atlassian-confluence-vs-ms-sharepoint

Confluence and MS SharePoint are content management and intranet platforms designed to help businesses manage knowledge and collaborate internally. Confluence is primarily a wiki tool aimed at creating and navigating internal wikis. MS SharePoint has a broader scope, with features for creating web pages, managing version control, and setting up document workflows. MS SharePoint is used most heavily by large-scale enterprises, which can take better advantage of the product’s full range of features. Confluence is more popular with mid-size companies, likely because its narrower scope and lighter footprint make it easier to implement and manage.

Features

Both products can be used to create and manage internal web pages, but MS SharePoint and Confluence have several key distinctions.

MS SharePoint is packed with functionality. Document workflow tools let users automate repetitive processes such as gathering approval signatures. Granular permission settings let companies tightly control who can see and share certain files. Its version control system helps co-workers keep track of file changes. MS SharePoint integrates closely with other MS Office applications and allows multiple simultaneous users to edit Office files within the application.

Confluence, by contrast, is focused on internal documentation. Creating a new page and sharing it with others is fast and easy, with drag-and drop design tools and plenty of out-of-the-box templates. Users can set up notifications for any pages they want to keep track of, helping workers stay up-to-date on new information. It’s also very customizable, with a marketplace of apps that add extra functionality, such as workflow management or diagramming.

Limitations

However, both Confluence and MS Sharepoint have their drawbacks, and might not be suitable for every business.

Confluence is focused on wiki-style content, lacking some of MS SharePoint’s advanced features and file-sharing options. It can also be hard to navigate for some users. Unless you know what you’re looking for and where it’s supposed to be, it might be difficult to track down the information you need. To perform an advanced search, users must use Confluence Query Language, which can be obtuse and unintuitive for newcomers. Notifications for page edits can also become overwhelming, with page watchers getting a notification for every typo fix and word change on a wiki page.

On the other hand, MS SharePoint’s many features can cause problems. SharePoint can be over-complicated for some users, and adoption success is highly reliant on proper training. Administrators especially report that managing permissions, sharing control, and version control is more difficult than it needs to be. The software can be slow to synchronize local files with online files. Also, outages can be frustratingly common, as the entire system can be rendered unusable during maintenance and upgrades.

Pricing

Confluence offers a cloud-hosted option and a self-managed option. The cloud-hosted plans use a tiered pricing model with scaled discounts for large numbers of users. The Free tier is free for up to 10 users and includes unlimited wiki pages, access to add-on apps, and 2 GB of file storage. The Standard tier starts at $10.00 per month for up to 10 users, or $5.00 per user per month for over 10 users. This tier increases the file storage limit to 250 GB and adds permissions management and the option to archive pages. The Premium tier starts at $10.00 per user per month and adds page analytics, unlimited file storage, and a premium customer support service.

The self-managed options include a single-server deployment for a one-time fee or a datacenter deployment for a yearly fee. Pricing for these plans varies heavily depending on the number of users. For complete pricing information, refer to Atlassian’s pricing page for Confluence.

MS SharePoint uses a tiered per-user per-month pricing structure. The SharePoint Online Plan 1 tier is $5.00 per user per month and includes all basic features plus 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user. The SharePoint Online Plan 2 tier is $10.00 per user per month and adds unlimited cloud storage, customizable search settings, and content protection features. The Office 365 E3 plan is $20.00 per user per month and includes all MS Office applications and services in addition to the SharePoint features from previous tiers.