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October 21, 2025
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What is Slab? A Comprehensive Guide

If you're on the hunt for a knowledge management solution, Slab might already be on your radar. Known for its clean interface and writing-focused approach, it's a popular pick for teams looking to keep documentation lightweight and collaborative. But as your need for smarter, more automated knowledge sharing grows, you might start looking beyond simplicity—especially since a majority of leaders already view AI as critically important to their business success.

Let's break down what Slab has to offer, how it stacks up against Guru, and how to decide which tool is the right fit for your team.

What is Slab?

Slab is a knowledge management platform that helps teams create, organize, and share internal documentation through a clean, wiki-style interface. Built for simplicity and collaboration, it focuses on making team knowledge accessible without complex setup or bloated features.

Its core strength lies in its editor, which emphasizes a clean, distraction-free writing experience. Slab is especially popular among startups and smaller teams that want a wiki-like tool with minimal friction and an intuitive interface. It's often used for onboarding docs, company handbooks, product documentation, and internal wikis.

Key features of Slab knowledge base

Slab is designed to be simple on the surface, but functional under the hood. While it doesn't have as many advanced features as some competitors, it covers the essentials well.

  • Distraction-free editor: Slab's WYSIWYG editor is designed to be as clean as possible. There's no clutter or complex formatting to navigate, which makes it easy for anyone to start writing. The editor also supports embeds, code blocks, and markdown, making it flexible enough for a variety of content types.

  • Unified search: One standout feature is Slab's unified search, which lets you query not just Slab content, but also connected tools like Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub. This saves users time jumping between apps to find the right doc or thread; one study on knowledge markets found that improved search functionality led to users finding what they wanted with nearly every search.

  • Topic organization: Content is grouped by "topics" rather than folders or tags, which gives teams a structured way to categorize information. Permissions can be set at the topic level to keep things secure and relevant for specific groups.

  • Additional integrations: Slab connects with a solid set of tools like Slack, GitHub, G Suite, Asana, and Zapier. These integrations allow you to reference or embed content, trigger workflows, or search across platforms—all from within Slab.

Slab vs Guru: A Direct Comparison

While both Slab and Guru help teams manage and share knowledge, they take very different approaches to how that knowledge is created, organized, and accessed.

Slab

Primary Use: Documentation creation
AI Capabilities: Unified search
Knowledge Trust: Topic organization
Integration Style: Search-focused

Slab is a modern wiki designed for creating and organizing documentation. It’s best suited for teams that want a clean, structured space to store company knowledge. Slab’s unified search helps users find documentation across connected tools, and its simple interface keeps content well-organized by topic.

Who Uses Slab

  • Team Size: Startups and small-to-midsize companies

  • Technical Teams: Product, engineering, and operations teams that value developer-friendly documentation tools

  • Remote Companies: Ideal for distributed teams that need centralized knowledge management without complex setup

Guru

Primary Use: Trusted answer delivery
AI Capabilities: AI chat, Research, citations
Knowledge Trust: Verification workflow
Integration Style: Proactive delivery

Guru is an AI-native platform built for knowledge delivery rather than just documentation. It brings verified answers directly into everyday workflows through integrations with Slack, Teams, Chrome, Salesforce, and more. Guru’s AI verification workflows and citation features ensure accuracy and trust, while Research and AI chat capabilities allow teams to query knowledge dynamically and get contextual answers where they work.

In summary:

  • Slab is ideal for teams focused on creating, organizing, and maintaining documentation.

  • Guru is best for organizations that want AI-powered, verified knowledge surfaced directly in their daily tools.

Guru’s Approach: Your AI Source of Truth

Guru solves enterprise knowledge challenges by ensuring every employee—and every AI assistant—has access to trusted, verified information through three key steps:

Connect: Guru securely connects to all your company’s applications and documents—like Google Drive, Confluence, and Slack—along with your identity provider. This creates a single, governed company brain that understands your organizational structure and existing permissions.

Access Everywhere: Your teams interact with this company brain through a Knowledge Agent. They can ask questions in natural language via AI chat, perform contextual search, or explore explainable answers with citations through Research. This all happens directly in Slack, Teams, or the browser—and even extends to other AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT through Guru’s MCP Server, bringing trusted knowledge to every workflow.

Build Trust, Automatically: When a question surfaces outdated or missing information, Guru flags it for expert review. Once verified or corrected, that update propagates everywhere automatically, ensuring every answer stays accurate, auditable, and aligned with policy. Over time, Guru becomes a continuously improving, trusted layer of truth for your entire organization.

Pros and cons of Slab software

Slab does a lot of things right when it comes to creating and sharing content internally. But it also has limitations—especially for larger teams or those with more advanced knowledge management needs.

Pros:

  • Integration with other tools: Slab's ability to search across platforms like Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub makes it a solid choice for teams juggling multiple tools.

  • Collaboration features: Teams can collaborate in real-time on docs, leave comments, and use mentions to loop others in.

  • Customization and scalability: While not as flexible as some competitors, Slab allows some customization through topics and permissions, making it manageable for growing teams.

Cons:

  • Learning curve: Although simple on the surface, Slab's navigation via topics can take some getting used to—especially for users coming from folder-based systems.

  • Cost: For smaller teams or startups, Slab's per-user pricing can add up quickly, especially if you need access to premium features like version history and analytics.

  • Complexity: While the interface is intentionally minimal, it can feel too minimal at times. Users may struggle with navigation or feel limited by a lack of visual hierarchy in the UI.

Guru vs. Slab wiki

Both Slab and Guru serve the purpose of helping teams manage knowledge—but they take very different approaches. Slab leans into simplicity and writing experience, while Guru focuses on delivering trusted, contextual knowledge where your team works.

  • Guru's strengths: Goes beyond static wikis with AI-powered search—a feature which has been shown to make some workers 14% more productive—verification workflows, and custom homepages. Delivers knowledge through browser extensions, Slack integration, and Knowledge Agents tailored by team.

  • Slab's strengths: Excels at simplicity with a distraction-free editor and unified search across connected tools like Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub.

  • Integration differences: Guru integrates with enterprise tools (Salesforce, Zendesk, 50+ HRIS systems) and proactively suggests knowledge. Slab uses a "go there to find it" model with fewer integrations.

Guru vs. Slab Wiki

Both Guru and Slab help teams document and share knowledge—but they take very different approaches. Slab focuses on simplicity and clean authoring, while Guru centers on trusted, AI-powered knowledge delivery that meets employees right where they work.

Guru’s Strengths

Guru goes beyond static wikis with AI-powered search, shown to make workers up to 14% more productive. Its verification workflows ensure every answer stays accurate and up to date, while custom homepages turn company knowledge into an interactive, branded hub. Guru delivers knowledge directly through browser extensions, Slack and Teams integrations, and Knowledge Agents tailored for each team—so the right information appears automatically in context.

Slab’s Strengths

Slab shines through its simplicity and user-friendly writing experience. Its distraction-free editor and unified search across tools like Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub make it ideal for teams that value quick documentation and lightweight collaboration.

Integration Differences

Guru integrates deeply with enterprise systems like Salesforce, Zendesk, and 50+ HRIS platforms, proactively surfacing verified knowledge when and where it’s needed. Slab, on the other hand, uses a more traditional “go there to find it” model, offering fewer integrations and relying on manual search.

What customers are saying

Both tools have earned praise from users—but for different reasons. Here's what actual customers have said about their experience:

Slab users appreciate its simplicity, with one reviewer noting:

"It's easy to use with a wonderfully simple interface. Very easy to teach to peers and get them contributing in no time. The ability to search Slab, Slack, and Google Drive all at once is a lifesaver. It can be a little bit difficult to visually navigate between the different topics. The interface is very minimal so it's out of the way, but not exactly beautiful."

Guru users, on the other hand, love how it drives consistent, organized knowledge sharing:

"What I liked most about Guru is its user-friendly interface and the way it streamlines the process of organizing and sharing knowledge within a team. The ability to create, update, and access knowledge articles easily makes collaboration efficient. Additionally, I appreciate how the platform encourages consistent knowledge management, ensuring that everyone on the team has access to accurate, up-to-date information when they need it."

Choosing the right AI source of truth for your team

If your team is focused on fast, clean documentation and doesn't need a ton of automation or advanced integrations, Slab might be the ideal solution. Its minimal design and strong search features make it great for smaller teams or companies just starting to document their internal knowledge.

However, if your priority is easy access to trusted, verified knowledge—delivered right where your team works—Guru is a better choice. With AI-driven search, powerful integrations, and workflows designed to keep knowledge fresh and accurate, Guru helps teams stay aligned and informed without extra effort.

Ready to see how Guru can become your AI Source of Truth? Watch a demo and see how it can transform the way your team shares knowledge.

Key takeaways 🔑🥡🍕

Is Guru a good product for enterprise teams?

Yes, Guru provides policy-enforced, permission-aware answers with full auditability and verification workflows that CIOs and IT leaders require.

What is the difference between Slab and Notion?

Slab is a dedicated knowledge base for internal documentation, while Notion is an all-in-one workspace combining docs, databases, and project management.

What is Guru software used for?

Guru creates a trusted AI source of truth that connects company information and delivers instant, verified answers through a Knowledge Agent in employees' workflows.

What is slab pricing?

Slab pricing is based on a per-user, per-month model, with multiple tiers that offer additional features like version history, advanced permissions, and analytics.

What is a slab tool?

A Slab tool is a collaborative documentation and knowledge-sharing platform used by teams to centralize company knowledge and improve internal communication.

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