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If SharePoint is already in the building, the question is rarely which product wins. It is narrower than that: which documents can live in a system organised by place, and which ones need rules that travel with the document itself. The two have more in common than most comparisons admit, so that is where to start.
Where they overlap#
Much of what gets compared is settled before the comparison starts. Both keep versions, both work with Microsoft Office, and both let you describe a document with metadata instead of a filename. Co-authoring is the one place the basics are not equal. In SharePoint, real-time editing in Word and Excel is standard. In M‑Files it comes with M‑Files Cloud and Microsoft 365, and CtrlShare, an add-on from our development partner CtrlDocs, brings it to every M‑Files edition, in the cloud or on your own servers.
SharePoint also comes with Microsoft 365, and that counts. A team that needs a shared place for files with a bit of structure already has one, and for that job it is a reasonable choice. The differences show up later, when a document has to obey a rule.
Where they differ#
M‑Files and SharePoint come apart in five places, and the first four are the same difference seen from four angles: in SharePoint a rule is attached to a location, in M‑Files it is attached to the document.
Where a document lives#
SharePoint organises documents in sites, libraries and folders, with metadata columns on top, and a document is stored in one library. M‑Files has no folder tree at all: a document is filed by its metadata and appears in every view that matches. The rest of the comparison follows from that difference, and in practice it decides one thing: whether a contract can sit under the supplier and the project at the same time, without a copy.
Who may see it#
SharePoint permissions are set on sites, libraries, folders or items, so access is a property of the place. In M‑Files, access can follow the kind of document and any of its fields (customer, project, case), so everything marked HR can be visible to the employee, their manager and HR. Change those details and you have changed the access. Rights can also widen or narrow as an approval moves on.
How an approval runs#
A workflow decides when people act on a document, and an approval is worth having only if it leaves something behind. In SharePoint, an approval runs on the built-in approvals in lists and libraries, or on a Power Automate flow. In M‑Files, workflows are part of the platform: each step can notify people, create tasks, give more people access and change the document's fields, and every change is logged.
When it is deleted#
Keeping documents is the easy half of retention; deleting them on time is the harder one. In Microsoft 365, retention is handled with Microsoft Purview retention policies and labels, and the Microsoft licence you hold decides how far they go. In M‑Files, a deletion rule is set on a single document, on a kind of document or on a field value, and runs automatically, with a notification or a view of upcoming deletions. Here too the rule sits on the document.
Records that are not documents#
M‑Files also manages things that are not documents. Customers, projects, employees and cases get the same fields, workflows and access rules. A CRM on M‑Files works that way: opportunities move from Lead to Qualified to Closed as won or Closed as lost, and each one's documents and emails sit under it. The CRM page shows how that looks.
What each one costs to license#
SharePoint is part of most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans, so for many organisations its licence is already paid for. What the plan covers varies: retention policies and labels in Microsoft Purview are available from Microsoft 365 E3 and Business Premium, while some advanced retention settings, such as event-based retention and disposition review, need E5-level licences.
M‑Files is a subscription of its own, sold in two editions. Essentials has a published per-user price on m-files.com and is usually billed yearly; Enterprise is quoted. Both include metadata-based document management, M‑Files Aino, Microsoft 365 integration and workflows. Enterprise adds more AI capacity, extended audit logging, customer-held encryption keys, federated sign-in and controlled rendering with watermarking, and Hubshare is licensed separately. Implementation and support come on top of either licence; pricing and editions sets out what goes into a quote.
Where SharePoint is the better choice#
A team site for a project's working files, with no particular compliance requirement, is what SharePoint is for, and none of the differences between the two change that. The same goes for an intranet with pages, news and a document library alongside. And an organisation that already builds and maintains its own Power Automate flows and Purview policies, and wants to stay on one platform, has a good reason to stay there.
Where M‑Files is the better choice#
M‑Files earns its place on a narrower set of documents: the ones that must appear under several things at once (customer, project, contract, process) and the ones whose access and deletion rules have to follow the document rather than the place it sits. It earns it on approvals that must leave a record someone will ask for in three years. And it earns it on records that are not documents at all, such as customers and cases, managed with the same fields and workflows.
Hold the two against your own documents rather than against each other.
How each one handles eight everyday needs
| Feature | M‑Files | SharePoint |
|---|---|---|
| Document appears under customer, project and contract without a copy | Yes | Partial |
| Access that follows what the document is | Yes | Set on sites, libraries, folders and items |
| Approval workflows | Yes | Built-in approvals or Power Automate |
| Deletion rules | Per document, kind of document or field value | With Microsoft Purview |
| Version history | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time co-authoring in Word and Excel | With Microsoft 365 in M‑Files Cloud, or with CtrlShare on any edition | Yes |
| Included in Microsoft 365 | No | Yes |
| Intranet pages and news | Partial | Yes |
Partial: in SharePoint, metadata columns and library views can group documents within a library, but each document is stored in one library. Both products change over time, so ask us about any row that matters to you.
Keep SharePoint and add M‑Files
You can keep both. SharePoint stays for team sites and the intranet, and M‑Files holds the documents that need approvals, access rules and deletion dates of their own. The two can be connected.
- Teams files kept in M‑Files — CtrlSync, from our development partner CtrlDocs, keeps a copy in M‑Files of the Teams and SharePoint documents it is set up to watch, and fills in their fields from where the file sits.
- M‑Files details in Teams — CtrlConnect, also from CtrlDocs, shows an M‑Files record's details beside its link in a Teams chat and adds M‑Files search to the chat.
- Find SharePoint files from M‑Files — M‑Files' SharePoint Online connector lets people find and manage SharePoint Online content from M‑Files without moving it.
