Confluence is a note-taking & docs tool for Enterprise and Developers, offered as freemium ($7/mo). Founded in Australia in 2004. Popular alternatives include Slite, Outline.
About Confluence
Confluence is the wiki and documentation tool from Atlassian, the Australian company behind Jira, Trello and Loom. Launched in 2004, it is the default knowledge base in many engineering and product organizations: spaces group page trees, templates cover specs, retrospectives, runbooks and meeting notes, and live Jira issue embeds link documentation to the work being tracked.
The cloud product now includes whiteboards, databases, inline comments, page analytics and Atlassian's AI features, branded Rovo, which add search answers, summaries and writing help across Atlassian and connected tools. Pricing is per user: a free plan covers up to 10 users with limited storage, Standard adds permissions and more storage, Premium adds analytics, unlimited storage and admin controls, and Enterprise supports multiple sites and stronger governance. The old Server edition was retired in 2024, and Atlassian has also scheduled the end of Data Center: new Data Center licenses stopped being sold in March 2026 and support ends in March 2029, so self-managed customers are being moved to the cloud.
Confluence fits companies already on Jira, because users, permissions and billing are shared and the integration is genuinely useful. Its weaknesses are a heavy feel, editor quirks and search that users often criticize. Teams not tied to Jira usually prefer Notion for flexibility, Slite or Outline for a cleaner wiki, or Google Docs for simple shared writing. Large organizations with strict permissions, audit needs and Atlassian contracts still find Confluence hard to replace.
Key features of Confluence
- Spaces, page trees and templates for specs, runbooks and meetings
- Live Jira issue embeds and requirement linking
- Whiteboards, databases and inline comments
- Rovo AI search, chat and writing
- Granular space and page permissions
- Marketplace apps for diagrams, forms and macros
Pros and cons
Pros
- Deep Jira integration and shared admin
- Mature permissions for large organizations
- Free for small teams up to 10 users
- Strong template library for engineering rituals
Cons
- Editor and formatting can be frustrating
- Search quality is inconsistent
- Feels heavy compared with modern wikis
- Premium needed for analytics and AI
Confluence pricing
Confluence uses a freemium model. A 14-day free trial is available.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 10 users, 2 GB storage, community support |
| Standard | $7.15 / user/mo | 1-100 users monthly; tiered lower ($5.78 avg at 300); 250 GB |
| Premium | $14.10 / user/mo | 1-100 users monthly ($11.16 avg at 300 users); 30-day trial |
| Enterprise | Custom | 801+ users, advanced analytics, scale and security |
Source: www.atlassian.com · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Confluence compares in Note-taking & docs
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 15
- Starting price
- $7
- Free alternatives
- 3
0 votes from members
28% below the category median ($10/mo)
Free or open-source tools in Note-taking & docs
Confluence ranks #1 of 15 note-taking & docs tools by community votes and is priced below most tools in the category.
Common use cases
- 1Engineering documentation linked to Jira epics
- 2Company handbook with space-level permissions
- 3Incident runbooks and postmortems
- 4Product requirement docs with embedded issues
Best for
Organizations already standardized on Jira that need a governed knowledge base.
Not ideal for
Teams without Jira or those who value writing experience; Notion, Slite or Outline.
Integrations
- Jira
- Trello
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Drive
- Figma
- Loom
- Miro
Our take
If you use Jira, Confluence is the path of least resistance and the integration is real value. Otherwise, a modern wiki will make your team happier.
FAQ
- What is Confluence?
- Confluence is a Note-taking & docs tool: Team wiki tightly integrated with Jira.
- How much does Confluence cost?
- Confluence uses a Freemium model; paid plans start at $7 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Confluence?
- Community-listed alternatives to Confluence include Slite, Outline.
- Does Confluence have a free trial?
- Yes, Confluence offers a 14-day free trial.
- What does Confluence integrate with?
- Confluence integrates with Jira, Trello, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Figma and more.
- Which platforms does Confluence support?
- Confluence is available on web, ios, android.
- Who is Confluence for?
- Organizations already standardized on Jira that need a governed knowledge base.
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