 365 and to go back and forth with the sales team."

More OpenText Extended ECM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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

What do you like most about OpenText Content Suite Platform?

We also have a module on top of the Content Server called WebReports that has been one of the things that helped us facilitate the workflow and give managers good reporting and visibility into wher...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenText Content Suite Platform?

The cost is a significant factor that may deter medium-sized businesses from using OpenText extended ECM.

See all answers

What needs improvement with OpenText Content Suite Platform?

The cost of the product could be improved. Currently, there are certain snags in document viewing, and communication from the pre-sales team is not clear. The expectation from the customer versus t...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Alfresco vs IBM FileNet

Compared 7% of the time

IBM ECM vs IBM FileNet

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM FileNet Competitors

OpenText Documentum vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 22% of the time

SharePoint vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 19% of the time

Alfresco vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 7% of the time

OpenText Content Manager vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 7% of the time

Hyland OnBase vs OpenText Extended ECM

Compared 6% of the time

More OpenText Extended ECM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet

March 2025

Download IBM FileNet product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Extended ECM

March 2025

Download OpenText Extended ECM product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpenText Content Suite Platform, OpenText Core Share

Overview

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

OpenText Extended ECM (formerly OpenText Content Suite Platform) is an enterprise content management platform that securely governs the information lifecycle by integrating with leading enterprise applications, such as SAP, Microsoft 365, Salesforce and SAP SuccessFactors. Bringing content and processes together, Extended ECM provides access to information when and where it’s needed, improves decision-making and drives operational effectiveness.

OpenText

Sample Customers

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

ATCO Australia, MSIG Asia, Orica, Salt River Project

Buyer's Guide

IBM FileNet vs. OpenText Extended ECM

March 2025

Free Report: IBM FileNet vs. OpenText Extended ECM

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