Knowledge base software content editor from Helpjuice

Think about all the knowledge your team possesses.

About everything your team members know about doing their jobs, serving your customers, and keeping your business on the up and up.

It’s a lot to think about, isn’t it?

It’s also a lot to keep track of, too.

But, to actually use this knowledge to its fullest potential—whether internally among team members or externally to empower your customers—both your team and your customers need to be able to harness it and gain complete control over it.

Thankfully, there’s a solution:

Enter knowledge base software: the tool that transforms your organizational knowledge into a powerful asset for both your team and customers. With the right software, you can boost internal efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction.

But how do you choose the right knowledge base software? As you explore our list of the best tools to create your knowledge base, consider these questions:

  • Do you need a standalone knowledge base solution, or are you looking for a comprehensive help desk tool that includes a knowledge base?
  • Will your knowledge base serve internal teams, external customers, or both?
  • How many users will you have for writing knowledge base articles?
  • Are you looking for a cloud-based SaaS solution for ease and convenience, or do you require a self-hosted platform for greater control and customization?
  • Is an open-source solution preferable for your organization, potentially offering more flexibility and cost-effectiveness?

The purpose of our guide is to help you navigate these questions. We’ve carefully selected the best knowledge base platforms, each acting as a key to unlocking and maximizing your team's collective knowledge. 

If you need a primer on what knowledge base software is, and why you should be using it, read on (or feel free to jump to the appropriate section).

What is Knowledge Base Software?

An organization’s knowledge base acts as a central hub of any and all knowledge possessed by the members of the team.

Knowledge base software allows teams to easily collect, organize, access, and communicate information to a specific audience. Knowledge bases are created for use by a company’s customers, employees, or sometimes both.

A few examples of how our customers use our knowledge base tool:

  • Vacasa delivers on-demand, self-driven customer support with its knowledge base
  • Apptegy uses its internal knowledge base to streamline employee onboarding processes
  • Valant’s knowledge base helps improve internal processes and deliver valuable content to their customers

The 14 Best Knowledge Base Software 

Finding the right software to build your knowledge base can be overwhelming, with countless options vying for your attention. To simplify your search, we've handpicked 14 of the best customer facing knowledge base solutions for 2024. These tools, including our own platform, Helpjuice, not only excel in supporting your knowledge management initiatives but also pack a punch when it comes to features, ease-of-use, and adaptability.  

1. Helpjuice

Examples of Helpjuice's knowledge base software

Helpjuice, a top-rated and award-winning knowledge base solution sets the standard for creating external or internal knowledge bases. With accolades from Capterra, GetApp, G2, Software Advice, and more, Helpjuice streamlines your knowedge management experience.

The intuitive interface enables teams to create knowledge content and assemble their comprehensive knowledge base effortlessly. For those seeking advanced editing and customization, Helpjuice offers access to the source code for a tailored experience.

Collaboration has never been easier, with remote and real-time capabilities built into Helpjuice's interface. Managers can assign tasks, make comments, request revisions, and track version history for seamless teamwork.

Over time, Helpjuice's reporting and analytics dashboard will help you refine your knowledge management initiatives, boosting your team's and customers' productivity.

The best part? All of Helpjuice's features are available at each pricing tier, ensuring streamlined scaling as your company grows.

How Helpjuice Became Our Ultimate Knowledge Base Solution: A First-Person Account from Elliot Bowman, Data Operations Lead at Entrupy Inc

As a Senior Knowledge Analyst & Training Lead at Entrupy Inc., I have experienced firsthand the challenges of finding the perfect knowledge base software. Our team needed a centralized hub for managing our ever-growing operational and authentication information, which was critical to our success in delivering world-class authentication services.

Our journey began with using PDFs, Google Docs, and Google Drive to manage our knowledge content. However, as our company scaled, this approach became increasingly cumbersome. It negatively affected our support team's response times and overall service level agreements (SLAs). Updating our content became difficult, and we found ourselves reliant on our engineering resources for even the most minor changes.

Hopeful, we turned to Confluence. Unfortunately, the platform wasn't as user-friendly as we had anticipated. Developing pages was a time-consuming process, and the platform seemed more suited to developers and those with high proficiency in UI/UX and writing scripts.

That's when we discovered Helpjuice. We were initially drawn to its extensive feature set, which outshone competitors like Zendesk, Guru, and Document360. Helpjuice's knowledge base solution was the all-in-one knowledge management software had been searching for.

Since implementing Helpjuice, we've seen a significant positive impact on our operations. Our support team can now find answers up to 4x faster, and we've managed to avoid over 3,200 support cases in just one year. As a result, we've improved our overall support SLAs by 15% for our US team and 2% for our Japan team.

Helpjuice has also played a pivotal role in our training program. By consolidating our knowledge on the platform, we've been able to streamline the training process, reducing the time it takes to complete individual sections by 10-15%.

In conclusion, if your organization needs comprehensive knowledge base software that offers an array of powerful features, I cannot recommend Helpjuice enough. It has truly transformed our operations at Entrupy and allowed us to maintain our position as a world-leading authentication service provider.

Helpjuice Features

  • Easy-to-use article editor with WYSIWYG and markdown options
  • Real-time collaboration with live commenting features
  • Google-like, AI-powered search combs plaintext, PDF, and even image content for keywords and phrases
  • Powerful analytics to optimize knowledge base usage
  • Integrates with a number of other tools directly like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Freshdesk, Salesforce, and more
  • Exceptional customer support, hands-on user onboarding, and free expert customization
Ready to experience the benefits of Helpjuice? Start your free trial today and see how it can revolutionize your knowledge management process.

2. Zendesk

Screenshot from Zendesk's knowledge base software

Zendesk's customer service software is all about enabling teams to deliver great service and support to their customers. Whether via self-service or supercharged hands-on assistance, Zendesk allows you to quickly give your users the info they need to accomplish their current goals — and then some.

For teams looking to grow their customer support efforts around external knowledge bases, Zendesk offers a feature-rich, user-friendly solution. Zendesk’s support for multiple channels (from email and text to social media and live chat) means your employees and your customers will never have to go far to get what they need to succeed.

Looking for more tools similar to Zendesk? Check out this list of Zendesk alternatives.

Zendesk Features

  • AI-powered search and chatbots deliver relevant information immediately and automatically
  • Content management and administration tools for knowledge content integrity
  • Integrates with Zendesk’s other customer service tools, along with hundreds of third-party apps via the Zendesk marketplace

3. Confluence by Atlassian

Confluence's wiki software being used as a knowledge base

Atlassian's Confluence empowers teams to enhance customer service through strategic knowledge management and an accessible knowledge base. Integrated with Jira's helpdesk software, Confluence deflects basic support tickets, allowing users to find solutions independently while support teams track self-service instances and follow up as needed.

Confluence Features

  • Real-time editing, tagging, commenting, and notifications for seamless collaboration
  • User dashboards keep teams, customers, and other stakeholders apprised of changes to knowledge base content 
  • Integrates with Atlassian’s software suite and dozens of other tools to further solidify your knowledge base as your SSOT

4. Hubspot Service Hub

Screenshot of Hubspot's knowledge base software

Hubspot’s customer service platform is all about helping your customers help themselves.

Like Zendesk and Confluence, Hubspot’s knowledge base tool is part of an all-encompassing suite of tools aimed at enhancing the overall customer experience. By integrating with your CRM, you’ll be able to track user engagement and proactively deliver need-to-know info to your individual customers right when they need it.

Through user tracking and interactive, on-page surveys, Hubspot Service Hub helps you make laser-focused changes to your knowledge content in order to better serve your customers. You can also use Hubspot’s suite to trace customer satisfaction and success to your knowledge base content and other support initiatives.

Hubspot Service Hub Features

  • Fully-integrated customer support solution ensures support tickets are always resolved in the most efficient way possible
  • Interaction tracking and feedback management enables continuous improvement to knowledge content
  • Integrates with thousands of third-party apps via Hubspot App Collections

5. Help Scout

Screenshot of Helpscout's knowledge base software

Help Scout is a popular help desk software that offers multiple features to allow your business to better support its customers. One such features is Docs which allows your business to create a knowledge base that can be used externally as well as internally.

Help Scout Features

  • Easy-to-use so that you can create an external or internal knowledge base in minutes
  • Access to Beacon, a chat-style widget that can be embedded on any page of your website, giving users access to your knowledge base from anywhere on your site 
  • Integrates with Help Scout's shared inbox making it easier for your agents to support customers

6. ServiceNow

ServiceNow's knowledge base software

ServiceNow actually offers three different versions of its knowledge base system:

  • One for customer service management
  • One for IT support enhancement
  • One for HR and other internal operations

(Note that each KB tool is available as part of ServiceNow’s larger software suites — each focusing on the above processes.)

ServiceNow’s KB offering(s) focus heavily on real-time knowledge harvesting and documentation. As new data and information becomes available, knowledge managers and other team members can immediately use it to enhance their current knowledge, and in turn make improvements to their overall operations.

ServiceNow Features

  • Knowledge blocks keep related knowledge tied closely together, while also reducing redundant knowledge creation over time.
  • Knowledge subscriptions allow individual users to stay up-to-date with changes in certain domains.
  • Machine learning-powered reporting and analytics helps teams identify knowledge gaps, in turn enabling them to improve their knowledge documentation and collective knowledge altogether.

7. Bloomfire

Bloomfire's knowledge base software is popular for knowledge management

Bloomfire’s software helps teams evolve their knowledge management system to the point of knowledge engagement.

In other words, it’s less about creating and storing knowledge for posterity or for “whenever it’s needed”, and more about doing so for truly practical purposes. As remote work becomes more prevalent, and teams become more decentralized, Bloomfire aims to maintain organizational alignment through knowledge-focused initiatives.

Bloomfire's knowledge base software uses automated reminders and responders to create feedback loops for knowledge creators and managers. More than just prompting and incentivizing employees to add to your collective knowledge, this also ensures they understand the true impact their efforts have on your team’s productivity over time.

Bloomfire Features

  • Interactive dashboards and feeds surface need-to-know info, as well as knowledge content in need of updating.
  • AI-powered, dynamic search points users to the right knowledge content with minimal effort on their end.
  • Employees and team leaders can easily track contribution efforts — and can help knowledge creators improve these efforts in time.

8. Notion

Notion's wiki software being used as a knowledge base

Notion is a knowledge base system for teams that already have a basic, wiki-style knowledge base in place — and are looking to ramp things up.

It’s an all-in-one solution, allowing teams to combine knowledge management, project management, and other procedural tasks into one supercharged initiative. Those that had previously been using separate tools can migrate existing knowledge documents into Notion with ease.

From there, Notion will automatically organize and prioritize knowledge content based on use cases, importance, and overall value. This makes for highly-contextual, on-demand learning experiences for your team and customers — and higher levels of productivity for all involved parties.

Notion Features

  • Drag-and-drop interface makes for simple knowledge creation, editing, and polishing.
  • Over 100 customizable content templates to ensure effective communication and comprehension of in-depth topics.
  • Project management features reinforce and further streamline teams’ knowledge management efforts at all stages of the process.

9. Slite

Slite Knowledge Base Software being used to store employee handbook

Slite’s software focuses squarely on helping teams create and manage a cohesive and comprehensive internal knowledge base.

As such, Slite allows teams to surface and document new knowledge as it arises. From meeting minutes and project updates, to customer engagement data, to emerging best practices and procedural changes, Slite makes it easy for teams to showcase new information in real-time — and for stakeholders to access it as needed.

Slite’s internal knowledge base software is also highly scalable. While less tech-savvy teams can likely get started with Slite’s basic content creation features with ease, advanced users are free to take advantage of the more technical and “heavy” features offered by the tool.

Slite Features

  • User dashboard provides newly-created and recently-updated knowledge content in context.
  • Collaborative tools enable freeform brainstorming and content creation in real-time for both remote and on-premise teams.
  • Ongoing performance tracking allows for continuous improvement of knowledge content and KM processes.

10. Nuclino

Nuclino strives to streamline your team's knowledge management process by creating a unified workspace where everyone can collaborate and share knowledge effectively. As distributed teams continue to rise, Nuclino offers a platform that promotes synchronization and productivity across all work areas.

Nuclino's approach to knowledge management is highly interactive, engaging team members in real-time collaboration. This engagement isn't limited to just storing and retrieving information but extends to creating, editing, and commenting on documents, making it an active knowledge-sharing hub.

Nuclino Features

  • Graph View allows you to visualize and navigate through your knowledge base, displaying connections between different documents
  • The software's real-time collaborative editor allows multiple team members to simultaneously work on a single document.
  • Content can be enriched with embeds, videos, slides, files, and more, encouraging a multifaceted approach to knowledge sharing

11. Guru

Guru's mantra is not just about documenting and storing knowledge but making it actionable and easily accessible when it's needed the most. As teams continue to work remotely, Guru offers a solution to keep everyone on the same page, regardless of location.

Guru uses AI to deliver relevant knowledge in real-time, right in your workflow. It not only stimulates knowledge creation and sharing among team members but also tracks the use and impact of shared knowledge, helping teams understand its influence on their overall productivity.

Guru Features

  • Browser extension and integrations allow you to access your knowledge base directly from your everyday tools
  • The AI Suggest feature provides predictive search results and proactively suggests relevant information based on your work context
  • Verification workflows ensure all the information in your knowledge base is accurate and up-to-date

12. Archbee

Archbee is a knowledge management platform that assists with bringing teams and their knowledge together. With its commitment to enhancing team collaboration and customer support, Archbee stands out as a user-friendly and efficient choice for companies of all sizes.

Archbee's strength lies in its simplicity and power. The platform offers an intuitive document editor that supports both markdown and rich text, making it accessible for all team members regardless of their technical expertise. The interface is designed to be clean and distraction-free, ensuring a focus on content creation and management.

Archbee Features

  • Easy-to-use document editor
  • Real-time collaboration and editing
  • Integration capabilities with popular tools

13. Shelf

Shelf's knowledge base software

Shelf’s goal is to have teams start seeing clear, ROI-driven results from the moment they start using their knowledge management software.

Automation plays a role in pretty much every aspect of Shelf’s functionality. From identifying critical knowledge for documentation purposes, to delivering this information as needed, to improving knowledge content for all stakeholders, Shelf aims to take the menial, time-consuming parts completely out of the equation.

Shelf Features

  • Publication workflows help streamline and systematize knowledge management processes from start to finish.
  • Full-text search capabilities ensure users will always be able to surface the knowledge they need.
  • Live chat allows support staff to pick up where automation left off when escalation becomes necessary.

14. Bookstack

BookStack is a self-hosted, free, open-source knowledge base solution that simplifies the organization and sharing of knowledge, offering an intuitive and user-friendly platform for creating a structured and searchable knowledge base.

At the heart of BookStack's design is the intuitive concept of mimicking a traditional book's structure. This approach facilitates the organization of documents into chapters and pages, thereby streamlining the process of organizing information as well as categorizing and navigating information in a logical manner. Such a structure not only enhances readability but also ensures that content is comprehensive and easily accessible.

Designed with ease of use in mind, BookStack allows users to quickly find, create, and update content, making knowledge management a seamless part of daily operations. Its hierarchical structure organizes information in a logical manner, promoting efficiency and usability.

Bookstack Features

  • Free and open source
  • Easy to use WYSIWYG interface that allows you to structure content intuitively via a pages, chapters, and books structure 
  • Built-In diagrams.net allows users the ability to make fast, simple diagrams within their documentation.

How to Choose the Right Knowledge Base Software

While all knowledge base tools vary in specific ways in order to better serve their target audience, some features are near-universal amongst modern knowledge base software.

(In other words, if the KB software you’re considering doesn’t offer these features to some degree, you probably want to look elsewhere.)

  • User-Friendly Content Authoring. Ensure the software includes an easy-to-use editor, enabling your team to create, format, and manipulate text, images, and videos efficiently.
  • Collaborative Authoring and Formatting. Collaboration within a document streamlines the process of knowledge creation and documentation.
  • Laser-Focused Search Features. Deliver the right information to end-users quickly and accurately with advanced search capabilities.    
  • Easy Navigation: An intuitive layout and navigation can make the difference between a seamless user experience and a frustrating labyrinth.
  • Unique Customization Options. Customize your knowledge base to align with your brand and create a tailored user experience.
  • In-Depth Reporting and Analytics. Track content consumption to continuously improve knowledge base articles.
  • Access Control. Manage access to content, especially when creating an internal knowledge base.
  • Version History.  Facilitate collaboration and updating by tracking document changes and providing the ability to revert to previous versions when necessary.
  • Multilingual Support: Accommodate users who speak different languages by offering a multilingual knowledge base.
  • Content Import/Export: Import existing content from other sources or export your knowledge base content for backup or migration purposes.
  • Powerful Integrations. Automate and simplify your knowledge management tasks so your team can focus on “big picture” processes.
  • AI-Powered Assistance: AI-driven tools, such as auto-suggestions, that can improve user experience by providing relevant information quickly.
  • Notification System: Automatically notify team members of updates, comments, or changes to the knowledge base.
  • API Access. Integrate your knowledge base into your existing software with ease.

Marry these features with your team's needs, and you'll find the knowledge base software that becomes an extension of your organization, enhancing your knowledge management initiatives.

The Role of Knowledge Base Software in Knowledge Management

A knowledge base platform is an essential part of a team’s knowledge management system.

Yes, there are many other tools involved in optimizing KM-related tasks and procedures. Still, knowledge base software is the most critical piece of the puzzle.

Without a knowledge base acting as a central hub for your organizational knowledge, your efforts to gain full control over this info will be spread way too thin.

But, with this go-to resource in place, you’ll have a solid foundation on which to build your overall knowledge management initiatives.

The Benefits of Using Knowledge Base Software 

While we’ve already touched on some of the benefits of using knowledge base software, it’s worth taking a closer look to see just what it can do for your customers and your team.

For Your Customers

Creating a knowledge base allows your team to deliver scalable support to your customers, in a couple of ways.

For one thing, an external knowledge base proactively delivers the information your customers need, whenever they need it. In other words, they won’t need to wait for your support staff to be available to solve their problems — they can just take care of it on their own.

This self-service option empowers the customer, allowing them to take more control over their experience with your products and services. This enables them to achieve ever-higher goals — many of which they may not have even had when starting out with your brand.

And, because many of your customers will be better able to serve themselves, your support staff will be better able to help those who do need hands-on support. Showmojo, for example, improved its support response time by 300% due to cutting its support ticket numbers by 30%.

Knowledge base software helps you put structures in place to enhance your overall customer experience, period.

The more support your customers get, the more likely they are to succeed. In turn, they’ll be all the more likely to stick with your brand for the foreseeable future.

For Your Team

Your team will also benefit from creating both types of knowledge base, as well.

As noted above, a customer-facing knowledge base minimizes the need for your support staff to provide hands-on assistance, enabling the customer to solve common issues on their own. This, in turn, means more time and energy on-hand to spend on more complex support tickets and other processes.

An internal knowledge base can have a far-reaching impact on your team’s overall performance, as well.

With a centralized KB in place, your team will become more aligned in terms of the big picture and day-to-day going-on within the organization. All organizational knowledge is readily accessible to all members of your team — meaning everyone can easily stay on the same page at all times.

With everyone on the same page, it’ll become easier than ever for your team to move in the right direction. What’s more, you’ll stay on the same page as you move forward, with all incoming knowledge and information being synced throughout your team as it’s uploaded into your knowledge base.

Your internal knowledge base is also where you’ll hold all of your onboarding and training materials. Similar to the way a customer-facing KB empowers your audience, an internal one allows your team members to take control of their own professional development.

Finally, maintaining an internal knowledge base ensures your organizational knowledge remains intact, even as employees leave your organization. If you use a knowledge base for no other reason, the ability to maintain and retain your knowledge assets over time simply can’t be overlooked.

Experience the Benefits of Knowledge Management with Helpjuice

Ready to harness the power of an effective knowledge base software for your organization? Helpjuice offers a user-friendly, customizable, and scalable solution designed to meet your knowledge management needs. Improve customer support, streamline employee onboarding, and enhance collaboration across your teams with Helpjuice.

Sign up for a 14-day free trial today.

Knowledge Base Software vs. Other Knowledge Management Solutions

In the vast knowledge management arena, a myriad of software solutions exist, each with a unique purpose. Knowledge base software, FAQ pages, wiki tools, intranet software, and help desk systems all strive to capture, organize, and disseminate information. However, it's essential to clarify that while these tools share similarities, they are not identical.

Let's take a look into the key distinctions and explore why knowledge base software might just be your champion in managing your organization's knowledge.

Knowledge Base Software vs. FAQ Page

While both knowledge bases and FAQ pages serve to proactively deliver information and support for commonly-encountered issues and frequently asked questions, there are significant differences.

FAQ pages are typically static, providing quick, surface-level answers to common questions. In contrast, knowledge base software allows you to create dynamic, immersive learning experiences for your audience. Moreover, knowledge base software offers analytics to help you understand customer interactions, measure content impact, and provide answers to the questions customers genuinely want to be addressed.

In short, while knowledge base software can be used to create FAQ pages, it goes beyond merely addressing customer queries.

Knowledge Base Software vs. Wiki Software

While the best wiki software like Atlassian’s Confluence allows for collaborative content creation, it lacks the many other operational features that knowledge base software is known for. 

Wikis are also typically open to an entire organization for editing purposes which leads to them being updated in a less structured, more “free” manner. This can cause misinformation to be spread, out-of-date information to be overlooked, and new information to slip through the cracks.

In contrast, knowledge bases are managed in a more structured, standardized manner by your dedicated knowledge management team, ensuring accuracy and up-to-date information at all times.

Knowledge Base Software vs. Intranet Software

At first glance, intranet software like SharePoint or Google Drive may seem like the best knowledge management software choice for managing company knowledge and sharing it internally. However, intranets often suffer from limited permission control, leading to system bloating, duplications, and difficulties in locating information. Additionally, intranet software lacks version history, which can result in employees following outdated policies or procedures.

Knowledge base software, on the other hand, provides a more structured and navigable experience, with permission controls and version history, making it easier to manage and access up-to-date content.

To illustrate the challenges faced when using intranet software and the benefits of switching to knowledge base software, consider this quote from Jennifer Hoffman, Knowledge Manager at Capital City Bank Group:

“Prior to using Helpjuice, we were using a centralized intranet as well as shared drives to communicate policies and procedures as well as changes to those policies and procedures.  

The issue was that employees expressed issues with 'not knowing where to look' for the information they needed to answer client questions and/or complete the tasks associated with their job. In turn, this led to inefficiencies and a poor experience for our clients.  

Switching to Helpjuice allowed us to centralize all of our information and job aide resources.  The search feature is so powerful that our associates are often able to find the content they are looking for before they even finish typing the search term!”

Knowledge Base Software vs. Help Desk Software

Both self-service knowledge bases and help desk ticketing software allow you to provide laser-focused support to your customers.

The difference:

Help desks facilitate direct engagement between customers and support staff, while knowledge bases offer a self-service option. The more comprehensive your knowledge base, the less your customers will need to rely on your help desk for support.

(One thing to note: It's worth noting that some help desk software providers like Zendesk and similar alternatives include knowledge base features. However, as these features are not standalone products, the resulting knowledge bases can be challenging to use, manage, and often come with limited analytics and search capabilities).

While other knowledge sources like FAQ pages, wiki software, intranet software, and help desk tools serve their own unique purposes, knowledge base software is specifically designed to manage your organization's knowledge effectively. By choosing knowledge base software, you gain access to a more structured, navigable, and data-driven system that enables superior knowledge management, empowering both your employees and customers with the information they need to succeed.

Sign up for a 14-day free trial to see how our knowledge base software can help supercharge your business' operations.

Knowledge Base Software Deployment Options

Knowledge base providers typically take one of three approaches for delivering their software:

  • SaaS (software-as-a-service) model
  • Open-source software
  • Free or freemium tool


Let’s take a look at what each type has to offer — and which solution might best suit your team’s needs.

SaaS Knowledge Base Software

Many knowledge base software providers, such as Helpjuice, take the SaaS approach to serving their audience.

Basically, this means the customer pays a monthly subscription fee to the provider in exchange for access to the software. The provider also takes care of server maintenance and security, and offers various levels of service and support to its individual clients.

For teams looking for a comprehensive, user-friendly solution to their knowledge base needs, the SaaS option is the best bet.

With no hardware or software installation needed, teams can quickly create, manage, and access knowledge base content at any time, on any device. The software’s user-friendly interface — coupled with open access to customer support — ensures your team will get the most possible value out of their knowledge base over time.

SaaS knowledge base providers often offer tiered levels of service, meaning a low barrier of entry for small and growing businesses. The fixed cost-per-month, at any tier, is a small price to pay for access to the software and laser-focused service and support.

Regardless of the service tier, most SaaS knowledge base tools allow users to customize the interface in a variety of ways. 

Going with the SaaS option will allow you to get your knowledge base up and running in no time while keeping costs and downtime to a minimum. If you need a knowledge base tool that will grow with your team, SaaS is the way to go.

Open Source Knowledge Base Software

Other knowledge base software providers take the open source approach, in which they give your team access to the code for the KB software — your team can then tailor the software to their specific needs.

This means that your team will be responsible for maintaining the software, in addition to the servers on which their knowledge base will be hosted. 

Unlike the SaaS option, open source software is usually offered free of charge by the developer. Again, the main trade-off here is that you’ll be responsible for pretty much every process related to your knowledge base software — with minimal support from the developer.

Overall, open source knowledge base software is the best option for teams that:

  1. Want to have complete control over their KB’s interface and features
  2. Have the capacity to maintain and improve the software over time

Free/Freemium Knowledge Base Software

If your team has absolutely no experience using a knowledge base or you are using a CMS like WordPress which has free knowledge base themes or plugins, these free options may seem like a good place to start. Going this route, you’ll be able to get your team’s feet wet in a completely no-risk environment, allowing them to get acclimated with the basic features of modern knowledge base software.

But, your team will quickly find their hands tied once they get the hang of using the new software. Depending on the specific free tool being used, there may be restrictions on the features the team can use, the number of users the software supports, or the number of customizations that can be done to the template.

Additionally, these free options typically have no analytics and limited search functionality that’s keyword-based.

The Verdict: Harnessing the Power of the Right Knowledge Base Software

The difference between a functional knowledge management system and a phenomenal one often comes down to the choice of your knowledge base software. It's about finding a solution that not only answers your immediate needs but also scales with your business, supporting your growing team and customer base.

Now, you've embarked on this comprehensive exploration of knowledge base software. You understand how it stands head and shoulders above alternatives like FAQs, wikis, intranets, and help desk tools. You've discovered what to look for in a winning knowledge base solution, and you've seen the value of user-friendly interfaces, powerful authoring capabilities, dynamic search functionalities, customization options, and insightful analytics.

With this newfound knowledge, are you ready to make an informed choice?

Helpjuice, designed to cater to businesses of all shapes and sizes, offers all these essentials and more. Virgin Mobile, Amazon, TCL, Shipt and Hertz are just a few of the many companies that have experienced the transformative impact of Helpjuice on their knowledge management processes.

Isn't it time you joined them?

We cordially invite you to explore the world of Helpjuice firsthand. We're so confident in our software's power to revolutionize your knowledge management that we're offering you a risk-free, 14-day trial. Dive in, discover the features, experience the user-friendliness, and see the difference it can make for your organization.

Don't wait to empower your team and customers with the knowledge they need when they need it. Take the first step towards unlocking your organization's potential by signing up for your 14-day free trial today or requesting a demo to see Helpjuice in action.

There's a reason why the most successful companies choose Helpjuice for their knowledge management needs. It's time to discover that reason for yourself.

FAQ

The most common questions asked about knowledge base software:

Q1. What is Knowledge Base Software?

Knowledge base software allows you to create a centralized digital library that can be used to easily organize, find, and share knowledge that would otherwise be spread out in multiple locations. 

Q2. What Are the Different Types of Knowledge Bases?

The two types of knowledge bases you may want to create as well as what information they may contain include:

External / Self-Service Knowledge Base

An external or self-service knowledge base (also known as a customer-facing knowledge base, help center, or support site) is where customers can go to learn anything they’d ever need to know about a company’s products or services.

Typically an external knowledge base will include things like:

  • Answers to frequently asked questions
  • User documentation and manuals
  • Product walkthroughs
  • How-to and demo videos
  • Troubleshooting material

Internal Knowledge Base

An internal knowledge base (also known as an employee knowledge base) is typically utilized as a way to allow employees to collaborate and share all company knowledge and information internally.

Some of the things you may find in an internal knowledge base include:

Q3. What Can a Knowledge Base Be Used For?

A knowledge base can be created for:

Because there are many different use cases for knowledge bases, no two are exactly the same. Still, the overall goal of all knowledge base software is to ensure the right people have access to the organizational knowledge they need, whenever they need it.

Q4: Why is a Knowledge Base Important for Businesses?

A knowledge base is essential for businesses because it streamlines access to critical information, improves customer support, enhances employee productivity, reduces repetitive inquiries, and promotes self-service solutions. Ultimately, it helps businesses save time, resources, and improve overall user satisfaction.