Atlassian’s Confluence is one of the most popular knowledge management platforms.
It counts over 60,000 customers and is used by around 43,000 websites.
Why do people use Confluence?
People use Confluence for various reasons, stemming from its core concept of “spaces” which helps organize departments and cross-functional projects.
Instead of storing work documents in separate platforms like Word or Google Docs, Confluence allows users to create shared “pages” within the platform, automatically integrating them into the team’s workspace.
It supports diverse types of content needed by teams, including technical documentation, knowledge bases, intranets, and agile software projects.
By having everyone use Confluence, organizations can consolidate all their projects and assets in a central location, making content discovery and search more efficient.
Confluence integrates seamlessly with JIRA, Atlassian’s issue tracking software, enhancing project management capabilities.
Additionally, Confluence can be utilized alongside other Atlassian products like Trello (task management software) and Bamboo (Continuous Integration and Deployment Build Server) to create an interconnected workflow.
- Collaborative: Confluence allows multiple users to work on the same document at the same time, and it provides a variety of tools for collaboration, such as comments, chat, and file sharing. This makes it a great way to share knowledge and information within an organization.
- Scalable: Confluence can be scaled to meet the needs of any team, from small businesses to large enterprises. This makes it a good option for organizations that are growing or that need to be able to handle a large volume of knowledge.
- Secure: Confluence is a secure platform that uses industry-standard encryption to protect your data. This makes it a good option for organizations that need to protect sensitive information.
However, Confluence may not be for everyone. Whether it’s due to features or budget, you may need an alternative knowledge management solution.
Take this Confluence review for example:
“…if you have ever built a website before it is extremely frustrating to use some of the limited or half functions that never do quite what you want or require too much fiddling to do something simple…”
Okay, maybe time for another solution? Check out this comparison chart of top tools plus other solutions below.
| Confluence | Guru | Slite | Tettra | ||||
| Ease of Use | 7.9 | 9.1 | 9.4 | 9.1 | |||
| Ease of Setup | 7.9 | 8.8 | 9.4 | 9.7 | |||
| Ease of Admin | 7.9 | 8.9 | 9.2 | 9.1 | |||
| Quality of Support | 8.0 | 9.3 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
What are the best alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?
1. Tettra
Tettra is an internal knowledge base, wiki and knowledge management solution in one.
It is an AI-powered knowledge management system that helps you curate important company information into a knowledge base, use it to answer repetitive questions in Slack and MS Teams and keep it up-to-date, organized, and complete with automation.
It is the top choice when you’re looking for knowledge management similar to Confluence.
Switch to an easier Confluence alternative ➡️
Tettra has a question and answers feature, as well as content verification which keeps knowledge base content up-to-date.
One standout feature that Confluence lacks is Tettra’s ability to designate “knowledge experts”, who can serve as the resident expert for certain topics.
“We recognized Google Docs wouldn’t scale for us. We really wanted to evaluate what our teams needed to succeed, and it became clear they needed one place to find all of the information [they needed]…Tettra had a great mix of features. It was just powerful enough and just simple enough to meet our needs.”
Kristina Getty, Director of Accelerator Operations at TechStars
Based on a G2 comparison, reviewers found that Tettra was easier to set up, use, and administer. It also scored higher for templates, permissions, and technical support.
Tettra boasts a 4.6 / 5 star rating compared with Confluence’s 4.1 stars.
What are the pros to using Tettra instead of Confluence?
- Simplified and User-Friendly Interface: Tettra positions itself as an easier alternative to platforms like Confluence. It stands out for its simplicity and user-friendly interface. Users can create and manage knowledge bases without the need for extensive technical expertise. This aspect makes it accessible to a wide range of users within your organization.
- Great Integrations with Other Tools: Tettra offers seamless integration with popular tools such as Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub. This integration allows users to maintain their established workflows while leveraging Tettra’s knowledge management capabilities. By bringing together these platforms, Tettra streamlines processes and enhances collaboration.
- Powerful AI Search Functionality: The built-in search engine enables users to quickly locate the information they need without wasting time sifting through unrelated content. Now with AI-powered search, users can ask a question in natural language and get an instant answer from your knowledge base, including a reference page.
- Clean and Intuitive Interface: Tettra’s platform boasts a clean and intuitive interface. This aspect enhances user engagement and contributes to more effective knowledge sharing within your organization. A visually appealing interface incentivizes users to actively participate in knowledge management activities, ultimately improving the overall knowledge sharing culture.
Cons:
- Lacks support for forums / discussion boards
- Limited document formatting
- Super simple — may be limiting for some teams
- Lack of intense customization
Pricing:
- Basic Plan: $5 per user/month
- Scaling: $10 per user/month with AI features
- Professional: $15 per user/month
Click here to check out Tettra as your Confluence alternative.
2. You Need a Wiki
This add-on for Google Drive provides a Wiki-style navigation interface for Google docs. Compared to all the other Confluence alternatives on this list, YNAW is unique in that it is simply an add-on for the Google Drive API.
You Need A Wiki (YNAW) quickly integrates with Google Drive to bring wiki-style functionality to your documents. As an add-on for Google Docs, it offers a user-friendly and efficient way to create a wiki-style website.
To get started with YNAW, all you need is access to Google Docs. Simply invite the users you want to collaborate with by sharing the YNAW document with them, just like you would with any shared file or folder on Google Drive.
Once you have set up YNAW, it provides numerous advantages. Firstly, it allows anyone with access to the Google Docs document to easily update or edit the content of the wiki-style website. This means that multiple users can contribute to the wiki, enabling collaborative knowledge sharing. YNAW is designed to complement and enhance the features of Google Drive.
While Google Drive offers powerful editing capabilities, YNAW overcomes some of its limitations when it comes to searching for content. The add-on provides an intuitive and efficient search functionality, making it easy to find and navigate through the information in your wiki.
The advantages of using this are quick setup and no need for onboarding. It also does away with the cumbersome UI and learning curves of most other software, thanks to its intuitive design. YNAW provides you with a powerful search function for your Google Drive.
What are the pros of using You Need A Wiki instead of Confluence?
- Integrates with the Google Drive API, making it a time-saving solution. There is no need for a lengthy onboarding process as it works directly with the existing Google Drive setup.
- The YNAW interface is pretty easy to navigate, similar to the official Google products, ensuring a smooth transition for users.
- Searching for content on You Need a Wiki is made simpler and more efficient, enhancing productivity and saving valuable time.
Cons:
- Limited to Google Drive
- Not great if your information is scattered all over the place
3. Nuclino
Containing both an internal knowledge base and wiki solution, Nuclino is renowned for its clean interface and intuitive navigation, two major criticisms of Confluence. Another good feature is its real-time editing support, enabling multiple users to work on the same document without missing progress like Confluence.
One notable feature of Nuclino is its ability to function as a simple intranet, as it allows you to create a customizable homepage where you can house important documentation for onboarding purposes. This enhances team communication and ensures that everyone has access to the necessary information right from the start.
Projects within Nuclino are organized into “workspaces,” which can be created for specific projects or departments. These workspaces can be set as either public or private depending on the nature of the content. This provides flexibility in managing who can access and contribute to the various workspaces within the platform.
Another advantage that makes Nuclino a popular alternative to Confluence is its affordability. By eliminating some unnecessary features found in Confluence, Nuclino offers a more budget-friendly pricing model without compromising on essential functionalities. This makes it an attractive choice for teams looking for a cost-effective collaboration tool.
While it does not possess the same number of features as Confluence, it does offer a streamlined package that focuses on the essentials of wiki creation, collaboration, and internal KMS.
This gives it a 4.7 out of 5 stars rating on G2.
All these make it a good “Confluence lite” replacement, without the unnecessary features and steep learning curve.
What are the pros to using Nuclino instead of Confluence?
- Visual Work: Nuclino allows you to work visually and structure your data using a mind map format. This alternative to Confluence is popular among users who prefer a more visual approach rather than a traditional list format.
- Cost-effective: Nuclino is known for its affordability, making it an attractive alternative to Confluence. It offers a friendly pricing model by eliminating unnecessary features, resulting in a budget-friendly option for teams and organizations.
- Board View: Nuclino offers a board view, which allows you to emulate a Kanban board. This feature is particularly useful for engineering teams or those who prefer a visual representation of their workflow.
- User-Friendly: Combining the ease of use found in Google Drive with the wiki-style capabilities of Confluence, Nuclino provides a user-friendly interface. It offers a straightforward way to track tasks and facilitates instant messaging among team members.
- File Attachments: Nuclino allows you to attach files directly within the interface. This feature streamlines collaboration by keeping all relevant files and information within a centralized location, reducing the need for external file-sharing platforms.
Cons:
- Limited widgets compared to Confluence
- No access controls for individual folders or pages
- No Excel integration, only Google Sheets
4. Helpjuice
This KMS-specific solution boasts a design-heavy editor that allows you to modify the typeface, palette and layout to match your organization’s branding. Unlike Confluence, Helpjuice supports Chromebook OS, as well as in person and live online training.
One of its standout features is its flexibility. Apart from corporate branding, it can be used as an internal knowledge base or as an external customer knowledge resource. It also prides itself on near-instantaneous technical support, which is reflected in its 4.2 out of 5 rating on G2.
How can Helpjuice be a good alternative to Confluence?
Unlike Confluence, Helpjuice allows users to quickly adapt to the platform, making it accessible for all team members from the start. It offers a lot of customization possibilities, giving users the ability to tailor their knowledge base to suit their specific needs and brand aesthetic. Another major advantage of Helpjuice is its ability to streamline article creation, enabling teams to write content at double the speed compared to other platforms like Confluence.
In turn, this increased efficiency leads to a reduction in customer support tickets as the knowledge base becomes more comprehensive and accessible.
What are the pros of using Helpjuice instead of Confluence?
- Helpjuice user-friendly interface, which allows anyone to quickly and easily work with the software. This means that even employees who are not technically inclined can start utilizing Helpjuice right away, without requiring extensive training or IT support.
Cons:
- Lacking in integrations
- Multimedia search can be challenging to use
- Pricing plan may not be suitable for smaller organizations
5. Guru
Guru is a cloud-based knowledge management solution designed to help teams capture and share information within their organization. It is a great alternative to Confluence for teams seeking a more focused knowledge management and collaboration solution.
Guru offers a range of features to help teams capture, share, and manage knowledge across their organization. Users can create and organize knowledge cards with important information and updates and easily share them with team members through the platform’s Chrome extension, Slack integration, and web app. The platform also includes AI-powered suggestions to help users quickly find relevant knowledge cards.
G2 Comparison Chart
While Guru offers a powerful solution for capturing and sharing knowledge within teams, its AI-powered suggestion engine may only sometimes surface the most relevant information. Its lack of customizable templates may limit its flexibility for certain use cases.
What are the pros to using Guru instead of Confluence?
- AI-powered suggestions: Guru’s AI-powered suggestion engine automatically surfaces relevant knowledge cards to help users find the information they need quickly.
- Chrome extension: Guru’s Chrome extension allows users to access knowledge cards without leaving their workflow, making it easy to get the information they need when they need it.
- Slack integration: Guru’s Slack integration allows users to search and share knowledge cards directly within Slack, making it easy to collaborate and share information with team members.
6. Slite
Slite is like the Slack of internal wikis and is a company knowledge base. Documents are organized in channels that can be set to public or private, and channels with new posts are highlighted in bold.
One standout feature is the company wiki template. Instead of building your wiki from scratch, Slite provides an example of what your wiki could look like, guiding you along the way as you structure it. Its UI and design are top-notch for that reason. Documents can be worked with the collaboration editor that also tracks revisions and restores previous versions.
What are the pros to using Slite over Confluence?
- Targeted Solution: Slite is specifically designed for distributed small to medium-sized businesses.
- User-Friendly Interface: Features a sleek editor that’s easy to use with drag-and-drop capabilities.
- Cost-Effectiveness: More affordable option for teams with basic needs.
- Speedy Collaboration: Offers blazing-fast collaboration tools, such as a collaborative editor and comments.
Cons:
- No API support
- Lacks cataloging / categorization functionality
7. Bloomfire
Bloomfire has an AI-powered search function that can transcribe videos, especially useful for organizations that have a lot of AV resources. The transcription can then be indexed and searched down to specific words or phrases within the video. It can also index every single word in all your documents and automatically generate tags to optimize them for search.
Another notable feature is bulk import and export, useful for weeding out outdated or irrelevant content.
What are the pros to using Bloomfire instead of Confluence?
- Purpose-Built for Knowledge Management: Bloomfire is specifically designed to help users capture, share, find, and expand on knowledge within an organization.
- Centralized Knowledge: It centralizes a company’s collective knowledge and makes all content searchable.
- Social Engagement Features: Includes tools that encourage engagement such as the ability to comment, like, share, and follow posts.
- Content Organization: Content can be organized in various ways including posts, questions, series, and feeds, with the aid of configurable categories and filters.
- Ease of Use: The platform is intuitive and requires minimal training, likening its search capabilities to using Google.
- Advanced Search Engine: Bloomfire’s search engine can search across 29 file types, including automatic transcription of video and audio files.
Cons:
- Search function can be challenging to use
- No free version, expensive
Price
- Starts at $25/user per month for a multi-year subscription
8. Notion
Notion is a sleek KMS noted for its ease of use. It supports drag and drop, page nesting, and mentions. Additionally, you can embed over 50 apps inside your Notion documents, turning your wiki into your company’s go-to-source for all types of knowledge. Finally, you can assign tasks and due dates to users, making it a wiki and project management tool in one.
What are the pros to using Notion instead of Confluence for knowledge management?
- Flexibility and Customization: Notion allows for extensive customization and the creation of a variety of documents, including wikis, databases, and project plans, providing more options than Confluence.
- Third-Party Integrations: It integrates with a wide range of third-party services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Slack, which may offer a better fit for teams using a variety of apps.
- Mobile Application: Notion provides a native mobile app, allowing for access to documents and projects on the go, which can enhance productivity and is beneficial for teams with remote members.
- Efficient Content Organization: The ability to create and embed sub-pages within documents aids in efficient content organization and allows for the building of scalable information architecture
Cons:
- Free plan is only for personal use, less scalable
- Overwhelming optionality – can be a productivity vampire
- No draft mode and publishing workflow
9. Zoho Wiki
Zoho Wiki is an internal knowledge management software renowned for its rich text editor and extensive customization. It uses workspaces, which act like mini wikis. Each has its own admin controls, formatting and customization options.
What Confluence lacks in its word processing features, Zoho more than makes up for with its formatting support. And like Helpjuice, it can be extensively personalized for corporate branding. These features give it a 4.1 out of 5 G2 rating.
Notable weaknesses include a lack of templates as well as no built-in reports.
What are the pros to using Zoho Wiki instead of Confluence?
- Integration with Zoho Suite: Zoho Wiki is part of the Zoho Office Suite, allowing for seamless integration with other Zoho products such as Zoho Projects, Zoho CRMs, Zoho Books, etc., which can be particularly beneficial for users already within the Zoho ecosystem.
- Focused on Essential Features: While it may not have as rich a feature set as Confluence, Zoho Wiki focuses on essential functionalities like custom branding, advanced access management, and a WYSIWYG editor, which can be sufficient for teams looking for straightforward knowledge management tools.
- Cost-Effective: It offers a free plan for up to 3 users and has an affordable paid plan, making it a good option for freelancers, small teams, or individuals seeking a budget-friendly alternative to Confluence.
Cons:
- Lack of templates
- No built-in reports
- Mobile version is quite clunky to use
10. Wiki.js
Wiki.js is an open source wiki platform is built on Node.js and is a favorite among devs. This is because it can save content directly as .md files and it can be synced directly with the organization’s Git repository.
Another noteworthy feature is its security focus. It supports local authentication, social authentication, enterprise authentication, and two-factor authentications for peace of mind. Beyond its dev-focused underpinnings, the interface is highly customizable, allowing personalized admin area and wiki looks.
Best of all, it’s free!
What are the pros to using Wiki.js instead of Confluence?
- Open-Source Platform: Wiki.js is open-source, making it free to use and allowing users to view and modify the source code to customize and extend the platform according to their specific needs.
- Diverse Authentication Strategies: Supports various authentication methods, including social and enterprise authentication, compatible with protocols like LDAP, SAML, CAS, Auth0, Okta, Azure AD, and more.
- Advanced Text Editor and Integration: Wiki.js has a highly advanced text editor supporting formats like Markdown, AsciiDoc, and raw HTML, along with over 50+ integrations for analytics, search, storage, and more.
- Flexibility and User-Friendly Interface: It is built on modern web technologies like Node.js and PostgreSQL, offering high flexibility, scalability, and a clean, modern user interface that is intuitive to use.
Cons:
- No database like Confluence
- Clunky navigation boxes
- Content collaboration features are weaker compared to Confluence
11. Google Drive
Google Drive is a widely utilized cloud-based file storage platform offered by Google. It has gained immense popularity due to its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Google products. When compared to Confluence, Google Drive offers a simpler approach to file storage by adopting the familiar structure of a traditional file storage system. However, it provides more extensive collaboration options.
One significant distinction between Google Drive and Confluence lies in their approach to collaboration. With Confluence, users often need to email different versions of a file to collaborators. In contrast, Google Drive allows for seamless collaboration within its interface, eliminating the need for multiple email exchanges. Users can work on files simultaneously, make real-time edits, and communicate through an internal commenting system. This enhances productivity and streamlines the collaborative process.
In terms of file types, Google Drive provides its own versions of Microsoft Office file types, such as Google Sheets (Excel), Google Docs (Word), and Google Slides (PowerPoint).
While these versions may not possess the same level of power as their Office counterparts, they offer sufficient functionality for most users’ needs. Moreover, Google Drive provides additional software like Google Forms for creating surveys and Google Sites for website creation. All files, including these specialized formats, are stored within Google Drive.
One of the primary advantages of using Google Drive is its efficient access management system. Users can easily manage access and permissions for files and folders. It is also possible to create teams within Google Drive, enabling collaborative creation, access, and editing of documents.
Another notable difference between Google Drive and Confluence is the feature set. While Confluence offers more extensive collaboration software capabilities, Google Drive focuses on simplicity. It is primarily designed for teams collaborating on shared documents rather than serving as a knowledge base for public-facing information.
Google’s backup and sync function can occasionally be unpredictable, and accidental deletion of files and folders on a user’s computer also deletes the corresponding files in Google Drive. Therefore, users need to exercise caution to avoid accidental data loss.
What are the pros to using Google Drive as a Confluence alternative?
- Easy handling of access and permissions, including the creation of teams for individual drives to collaborate on document creation, access, and editing.
- Files are automatically backed up and version-controlled, ensuring that data loss is prevented.
- Every Google Drive account comes with free space of up to 15GB.
Cons:
- Sluggish upload and download speeds even with a high-speed Wi-Fi connection
- Bulk uploading or downloading large files can be challenging
- The storage capacity for Google Drive is shared with Gmail and if you receive emails with numerous attachments, your available space can quickly diminish.
12. Document360
A standalone knowledge base tool, Document360 is designed for creating internal knowledge bases or self-service bases. It prides itself on its user-friendly interface and easy to use search.
Notable features include IP address restriction, localization, and in-depth analytics. However, the pricing is quite expensive since it’s charged per knowledge base.
What are the pros to using Document360 instead of Confluence?
- Ease of Use: It is user-friendly, simplifying the creation, updating, and organizing of articles.
- Supportive Customer Service: The support team is responsive and helpful in deploying new functionalities and during transitions.
- Robust Knowledge Base: Document360 is robust yet easy to maintain, offering a Knowledge Base as a Service that is efficient in designing and creating documentation.
- Intuitive UI: The user interface is highly praised for its ease of use and the platform is ready for customization straight out of the box.
- Good Authoring Tools: Offers excellent tools for content authoring and a customizable user interface.
- Versatility in Documentation: It is capable of managing a wide range of technical documentation, converting entire libraries into a searchable, online knowledge center
Cons:
- Lacking in integrations
- Expensive
Pricing
- Starts at $99/month for 2 team accounts and 1 knowledge base
- Additional $19/month for each team account, and $39/month for additional knowledge bases
Should You Consider a Confluence Alternative?
Confluence is a wiki software platform designed for knowledge management. It is the oldest wiki solution, having launched in 2004 but still remaining strong today.
Its popularity lies in its flexibility. The software includes an internal wiki, collaboration tools, and even a project management app. Confluence uses “spaces”, which are essentially workspaces for teams. Each space can house its own knowledge base, documents, project trackers, and more.
Problem 1: Unnecessary features
One of Confluence’s greatest strengths may also be its biggest drawback: too many features. Not all companies require the tools included in the suite, making it an expensive waste of resources, particularly for smaller to medium enterprises.
Problem 2: Steep learning curve
While Confluence’s UI may be familiar to IT professionals and users of Atlassian’s other products like JIRA, new users or non-technical people may find the interface and navigation a challenge.
Problem 3: No real-time view
When more than one person works on the same document or ticket, progress may be lost unless one user refreshes the page before contributing their own content. This lack of a real-time tracker or auto refresh function have resulted in loss of edits or work progress.
Problem 4: Lack of formatting features
Confluence’s word processor is severely limited. Complaints from users include poor page and column layouts, lack of styling options, bad implementation of numbered lists.
Problem 5: Cost
In 2021, Atlassian dropped support for customized solutions, forcing companies to purchase their all-in-one cloud solution. Confluence has four price tiers: free, standard, premium, and enterprise.
Finding the Right Confluence Alternative for You
When choosing a KMS solution, don’t just look at the top brands. It pays to do your homework, determine what your needs are, and which vendor best fits your requirements.
- Do you need an internal knowledge base, a customer self-help portal, or an all-around KMS suite?
- What about an AI-powered knowledge base like Tettra?
- How large is your team, and how much of the budget can you devote to knowledge management?
- Which product possesses the functions and integrations that are critical for your business?
Hopefully, our comprehensive list of Confluence alternatives can help you choose the right solution for your organization.