Effective information management plays a key role in driving success, and the ideal facilitator of this is knowledge management software. Tools like these aid organizations in optimizing information sharing, decision making, and enhancing the overall efficiency of information use.
Given that an overwhelming 92% of users assert they would utilize a knowledge base if one was accessible, it’s safe to say that top-tier knowledge management software lays the groundwork for successful information sharing and self-service strategies.
This blog presents a comprehensive analysis of the most popular knowledge management platforms available in today’s market to help you make a great choice.
What is knowledge management software?
Knowledge management software is a collection of tools that businesses use to organize, store, locate, retrieve, and share information internally or externally. This could include information about procedures, processes, best practices, and company policies.
Most knowledge management tools provide a variety of functionalities that help improve efficiency in discovering knowledge, promote employee collaboration, and keep information up to date.
The 12 best knowledge management platforms for businesses
Navigating the knowledge management tools available in the market can be overwhelming, but we hope this article can help your decision-making process.
Here’s a rundown of the top 12 best knowledge management software platforms on the market.
1. BoldDesk
BoldDesk is top-rated, powerful help desk software that empowers users to create comprehensive knowledge base solutions for both customers and support teams.
BoldDesk’s knowledge base software is renowned for its excellent features and tools that help businesses create self-service repositories for different products and departments.
BoldDesk offers a streamlined workflow for documentation, from designing to simple content creation, editing, styling, and publishing.
The platform’s AI capabilities further simplify the process for support agents to produce easily understandable articles in multiple languages.
BoldDesk ensures security and control with features such as roles and permissions, access control, password policies, audit logs, and IP restrictions, allowing you to manage and track content access.
Collaboration within teams is made easy through features like private notes and mentions. Additionally, SEO and social media tools enable the optimization of content for search engines and social platforms.
BoldDesk also offers branding and customization options, allowing you to tailor the knowledge management software with your company’s logo, colors, and login options.
Features
The following features position BoldDesk as a market leader, delivering effortless self-service at an unbeatable price:
- The ability to create internal and external knowledge bases for multiple brands
- Seamless workflows to create unlimited articles
- Generative AI-based features
- A powerful article search function
- Efficient collaborative tools
- Article categorization
- Multilingual options
- Unlimited branding and customization
- Analytics and metrics on article performance
- Unlimited article templates
- Content library tools like tags, categories, and sections
- Top-notch security and privacy
- A simple yet powerful article editor
- On-page SEO tools for content optimization
Pricing
BoldDesk has two pricing plans: agent-based and unlimited agents. Users can enjoy a 20% discount when they opt for the yearly payment plan, allowing them to access all the same features for less.
- Starter: $10 for 3 agents/month
- Growth: $20 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $40 per agent/month
- Standard: $199/month
- Pro: $499/month
- Business: $999/month
Free trial: 15-day free trial with instant access, no credit card required
2. Document360
Document360 is knowledge management software suitable for big teams and enterprises that need to create, organize, and share knowledge easily.
It enables users to maintain multiple versions of documents for numerous projects, set up multiple users, and access analytics that will assist in maintaining the relevance of the knowledge base content.
Features
- Search engine with AI-powered recommendations
- Branding and customization options
- Integrations with third-party tools and applications
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting dashboards
- Collaboration capabilities
Pricing
Document360’s pricing is based on the number of projects users desire to create.
- Standard: $149 per project/month
- Professional: $299 per project/month
- Business: $399 per project/month
- Enterprise: $599 per project/month
Free trial: 14 days
3. Confluence
Confluence can be a good choice for teams using other Atlassian products seeking to create and share knowledge.
Confluence integrates smoothly with these tools to facilitate seamless knowledge sharing, enhance productivity, and promote collaboration on numerous projects.
It provides users with a rich template library to help them get started and track their changes on the fly.
Features
- Seamless collaboration with real-time editing, tagging, commenting, and notifications
- Integration with Atlassian’s software suite and other tools
- Security
- Full-text search
- Analytics reporting
- Templates
Pricing
- Standard: $5.75 per user/month
- Premium: $11 per user/month
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Free trial: 7 days
4. Guru
Guru is a stand-alone, AI-driven, and feature-rich platform that allows teams to capture and share knowledge. It uses AI to quickly suggest information to enhance productivity and improve response times.
Features
- AI-powered search engine
- Integrations with third-party tools and web browsers
- Analytics reporting
- Real-time editing and collaboration
Pricing
- Free for up to 3 users
- Starter: $5 per user/month
- Builder: $10 per user/month
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Free trial: 30 days
5. Notion
Notion is a versatile, cloud-based workspace suitable for companies that need an all-in-one solution that merges knowledge management, project management, and other functions into a single system.
Features
- Flexible customization options
- Real-time collaboration
- Robust search engine
- Analytics and reporting
Pricing
- Free: For individual users
- Plus: $8 per user/month
- Business: $15 per user/month
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Free trial: Available only for Business and Enterprise plans
6. ClickUp
ClickUp is a knowledge management app that centralizes resources, communication, and team management into a single platform.
Its free forever plan provides a range of powerful and customizable features that allow users to create formatted knowledge bases.
Features
- Integration with third-party apps and tools
- Privacy and edit controls
- Collaboration capabilities
- Unlimited dashboards
- Analytics and reporting
Pricing
- Free Forever with limited features available
- Unlimited: $7 per month/user
- Business: $12 per month/user
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Free trial: Unavailable
7. Zendesk
Zendesk is a customer support suite that allows users to create a knowledge base that stores, organizes, and shares valuable information with clients and staff.
Features
- Robust search engine
- Integrations with third-party tools
- Analytics and reporting
- Security
- Collaboration capabilities
Pricing
- Team: $49 per agent/month
- Growth: $79 per agent/month
- Professional: $99 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $150 per agent/month
Free trial: 14 days
8. Bloomfire
Bloomfire is a cloud-based knowledge management solution that helps teams capture, organize, and share information. It uses AI-generated tags to categorize information and help users find information quickly.
Features
- Powerful search functionality
- Integration options
- Analytics and reporting
- Unlimited storage
- Advanced security and access controls
Pricing
Contact sales for pricing
Free trial: 30 days
9. Tettra
Tettra is an AI-powered knowledge base platform that centralizes company information. It offers a free version that primarily caters to small businesses.
Tettra focuses on delivering knowledge and posting questions and answers in Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Features
- Integration options
- Collaboration features
- Powerful search functionality
- Page and update request
Pricing
- Free: up to 10 users
- Scaling: $8.33 per user/month, up to 250 users
- Enterprise: $16.66 per user/month
Free trial: 30 days
10. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is open-source knowledge management software that specializes in project management. It supports collaborative document editing and workflow and process automation.
Features
- Robust search engine
- Integrations with third-party productivity tools
- Analytics and reporting
- Collaboration capabilities
Pricing
- Free plan with limited features
- Basic: $49 per month, up to 5 users
- Standard: $99 per month, up to 50 users
- Professional: $199 per month, up to 100 users
Free trial: Unavailable
11. ProProfs
ProProfs is an all-in-one solution for creating a help center, a documentation platform, and both internal and external knowledge bases.
It assists teams starting from scratch with predesigned templates to create documents.
Features
- Easy content creation
- Collaboration capabilities
- Integration options
- Analytics and reporting
- Built-in templates
Pricing
- Free plan: Up to 25 articles
- Essential: $20 per month
- Business: $40 per month
- Business Plus: $200 per month
Free trial: 15 days
12. Slite
Slite is a knowledge management solution designed to help remote teams collaborate seamlessly. It allows companies to create onboarding guides and manage content libraries and projects.
Features
- Collaboration capabilities
- Robust search engine
- Integrations with third-party tools
- Analytics and reporting
- Security
Pricing
- Free plan with limited features
- Standard: $8 per member/month
- Premium: $12.50 per member/month
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Free trial: Unavailable
Examples of knowledge management tools
The following are examples of different knowledge management solutions.
Knowledge base
A knowledge base serves as a searchable information repository consisting of common queries, information about and troubleshooting for products or services, and vital company details.
It provides crucial assistance to both customers and employees. It can be categorized as either internal or external, with the former serving employees and the latter assisting customers to find information quickly.
Learning management systems
Learning management systems (LMS) help businesses establish a strong foundation of knowledge management.
These systems enable company heads to design, manage, and administer lessons, courses, quizzes, and other training resources to their employees, students, or business partners.
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are designed to store customer information that assists all teams involved in marketing, sales, and customer service in tracking prospects and customer information throughout the customer journey.
AI-powered knowledge management
AI-powered knowledge management tools leverage artificial intelligence capabilities to enhance information sharing and delivery. They use AI algorithms to:
- Better comprehend user questions and deliver customized outcomes and suggestions.
- Analyze historical trends to anticipate future needs.
- Identify potential knowledge deficits.
- Automate knowledge management tasks to boost efficiency.
Best knowledge management software features
The features of knowledge management solutions differ among platforms. Here are some essentials you should consider when selecting a suitable knowledge base solution for your business:
- Customization: The knowledge solution should have many customization options that enable users to tailor its design and user interface to suit your business requirements.
- Efficient search capabilities: Choose a knowledge management system with a powerful search function that will allow your team to quickly locate specific information.
- Article tracking: The system should include article-tracking functionalities to monitor edits, identify editors, discern modifications, and restore previous versions.
- Ease of access: The solution should be easily accessible to everyone with permission, even those with the lowest technical skills.
- Third-party integration: The knowledge management software should seamlessly integrate with your existing business systems, such as ticketing systems and project management tools, to further streamline processes and avoid duplication of efforts.
- Templates: An ideal knowledge management tool should provide highly adaptable, ready-to-use templates.
- Security: There should be appropriate security measures in place to safeguard sensitive internal knowledge base and customer information.
- Reports and analytics: Look for knowledge management software that incorporates reporting and analytics tools that track user interactions.
- Scalability: As the business grows, the solution’s capacity should adapt to suit the changing needs of the business.
- User feedback: An ideal knowledge management solution should have built-in features that allow users to provide feedback on the usefulness of the content.
- Ease of adding and editing content: The solution should offer an easy knowledge management process. It should incorporate a user-friendly interface such as a WYSIWYG, facilitating a simple way to add and modify articles.
- Collaborative features: Choose knowledge management solutions with features like real-time editing, commenting, and version control that empower multiple users to work together.
Benefits of a knowledge management solution
Consolidating all your information in a well-organized knowledge base may be a strategic process that requires commitment and ongoing effort. However, the gains it brings make it a worthwhile investment for your business.
Here are some benefits of implementing a knowledge management solution:
- Enhance efficiency: By centralizing information, knowledge base management solutions enhance accessibility and reduce the time spent searching for information.
- Facilitates collaboration: Knowledge management tools enable staff members from various departments to share ideas and update information as required.
- Seamless knowledge transfer to new hires: Knowledge management software helps with training by providing new employees with official training materials and a single source to answer questions about company products.
- Promotes self-service: External knowledge management tools provide clients with round-the-clock, location-independent access to information, allowing them to find solutions autonomously.
- Knowledge preservation: Knowledge management tools help retain company information even when experienced subject matter experts leave.
Find other reasons why a knowledge base solution is important for your business in our blog.
Summary of the top knowledge management solutions
The following table provides a summary of the top 12 knowledge management solutions discussed in this article.
| Software | Key features | Starting price |
| BoldDesk |
| $12 per month/user |
| Document360 |
| $149 per project/month |
| Confluence |
| $5.75 per user/month |
| Guru |
| $5 per user/month |
| Notion |
| $8 per user/month |
| ClickUp |
| $7 per month/user |
| Zendesk |
| $49 per agent/month |
| Bloomfire |
| $25 per user/month |
| Tettra |
| $8.33 per user/month |
| Bitrix24 |
| $49 per month |
| ProProfs |
| $20 per month |
| Slite |
| $8 per member/month |
Choose the right knowledge management platform for you!
Selecting the appropriate knowledge management tool for your business may seem like an overwhelming endeavor, particularly when you are presented with options that are almost identical.
It’s crucial to bear in mind that the best software isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution but rather one that is tailored to your specific needs. These needs can vary due to the size of your team, the budget allocated for such tools, and the preferred methodology for managing knowledge and projects.
Therefore, having provided a comprehensive analysis of the top knowledge base solutions available on the market, we are confident that you are now equipped to set sail on your knowledge management journey.
