Document management software for small businesses in Europe: Arhivix and seven others compared by intake, hosting and setup
Arhivix, which we make, takes documents from company email inboxes (Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP), scanners and the phone camera, reads each one and proposes its type and key details for a person to confirm, and keeps them on AWS in the EU (Frankfurt and Dublin); it is priced per company rather than per user, with a free plan. It comes first in this guide; DocuWare, Dropbox, Folderit, Google Drive, M-Files, Microsoft SharePoint and Paperless-ngx follow in alphabetical order.
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| What we compared | Arhivix | DocuWare | Dropbox | Folderit | Google Drive (Google Workspace) | M-Files | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) | Paperless-ngx |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document intake (email inboxes, phone scan, scanner) | Arhivix Yes Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP inboxes with rules that file the attachments, upload, desktop scanner and phone camera [1] | DocuWare Yes Scanning, file import, printing into the archive, email, the mobile app and web forms [5] | Dropbox Yes Attachments forwarded to an Email to Dropbox address (an admin turns it on for teams, up to 20 MB per email), and file requests with an email address for any folder [11] | Folderit Partial Upload, an Outlook add-in and a per-folder email import address that a scanner can also use [17] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) Partial The Drive app for Android and iOS scans documents into searchable PDFs, and Gmail attachments can be saved to Drive from the inbox [22] | M-Files Yes Paper documents from local or network scanners [28] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) Files sync between SharePoint libraries and a folder on the computer, in File Explorer or Finder, through the OneDrive sync app [34] | Paperless-ngx Partial Email accounts, a consumption folder for scanners (file share set up by you), web upload and REST API; phone scanning through third-party apps [40] |
| Reads and classifies documents | Arhivix Yes OCR reads each document, Arhivix recognises its type and proposes supplier, amount, dates and numbers, and a person confirms every proposal [1] | DocuWare Yes Intelligent Indexing is included in every cloud plan; AI classification and data extraction (Intelligent Document Processing) is a separately priced add-on [6] | Dropbox Partial Automatically labels files that may contain personal information such as card, passport or bank account numbers (Advanced and Enterprise, or Standard with the Security add-on) [12] | Folderit Partial AI classification is described for on-premises installations with extra GPU resources; the cloud plans do not list it [18] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) Partial A user-built Workspace Studio flow with an Extract step that uses Gemini can pull fields such as order number and total cost from an email or document [23] | M-Files Yes M-Files Aino classifies documents automatically in both editions; Aino agents that extract metadata and classify documents are in Enterprise only [29] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) Partial Document processing is billed pay-as-you-go through an Azure subscription [35] | Paperless-ngx Yes Tesseract OCR, machine learning that adds tags, correspondents and document types, and optional LLM suggestions that are off by default [41] |
| Where the data is hosted | Arhivix AWS in the EU, two regions (Frankfurt and Dublin), encrypted at rest with AES-256 [2] | DocuWare On Microsoft Azure; data of European customers is stored in Europe, data of customers from America in the U.S. [7] | Dropbox Data centers in the United States; servers in the EU, UK, Australia and Japan for eligible teams with at least 10 licenses and annual billing, on request [13] | Folderit Amazon hosting in Ireland, or another location where that option is offered [19] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) On Business Standard and Business Plus, admins can choose the United States, the European Union or no preference for covered data; Business Starter is not a supported edition [24] | M-Files Microsoft Azure, in a primary and a secondary region; the cloud page does not name the regions [30] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) For tenants with a sign-up location in the EU or EFTA, the EU Data Boundary applies: customer data is stored and processed in EU or EFTA datacenters, with documented exceptions [36] | Paperless-ngx On the server where you install it [41] |
| Setup (self-service or through a partner) | Arhivix Self-service: you sign up, upload your folders or connect an email inbox, and Arhivix indexes everything in the background. With an Enterprise contract your existing archive is moved in for you [3] | DocuWare Through DocuWare partners, who handle deployment and implementation [8] | Dropbox Self-service: Standard and Advanced are bought or tried on the website; Enterprise through sales [14] | Folderit Self-service: online registration starts a free 14 day trial [20] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) Self-service online sign-up; a Google Partner can do setup and migration for a fee [25] | M-Files Through M-Files or its partners, which include systems integrators and value-added resellers [31] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) Self-service: a business buys Business Basic, Standard or Premium online [37] | Paperless-ngx Self-service with an installation script, Docker Compose or a bare metal install; the docs also link to community-listed hosting providers [42] |
| Audit log | Arhivix Yes Every view, edit, download, share and permission change is recorded with the user and the time, in a log the customer cannot alter [2] | DocuWare Yes Audit reports at document, file cabinet, organization and system level, downloadable as CSV [9] | Dropbox Yes Admin console activity log with CSV reports on all team plans; file events such as adding, editing, moving and deleting on Advanced and Enterprise [15] | Folderit Yes Global audit trail [17] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) Yes Drive log events in the Admin console are included in Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus [26] | M-Files Yes The vault event log records events such as object creation and user logins; some event types need the separately purchased Electronic Signatures and Advanced Logging module [32] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) Yes Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard) is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium [38] | Paperless-ngx Yes Records all changes to a document in an audit log shown in a History tab, on by default since version 2.7 [40] |
| Search | Arhivix Yes In every paid plan, a plain description becomes filters and search covers the content of the documents [4] | DocuWare Yes Search through document content and index data, with drop-down keyword lists, wildcards and logical operators [10] | Dropbox Yes File names, file contents and image contents on team plans; text in images (OCR) after opting in [16] | Folderit Yes Full-text search with OCR in text, PDF, PNG and JPG files [21] | Google Drive (Google Workspace) Yes Search by file name, text within the file, type, people and date modified [27] | M-Files Yes Quick search looks in metadata and file contents across the whole vault [33] | Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) Yes Microsoft Search for content and people is included in Business Basic, Standard and Premium [39] | Paperless-ngx Yes Full text search [41] |
Arhivix arhivix.com
Small companies that want email attachments and scans read, filed and searchable, at one price for the whole company
Arhivix takes documents from Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP inboxes, uploads, scanners and the phone camera, files email attachments by your rules, proposes the document type and key details (supplier, amount, dates and numbers) for a person to confirm, and warns about possible duplicates. Search turns a plain description into filters, every change is kept as a version you can restore, and the audit log records every view, download and share. It is a cloud service hosted on AWS in the EU (Frankfurt and Dublin), encrypted at rest with AES-256, with apps for web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. It is priced per company, not per user: plans include 5, 10 or 20 user accounts and unlimited devices, Arhivix Lite is a free plan with no card, and the plans are on the pricing page.
DocuWare start.docuware.com
Document management system sold through DocuWare partners, as a subscription by user licences and storage
DocuWare publishes no list price: its pricing FAQ gives a typical $30 to $125 or more per user per month, and onboarding, training and go-live are priced separately. DocuWare Cloud is an annual subscription, set up through DocuWare partners and hosted on Microsoft Azure, with data of European customers stored in Europe.
Dropbox dropbox.com
File storage and sync service, sold per user per month
Dropbox Standard costs USD 18 per user per month billed monthly, or USD 15 per user per month billed yearly, as shown to visitors from Serbia on the plans page; the billing currency is set by the first billing address. Team data is stored in the United States unless an eligible team with at least 10 licences and annual billing asks to move it, and each request is reviewed case by case, the move cannot be undone and the customer does not choose the new location.
Folderit folderit.com
Document management system sold per plan, each plan with a set number of users and storage
On the Folderit pricing page, Mini costs €45 per month or €486 per year plus VAT, with 5 users and 150 GB, and Medium €85 per month plus VAT, with 10 users. Folderit is hosted by Amazon in Ireland.
Google Drive (Google Workspace) workspace.google.com
File storage in Google Workspace, sold per user per month
Drive is part of Google Workspace: Business Starter costs €6.80 per user per month with a one-year commitment, billed monthly. On Business Standard and Business Plus, admins can choose the United States or the European Union for covered data; Business Starter is not a supported edition for that setting.
M-Files m-files.com
Document management system sold per seat, through M-Files or its partners
M-Files Essentials costs €65 per seat per month, with subscriptions typically billed annually, and Enterprise is priced by a quote from sales. Setup goes through M-Files or its partners, with training, consulting and implementation for a separate fee, and M-Files Cloud runs on Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365) microsoft.com
Document libraries in Microsoft 365, sold per user per month as part of the business plans
SharePoint comes with Microsoft 365 business plans: Business Basic costs €6.07 per user per month, or €4.67 without Teams (Business Basic EEA), paid yearly, excluding VAT (Ireland price page). The EU Data Boundary covers tenants that signed up in the EU or EFTA, which does not include Serbia.
Paperless-ngx docs.paperless-ngx.com
Open-source document management software that you install on your own server
Paperless-ngx is open source under GNU GPL version 3, with no licence fee, and runs on your own server (Docker, or bare metal on Linux). You run backups and updates yourself, support comes from the community (GitHub Discussions and a Matrix chat room), and the README states that data is stored in clear text without encryption.
How to choose
Answer these three questions before you compare features.
- How do your documents arrive? The first row of the table shows how each product takes them in. Arhivix connects company inboxes in Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP and files attachments by rules on sender, subject or content, takes uploads, desktop scans and phone photos, and proposes the type and key details of each document for a person to confirm.
- Do you already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace? SharePoint comes with Microsoft 365 business plans and Google Drive with Google Workspace. Arhivix connects to both: with Microsoft 365 it offers Microsoft Entra ID sign-in and takes in Outlook inboxes and document libraries, and with Google Workspace it offers Google sign-in, takes in Gmail inboxes and syncs Google Drive.
- Who will set it up? Arhivix, Dropbox, Folderit, Google Drive and SharePoint are bought and set up online by you, and with an Arhivix Enterprise contract your existing archive is moved in for you. DocuWare goes through partners, and M-Files through M-Files or its partners, with implementation billed separately. Paperless-ngx you install and maintain yourself.
What a team of ten pays
Arhivix is priced per company, not per user: the Premium plan covers 10 user accounts and unlimited devices, and its price is on the pricing page. For the other seven products, this is arithmetic on list prices checked on 11 November 2026, for 10 users, in the currency each vendor published. We did not convert currencies. Where a vendor states whether VAT is included, we say so; where it publishes no price, we say that too. The totals leave out setup, add-ons and storage beyond what a plan includes.
- DocuWare: not published. The pricing FAQ gives a typical $30 to $125 or more per user per month in US dollars; for 10 users that range works out to $300 to $1,250 or more a month. This is arithmetic on a typical range, not a quote: DocuWare Cloud plans are sold for 4, 15, 40 or 100 users, and onboarding and training are priced separately. DocuWare Cloud is an annual subscription.
- Dropbox: on Standard, 10 users at USD 18 is USD 180 a month billed monthly; billed yearly, 10 users at USD 15 is USD 150 a month. These are the prices shown to visitors from Serbia; the billing currency is set by the first billing address.
- Folderit: the Medium plan includes 10 users and costs €85 per month plus VAT, which is €1,020 over twelve months. The Mini plan, €45 per month or €486 per year plus VAT, covers 5 users.
- Google Drive (Google Workspace): with a one-year commitment billed monthly, 10 users at €6.80 is €68.00 a month on Business Starter.
- M-Files: 10 seats at €65 is €650 a month on Essentials, with subscriptions typically billed annually. Enterprise is priced by quote.
- Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): 10 users at €6.07 is €60.70 a month on Business Basic, paid yearly, excluding VAT (Ireland price page); without Teams, 10 users at €4.67 is €46.70.
- Paperless-ngx: no licence fee; the software is free under GNU GPL version 3. You pay for the server you run it on and for the time to back it up and update it, and the project publishes no figure for either.
How we compared
Arhivix is our product: this page is published by NOTIX DOO Beograd, Serbia, which makes it. Facts about the other seven products come from each vendor’s public pages (for Paperless-ngx, the project’s documentation on GitHub), opened on 11 November 2026; the pages behind the table are listed under Sources. Facts about Arhivix come from our own pricing, security, integrations, about and home pages.
Questions people ask
Is Google Drive or Dropbox enough for document management in a small business?
Google Drive and Dropbox store, sync and share files. A document management system earns its place when documents arrive by email, on paper and from phones and someone has to read, file and find them: Arhivix takes them in from company inboxes, scanners and the phone camera, proposes the type and key details of each document for a person to confirm, and finds them again from a plain description. With Google Workspace, Arhivix also takes in Gmail inboxes and syncs Google Drive.
How much does document management software cost for a 10-person company?
Arhivix is priced per company, not per user: the Premium plan covers 10 user accounts and unlimited devices, and its price is on the pricing page. For the others, arithmetic on list prices checked on 11 November 2026, for 10 users: 10 users at USD 18 is USD 180 a month on Dropbox Standard (billed monthly); Folderit Medium includes 10 users for €85 a month plus VAT; 10 users at €6.80 is €68.00 a month on Google Workspace Business Starter (one-year commitment, billed monthly); 10 seats at €65 is €650 a month on M-Files Essentials (typically billed annually); and 10 users at €6.07 is €60.70 a month on Microsoft 365 Business Basic (paid yearly, excluding VAT). DocuWare publishes only a typical range per user, not a list price, and Paperless-ngx has no licence fee.
Which document management systems don’t charge per user?
Arhivix charges per company, with 5, 10 or 20 user accounts per plan, and Folderit charges per plan with a set number of users. Paperless-ngx has no licence fee. DocuWare sells subscriptions by user licences and storage in cloud plans for 4, 15, 40 or 100 users, and Dropbox, Google Workspace, M-Files and Microsoft 365 price per user.
Is there a free document management system for a small business?
Yes: Arhivix Lite is a free plan with no card, with 2 users, 1 workspace and 1 email inbox, and you can move to a paid plan at any time. Google Workspace Essentials Starter (used with an existing work email address) and Dropbox Basic are also free, Paperless-ngx is free open-source software that you host yourself, and DocuWare, Folderit, M-Files and Microsoft 365 list no free plan.
Do we need a consultant to set up a document management system?
Arhivix, Dropbox, Folderit, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are signed up for online and set up by you. In Arhivix you upload your folders or connect an email inbox, and it indexes everything in the background; an Enterprise contract adds moving your existing archive in for you. DocuWare is set up through partners and M-Files through M-Files or its partners, with implementation for a separate fee; Paperless-ngx you install on your own server.
Sources
- 1. Arhivix: About Arhivix
- 2. Arhivix: Arhivix security
- 3. Arhivix: Arhivix home page, questions and answers
- 4. Arhivix: Arhivix pricing
- 5. DocuWare: Deploy DocuWare as Multitenant Cloud SaaS, On-Premises or Hybrid
- 6. DocuWare: FAQ | How Much Does DocuWare Cost?
- 7. DocuWare: Subcontractors of DocuWare
- 8. DocuWare: DocuWare Partner References
- 9. DocuWare: DocuWare Knowledge Center: Audit reports
- 10. DocuWare: Digital Document Management | Features & Capabilities for Process Automation
- 11. Dropbox: Dropbox Help: How to email files to Dropbox
- 12. Dropbox: Dropbox Help: Dropbox data classification
- 13. Dropbox: Dropbox Help: Where is my Dropbox data stored?
- 14. Dropbox: Dropbox for business: Compare plans
- 15. Dropbox: Dropbox Help: View team activity in the admin console
- 16. Dropbox: Dropbox Help: Search your Dropbox files
- 17. Folderit: Folderit Digital Records Management Software
- 18. Folderit: Folderit On-Premises Document Management System Software
- 19. Folderit: Folderit Trust Center
- 20. Folderit: Folderit Help Center: Registration of the Main Account
- 21. Folderit: Folderit Help Center: Does Folderit have OCR?
- 22. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Google Drive product page
- 23. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Guide to Starters & Steps in Workspace Studio
- 24. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Choose a geographic location for your data (Google Workspace Help)
- 25. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Google Workspace FAQ
- 26. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Compare Business editions (Google Workspace Help)
- 27. Google Drive (Google Workspace): Search for files in Google Drive (Google Drive Help)
- 28. M-Files: M-Files user guide: Scanning and text recognition (OCR)
- 29. M-Files: M-Files Pricing | Document Management System Plans & Editions
- 30. M-Files: Secure, Scalable Document Management in the Cloud (M-Files Cloud)
- 31. M-Files: Partners
- 32. M-Files: M-Files user guide: Vault event log overview
- 33. M-Files: M-Files user guide: Quick search
- 34. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): Sync SharePoint and Teams files with your computer
- 35. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): Pay-as-you-go pricing for document processing for Microsoft 365
- 36. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): What is the EU Data Boundary?
- 37. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): Try or buy a Microsoft 365 for business subscription
- 38. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): Microsoft Purview service description
- 39. Microsoft SharePoint (Microsoft 365): Microsoft 365 Pricing for Business: Plans & Features (Ireland)
- 40. Paperless-ngx: Paperless-ngx documentation: Usage (docs/usage.md)
- 41. Paperless-ngx: Paperless-ngx documentation: Home (docs/index.md)
- 42. Paperless-ngx: Paperless-ngx documentation: Setup (docs/setup.md)
Information about other products comes from their public pages, checked on the date shown. If something has changed, write to info@arhivix.com and we will correct it.