Microsoft SharePoint has long been a core workplace tool for storing documents, building intranets, and supporting collaboration. It’s the dependable old workhorse of Microsoft 365: reliable, familiar, and only slightly guilty of ruining your afternoon when it decides your permissions “suddenly” don’t exist anymore.
But these days, many companies are searching for simpler, more modern, actually-fun-to-use alternatives, especially for employee communication, intranets, and collaboration that doesn’t require a small army of IT professionals, three training sessions, and a spiritual cleanse.
Maybe you find SharePoint too complex (“Why are there 47 settings just to upload a file?”), too costly to maintain (“We need HOW MANY admins?”), or too rigid for modern hybrid teams (“No, SharePoint, I do want my page layout to stay where I put it”). Perhaps you're simply just looking for a way to integrate SharePoint into a wider ecosystem for your organisation. Whatever your particular flavour of frustration, this guide explores the 10 best SharePoint alternatives and helps you choose the platform that won’t make your employees cry, riot, or open a ticket every 12 minutes.
Why organisations look for SharePoint alternatives
Although SharePoint is widely adopted, organisations commonly seek an alternative because:
1. It’s complex to set up and maintain
Building a modern intranet requires design, configuration, maintenance, governance policies and ongoing IT resourcing.
2. Adoption can be challenging
Employees may struggle with SharePoint’s UX, leading to poor intranet engagement.
3. Limited mobile-friendliness and frontline support
Distributed teams need mobile-first communication tools and intuitive UX.
4. Collaboration needs have evolved
Modern companies want tools that combine:
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Internal comms
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Social feeds
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Knowledge sharing
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Document collaboration without complex configuration.
5. Integrations need to be flexible
Many organisations want intranets that integrate beyond Microsoft, such as with HRIS systems, Slack, Google Workspace, and more.
How we got the data & evaluation criteria
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G2 user reviews were used for satisfaction scores, common praise/complaints, and sentiment on ease of use, mobile experience, support, intranet features, and employee engagement.
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Analyst and industry reports were referenced for insights into governance, enterprise capabilities, and platform positioning.
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Vendor documentation and feature comparisons were used to verify capabilities around communication, frontline access, content governance, and integrations.
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Independent comparison guides and reviews were used to validate strengths/weaknesses from a third-party perspective.
Comparison Table: Oak Engage vs Key Alternatives
| Platform | Verified G2 Rating | SharePoint Alternative Score | Meaning of Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Engage | 4.5 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent | Best overall replacement for SharePoint, especially for hybrid + frontline teams. |
| Unily | 4.5 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Powerful enterprise intranet for design, branding, and global rollouts. |
| Staffbase | 4.6 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Excellent communication alternative for orgs where SharePoint underperforms. |
| Happeo | 4.5 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Best alternative for Google Workspace customers. |
| LumApps | 4.2 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Strong fit for global, multilingual, multi-location organisations. |
| Simpplr | 4.6 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Great for EX-focused organisations needing modern UX and governance. |
| Interact | 4.4 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐ Good | Better knowledge management + search than SharePoint. |
| MangoApps | 4.6 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Better suited than SharePoint for frontline communication and all-in-one workplaces. |
| Igloo Software | 4.2 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐ Good | Easier to build content hubs and knowledge centres than SharePoint. |
| Haiilo | 4.6 / 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong | Better engagement + social features vs SharePoint. |
| SharePoint | 4.0 / 5 | ⭐⭐ Baseline | Strong document management but weak internal comms + frontline UX. |
1. Oak Engage — The Best SharePoint Alternative for Frontline & Hybrid Workforces
Features
A strong alternative to SharePoint, Oak Engage is a modern intranet and employee engagement platform designed to give organisations a unified digital workplace without the technical overhead or rigidity that comes with Microsoft products. It includes personalised news feeds, targeted internal communication, document management, policy hubs, social features, and a fully-featured mobile employee app. Oak integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace but offers a far cleaner, more intuitive experience from day one. Its architecture is built around accessibility, ease of use and high adoption, something SharePoint requires significant customisation to achieve.
Strengths
Oak Engage excels in communication and improving engagement (especially for hybrid workforces), the areas where SharePoint consistently underperforms. Its Adaptive Intelligence engine automatically surfaces relevant updates to each employee based on their role, team, department, or location. This ensures that frontline workers, hybrid staff and distributed teams receive the right information at the right time. Oak Engage also includes crisis communication tools, push notifications, automated content targeting, and advanced analytics that reveal who engages with what and why, giving internal comms and HR teams real visibility into the effectiveness of their communication.
Why It’s better Than SharePoint
Where SharePoint is complex, document-centric and heavily reliant on IT teams, Oak Engage provides a streamlined, mobile-first experience focused on usability and employee connection. Its simplified governance and built-in personalisation eliminate the need for SharePoint consultants or ongoing development. Organisations choose Oak Engage when they want a modern intranet that people actually use, especially frontline and hybrid teams who often cannot access or meaningfully engage with SharePoint.
Why Oak Engage stands out
From the data above (and especially the real-user reviews on G2), Oak Engage shines when your organisation has:
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Hybrid workforce: desk-based staff, remote/hybrid employees, and frontline/deskless workers, all needing access to comms, news, resources, and collaboration, regardless of location or device.
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Employee engagement needs: Oak combines social-intranet features (feeds, recognition, communication) with structured intranet capabilities (content management, search, integration) — a balance many alternatives struggle to strike.
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Requirement for ease and adoption: Multiple reviewers mention Oak’s ease of use, intuitive UX, and quick implementation time, which reduces the friction often seen with traditional intranets.
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Support-driven partnership: Oak’s strong support ratings and hands-on customer success approach mean you’re not just using a tool, you’re getting a partner for rollout, adoption and continuous improvement.
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Frontline-friendly mobile-first design: Because Oak is built to support deskless and hourly-paid workers, it’s especially suitable for retail, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics, sectors where many employees don’t work at desks.
For organisations where “reach, adoption, inclusivity and ease” matter as much (or more) than raw flexibility or deep document-workflow power — Oak Engage offers a uniquely balanced, modern intranet and engagement platform for hybrid workforces.
Oak Engage vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Oak Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Made for frontline + hybrid workers | SharePoint is desktop-first; Oak delivers a real employee app with push notifications and offline access. |
| Better comms + engagement | Oak includes targeted comms, social features, and crisis tools out-of-the-box. |
| Fastest deployment | Works immediately without requiring SharePoint architecture or IT teams. |
| Built-in personalisation | SharePoint requires custom development for targeted content. |
| Higher adoption | Modern UX dramatically improves engagement across all workforce types. |
2. Unily — A Polished SharePoint Alternative for Large Enterprises
Features
Unily is a premium employee experience platform that enables organisations to build high-end intranets, internal communication hubs and digital workplaces. It offers multilingual publishing, drag-and-drop page building, strong Microsoft 365 integrations and a flexible design system for branded intranet experiences. The platform includes structured content management, social capabilities, communities and global content governance designed for large, complex enterprises.
Strengths
Unily’s strengths lie in its enterprise readiness, visual sophistication and ability to support global-scale structures without the operational burden often associated with SharePoint. It allows non-technical teams to update pages, publish content and manage campaigns without calling IT. With advanced analytics, personalisation and multi-brand or multi-region capabilities, Unily suits organisations that need both governance and creativity in equal measure.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
Unily removes the architectural complexity that makes SharePoint deployments slow, expensive, and heavily reliant on technical teams. Its no-code publishing tools empower communications and HR teams to build and distribute content quickly, while its modern design system produces intranets that look and feel far more engaging than traditional SharePoint sites. For large enterprises that need design flexibility and ease of use, Unily is a strong contender.
Unily vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Unily Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Modern, branded UX | SharePoint templates are rigid; Unily offers fully customised experiences. |
| No-code publishing | Empowers comms teams without IT dependency. |
| Enterprise governance | Easier multi-brand and multi-region management. |
| Better analytics | Focuses on engagement, not just document usage. |
| Reduced IT reliance | Removes the architectural burden of SharePoint. |
3. Staffbase — A SharePoint Alternative Built for Internal Communications
Features
Staffbase is a communication-first platform that helps organisations deliver consistent, personalised, mobile-ready internal messaging. It includes a strong employee app, content automation, comms planning tools, email campaign capabilities and structured publishing workflows. Its integration with Microsoft 365 allows organisations to surface SharePoint content within a more modern and engaging front-end experience.
Strengths
Staffbase’s strengths are rooted in editorial control and communication excellence. Its planning calendars, approvals and multi-step workflows allow communication teams to run structured campaigns across large organisations. The mobile experience is particularly strong, with push notifications, video updates, social engagement and light community features, all areas where SharePoint’s mobile UX is limited.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
SharePoint is not purpose-built for internal communications; Staffbase is. Organisations choose Staffbase when they need an effective way to reach large, distributed, frontline or hybrid workforces with time-sensitive or high-impact messaging. While SharePoint’s communication tools require heavy configuration or add-ons, Staffbase delivers them out of the box.
Staffbase vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Staffbase Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Communication-first | SharePoint is document-first, limiting comms impact. |
| Strong employee app | Reaches frontline workers far better than SharePoint. |
| Editorial workflows | Includes planning calendars and approvals built for comms teams. |
| Analytics designed for messaging | Tracks reach and readership, not just page views. |
| Fast to deploy | No complex SharePoint architecture required. |
4. Happeo — A Lightweight Alternative for Google Workspace Organisations
Features
Happeo is a social intranet platform tailored for companies using Google Workspace. It combines pages, channels, knowledge bases and search into a modern, lightweight digital workplace. Happeo lets teams publish updates, share resources, hold discussions and search across both Google Drive and Happeo content in one interface.
Strengths
Happeo’s major strength is simplicity. Deployment is fast, the interface is intuitive, and the reliance on IT is minimal. It offers social features such as feeds, comments and channels that create a sense of community functionalities that require extensive SharePoint configuration. Happeo also improves resource discovery through unified Google and intranet search.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
For Google Workspace organisations, SharePoint is a poor fit. It feels redundant, creates duplication and forces teams into a Microsoft ecosystem they aren’t using. Happeo, on the other hand, aligns directly with their workflow and delivers a modern experience without the architectural complexity of SharePoint.
Happeo vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Happeo Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Best for Google Workspace | Avoids forcing SharePoint into Google-first environments. |
| Easier deployment | Launches in days, not months. |
| More social + collaborative | Feels like a modern workspace, not a document library. |
| Unified search | Better visibility across Drive + intranet. |
| Higher adoption | Employees actually engage with it. |
5. LumApps — A Premium Alternative for Global Comms & Knowledge Management
Features
LumApps is an enterprise intranet and experience platform that integrates deeply with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. It offers structured knowledge management, advanced personalisation, multilingual support and a high-quality content publishing experience. It also includes communities, video publishing, and a strong governance model for distributed teams.
Strengths
LumApps excels in global-scale communication and structured content delivery. Its personalisation engine ensures employees receive only the information relevant to them — without requiring the complex configuration normally associated with SharePoint. It delivers a modern user experience across desktop and mobile, driving higher adoption and engagement.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
LumApps is chosen by organisations that find SharePoint’s UX outdated, its governance complicated and its personalisation difficult to maintain. LumApps offers these capabilities natively, with a cleaner interface and less IT involvement. It's especially effective for hybrid and global organisations seeking a modern, communications-first intranet.
LumApps vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why LumApps Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Better comms + targeting | Personalisation is built-in, not custom-coded. |
| Strong hybrid workforce support | Easier delivery across global locations. |
| More modern UX | Higher adoption vs SharePoint’s rigid experience. |
| Dual Microsoft + Google integration | Not tied to one ecosystem. |
| Easier knowledge management | Governance without SharePoint’s complexity. |
6. Simpplr — A Modern Intranet Focused on Employee Experience
Features
Simpplr is an employee experience platform designed to simplify intranet management and drive higher engagement across organisations. Its feature set includes personalised dashboards, AI-powered content recommendations, dynamic news feeds, policy management, and intuitive site creation tools. Simpplr integrates with major enterprise tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Workday and ServiceNow, making it a central hub for both communication and knowledge sharing.
Strengths
Simpplr is known for strong governance, clean user experience, and powerful employee engagement capabilities. Its AI recommendations surface relevant content automatically, reducing information overload that often plagues SharePoint. Simpplr’s analytics suite is particularly strong, providing deep visibility into content engagement, sentiment and workforce communication patterns. For organisations wanting to deliver a compelling employee experience without complex configuration, Simpplr is a strong fit.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
Simpplr delivers a turnkey intranet experience, whereas SharePoint requires extensive architecture, design work and IT support. Its modern UI, strong personalisation and built-in governance outperform SharePoint’s document-heavy model. Organisations choose Simpplr when they want quicker deployment, better engagement and cleaner user experience with far less ongoing overhead.
Simpplr vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Simpplr Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Cleaner, modern UX | Higher adoption and easier navigation. |
| AI content recommendations | SharePoint lacks built-in intelligence. |
| Out-of-the-box governance | Reduces need for SharePoint consultants. |
| Stronger analytics | Measures engagement, not only file usage. |
| Faster implementation | No complex site architecture required. |
7. Interact Software — A Fully Featured Intranet Alternative
Features
Interact Software provides a robust intranet platform centered around personalised communication, content publishing and knowledge management. It includes a powerful CMS, social features, workflows, a people directory, and enterprise search. Interact integrates with Microsoft 365 and other major enterprise tools, enabling organisations to bring documents, resources and apps into a single digital workplace experience.
Strengths
Interact excels in content management and discovery. Its search engine, relevance ranking and content intelligence capabilities significantly outperform SharePoint’s default search experience. Interact’s pre-built templates and widgets help teams create sophisticated pages without technical skills. Its built-in analytics and feedback tools also give organisations strong insight into content performance and employee engagement.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
SharePoint’s search experience and content discovery often receive poor user feedback, especially in large organisations with sprawling libraries. Interact solves this by prioritising findability and intuitive navigation. It also reduces dependence on IT by giving communicators no-code tools to manage pages, news and knowledge — making it easier to maintain than SharePoint long-term.
Interact vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Interact Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Superior enterprise search | Easier to find documents and people. |
| No-code content creation | Less reliance on technical teams. |
| Better navigation & structure | More intuitive for employees. |
| Strong analytics | Engagement-first insights vs SharePoint’s limited metrics. |
| Faster rollout | Less architecture work required. |
8. MangoApps — A Unified Digital Workplace for Frontline Teams
Features
MangoApps combines intranet, communication, collaboration and workflow tools into one unified platform. It includes team hubs, news feeds, file sharing, social intranet features, digital forms, task management and a strong mobile app. It is designed to replace multiple disconnected tools and provide a central digital workplace for both deskless and office-based employees.
Strengths
MangoApps shines in accessibility and workforce connectivity. Its mobile app is robust, making it a strong solution for distributed or frontline-heavy organisations. The platform includes built-in collaboration tools, including chat, project spaces and knowledge wikis, which go beyond SharePoint’s traditional document-based model. MangoApps also offers significant configuration flexibility, allowing organisations to customise modules based on workforce needs.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
SharePoint is not optimised for frontline workers or organisations wanting an all-in-one collaboration + communication experience. MangoApps solves both problems with a modern, social intranet experience backed by a unified suite of communication and productivity tools. It’s a strong alternative for organisations seeking simplicity, mobility and multi-tool consolidation.
MangoApps vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why MangoApps Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Superior mobile support | Ideal for frontline and distributed workers. |
| Unified toolset | Combines chat, tasks, wikis, intranet and more. |
| Social and collaborative | More engaging than SharePoint’s static design. |
| Flexible modular setup | Easier to tailor without heavy IT work. |
| Better for fast-moving teams | More agile than SharePoint's document-centric model. |
9. Igloo Software — A Flexible, Scalable SharePoint Alternative
Features
Igloo Software is a digital workplace platform that helps organisations create structured intranets, knowledge bases and communication hubs. It features team spaces, wikis, forums, policy management, workflows and integrations with Microsoft 365. Igloo is modular, enabling organisations to deploy only the components they need while maintaining strong governance and structure.
Strengths
Igloo is particularly strong in knowledge management and structured content delivery. It provides purpose-built templates for policies, onboarding, support hubs and knowledge centres, making it easier to create organised spaces without SharePoint’s architectural complexity. Igloo’s community features and collaboration tools are also stronger than SharePoint’s default social capabilities.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
SharePoint requires internal experts or developers to build structured content systems and intuitive navigation. Igloo simplifies this by offering ready-made frameworks that reduce the need for complex configuration. It is easier to maintain, more flexible for non-technical teams and provides a cleaner, more engaging user experience.
Igloo vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Igloo Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Structured templates | Easier to build policy hubs and knowledge centres. |
| More social & collaborative | Stronger community features out of the box. |
| Less configuration required | Lower IT dependency than SharePoint. |
| Easier to navigate | Cleaner UX for large organisations. |
| Faster adoption | Less friction for everyday users. |
10. Haiilo — A Modern Employee Communications Alternative
Features
Haiilo (formerly COYO + Smarp) is an employee communications platform offering news distribution, social intranet features, employee advocacy and personalised content delivery. Its focus on user-friendly communication makes it suitable for hybrid and distributed organisations that need to connect employees across multiple locations and roles.
Strengths
Haiilo excels in delivering targeted, engaging content with strong mobile support. It combines internal comms tools with social intranet capabilities, making it easy for employees to engage with updates, contribute content and build community. The platform’s analytics help track reach and sentiment — areas in which SharePoint struggles.
Why It’s Better Than SharePoint
Haiilo provides a far more engaging communication experience than SharePoint’s static pages and document libraries. Its personalised news feeds, strong mobile experience and social features make it well-suited for organisations wanting to improve connection and culture. Compared to SharePoint, Haiilo requires significantly less technical support and delivers higher employee adoption.
Haiilo vs SharePoint — Quick Comparison
| Why Haiilo Is Better Than SharePoint | Summary |
|---|---|
| Stronger internal comms | SharePoint lacks engagement-first tools. |
| Better mobile experience | Ideal for hybrid and frontline teams. |
| Social intranet features | Encourages interaction and connection. |
| Easier to manage | Less technical overhead than SharePoint. |
| Higher adoption | More intuitive for everyday users. |
Which SharePoint alternative is best?
SharePoint remains a powerful document management system, but it struggles as a modern employee experience platform, especially for frontline and hybrid workers. Businesses increasingly need communication-first, personalised, mobile-ready intranets that employees actually want to use.
If your workforce is distributed or relies heavily on mobile, SharePoint’s traditional model falls short.
Here’s the strategic takeaway:
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Choose Oak Engage if you want the strongest communication, engagement and mobile experience, especially for frontline teams.
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Choose Unily if you need a visually polished, enterprise-scale intranet with advanced branding requirements.
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Choose Staffbase if your priority is structured internal communication and editorial control.
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Choose Happeo if your organisation is Google Workspace-first.
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Choose LumApps if you need global-scale personalisation and multilingual governance.
For most organisations looking to replace SharePoint with a more intuitive, high-adoption platform, Oak Engage delivers the best balance of usability, engagement, communication power and workforce reach.
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FAQs About SharePoint Alternatives
1. Why would a company look for a SharePoint alternative?
Because sometimes you just want to upload a document without feeling like you’re defusing a bomb. Many organisations crave simpler tools that don’t require IT degrees, archaeology skills, or decoding ancient permission structures left behind by employees who quit in 2017.
2. Is SharePoint really that complicated?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeees.
SharePoint is powerful, but its power often comes wrapped in nested menus, settings hidden behind settings, and a “modern experience” that occasionally feels like it’s still in therapy from the classic version.
3. Are SharePoint alternatives actually easier to use?
In most cases, yes. Many modern platforms are designed so that normal humans—not full-time SharePoint administrators—can build pages, share content, and collaborate without accidentally breaking the entire site collection.
4. Will switching from SharePoint save us money?
Possibly. It depends on your organisation’s needs. But if your current setup requires five admins, a consultant, and weekly sacrifices to the SharePoint gods just to keep things running, the odds are in your favour.
5. Can we migrate our SharePoint content to these alternatives?
Absolutely. Most alternative platforms offer migration tools—some even promise migrations without heartbreak, tears, or mysterious “orphaned items” that follow you like digital ghosts.
6. Do SharePoint alternatives support remote and hybrid teams better?
Many do. Modern platforms tend to prioritise simplicity, engagement, and mobile usability—so your employees can find what they need without sending a “Where is the thing?” message on Teams every 30 minutes.
7. Will employees actually use the new platform?
That’s the dream. And with tools that look good, behave sensibly, and don’t demand ritualistic training sessions, adoption rates are typically much higher than with traditional intranets.
8. Does choosing an alternative mean ditching Microsoft 365 completely?
Not at all! Most alternatives happily integrate with Microsoft 365. You can keep using Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive—just without SharePoint being the back-end chaos goblin of your digital workplace.
9. What’s the biggest advantage of switching?
You get a platform that feels modern, intuitive, and… dare we say… pleasant to use. You’ll spend less time troubleshooting and more time doing actual work—or drinking coffee while pretending to.
10. How do we choose the right SharePoint alternative?
Start with your needs: communication, intranet, collaboration, document management, or all of the above. Then pick the tool that fits without requiring 19 custom workflows, a developer, and your will to live.
