Alfresco vs. M‑Files

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Alfresco
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
The Alfresco platform, from Hyland, delivers comprehensive cloud-native content services. It is used to intelligently activate processes and content to accelerate the flow of business.N/A
M‑Files
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
M-Files is a platform for knowledge work automation, that helps knowledge workers to find information faster. M-Files features a metadata-driven architecture, embedded workflow engine, and advanced artificial intelligence. This helps customers to eliminate information chaos, improve process efficiency, and automate security and compliance. The vendor's value proposition: EASE OF USE: M-Files increases productivity and improves work quality by making…N/A
Pricing
AlfrescoM‑Files
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AlfrescoM‑Files
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AlfrescoM‑Files
Considered Both Products
Alfresco

No answer on this topic

M‑Files
Chose M‑Files
M‑Files just came first. Looks like DocuWare is a better tool for collaboration and M-files is a better tool for archiving, but at the end the better tool is the one that can be confidently used
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AlfrescoM‑Files
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
8.0
6 Ratings
3% below category average
M‑Files
-
Ratings
Content capture & imaging3.14 Ratings00 Ratings
File sync, storage & archiving9.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Document management10.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Records management8.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Content search & retrieval10.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise content collaboration8.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Content publishing & creation8.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Security, risk management & information governance9.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract lifecycle management8.95 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated workflows9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Artificial intelligence8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support3.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AlfrescoM‑Files
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.8 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.8 out of 10
Kofax Capture
Kofax Capture
Score 6.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
AlfrescoM‑Files
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(17 ratings)
9.8
(68 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(9 ratings)
9.9
(15 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(2 ratings)
8.1
(12 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(8 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
AlfrescoM‑Files
Likelihood to Recommend
Hyland Software
Easy integration with the external APIs Workflows can be invoked via REST call Wonderful swagger documentation for process REST APIs REST, MULE, CAMEL, Google Drive, and Box features are available with Alfresco Process Services The micro-service version deployment should be well documented and needs improvement
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M‑Files
M‑Files is great for companies with multiple locations. Drive letters can become cumbersome to use and collaborate with colleagues and M‑Files fills that gap. The check out/check in system is great and allows only one editor at a time. This can be good and bad depending on the situation.
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Pros
Hyland Software
  • Basic workflows are easy enough for casual users to set up and utilize.
  • Cloud sync capability provides a great way to share documents with third parties and to use as a backup system for critical documents.
  • Alfresco mobile app makes it easy for those on the road to access, approve and share documents.
  • Folder rules are easy to set up and make assignment of metadata easier to automate.
Read full review
M‑Files
  • Reliable: Our M-Files system has only gone down one time (for a very short period of time) at the beginning of the two years that we have been with M-Files. Our previous vendor's system had so many downtimes that our IT Department had to assign an associate to work with me for sending out notifications to associates etc. With our last vendor, one day I came to work and only 60 of the 260 consent for surgery forms were available to our end users although they were visible to me as the Administrator but weren't showing up for the end-users!
  • Our M-Files system was created for us. It was created by working with developers to only have on our system what we required, and I must say, there were so many extra features that M-Files offered in our program that weren't available with our previous vendor. As mentioned previously, we can have two policies or forms visible to the end-user so one can be listed as "draft" or "training only" so our end users can read and use for training as we get ready to roll out a new medical record system. I can also preload policies and leave them in the working stage until they are approved and go back and publish them the day they are approved. The list goes on with so many great features.
  • Our end users would say the greatest asset of this product is the search function. It's amazing how fast it is. There are many ways to search out a form or policy which makes it a true asset for our associates.
Read full review
Cons
Hyland Software
  • Alfresco Process Services and Alfresco Application Development Framework integration makes for best functionality/application of ECM.
  • Use case alignment - Marketing content and documentation of specific business requirements and user stories being available as reference material/documentation.
  • Integration with multiple silos for content.
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M‑Files
  • If you are new to Electronic Document Management, this can be a really difficult product to roll out. Since it is infinitely versatile, there are infinite ways to configure it wrong. I highly recommend the M-Files admin training offered by M-Files as it will set you in the right direction.
  • Many options are paid add-ons. So while you are not paying for what you don't need, many great features will come at a cost.
  • If you don't have a technical person on staff, this will be tricky to maintain. Not impossible. If your processes do not change, once setup it will be fine.
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Likelihood to Renew
Hyland Software
As per the current market and the line of products that are available for content and document management system, Alfresco is a very good option compared to other systems in terms of features and cost. Plus the community support is great. Also since the product is open source, it can be extended or understood in a better way.
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M‑Files
M-files meets our almost all needs, we dont have other option to replace m-files. it saves lots, like Hardware because of Vault Feature means we can create many vaults (mini-servers) in m-files in other solutions we need more hardware for more installations.
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Usability
Hyland Software
Alfresco Content Services' UI has never been its strength from the beginning. Therefore, rating it from a usability standpoint, I will not rank it high. However, Alfresco Content Services can easily be integrated with any application and leveraged as a backend CMS or DM system. With the new Angular-based UI approach, it's very much possible to create custom UI on top of it as required.
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M‑Files
It is a powerful system that can locate content fast and effectively. The system takes quite some time to setup initially. It can be hard for M-Files support to know how businesses operate and how they want to use the system in a way that works for them. The customization makes it great for companies to cater to their own needs. Once the system is set up in a way that makes sense for the business, the user experience is positive. There is room for improvement in the notifications, workflow, and support areas.
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Reliability and Availability
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
M‑Files
always there.
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Performance
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
M‑Files
I noticed some lagging with the integration with Microsoft Office but not so much that I would not use it. It has gotten better with updates. to be fair the issues were when Office 2013 first came out.
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Support Rating
Hyland Software
I am not big fan of Alfresco Content Services' support; it works on its own speed and sometimes it becomes challenging to achieve business needs. However, I appreciate regular delivery of security patches and updates
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M‑Files
Usually when I need help from them I got support and it was very good and focused to solve my problem. I didn't have so many problems, but when used it worked. I just would like to have a support in my native language, but I can understand that sometimes is hard for the companies.
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In-Person Training
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
M‑Files
We had online conference call training with a recording to use later as needed
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Online Training
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
M‑Files
They answer all questions and record your training for later use.
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Implementation Rating
Hyland Software
Process was relatively smooth and overall, downtime minimal. MSI was very responsive to our needs and made the transition easier than it otherwise might have been.
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M‑Files
The key insight is that the most important thing is to have a open mind. The application is easy to use, but if you have a company with different views and it is not aligned could be a huge problem. So the company transformation is required together with the application. Ensure to use as much as possible the capabilities of the application helps to have best ROI.
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Alternatives Considered
Hyland Software
All software has some pros and some cons. Alfresco has some good pluses, and suits our environment very well. It fit perfectly in the place that we are working on. That is why we decided to go with this software. Overall, the kind of content management that needs to be done in an organization is what would determine which software to use.
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M‑Files
The customization ability seemed to be a level above and easy to navigate and available options are constantly being reinvented. We have used OnBase for years and now desire to move away from this option for a number of reasons.
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Scalability
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
M‑Files
do so much more than we need but has all the stuff we do need.
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Return on Investment
Hyland Software
  • Instant document lookup - No paper files to mail which saves in all areas of postage, truck delivery, physical storage warehouse space, printing, etc
  • No longer losing important documents - Previously with paper files things would go missing and those could be costly reports/assessments.
  • Ability to secure documents and provide access to only those who should be allowed to see that content
Read full review
M‑Files
  • M-Files allows us to track important milestones and expiration dates. We are now able to easily track revisions to contracts with community partners and record comments and history in one place.
  • We are able to track all contracts that come through our District and to create monthly reports to present to our Board.
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ScreenShots

Alfresco Screenshots

Screenshot of Alfresco Control CenterScreenshot of Alfresco

M‑Files Screenshots

Screenshot of M-Files - SearchScreenshot of M-Files - Profile openScreenshot of M-Files - PermissionsScreenshot of M-Files - Process mapsScreenshot of M-Files - Pinned items