Confluence vs Notion
Learn more about your options and pick the best tool for your team.
For many years, Confluence dominated the market of online collaboration and documentation tools. For many companies looking for a solid and reliable collaboration platform, adopting Confluence had been a no-brainer.
However, as more and more Confluence alternatives enter the market, the choice is becoming less clear-cut. One of its most notable new competitors is Notion, a snappy and modern productivity tool launched in 2016.
If you are evaluating collaboration tools and ended up with Confluence and Notion on your shortlist, you are not alone. In this article, we will take a closer look at both Confluence and Notion and examine their strengths and weaknesses to help you make the right decision for your company.
Confluence and Notion compared
The main difference between Confluence and Notion is their emphasis on structure versus flexibility.
Confluence provides a structured environment for creating, managing, and sharing detailed documentation. It's particularly suitable for larger teams and organizations.
Notion, in contrast, offers a highly customizable "all-in-one" workspace. It can be used for a wide range of different content types and workflows and it generally more suitable for individual users and smaller teams.
Ultimately, it will all come down to your unique needs, preferences, and workflow, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to productivity software. And if you're having trouble choosing between Confluence and Notion, keep in mind that they aren't your only options. There are many other excellent tools that may turn out to be an even better fit for your needs.
To make the most informed decision, let's first dive deeper into a comparison of what Confluence and Notion have to offer, taking into account their strengths, limitations, notable features, pricing, and user reviews. We will also have a look at other alternatives you may want to consider.
Confluence
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $5/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.4/5
Atlassian Confluence is a mature, reliable solution, trusted by more than 60,000 customers worldwide. It launched in 2004 and has been continuously developed and improved since.
Confluence does less than Notion – by design. While Notion offers everything from databases to kanban boards, Confluence is purposefully more focused on being a document collaboration and software documentation tool. It's also more rigid and doesn't have the flexibility and customization options of Notion, which also makes it easier to get started with.
Another core difference is price. Confluence offers very affordable packages for small teams and generous volume discounts for large enterprises. For a team of 20, a Confluence subscription would cost only $100/month – Notion, on the other hand, would charge them a whopping $200/month.
Why you might prefer Confluence over Notion:
Confluence seamlessly integrates with Jira and other Atlassian products. If your team is already using Jira, Jira Service Desk, or BitBucket, then Confluence will fit into your workflow very naturally.
Confluence offers a more scalable and cost-effective pricing.
Confluence integrates with a wider range of apps and plugins, allowing you to easily connect the tools you are already using.
Unlike Notion, where all content is editable by default, Confluence has a draft mode and a publishing workflow, making it easier to prevent accidental edits.
Confluence is a more mature product, with more than 15 years of continuous development.
Confluence is less flexible and versatile than Notion, which makes it easier to set up.
Looking for more tools similar to Confluence? Check out this list of Confluence alternatives.
Notion
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $8/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.8/5
Notion is a relatively new product but it has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of users. It largely owes its popularity to its unparalleled flexibility. Notion offers nearly limitless possibilities – you can build a wiki, document your product roadmap, organize meeting notes, plan sprints, create project plans, onboard employees, publish your blog – and so much more.
One downside of such a powerful feature set is the steep learning curve. New users may feel overwhelmed by all the menus and options and should be prepared to dedicate enough time to learning the tool.
Notion is also considerably more expensive than Confluence, however, since it has the capacity to replace dozens of other tools, it may likely end up being the cheaper option in the long run.
Why you might prefer Notion over Confluence:
The drag-and-drop editor of Notion makes it much easier to build and structure your content, compared to Confluence.
Notion is far more versatile and covers more use cases, allowing you to replace not just Confluence, but also Jira, Airtable, and more.
All content in Notion can be collaboratively edited by default, preventing any potential version conflicts.
Notion offers a more modern, intuitive, and playful interface.
Notion is free for single users, making it the better option for personal and hobby projects.
Looking for more tools similar to Notion? Check out this list of Notion alternatives.
Other alternatives
It should be mentioned that your options are not limited to just Confluence and Notion. There are many other great corporate wikis, document collaboration tools, and intranet portals that can serve you just as well.
For example, if you are looking for a more user-friendly, fast, and intuitive solution, consider Nuclino. Lightweight and minimal by design, Nuclino focuses on the essentials, doing away with clunky menus and rarely-used options, and minimizing the learning curve for new users.
Every document in Nuclino can be collaborated on in real time. Comments and mentions can be used to exchange feedback, and related documents can be linked together. Simply type "@" and the name of the page you'd like to link to.
Like Notion, Nuclino is more than just a documentation tool. It's a unified workspace that works like a collective brain, allowing you to bring all your knowledge, docs, and projects together in one place.
You can create real-time collaborative documents for every topic and project and organize them visually. Need a structured overview of all your docs? Prefer to work on your projects using a Kanban board? Want to see how your docs and tasks relate to each other in a mind map? The list, board, table, and graph views help you keep your work structured in a way that works for you and your team.
You can also turn any Nuclino workspace into a public website, similar to Notion Sites. It will be accessible to anyone on the web and discoverable via search engines. It's perfect for help centers, user documentation, changelogs, and much more.
If you're a fan of Notion AI, you will also appreciate Sidekick, the AI-powered assistant built into Nuclino. Sidekick can help you find information, brainstorm ideas, create first drafts, summarize long documents, and more.
Moreover, unlike Notion AI, Sidekick allows you to instantly generate all kinds of unique images – 2D and 3D, abstract and photorealistic, detailed and simple.
Nuclino also offers built-in visual collaboration and allows you to add an infinite collaborative canvas to any page. You can use it to create diagrams and flowcharts, organize ideas using sticky notes, build moodboards, and much more.
Learn more about how Nuclino compares to Confluence and Notion:
Confluence vs Notion: So which is better?
There is no definitive winner when you compare Confluence and Notion. The best choice depends solely on your team's specific requirements. Large companies tend to appreciate Confluence for its rigid organizational structure, reliable performance, and scalable pricing. And many startups and smaller teams have embraced the slightly more chaotic but flexible approach of Notion.
On the other hand, if you prefer something more modern and easy-to-use, consider exploring other alternatives, such as Nuclino.
We hope this article has made your decision a little easier. But at the end of the day, the only way to be sure you are making the right choice is to thoroughly evaluate each tool together with your team.
Ready to get started?
