Microsoft SharePoint has been around for a long ol’ time (since 2001, to be precise).
It’s a collaboration tool that allows you to create workspaces and websites for your employees. You can announce company news, manage projects, store important files and sync up with Microsoft Office.
This might seem like a great all-rounder, but it’s not always the best solution for small businesses. Depending on what you need SharePoint for, there are far more intuitive (and cheaper) options out there.
For example, perhaps you use SharePoint to manage your visual content. That’s things like images, videos and graphics. You might not know it (yet), but you’re much better off with a digital asset management (DAM) system for this sort of work. This is a tool that lets you easily organise and share your visual assets. It’s what we, at Dash, specialise in. Many of our customers move from SharePoint to Dash because they need a better way to manage their brand’s images and videos.
So if you think you’re ready to look at some new tools, we thought we’d share some alternatives!
We’ll take a look at some reasons SharePoint might not be a great fit for your business and list some tools ideal for small brands. ✨
Why SharePoint might not be a great fit for your brand?
Wondering why SharePoint might not be the best fit for your brand? Here are a few reasons:
SharePoint is too general
Ever heard the phrase ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’? In other words, SharePoint can do lots of things. But, apart from document management, it doesn’t do those things particularly well. In general, you’re better off picking tools that have been built for one specific purpose, like digital asset management (DAM) for storing visual content.
It’s too expensive
SharePoint Online costs up to £20/$24 per user (per month). That can add up, especially if you’re a small brand (like us). You need to make sure every penny counts.
We see loads of costly software solutions - especially in the digital asset management industry. There’s an abundance of enterprise DAM tools that’ve been built for massive companies. Many smaller businesses end up shouldering the costs and paying for additional features that they just don’t need.
And the same rings true for SharePoint. But you should know there are cheaper and better alternatives out there which are suited to your brand.
SharePoint is too complex
One of the common frustrations we hear about SharePoint is that it requires a lot of configuration. This means you’ve got to rely on your IT team to set up your site the way you want it. For smaller brands who don’t have one of those, this means you might have to make do with an out-of-the-box version that doesn't meet your needs. Instead, you’re better opting for a tool with a user-friendly interface that your team can get started with quickly.
SharePoint’s not so easy on the eye 👀
With many brands working online, it’s important you use tools that make you feel inspired. Sure you can change your SharePoint site's theme, colours and fonts, but it takes quite a bit of configuration and the end result isn’t particularly inspiring.
A tool like Dash is designed to look great right out of the box and you can easily add your own branding. Here’s what a Dash homepage looks like. 😍
What to look for in a SharePoint alternative?
As SharePoint is an all-rounder tool, it could be difficult to know exactly what to look for in an alternative. Do you need something that helps with a specific job like project tracking or task management? Maybe you’re looking for something that lets your team work on projects together in real-time. Here are some things to consider before taking a look at our SharePoint alternatives below:
- Ease-of-use - gone are the days where you need a huge IT department to help you set up clunky software solutions. Many SaaS products are for people with little to no technical abilities. You don’t need to settle for complex software that takes ages to get the hang of.
- Good customer service - on the other hand, there may be instances where you’d like to find out how you can make better use of your software solution. Opting for a tool that gets great customer service reviews means you won’t be met with a wall of silence (or a robot 🤖) if you ever need a helping hand.
- Automation - busy teams can’t do everything themselves. You could try but that’s a sure-fire way to burn out. So consider looking for tools that help you automate certain business processes.
- Integrations - the key to productivity is having a good tech stack. In other words, your SharePoint alternative should integrate with the tools you’re already using. Make sure to check out the company websites below to see how easy it is to connect with third-party apps.
Top 11 SharePoint alternatives
We’ve broken up these SharePoint alternatives into different use cases. From HR to document sharing, these are great options for smaller brands.
Dash - for managing your brand’s visual content
£79/$109 per month
Dash is a digital asset management tool for small and growing brands. Marketers use our software to find, organise and share their images and videos. Whilst you could store visual content in SharePoint, you can’t search effectively or share images with your freelancers and agencies —you’d probably need Dropbox or WeTransfer as well. That’s why many of our customers seek alternatives to SharePoint for their visual content.
Take Forthglade, as an example. They needed a tool with a search feature that allowed them to find and organise their content effectively. The SharePoint they were using became cluttered and people were using images that hadn’t been approved yet. Yikes! 😱 They now find Dash a much better alternative to managing their visual content. As David, the brand’s Graphic Design Manager says:
“There’s a lot more collaboration between the departments with what each is creating. The ecommerce team, for instance, can see assets that have been uploaded by the sales team in case they want to use them in their campaigns. Seeing what others are creating sparks ideas.”
But that’s not all. Here are some more ways Dash can help you better manage your visual content:
Find and search assets quickly - Say you’re in Planto’s Dash account and you’re looking for an image that contains a sofa. You can simply type the word in the search bar and Dash will use AI to scan the contents of your image.
You can also use tags and fields to whittle down your search using the filters on the left-hand side. ✨
Share with agencies and freelancers - You can set up portals in Dash that means your agencies and freelancers can access specific assets without needing to log in. The portal will have your branding all over it too - so it looks super professional.
Deploy content to your marketing channels - Dash has some preset crop sizes that allow you to resize your images for your different social channels. This is something that’s helped David in his day-to-day work:
“We get fewer requests now for branded graphics and logos because they’re all on Dash. People in other teams can do basic editing in Dash, like resizing graphics, so they don’t have to come through us. I’ve also noticed the briefs we get through are more specific, as everyone can see what assets we’ve already got available.”
What’s more, you can send your images directly to your Shopify product pages. Perfect for getting campaigns in front of your audience, faster. 🚀
Dash is easy-to-use (we won the DAM with the easiest set-up in the Winter G2 awards) and our pricing tiers have been designed with your growing brand in mind. For example, you’ll never need to pay for extra users (like SharePoint) and you’ll get all features at the starting price of £79/$109 per month.
If you want to find out more about the differences between SharePoint and Dash, you can check out our article that digs into the reason why SharePoint isn’t a viable digital asset management solution.
Google Workspace- for document sharing
£4/$5-£14/$17 per month
Google Workspace is a dream for teams who use a lot of documents. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides feel a bit like the MS Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), only 10x smoother. You can comment on each other’s work, edit alongside your colleagues and toggle sharing permissions. At Dash, we use Google Workspace to collaborate on content, send emails and video chat with each other on Google Meets. We love it so much that we’ve even created a handy guide for organising your Google Drive better. ✨
And if you’d like general tips on how to better manage your docs, take a look at our post about file management best practices.
Templafy - for creating business documents
Pricing is available on request
Templafy uses intelligent information management to help businesses create legally compliant and on-band documents. It’s ideal if you regularly deal with sensitive information and need a specialist tool that offers secure file sharing. You can use the automated document assembly tool to generate confidential templates like staff contracts and proposals. You can even track how people are using your documents - ideal for measuring employee engagement and the effectiveness of your sales materials.
BigContacts - for customer and prospect management
£4/$5 per user per month
Big Contacts is a lead-generation tool for small businesses. It helps you manage (you guessed it) your contacts. It’s specifically for sales teams who need to keep track of prospects, customers and important business documents. It’s got an intuitive interface, meaning you don’t need to be tech-savvy to get started. You can keep track of emails, calendars and upcoming tasks easily. And you can download the mobile app - ideal for sales folk on the go.
Basecamp - for collaborating on projects
£12/$15per user per month
Basecamp gives you everything you need to work on a project with your team. That’s documents, message boards, group chats and schedules. No need to set up new SharePoint sites or deal with disorganised emails —hallelujah!
We use Basecamp to collaborate with our website agency, Red-Fern. We’re able to view all upcoming tasks, make progress check-ins and have full transparency on what’s happening with our website projects. 🙌
Milanote - for creative project management
£40/$49 per month (for up to 10 users)
Milanote is a virtual collaboration space that’ll help get creative and keep organised. The brand says it themselves: they’re one of the only project management tools that matches how creative projects actually evolve. You can create moodboards, build task lists and keep a birds-eye view of how your projects are progressing. The sharing features also allow you to show your project boards to outside teams - perfect for working with agencies and freelancers and simplifying the creative brief process.
Jostle - for intranets
Only pay for your users + the features you need. Eg. £3.66/$4.50-£8.95/$11/ per user (for 50 users).
Jostle claims that intranets are ‘websites in disguise’. And it’s true. A company intranet, if not properly maintained, can become stale and uninspiring. People from different departments set up their own intranet pages with little to no experience. Things can quickly become frustrating and nobody knows where any information is kept. This means employees stop using it altogether.
Jostle’s intranet solution eliminates clutter and helps employees quickly get to the information they need. It’s all about unlocking employee success. So, this platform gives teams access to company news, and company-wide discussions and offers an easy way to celebrate your colleague’s success. 🎉 Their website also had great guides including how to give constructive feedback - a great resource for people at any management level.
Igloo - for connecting your remote teams
Pricing is available on request
Igloo is an intranet tool that puts focus on employee culture and online workspaces. With more companies adapting to hybrid and remote working models, businesses need a way to keep their employees feeling like part of the team. Their wide range of features include: wiki pages, ‘spaces’ for organising clubs and customisable dashboards.
Culture Amp - for measuring employee engagement
£4/$5 per person, per month
Culture Amp is a great platform for businesses that want to check how their employees are feeling about work. It’s something we use at Dash and Bright. ✨ You can send anonymous surveys and ask your team members how they’re feeling about their line managers, employee benefits and whether they’re currently on the lookout for a new role. It generates ‘focus reports’ so you can see where you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement. It'll also help you build employee wellness programes to help you retain and attract new team members.
Citrus HR - for HR teams
£2.50/$3.07-£7.50/$9.20 per employee
Positioning themselves as the ‘Small business HR and payroll experts’, Citrus HR is ideal if you need a place to keep info on your people. Their interface is slick and easy to use and their experts can even help you design contracts and employee handbooks. Some of the key features include holiday management, payroll and health and safety reminders.
Pingboard - for employee directories
£123/$149 per month
As your brand grows, you’ll likely hire more people and - depending on your goals - you might end up with hundreds of employees. Pingboard is a tool that helps you keep an employee directory. It’s kind of like a phonebook - it holds all the important information about your teams like emergency contacts and address for payroll. It’s also a great way of finding out more about each other. You can create rich employee profiles that detail things like your team’s specialist subjects, favourite hobbies and what makes them feel motivated. It’s also a good place to keep 1:1 feedback with your line managers.
Moving away from SharePoint
Are you currently using SharePoint and want to move to a new system? If you pick Dash as your SharePoint alternative, it couldn’t be easier to move your files over. ✨
Our team will help you migrate your images and videos from SharePoint for free.
If you're after more information about digital asset management, check out these articles:
And if you're looking to compare DAM vendors:
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Or, if you're ready to jump in, try Dash for free by signing up below. 👇
Amy Burchill is the SEO and Content Manager for Dash. She works with ecommerce experts to create articles for DTC brands wanting to improve their campaigns.
