Confluence is Atlassian's collaboration and knowledge management platform used by thousands of enterprise teams worldwide, a critical function given that 75% of organizations say creating and preserving knowledge is important or very important for their success. This guide covers what Confluence is, its key features, pricing, and how it compares to modern AI-powered knowledge management solutions like Guru.

What is Confluence?

Confluence is a team collaboration and documentation platform created by Atlassian that helps teams create, share, and manage knowledge in a centralized workspace.

Key advantages include:

• Jira integration: Seamless connection with Atlassian's project tracking tool

• Content management: Centralized documentation for project plans, meeting notes, and requirements

• Industry adoption: Popular with software development, IT, and product management teams

Key features of Confluence

Confluence offers several core capabilities that make it valuable for team collaboration:

• Real-time collaboration: Multiple users can create and edit pages simultaneously, with comments and feedback capabilities—an essential feature in modern work, where time spent on collaboration has risen 50% or more over the past decade.

• Jira integration: Direct connection to Atlassian's project tracking tool for seamless workflow documentation

• Page templates: Pre-built templates for project management, marketing, HR, and other team workflows

• Third-party integrations: Connects with Slack, Trello, Google Workspace, and other popular tools

Who uses Confluence?

Confluence is best suited for teams in software development, IT, and technical product management. It's most valuable to teams already using Jira, as the two tools are designed to work in tandem. However, teams looking for a simple documentation tool without a steep learning curve might find Confluence to be more complex than necessary.

Confluence pricing

Confluence offers tiered pricing to accommodate different team sizes and needs:

Free

Best for small teams of up to 10 users who need basic documentation and collaboration tools. The Free plan provides essential functionality to get started with shared pages, templates, and project organization without cost.

Standard

Ideal for growing teams that need more structure and control. The Standard plan introduces advanced features and user permissions, helping teams manage access and maintain consistency as they scale.

Premium

Built for large teams that require enhanced visibility and performance. The Premium plan adds analytics, unlimited storage, and advanced security controls, ensuring teams can collaborate efficiently while maintaining compliance and reliability.

Enterprise

Designed for organizations with complex administrative and compliance requirements. The Enterprise plan offers centralized administration, dedicated support, and enterprise-grade security, making it a strong fit for global or regulated businesses.

Pros and cons of Confluence

Confluence offers a range of features, but like any tool, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Here's a breakdown of what you can expect:

Pros

• Deep Jira integration: If your team uses Jira, Confluence provides an unmatched level of collaboration between project tracking and documentation.

• Real-time collaboration: Confluence's ability to collaborate in real-time makes it easier for teams to edit documents simultaneously and streamline communication.

• Customizable templates: Teams can easily use pre-built templates to standardize documentation, saving time and ensuring consistency.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: Confluence is powerful but can be overwhelming for non-technical teams, adding a potential challenge alongside other barriers such as organizational silos (55%) that can hinder knowledge sharing.

• Costly for large teams: Confluence's pricing can get expensive for larger teams, especially when combined with other Atlassian tools like Jira.

• Limited outside of tech teams: While Confluence excels in technical documentation, its complexity may make it less useful for teams that don't need advanced project-tracking integrations.

Guru vs. Confluence

Here's how Guru and Confluence compare for knowledge management:

Best for:

• Guru: AI-powered knowledge management with built-in verification and trusted, permission-aware answers delivered wherever you work.

• Confluence: Traditional technical documentation and project collaboration, especially for teams already using Jira and other Atlassian tools.

Learning curve:

• Guru offers an intuitive, easy-to-adopt interface designed for company-wide use—no special training required.

• Confluence can be powerful but often comes with a steeper learning curve, especially for non-technical users.

Integrations:

• Guru connects directly to Slack, Teams, Chrome, and 100+ business tools, bringing verified knowledge into daily workflows.

• Confluence integrates deeply with Jira and the Atlassian ecosystem, making it ideal for software development teams.

Knowledge verification:

• Guru includes AI-powered verification workflows that keep information accurate automatically, with full citations and audit trails.

• Confluence relies on manual content updates, requiring teams to maintain pages and track version control themselves.

What customers are saying

At the time of this writing, with a 4.8 star rating, Guru ranked slightly higher than Confluence (4.5 stars). Let's see what customers had to say about both tools:

"It might be overwhelming at first; there are plenty of options and personalization elements you can include, so you might think, 'It is too much for me.' But by watching a couple of YouTube videos, you will see how you can customize it to suit your needs and start using its powerful features." (Capterra review)

"Guru is a Google for companies. Everything we need to know about the products, workflow processes, and explanations about a specific company - you can just use Guru. " (Capterra review)

Getting started with Confluence

If you're considering Confluence, getting started involves a few key steps to ensure a smooth implementation. The platform is designed to be flexible, but a structured approach can help your team adopt it more quickly.

Getting started with Confluence involves three key steps:

• Define your use case: Technical documentation, project planning, or general knowledge base

• Use templates: Create consistent structure with pre-built templates

• Integrate with existing tools: Connect with Jira, Slack, or other workflow tools

Choosing the right knowledge management solution for your team

Confluence is a solid choice if your team is already using Jira or if you're working in a highly technical environment where deep project documentation is a must. Its rich feature set and integrations with other Atlassian products make it an excellent tool for development teams.

However, if your focus is on creating an accessible, verified knowledge base for a wider team, and you need a tool that integrates effortlessly into your existing workflow, Guru is the better choice. Its AI-driven knowledge management and ease of use can save your team time and help them work more efficiently, a key advantage when nearly 67% of organizations have yet to incorporate AI into their knowledge management strategy.

Consider what matters most to your team—whether it's powerful technical integrations or streamlined, verified knowledge management—and choose the platform that best aligns with your goals. Give Guru a try today!