Best enterprise content management software of 2026

1. Box Intelligent Content Management

Box offers cloud-native content services that help many organizations build digital workplaces. Box Intelligent Content Management provides a central content hub, along with related services and apps, for organizing, securing and sharing business content across extended enterprises. The company maintains content hubs across multiple data centers worldwide, allowing customers to meet data sovereignty requirements by choosing where to store content. Content-related metadata, however, remains in U.S. data centers.

As a digital workplace, Box provides connectivity to Microsoft 365, email attachment support for Outlook and Gmail and native support for personal productivity apps within Google Workspace, Docs, Sheets and Slides. In addition, Box embeds editors and viewers for many other content types, stored in its cloud-powered repository, including rich media files, medical images, AutoCAD files and other 3D renderings.

Architected for securing large-scale operations, Box Intelligent Content Management supports multiple approaches to cloud content management, content sharing and team collaboration. In addition to library services and hierarchical access controls of a centralized ECM repository, the platform features an embedded enterprise search engine and extensive metadata management tools for semi- and fully automatic content tagging. In addition to its rules-based tagging capabilities, Box offers AI-powered inferencing through partnerships with multiple large language model (LLM) vendors.

With its cloud content management expertise, Box Intelligent Content Management automatically tracks relationships between content and users, analyzes patterns, infers connections and personalizes delivery. These content services can share individual files securely with external parties across an extended enterprise.

Box Platform, the developer-oriented services within Box, supports APIs that connect to external AI and machine learning (ML) engines to interpret and categorize content in different business contexts. This platform includes SDKs and UI elements together with a Developer Console. It supports business process automation by integrating related third-party web services through RESTful APIs. Moreover, the company continues to invest in low-code/no-code tools for content-centric application development, including Box Automate, an AI-agent-based workflow automation tool.

Within its content hub, Box Intelligent Content Management features an integrated workflow product, Box Relay, which automates and standardizes document workflows within the repository. The company adds e-signature capabilities to content workflows through Box Sign.

Box Intelligent Content Management offers cloud-powered capabilities for content security and governance. The content hub supports multiple security, privacy, compliance and data protection standards through Box Shield. Box relies increasingly on AI to monitor content flows within the repository and detect threats. It has a malware deep scan capability to combat ransomware and continually enhances its content security capabilities to address new vulnerabilities.

2. Google Drive

Google Drive, the content repository for Google Workspace, stores documents and other types of files within the Google ecosystem. It enables collaboration and file sharing among business teams. Drive runs on the Google Cloud infrastructure and is designed to support a digital-only enterprise -- one that values speed and agility, has minimal regulatory requirements for content security and does not need on-premises or location-based storage.

As a core component of Workspace, Drive integrates with Google's personal productivity suite -- Docs, Sheets and Slides. Drive has co-editing, review and commenting features within these apps to facilitate basic workflows, such as document reviews and approvals. Drive also uploads and manages files from other productivity tools, including Microsoft 365, Adobe Acrobat and many rich media applications.

Drive categorizes files using user-defined labels; it lacks schema enforcement, such as checking for client ID numbers in uploaded files. Drive uses Google Search for retrieval and knowledge management, such as finding documents by dates, keywords and related terms.

Google continues to update Drive's capabilities for automating business insights through Google Gemini, its rapidly evolving AI engine. Gemini combines the company's LLM with advanced search and knowledge graph capabilities. With Gemini, Drive can summarize documents, compare and analyze multiple files and perform question-and-answer tasks. Additionally, content stored in Drive can be used for automated, agentic processes.

Drive relies on capabilities within Google Cloud for content security. Using Google Vault, Drive can retain files for predefined time periods -- such as delete after three years -- but does not offer conditional, rules-based capabilities for records management or legal holds.

3. Hyland Content Innovation Cloud

Hyland Content Innovation Cloud supports scalable, secure operational activities across large organizations, particularly in healthcare, government, higher education, banking and insurance. Content Innovation Cloud federates access to Hyland's multiple ECM platforms -- Alfresco, OnBase and Nuxeo -- by adding cloud-powered services for collaboration, agentic automation and content intelligence.

• Alfresco provides a content services platform for managing business documents within an enterprise. Maintained as an open source project, Alfresco includes modules for core ECM functions, such as library services, document lifecycle management, file sharing, mobile file sync and share, and records management. Access controls define user and group permissions to manage document access.
  
  Alfresco combines open source modules with support services, enabling technology partners to build content-centric applications. Application developers can inspect and modify core functions. Alfresco provides simplified tools, including templates and scripts, for administrators and nontechnical users to create and maintain predefined workflows.
  
  
• OnBase manages documents and other content related to formal business operations through a central repository that can be deployed either on-premises or in the cloud. OnBase offers optical character recognition, imaging and archiving features. It supports deep integration with various enterprise applications, including SAP and AutoCAD.
  
  OnBase connects documents stored within its repository to transactions in line-of-business applications, such as ERP, accounting and HR systems. It supports back-office processing and case management. By managing content in a shared repository, OnBase provides the foundation for Hyland RPA -- the company's robotic process automation tool that automates high-volume, repetitive tasks such as reconciling documents for insurance claims processing. 

• Nuxeo manages both text snippets and non-text digital assets through a unified, scalable content repository that can run on-premises or in the cloud. Companies -- especially those in consumer-packaged goods, retail and media/entertainment industries -- can use this repository to digitize key parts of their product design processes. Nuxeo manages the flow of product-related content, such as images, schematics, data sheets and 3D renderings of physical objects, through digital supply chains. It integrates with Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud for personal productivity and content lifecycle management.
  
  Nuxeo includes low-code capabilities for rapid application development. Nontechnical users can customize workflows to reduce manual tasks and eliminate information silos. Nuxeo manages metadata within its repository to enhance access to and searchability of large content collections.

Enterprises use Content Innovation Cloud to modernize their content infrastructure while maximizing investments in their existing ECM platforms. They can enhance knowledge discovery and decision-making by applying metadata and context to previously siloed and unstructured content.

Through metadata enrichment and content federation, enterprises can enable LLMs to understand information stored across different repositories, thereby facilitating AI-powered discovery and agentic automation. With Content Innovation Cloud in place, large organizations can improve operational efficiency -- boosting productivity across business processes -- while maintaining security and governance over existing content repositories.

4. IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation

IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation bundles multiple ECM products with the company's cloud capabilities to develop enterprise applications for large and often regulated organizations. With expertise in ECM systems dating back to the 1980s, IBM delivers interrelated ECM products to securely manage unstructured information while protecting customers' investments in legacy systems.

Cloud Pak incorporates multiple purpose-built repositories:

• IBM Content Foundation. This fully functional content repository with enterprise-grade security is designed to capture, store, organize and access business information. Users can access team spaces to collaborate on projects. Content Foundation supports basic enterprise search capabilities. Organizations can deploy the platform on-premises, in the cloud or in a hybrid environment.
• IBM FileNet Content Manager. As a document management system, FileNet features tools for content lifecycle management, transactional content processing, and content consolidation across the enterprise. It includes library services and other document management capabilities. FileNet offers compliance and governance tools for records management, as well as APIs for content-centric application development.
• IBM Business Automation Workflow. This offering takes advantage of the company's business process management (BPM) and case management expertise. It enables customers to analyze content -- by blending business rules and natural language processing -- and to route business documents through predefined steps in a business process. The software then stores the complete case within one of the repositories, with full audit controls.

Cloud Pak uses the content managed within these repositories to deliver high-value business applications, such as straight-through processing and automated document approvals. Moreover, Cloud Pak can add intelligence to these applications, relying on watsonx Orchestrate services for generative AI-powered content classification, data extraction, enterprise search and image recognition.

5. IManage Work

IManage provides matter-centric content management to law firms, accounting firms and other highly regulated professional services organizations. The company's ECM platform, iManage Work, combines document and email management capabilities to serve as the repository of record for content produced by knowledge workers within individual firms. IManage Work is deployed on-premises or via hosted servers; it also offers a native SaaS version running on Microsoft Azure.

Lawyers, accountants, consultants and support staff can securely share their work products and correspondence, organized by business client, case and professional matter. IManage Work maintains the filing plans, folder hierarchies and controlled vocabularies for tagging messages, documents and other types of content within the repository. IManage Work integrates with Microsoft 365.

IManage Work delivers granular access controls and can establish auditable firewalls within a firm to channel content flows. It can assemble messages and documents into formal collections for records management and archival preservation. IManage Work embeds an AI engine within its repository to recommend or automatically tag content and provide insights into relationships among files.

The platform also automates document-driven business processes within a firm. It provides a workflow for new business intake and integrates with various line-of-business applications, including expense tracking, matter management and professional time reporting. IManage Work provides multiple tools to manage content security policies, ensure compliance with governance mandates and detect threats to content stored within the repository.

6. Microsoft SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online, part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, offers an extensible ECM platform for managing documents, web content and other content types across an extended enterprise. SharePoint is Microsoft's ECM repository in the Microsoft cloud and runs on Azure, Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.

Organizations configure and deploy SharePoint to solve many document management, content management and collaboration problems. SharePoint also supports on-premises and hybrid hosting infrastructures.

As an integral part of Microsoft 365, SharePoint integrates seamlessly with related Microsoft tools for ad hoc information sharing, including Microsoft Office apps for personal productivity, Copilot for generative AI and AI-powered agents, Teams for workgroup collaboration and OneDrive for file sync and share. Using an underlying repository, SharePoint manages content produced by these tools, adding library services, metadata management, records management and enterprise search capabilities.

Microsoft continually updates its ecosystem's capabilities for understanding, processing and enforcing content compliance. SharePoint Syntex delivers AI and ML technologies within SharePoint for automatic tagging, semantic inferencing and image recognition.

SharePoint serves as the foundation for BPM. It manages unstructured business documents, such as scanned invoices, bills of lading and material safety data sheets for use in BPM, ERP and CRM applications.

Microsoft supports content security and governance increasingly oriented around zero-trust technologies and operational principles. SharePoint helps ensure compliance by automatically adding sensitivity labels to content and offering other advanced ECM capabilities.

7. OpenText Content Cloud

OpenText Content Cloud provides a portfolio of purpose-built ECM products for operational use cases in government, engineering, life sciences and other large organizations. It features deployment options across public, private and hybrid clouds, as well as on-premises computing infrastructures. Key products include OpenText Extended ECM (xECM) and OpenText Documentum.

• OpenText xECM manages business documents and unstructured content through a shared repository. It features enterprise document management capabilities, including library services, multilayer security, access controls, content navigation and generative AI. xECM integrates with SAP and Salesforce to deliver extended line-of-business workflows.
  
  xECM provides multiple tools to enhance workgroup productivity. Microsoft 365, Adobe Acrobat and other personal productivity applications connect directly to the repository. Other tools support content capture and optical character recognition indexing from scanned paper documents and electronic files, as well as secure file sync and share with content stored on mobile devices. The repository also supports content sharing for ad hoc collaboration.
  
  xECM ensures content governance through a systematic approach to records management. It applies record classifications and disposition tags to collections of files stored within the repository, which are mapped to retention schedules and removed at the end of their lifecycles.
  
  
• OpenText Documentum, by comparison, focuses on high-value, mission-critical document collections, such as engineering design documents and new drug applications.
  
  It provides a shared repository to manage and store documents with governance, security and regulatory compliance features. It includes federated search capabilities to retrieve documents from multiple repositories and records management for long-term retention. Documentum includes specialized tools for document capture and classification, as well as for generating high-volume, personalized documents, such as insurance policies.
  
  Documentum supports a fully featured, industrial-grade BPM platform that uses content within its repository. Documentum xCelerated Composition Platform (xCP) automates high-volume, information-intensive processes such as case management in the financial services industry.

OpenText Content Cloud provides extensive metadata management capabilities that support enterprise search and records management, using key features of different repositories. Knowledge workers can tag content manually, semiautomatically or automatically based on predefined terms.

OpenText Aviator, the company's AI and analytics platform, includes AI-powered features such as conversational search, content summarization and automated metadata tagging. Aviator runs across multiple content repositories.

OpenText Content Cloud supports ad hoc process management through connected workspaces that integrate with external enterprise applications. OpenText features prebuilt business scenarios that simplify and accelerate integrations with Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and SAP. Templates and scripts aggregate content, data, people and tasks to support routine business tasks, such as sales opportunity tracking. OpenText also provides development tools that integrate with the core repositories through RESTful APIs for more complex projects.

8. Oracle

Oracle delivers tools and platforms to produce content-centric applications for large organizations. It relies on multiple ECM platforms to orchestrate content flows that support line-of-business operations and marketing activities within an Oracle-powered computing environment.

Oracle maintains several purpose-built repositories for managing structured, semistructured and unstructured data. These platforms -- including Oracle WebCenter Content and Gen 2 Oracle Content Management (OCM) -- feature core ECM capabilities such as access controls, library services and digital asset management. Both run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. WebCenter can also be deployed on-premises.

Microsoft 365 apps can connect directly, which helps streamline content flows and enhance personal productivity. Oracle manages images, videos and other types of rich media as digital assets. OCM includes tools and applications to edit content on the fly and deliver it to multiple endpoints, including chatbots. OCM has integrated video editing and production capabilities, transforming enterprise video into another content type within the UX.

OCM relies on sophisticated metadata management capabilities to provide insights for content delivery, including chatbots and voice-enabled experiences. Depending on content type, this platform supports automatic tagging, classification and image recognition using multiple AI and ML technologies. Furthermore, OCM can securely add enterprise content to an LLM.

Oracle provides extensive process automation tools to support editorial content workflows, case management and BPM applications. The company provides prepackaged adapters to integrate with related enterprise applications, including PeopleSoft, Siebel and JD Edwards.

As companies further their digital transformation efforts, they need to consider proper information management use cases across the enterprise. In that process, key decision-making stakeholders need to carefully vet ECM products.

Geoffrey Bock is principal of Bock & Company and advises organizations on content technologies and the future of business in the digital age.

Editor's note: This list was formed with extensive research into the enterprise content management market, including vendor market share, reports from respected research firms and as much feature parity as possible. This article was updated to include recent developments among ECM vendors.