Confluence vs M-Files

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Our analysts compared Confluence vs M-Files based on data from our 400+ point analysis of CMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

M-Files Software Tool

Product Basics

Confluence is a shared workspace that helps businesses prepare, organize, collaborate and review project documents. Organizations can access information, resources and collaborate on marketing campaigns and product launches through its open modules. It can be deployed on-premise and hosted on the cloud.

It offers a centralized repository to access content according to project requirements. Employees can publish and access company data in a central location. Administrators can restrict access to confidential information and allow collaboration within closed groups. It lets employees prepare research reports, meeting notes and product requirements and managers edit and share feedback in documents. Businesses can delegate tasks to every employee and monitor changes.
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M-Files is a document management software that helps businesses organize, manage, and track their documents. It provides a centralized repository for all documents, making them easily accessible to authorized users. M-Files is most suited for businesses that need to improve their document management processes and increase collaboration among employees.

Some of the key benefits of using M-Files include improved document organization, increased productivity, enhanced security, and better compliance. Popular features of M-Files include its intuitive user interface, powerful search capabilities, and integration with other business applications. Compared to similar products, M-Files is known for its ease of use, flexibility, and scalability.

M-Files offers a range of pricing options to suit different business needs. The price range typically varies depending on the number of users, the level of support required, and the specific features needed. Payment is typically made on an annual or monthly basis.

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$4.89/User, Monthly
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$20/User. Monthly
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Intuitive Structure: Organize everything in pages and spaces. Edit, create and discuss work in pages. Store team, individual employee and project pages in different spaces. 
  • Knowledge Base: Find and organize pages according to labels, advanced search and intuitive page hierarchy. Choose from over 75 customizable templates for different teams, including strategy, reports and planning. Integrate with Jira for development work or plans to update project roadmaps dynamically. 
  • Edit and Review Documents: Edit documents with the team in real time while publishing updates that highlight modifications. Add likes, comments and visual elements like GIFs, emojis and images. Take control of work progress by alerting team members when they are tagged or assigned tasks. 
  • Information Sharing: Provide staff open access to information while protecting sensitive content with permission restrictions. Stay updated with work in progress, recently accessed spaces and popular feeds and activity on personal homepages. Include everyone by sharing the latest news and announcements to ensure transparency.  
  • Integrations: Seamlessly integrate across the Atlassian suite to complete workflows and work from anywhere. Deliver projects faster by connecting project documentation with Jira. Use the Jira service desk to provide smart recommendations and resources. Organize and segment project tasks and subtasks by integrating with Trello. 
  • Quicker Work Completion: Prepare file lists, meeting notes, product requirements, project requirements and more faster with a rich content editor. Co-edit documents, research reports and other content with a track changes option for reviews. 
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  • Centralized Document Repository: M-Files consolidates all your documents and information into a single, secure location, eliminating the need for multiple storage systems and reducing the risk of data loss.
  • Improved Collaboration: M-Files enables seamless collaboration by allowing multiple users to access and edit documents simultaneously, ensuring everyone is working on the most up-to-date version.
  • Enhanced Security: M-Files provides robust security measures to protect your sensitive data, including access control, encryption, and audit trails, ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
  • Increased Productivity: M-Files streamlines document management processes, reducing the time spent searching for and retrieving information, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks.
  • Improved Decision-Making: M-Files provides a comprehensive view of your documents and information, enabling you to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date data.
  • Reduced Costs: M-Files eliminates the need for physical storage, reduces IT maintenance costs, and improves efficiency, resulting in significant cost savings.
  • Enhanced Compliance: M-Files helps organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements by providing a centralized repository for all documents, ensuring easy access to audit trails and supporting e-discovery processes.
  • Scalability and Flexibility: M-Files is highly scalable, allowing you to manage large volumes of documents and adapt to changing business needs, ensuring a future-proof solution.
  • Improved Customer Service: M-Files provides a central repository for customer-related documents, enabling quick and efficient access to information, resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction.
  • Streamlined Business Processes: M-Files integrates with other business systems, such as ERP and CRM, automating document-related tasks and streamlining business processes.
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  • Mobile Apps: Stay connected with teams and get updates on ongoing projects on-the-go using native mobile apps. Use any internet-connected device to keep in touch with important updates and work progress. 
  • Collaboration: Manage information access using permission settings at a granular level and let staff contribute to the knowledge base. Use version tracking to track individual contributions and get notified when updates are made. Keep an accurate and comprehensive knowledge base by maintaining an efficient feedback loop for collaborators. Use employee feedback, threads and comments into collective knowledge for better decision-making. 
  • Project Management: Store all tasks in a centralized space that is accessible to everyone. Organize all information scattered across emails, messages and apps in one single place that provides crucial project information like meeting notes, files, policies, people and more. Users can discuss, create and organize tasks with coworkers and teammates. Create product requirements and knowledge base and let every team member contribute through feedback or inline comments. 
  • Business Analytics: Track the most liked, viewed or accessed online pages via plugins or APIs to understand how an organization consumes knowledge. Get analytics-driven insights for smart decision making and transform business practices. 
  • Scalability: Access enterprise-grade solutions to scale across the entire organization and grow with business needs. Get enhanced security and administration with automated user provisioning and two-step verification enforced by SAML SSO. Protect data using Privacy Shield and GDPR compliant encryption in transit. Get unlimited storage, advanced admin controls, premium support and 99% uptime. 
  • Customizations: Use hundreds of applications in the Atlassian Marketplace to customize as per organization’s requirements. Access apps to personalize themes, diagrams, organization charts and workflows. 
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  • Content Management: Access content like documents, emails, order numbers, client information and project details even when stored in different systems. Reduce the risk of file duplication or simultaneous file revision with greater content visibility and intelligent collaboration tools. 
  • Project Management: Efficiently manage project estimates, schedules, reports and deliverables stored in different folders and systems. Files are automatically updated to the latest versions, ensuring everyone is on the same page. 
  • Document Management: Sort documents by type and track file activity. Allow employees to search for documents from any device, regardless of the location. 
  • Workflow Automation: Set systems to automatically follow company procedures. Search and find information from any stage of work to shorten audit cycles. 
  • Content Collaboration: Use metadata and AI to locate documents and share them internally and externally through secure file-sharing. Invite clients to collaborate on relevant files from anywhere. Provide social and chat features via Hubshare. Approve, co-author or sign updated versions of files with clients. 
  • Compliance Enforcement: Ensure all employees, offices and work projects conform to organizational policies and practices. Automate data retention across files and teams. Provide role-based access to users to avoid data leakage. 
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Product Ranking

#6

among all
CMS Software

#78

among all
CMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

72
85
17
75
90
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83
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Collaboration
Integrations and Extensibility
Document Management
Platform Capabilities
Integrations and Extensibility
Content Capture
Mobile Capabilities

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Confluence
M-Files
+ Add Product + Add Product
AI-Based Capabilities Collaboration Compliances Content Capture Document Management Document Protection Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reports And Analytics 17 90 50 59 84 58 79 76 62 75 40 83 90 96 58 85 95 72 0 25 50 75 100
17%
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83%
67%
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33%
80%
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50%
83%
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67%
78%
11%
11%
71%
7%
22%
96%
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17%
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83%
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67%
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86%
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

75%
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88%
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12%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 4871 reviews
Great User Sentiment 848 reviews
83%
of users recommend this product

Confluence has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 4871 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

88%
of users recommend this product

M-Files has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 848 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.3 (146)
4.1 (3769)
4.3 (184)
4.4 (1102)
4.6 (371)
n/a
4.1 (147)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Confluence and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Collaboration.

Collaboration Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Centralized Knowledge Base: Information is easily searchable and accessible in one location, reducing time spent looking for project details and documents.
Collaboration Features: Real-time editing and commenting on project plans and documents promotes teamwork and keeps everyone on the same page.
Customization: The platform can be tailored to specific project needs and workflows, ensuring it's a good fit for various teams and projects.
Integrations: Confluence integrates with other popular project management tools, creating a seamless workflow and reducing the need to switch between multiple applications.
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Intuitive Interface: Users appreciate M-Files' user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to navigate, find documents, and manage permissions.
Centralized Document Repository: M-Files consolidates documents from various sources into a single, organized repository, providing a central hub for document management.
Metadata-Driven Organization: M-Files allows users to define custom metadata fields, enabling them to categorize and organize documents based on specific criteria, enhancing searchability and retrieval.
Version Control and Collaboration: M-Files' version control system ensures that users always have access to the latest document versions, while its collaboration features facilitate seamless document sharing and editing.
Integration with Business Applications: M-Files integrates with popular business applications such as Microsoft Office, Outlook, and SharePoint, streamlining document management workflows.
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Clunky Interface: The user interface can feel outdated and cumbersome, making navigation and content creation less intuitive than in other platforms with more modern designs.
Limited Project Management: Confluence lacks native features for robust project management, such as Gantt charts or Kanban boards, often requiring integrations or workarounds to achieve essential project tracking functionalities.
Search Challenges: Finding specific content within Confluence can be difficult due to limitations in the search functionality, especially in instances with a large volume of documents or an inconsistent organizational structure.
Formatting Complexities: Achieving desired formatting can be a frustrating experience, often involving trial and error or the need to delve into wiki markup language, which presents a steeper learning curve for users accustomed to more user-friendly editors.
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Steep Learning Curve: M-Files' complex interface and feature-rich environment can be overwhelming for users, especially those new to document management systems.
Limited Customization: While M-Files offers some customization options, users have reported that it falls short in meeting specific business requirements and workflows.
Performance Issues: Some users have experienced performance issues, such as slow loading times and occasional crashes, particularly when working with large document sets.
Integration Challenges: Integrating M-Files with other business applications can be complex and time-consuming, requiring significant technical expertise.
Costly Implementation: M-Files' pricing model and implementation costs can be a deterrent for organizations with limited budgets.
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Confluence, a collaboration and knowledge base software by Atlassian, has garnered a mixed bag of user reviews over the past year. While many appreciate its user-friendly interface and robust features for document creation, version control, and task management, others point out its limitations. Some users find the pricing structure to be a bit steep, especially for smaller teams or organizations. Additionally, while Confluence integrates well with other Atlassian products like Jira, it may lack seamless integration with certain third-party systems, which can be a dealbreaker for some. Performance issues, particularly with larger instances or complex workflows, have also been reported. Despite these drawbacks, Confluence shines in its ability to centralize information and foster collaboration. Its wiki-style platform allows teams to easily create, share, and organize documents, meeting notes, and project plans, making it a valuable tool for knowledge management and project transparency. The ability to track changes, comment on pages, and mention teammates ensures everyone stays on the same page, literally and figuratively. Confluence is best suited for teams and organizations that prioritize collaboration and knowledge sharing. Its flexibility and scalability make it a good fit for a wide range of industries and team sizes, from software development to marketing to HR. However, teams with tight budgets or those heavily reliant on integrations with non-Atlassian tools may want to explore alternative solutions. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not Confluence is the right fit depends on the specific needs and priorities of each team.

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M-Files has received positive user reviews over the past year, with many praising its user-friendly interface, robust search capabilities, and seamless integration with other applications. Users have also highlighted its ability to manage large volumes of documents efficiently, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Compared to similar products, M-Files stands out for its metadata-driven approach, which allows users to organize and retrieve documents based on their content rather than their location. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses that need to quickly access specific information from a large document repository. Additionally, M-Files' ability to automate document workflows and its support for mobile devices make it a versatile solution for businesses with complex document management needs. Overall, M-Files is a highly recommended document management software for businesses that prioritize ease of use, robust search capabilities, and seamless integration with other applications. Its metadata-driven approach and automation features make it an ideal choice for businesses that need to manage large volumes of documents efficiently and effectively.

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