Looking for the best Confluence alternatives?
Atlassian’s Confluence is a wiki-style knowledge management system that lets you create and share content with your team.
It’s been around since 2004.
And as you guessed, much has changed since.
Confluence is no longer the complete project management solution it once promised to be. Its loyal users are now looking for alternatives.
And we have a few recommendations in this department.
In this article, we’ll give you the top five Confluence alternatives to help solve your project documentation and collaboration needs.
Limitations of Confluence
Most companies are familiar with the Confluence Cloud, Atlassian’s wiki collaborative tool. It allows your team to build a knowledge base that’s available to everyone in your organization.
However, Confluence isn’t perfect.
It becomes bloated, and Confluence users have never called it user-friendly. Add a steep price tag for big teams, and you have a collaboration tool that’s hard to justify for most users and businesses.
Additionally, Confluence is another separate work tool that doesn’t allow you to share docs publicly!
So flip over the Confluence page and explore…
5 Great Confluence Alternatives
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is the world’s highest-rated productivity tool on the market today.
Its kickass ‘Docs’ feature makes it the perfect knowledge management collaboration software for your remote team.
What’s more? You can always get started on its Forever Free plan to see for yourself!
Here’s why ClickUp’s Docs should be your No. 1 choice for your Docs and Wiki needs and why it’s the best Confluence alternative.
A) Docs are in the same place as your work
ClickUp allows you to store documents alongside everything else you work on!
Create Docs for each project or group of tasks to keep everything organized.
Each document lives with its relevant tasks at any level of your organization. This keeps Docs from crowding up your screen or becoming cluttered.
And if you have related Tasks, just link them to keep everything organized!
It’s organization at its finest!
B) Nested pages
Nested pages are essentially subsections in your Docs. You’re no longer working with one endless document.
You’ve broken it down into bite-sized chunks!
Additionally, with Collaborative Editing, you can work on these Docs alongside your team members. No more waiting for someone to finish up before adding your thoughts.
You can also nest documents inside other larger ones to create separations in your Docs. This makes your docs way more organized and easier to manage. So you can create a project plan Doc and store other documents within it as nested pages!
Sure, most wiki collaborative tools allow you to create nested pages for your Docs. But they make it ridiculously hard to do so. You’d instead just create a separate Doc!
However, ClickUp makes it unbelievably easy to manage nested Docs.
Users can add as many nested subsections to a document as they want to add a level of organization. Want to move a sub-section to a different page? Just drag and drop it to wherever you want!
And that’s not all.
You can label them, and they’ll show up in your sidebar under each document!
This helps you identify and manage these subsections directly!
C) Rich editing
Take it from anyone who’s had to read through long, monotonous passages; no formatting is the easiest way to make your docs un-memorable.
You need rich text formatting to call the readers’ attention to important points in the doc.
Sadly, you won’t get that with most Confluence alternatives.
You’ll get next to no text formatting options and be stuck with a rigid, impractical Doc.
But with ClickUp?
Format away!
Here are just some of the formatting options you get with ClickUp Docs.
- Multiple text style options such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on
- Text Alignment options
- Ability to add images to your text
- Ability to add links to your text
- Numbered, Bulleted, and Checklists
- Ability to add dividers to your document to separate sections
- A WYSIWYG editor that can create printable documents
Yup, everything you can do on a Google Doc!
But there’s also something we have that Google Docs doesn’t 😏.
If you’re on Google Docs and want to embed a Youtube video into your doc, you’re out of look. But with ClickUp, you can easily embed videos from sites like Youtube into your Doc to make it as comprehensive as possible.
D) Customizable Access Rights
Wiki tools are great places to store sensitive information, provided it’s in the right hands.
You can’t just let anyone see these Docs, right?
ClickUp gives you customizable access rights to help keep your Docs safe. You can share a document with everyone in your organization or share it with only a few team members.
You get complete control over who gets to see these documents!
ClickUp gives you numerous knowledge sharing options:
1. Shareable links (Anyone with the link can access)
You can create a public URL to your document that allows anyone to access your Doc. As this is a public link, anyone can access your Doc, even those who aren’t part of your ClickUp team.
Note: creating a public link doesn’t mean Google can index your document. You’ll have to choose that option separately.
2. Private Sharing
Alternatively, you can choose to share your document only with select individuals in your business. This helps when your document contains sensitive information that you don’t want everyone to see.
3. Public with Search engines (anyone can access your docs)
ClickUp also allows you to share a business doc with search engines like Google. This allows Google to index your Doc, and it’ll show up in Google searches!
Cool, right?
4. Private Documents
You can make a Doc completely private. This helps when you’re drafting a strategy or idea, and you don’t want anyone seeing it yet. Once you feel your drafts are ready, you can easily share files with everyone in your organization!
E) Conversations
Most wiki tools are a mess when it comes to collaboration on Docs. There’s no organization to it, and you’ll have comments strewn all over your page.
We’re all for team communication. But there’s got to be some order!
Luckily, ClickUp keeps conversations organized and straightforward. Your team can add comments to your Docs to share files, update team members, and even tag people for a revision needed!
This way, your comments are in relevant places, and you’re not scratching your head trying to figure out what’s going on.
ClickUp Pros:
- User-friendly interface with search functionality
- Easy to manage nested pages for each document
- Customizable access rights
- Supports real-time content collaboration on documents
- Multiple service integrations such as with Dropbox and Google Docs
- Multiple views for flexible task management
- Notepad to take down quick notes
- Annotation for various file formats like PDF, JPEG, PNG, etc.
- Mind Maps for visual planning
- Feature-rich free version
- Fully functional mobile app for iOS, Android, and desktop app for Apple, Microsoft, and Linux
ClickUp Cons:
- Can’t export Dashboards
ClickUp User Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 (1253 reviews)
G2Crowd: 4.6/5 (733 reviews)
2. Documize
Documize is an excellent knowledge base platform for your team. Here are a few collaboration features that make it a great open source Confluence alternative.
A) Good organizational capabilities
The Documize platform gives you loads of functionality to categorize your documents.
Users can file each document into its category and group related files together easily. Therefore, if you’re looking for resources on a particular topic, they’ll all be stored together.
B) Customizable access rights
Like ClickUp, Documize allows you to customize access rights every time you share files.
This solution has two benefits:
- You won’t have to worry about everyone in your company having access to sensitive business documents and any unauthorized file-sharing taking place
- By limiting what each employee can see, you’re giving them a cleaner interface to work with – it won’t be populated by documents that are irrelevant to them
C) Usage insights
Another powerful Documize feature is insights you get about documents you’ve uploaded.
Users have access to data about which documents are used most often, which ones are barely touched, and who’s been contributing to these documents.
If several team members keep revisiting a training doc, it indicates they’re struggling with the process, and you might need to find a solution to make the process clearer.
Or change the project management software!
Documize Pros:
- Support for real-time content collaboration on documents
- Detailed document insights
- Open source software unlike Confluence, which is proprietary software
Documize Cons:
- Paid plan starts at $75/month
- Initial walkthroughs need work as onboarding is difficult
- Developers may find it slightly hard to add a plugin to this open source framework
Documize User Reviews
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (7 reviews)
- G2Crowd: 4.6/5 (5 reviews)
3. Friyay.io
Friyay.io is another knowledge management and collaboration software that you can consider as a Confluence alternative. Here are a few reasons why it’s on this list.
A) Beautiful interface
The best thing about the Friyay app is how good it looks. It adopts a clean, minimalist approach to display notes.
Each document is stored as a card on your dashboard that’s easily accessible. This eliminates any navigation difficulties in finding your notes and file sharing.
B) Smart cards
Another great thing about the Friyay platform is how powerful each card can be.
Unlike many other tools that require you to store information on a standard blank page, Friyay gives you multiple templates to choose from.
You have over 25 different templates to choose from so that you find the perfect template for your information.
C) Customized views
Whether it’s a cup of coffee or knowledge databases, we all like stuff tailored to our needs.
(They better not mix up those orders!)
That’s why Friyay allows you to customize your dashboard and cards to suit your preferences.
You can move the cards around and create your own subsections to change how you view your dashboard.
Friyay Pros
- Customized views to suit personal preferences
- Multiple card templates for different notes
- Flexible pricing
Friyay Cons
- Not built for higher-order tasks
- Not too many categorization options
- More features than an average user needs
Friyay User Reviews
- Capterra: N/A
- G2Crowd: N/A
4. Slite
Slite is a good knowledge base software geared towards active team collaboration. Here’s why it’s on our list.
A) Easy setup
One of the best things about Slite is that it’s easy to set up. No complicated setup procedures or manual adjustments. You’ll be up and running in no time!
B) Active team collaboration
Slite’s team collaboration capabilities are its main calling card. Your team can easily communicate and share ideas on your docs.
You can:
- Add comments to any part of your document in a designated comment section to share ideas and information
- Tag team members using their ‘Mentions’ feature to notify them of something important
- See who’s active and collaborate with them on the document in real-time
C) Custom Permissions
Another great thing about Slite is that it allows you to choose who gets access to what.
You can control who has edit and view access to each of your documents. You can keep a document private or keep it entirely public. It’s up to you!
Slite can’t let Google index your documents, though. So you won’t be able to rank on Google as a result.
Slite Pros
- Easy to setup
- User-friendly interface
- Active team collaboration capabilities
Slite Cons
- Limited number of integrations
- Limited offline support
- No Google indexation
Slite User Reviews
- Capterra: 5/5 (25 reviews)
- G2Crowd: 4.7/5 (11 reviews)
5. Helpjuice
Helpjuice is a popular knowledge management solution and an Atlassian confluence alternative. With advanced features like branding and analytics, it’s no surprise that Helpjuice is one of the best-known tools on the market.
Let’s take a closer look at it.
A) Branding
Helpjuice is one of the few wiki tools that allow you to brand your documents. You can add your company name and logo to each doc. This makes your docs look far more professional!
Branding is important when your docs are publicly available. If your docs are branded, people will instantly recognize your company when they open any of your documents.
B) Analytics
Helpjuice offers you tons of helpful analytics to understand how your docs are being used.
You can analyze who’s viewing your docs, who contributes to them, which docs are being viewed more often. The list goes on!
C) Organizational capabilities
Helpjuice does a great job of organizing all your docs. You can easily label and find them using the search feature.
So, no more squinting at folders to find the document you were looking for!
One of the best things about Helpjuice is that you can keep a document in multiple folders simultaneously. For example, you can place a document on social media marketing in your marketing and PR folders!
You won’t have to keep shuffling between folders to find relevant docs!
Helpjuice Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Powerful analytics
- Branding options
Helpjuice Cons
- Expensive paid plans
- Limited integrations
- Initial setup is complicated
Helpjuice User Reviews
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (55 reviews)
- G2Crowd: 4.4/5 (5 reviews)
Why Wiki Tools Are Horrible For Project Planning and Management
Many companies use collaboration tools like Atlassian Confluence for action plans like project planning, product launches, meeting notes, and file sharing.
The problem with this strategy is that your team can’t map these action plans within Confluence itself.
Confluence only serves as a reference point. They’ll have to use another dedicated project management and collaboration software to map out these actions.
Think about it…
- Project management is a complex process that involves lots of overlaps. No single document can handle everything a modern team needs. Your team will have to switch between multiple docs on your wiki to try and piece things together
- You’ll have tons of reference docs stored on your knowledge management software that will be useless once you’ve finished a project or product launch
- All these project and product docs will add up and eat into your storage space, creating large, stagnant content silos
- They’ll clog up your collaboration tool’s interface, making it harder for people to reach any other project documentation they need
Why You Should Use ClickUp For Project Management
Using a dedicated project management software and collaboration tool like ClickUp is a far smarter choice than wiki tools.
Here are a few reasons.
1. Task Descriptions With Super Rich Editing
Wiki Tool Limitation: Too many tools
A wiki tool will never be powerful enough to manage an entire project plan. Your employees will have to go into your wiki tool, check what needs to be done, and then use another project management or collaboration tool to manage their to-dos!
Having to toggle between multiple tools is an unnecessary pain that will slow down your team’s workflow.
ClickUp Advantage: Unified Workspaces
ClickUp gives you unified Workspaces for all project and task-related activities. You can note down task descriptions with great detail, outlining what needs to be done.
As everything is in one place, your employees won’t have to look at other Workspaces or wiki docs to refer to detailed notes, plans, and instructions. They can carry out all their project-related activities inside ClickUp!
2. Clear Status Updates
Wiki Software Limitation: Unclear statuses
Most wiki tools don’t support status updates. It’s one reason tools like Confluence need to be used with a project management tool like Jira or Trello.
Because without one, you’d be dancing without choreography.
There’s no way to keep track of what’s going on!
Not always a fun thing to watch!
ClickUp Advantage: Custom Statuses
In ClickUp, you can set Custom Statuses for your projects. Be as detailed as you want here and use statuses like “Editorial Process” or “Client Review.”
Custom Statuses make it super easy to keep up with your projects and check whether tasks are on track to meet deadlines.
3. Commenting On Tasks
Wiki Software Limitation: No separate comment section
Most modern wiki tools allow team members to contribute to a document. Great.
However, there’s no separate section for these comments, so they’re all over your document instead.
Not so great.
As you have comments all over the place, your Doc will be incredibly messy!
Trying to work with such an impractical document isn’t a smart approach to task management.
ClickUp Advantage: Separate Comment Sections
ClickUp gives you a separate Comment Section for each task and subtask for easy team communication.
Your comments can include text, pictures, links, videos. It’s up to you!
Take a look at the screen recording below.
All the comments on a task are beautifully organized in their dedicated communication space on the right.
Looks great, right?
Your project description and task list will be neat and legible, making task management a breeze!
4. Assigned Comments
Wiki Software Limitation: Cannot address individuals
Contrary to what you may think, wiki software isn’t great for team communication.
You’ll have to individually notify each team member of what needs to be done and then follow-up to see if they’ve finished it.
You know what that’s going to look like?
However, that isn’t all. Even after notifying them, your team still has to go through long documents to find out where you’ve asked them a question or needed their insights.
Wiki app templates also cannot assign actions to team members. This is a massive problem when dealing with action plans.
Here’s a better way out.
ClickUp Advantage: Assigned Comments
ClickUp lets you assign comments to team members. This is a great way to assign individual tasks to people without worrying about bothering anyone else. The concerned person will receive notifications about these tasks and can take action on them right away!
As the Assigned Comments service functions as a task assignment of sorts, your team can mark a comment as resolved. This reduces the need of following up on anything.
5. Subtasks With Their Own Comments
Wiki Software Limitation: No space for subtasks
Trying to juggle subtasks is impossible on wiki collaboration software. That’s because these subtasks are often complex enough to need their own documents.
Unfortunately, you’ll overcrowd your workspace if you create separate docs for each subtask! Your team members are then forced to collaborate on large, impractical, and confusing project documentation instead.
ClickUp Advantage: Detailed Subtasks
ClickUp Subtasks can be as detailed as you want. You can add assignees, detailed task descriptions, due dates, and priorities to each Subtask in your project.
Every Subtask also has its Comment Section for your assignees to discuss ideas and collaborate over objectives!
This way, each Subtask has the individual space it deserves, making it far easier for your team to collaborate over them and get things done quickly!
ClickUp: A Wiki Tool And Beyond…
Tools like Documize, Friyay, Helpjuice, or Jira are all great Atlassian Confluence alternatives for a small team.
But only ClickUp can offer the perfect project management solution for teams of all sizes.
It’s a powerful wiki tool, a bonafide project management software, and undoubtedly the best Confluence alternative. This way, you won’t have to use other tools like Jira for project management.
ClickUp has everything you need!
In case you’re still on the fence about ClickUp, why not get ClickUp for free today and experience the project management magic yourself?
