Confluence is Atlassian's team workspace and wiki, used by millions to create, organise and share internal documentation and collaborate on content. Founded in 2004, it is one of the most established knowledge tools, especially popular with engineering and technical teams because of its deep integration with Jira and the wider Atlassian suite. From project documentation and meeting notes to company wikis and process docs, Confluence is the default internal knowledge hub for a huge number of organisations.
Confluence's distinction is its ubiquity and Atlassian integration. For the many teams already using Jira, Confluence is the natural place to document work, linking pages to issues and projects. It offers structure, templates, permissions and a large marketplace of add ons, making it a powerful if sometimes complex internal knowledge platform.
Confluence is best for teams that want an internal wiki and documentation hub, especially those already using Jira and the Atlassian suite. It suits engineering, product and cross functional teams documenting work and processes. It is a weaker fit for polished customer facing help centers, where Document360 or Zendesk Guide fit better, and for teams wanting the simplest or most modern editor, where Notion or Slab may feel nicer.
The core strengths are page based documentation with a rich editor, spaces to organise content by team or project, templates, permissions, and deep Jira integration that links docs to work. Confluence adds whiteboards, databases, search, and a large marketplace of add ons, plus AI through Atlassian Intelligence. Its structure, integration and ecosystem for internal knowledge are its defining advantages.
Confluence has a free plan for up to 10 users, generous for small teams. Paid plans are per user per month: Standard from around 6 US dollars, Premium around 11.55, and Enterprise quote based, with more storage, features and support at each tier, plus a data center option for self hosting. Its per user pricing is affordable at small scale but grows with headcount. Confirm current figures on the Confluence pricing page.
Confluence integrates deeply with Jira and the Atlassian suite, and its marketplace offers thousands of add ons for diagrams, documentation and workflows, plus an API. For teams in the Atlassian ecosystem, that integration is the main reason to choose it, linking documentation tightly to development and project work.
Confluence includes AI through Atlassian Intelligence, which can summarise pages, help draft content, and answer questions from your documentation, bringing modern AI to internal knowledge. Its AI builds on the large body of content teams maintain in Confluence.
Confluence is powerful but can feel complex and less modern than newer tools, which shows in its mid range G2 rating despite huge adoption. It offers extensive documentation, community and Atlassian support. Its G2 reviews praise its power and Jira integration, with complexity and an ageing editor the main critiques.
For a team that wants an internal wiki and documentation hub, especially one already using Jira and Atlassian, Confluence is a powerful, well integrated and affordable choice at small scale. The main cautions are that it can feel complex and dated versus modern tools like Notion or Slab, and it is not built for polished customer help centers, where Document360 fits, but for Atlassian teams it is a natural default.
These knowledge base tools come up most often against Confluence.
AI-powered knowledge base for docs and help centers
Knowledge base built into Zendesk support
AI-powered enterprise knowledge and wiki platform