Best Document Management Software in 2026

M-Files describes itself as a "context-first document management platform" that organises documents by what they are and the work they belong to, rather than by folder location. Founder Antti Nivala began developing the software in Tampere, Finland, in 2002, and the company now lists headquarters in both Tampere and Austin, Texas, with offices in ten countries. It reports more than 6,000 customer companies in over 100 countries and 94% customer retention. Its board includes principals of Bregal Milestone and Haveli Investments.

The metadata approach means a contract, for example, can be found under its customer, project and status regardless of where the file is stored Workflow automation, permission rules driven by metadata, AI classification and governance controls are built in.

Pricing is published in euros for the entry edition: M-Files Essentials is listed at €65 per seat per month, with Enterprise quoted on scale, governance, external collaboration, AI usage and document volume; subscriptions are typically billed annually. The metadata model requires up-front design work and user training, and the per-seat price is high compared with storage-led products such as Box.

OnBase is the flagship product of Hyland, a content services company that reports more than 30 years in the market, more than 14,000 active customers and about 3,500 employees. Hyland's portfolio also includes Alfresco, Nuxeo and Perceptive Content, the Hyland Cloud Content Repository, intelligent document processing and rich media management.

Hyland describes OnBase as an AI-enabled operational content management product. It captures documents from multiple channels with automatic classification and verification, runs configurable workflows with forms and routing rules, supports case management, collaboration with version control, retention and records management, and real-time dashboards and audit trails.

OnBase is strongest in document-heavy operations such as healthcare records, insurance claims, government case files and accounts payable, where capture and workflow matter as much as storage. It is a large platform that typically requires an implementation partner, and pricing is not published.

Documentum is the high-end document management product of OpenText Corporation, whose wider portfolio spans content management, cybersecurity, application delivery, B2B integration and observability. OpenText states Documentum manages more than 80 billion documents and can import up to 20 million objects an hour, with a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Documentum runs on-premises, in a private cloud, as a managed service, or through the AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure marketplaces. It integrates with SAP, Microsoft 365 and Salesforce, and adds an AI content assistant for chat-based search, summarisation and translation. OpenText lists support for HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11, ISO, SOC 2, PCI DSS, GxP, GDPR and DoD 5015.2 requirements, making it relevant to pharmaceuticals and other regulated industries.

Plans are named Express, Premium and Ultimate, with Process Automation, Capture, Content Aviator and Knowledge Discovery sold as add-ons; prices are not shown on the product page. It is costly and complex for mid-size companies.

SharePoint is the document management and intranet platform included in Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions, and also sold as standalone SharePoint Plan 1 or Plan 2. For many organisations it is the default document management system because it is already licensed.

Microsoft's service description sets the main limits: organisations receive 1 TB of storage plus 10 GB per licence purchased, sites can hold up to 25 TB, libraries up to 30 million files and folders, individual files up to 250 GB, and each document can keep 50,000 major versions. Managed metadata supports up to 1 million terms, and Microsoft 365 retention policies and eDiscovery holds apply to SharePoint content.

SharePoint's advantages are integration with Teams, Outlook and Office co-authoring, and governance through Microsoft Purview. Its weaknesses are configuration effort (information architecture, metadata and permissions need careful design), the risk of exceeding tenant storage, which can put a tenant into read-only mode, and weaker document capture and workflow than specialist products.{R(6)}

Box, founded in 2005, is a cloud content management company with Redwood City, California, as its first listed location. It reports 97,000 customer companies and says 68% of the Fortune 500 are customers.

Box combines file storage and sharing with document management functions: version history, metadata, retention and workflow. Its business plans require at least three users. Business Starter (up to ten users) includes 100 GB with a 2 GB upload limit; Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus and Enterprise Advanced include unlimited storage with upload limits from 5 GB to 500 GB (the Enterprise Advanced card shows 50 GB, the comparison table 500 GB). The pricing page advertises plans "from $5 per user/month", but plan-level prices were not displayed in the version reviewed. A free Individual plan offers 10 GB.

Box suits companies that want document control with external sharing and minimal administration. It is weaker than M-Files or OnBase for capture and structured workflows, and many governance and AI features are reserved for enterprise tiers.

iManage is a specialist in document and email management for the legal sector. It reports more than 4,000 customers and 1 million users worldwide, including 42% of the Fortune 100 and 81% of the AmLaw 200.

Its core product, iManage Work, organises documents and emails by client and matter. The wider iManage Platform, offered as a cloud-native service, adds Share and Drive for external collaboration, Security Policy Manager, Threat Manager, Records Manager and Disposition Manager for governance, Conflicts and Intake, Insight+ knowledge search, Closing Folders for transactions and Tracker for workflow.

iManage AI includes AI Enrichment, Ask iManage and a Model Context Protocol interface, and the company lists connections to AI partners such as OpenAI, Harvey, Legora and Anthropic. The product is purpose-built for matter-centric legal work and is less suitable outside professional services. Pricing is not published.

NetDocuments is a cloud-only document management system for law firms and legal departments, headquartered in Lehi, Utah. It reports more than 7,000 customers worldwide.

It describes itself as an intelligent platform for legal teams, offering matter-centric document management combined with AI features including a Legal AI Assistant, an AI App Builder for custom workflows and a Tabular Review feature for extracting information across many documents.

NetDocuments competes directly with iManage. Its cloud-only architecture removes the need for firms to run their own servers. Pricing is not published, and the product is not designed for non-legal use.

DocuWare sells cloud document management and workflow automation aimed at mid-size organisations and features guided tours of invoice processing. It reports being named a Challenger in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Document Management and a Major Player in the 2026 IDC MarketScape.

The product combines document capture and indexing, intelligent document processing, approval workflows, and integration with accounting and ERP systems. DocuWare displays SOC 2, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 badges.

DocuWare is a practical middle ground between SharePoint and heavyweight ECM suites. Its website offers demos rather than published prices or a self-serve trial, so cost comparison requires a quote.

Egnyte has offered cloud file sharing to businesses since 2008 and reports more than 23,000 customers. It is a portfolio company of GI Partners and TA Associates.

Egnyte combines document storage and collaboration with governance and compliance tooling, positioning itself between file-sharing services and full enterprise content management suites.

Published annual prices in US dollars are Business at US$22, Enterprise Lite at US$39 and Elite at US$48 per user per month, with Ultimate quoted; the pricing page also mentions a Team plan and multi-year discounts. Egnyte is less suited to formal records management or metadata-heavy processes than dedicated ECM products.

Alfresco is an open, cloud-native content, process and governance suite now owned and sold by Hyland alongside OnBase. It provides web-based document management, integrated process services, collaboration that extends Microsoft 365 and Google Docs, Governance Services for automated life-cycle management, and automatic metadata enrichment.

Alfresco is built on open standards and APIs, which makes it attractive to organisations with in-house developers who want to customise or embed content services in their own applications; a free community download is linked from the product page.

The open architecture is also its main cost: production deployments usually need technical staff or a partner. Enterprise pricing is not published, and Hyland's overlapping products make the roadmap a consideration for buyers.

Zoho WorkDrive is the online file and document management service in the Zoho application suite. It provides team folders, version history, permissions, and integration with Zoho's office editors and business applications.

Plans are Starter, Team and Business, billed per user per month annually with a three-user minimum. Starter includes 1 TB for three to ten users, adding 100 GB per extra user up to 20 TB, with a 10 GB file limit; Team includes 3 TB (300 GB per extra user, up to 60 TB, 50 GB files); Business 5 TB (500 GB per extra user, up to 100 TB, 250 GB files). There is a 15-day trial of Business features without a card, and a free 5 GB individual plan. Exact per-user prices were not displayed in the version of the page reviewed.

WorkDrive suits small businesses that already use Zoho CRM or Zoho Workplace. It lacks the capture, records management and compliance depth of enterprise DMS products.

FileHold is a document management product sold as FileHold Document Management Software, FileHold Cloud and the FileHold InForm Portal. It can be deployed in the cloud, on-premises or in a hybrid of both, which distinguishes it from cloud-only services.

Its website separates standard features from optional features, so buyers can license a core document repository and add capabilities as needed. The on-premises option makes it relevant to organisations that must keep records on their own servers for policy or regulatory reasons.

The website lists purchase options and software trials but no prices, and its feature set and interface are less modern than cloud-native rivals.