Alfresco vs. Magnolia

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
Magnolia
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, Magnolia is presented as a fast way to launch digital experiences. With a mission to help clients move fast and stay flexible and boasting users among brands like Atlassian and The New York Times, Magnolia DXP supports industries ranging from automotive to telecommunications, offering enterprise features and headless agility to help them stay ahead. From humble beginnings in Basel, Magnolia's…N/A
Pricing
AlfrescoMagnolia
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AlfrescoMagnolia
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
AlfrescoMagnolia
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
8.0
6 Ratings
3% below category average
Magnolia
-
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
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
-
Ratings
Magnolia
8.1
66 Ratings
1% above category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.166 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
-
Ratings
Magnolia
8.0
64 Ratings
4% above category average
API00 Ratings8.457 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings7.557 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
-
Ratings
Magnolia
8.0
70 Ratings
5% above category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.561 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings8.461 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings7.966 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings8.968 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings8.559 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings7.569 Ratings
Form generator00 Ratings7.056 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Alfresco
-
Ratings
Magnolia
7.5
65 Ratings
2% above category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings7.560 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings7.159 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings7.954 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings8.058 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings7.148 Ratings
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AlfrescoMagnolia
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MediaValet
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Score 9.8 out of 10
Image Relay
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AlfrescoMagnolia
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(17 ratings)
8.0
(74 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(9 ratings)
8.1
(9 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(2 ratings)
8.0
(69 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(68 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AlfrescoMagnolia
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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Magnolia
Magnolia is very well suited to scenarios where there are multiple end points for content eg. apps, remote devices, websites etc. and with multiple users. Magnolia is very good at working with different "shapes" of content so it's not necessarily all about HTML content for the web which tends to be the default for a number of other products of this nature. This means that it's more logical for people to work with structured data and easier for the applications to sort and manage that content when they receive it.
This works really well when you have multiple team members (often in multiple locations). We've had clients who've had people in twelve European locations with sixteen languages and they can share skills and resources between them but still manage their own content.
Magnolia is less appropriate for SMEs who have fewer digital assets and content. It's not to say that it can't be done but it's more that the budget would not necessarily fit.
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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.
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Magnolia
  • Use of YAML to define content models with code.
  • Versatility of defining actions for custom handlers.
  • Reloading classes when code is modified in a local dev environment is nice. While it doesn't seem to work when changes extend beyond the method body (i.e., adding methods), it remediates the pain of long startup times.
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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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Magnolia
  • As a developer the learning curve is long, you can start developing relatively quickly but getting to know the platform in depth takes time.
  • Having a history of modifications not only at the page level but also at the Content Apps level would be very useful.
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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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Magnolia
We have invested a lot of time and energy into tailoring a solution that works for the company.
We think the new features in v6.2 will help us get to the next level
We also don't have the resources to rebuild a website platform from scratch even if we wanted to
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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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Magnolia
There are a ton of small things that could make this CMS great Off the top of my head... 1) Better navigation between a component and its corresponding node in the jcr ( devs often have to flip between a page and a spot in the jcr even though there could be a button to take you from a page/component in the pages app to its location in the JCR) 2) Why does a content editor need to open the page to edit the page properties? They could just as easily edit the dialog from the tree view if they have many pages to touch, and it would save them time by not having to render the page.
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Performance
Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Magnolia
I gave [it] 7/10 only because of the loading time of pages. Otherwise, I think it deserves an 8. Normally this is not an issue per [se] but considering the rating matrix and as I have been asked to honestly write about it. Yes, the page loading times could be improved.
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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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Magnolia
You always get an answer based on your SLA. But you always get a solution. That's the successfactor in this case. To often i was frustrated about people in a company without even a clue what there product is about or how to solve a problem. Magnolia's Support Team does a very good job and try to help you in most of the cases
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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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Magnolia
No answers on this topic
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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Magnolia
Prior to using Magnolia as an enterprise CMS solution, different teams leveraged different website platforms including WordPress, Weebly, and others. While these other platforms may be slightly more user friendly to the content editor, they don't offer nearly the same amount of customization and digital best practices out of the box that are customizable by web development teams like Magnolia does. The other solutions may work better for a quicker/simpler web implementation without technical resources but don't have the depth and breadth of capability and functionality that Magnolia has and fall flat.
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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
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Magnolia
  • Magnolia has brought about positive impacts. For instance, we need not outsource web design and marketing services because thanks to this software, we can handle most work inhouse
  • The software is affordable with no compromises on capabilities and therefore it is gives us value for money.
  • The templates makes the whole process easy
Read full review
ScreenShots

Alfresco Screenshots

Screenshot of Alfresco Control CenterScreenshot of Alfresco

Magnolia Screenshots

Screenshot of the customer experience: Brings together content and audiovisual digital assets to form more compelling digital experiences.Screenshot of the Magnolia App Launcher, used to switch between workspaces and manage pagesScreenshot of Magnolia's native analytics integration framework, used to take advantage of data directly in the authoring UI, coupled to content.Screenshot of global search that brings relevant content, no matter where it resides.Screenshot of customizing the ecommerce experience.