The 15 best knowledge base software for 2024 (2024)

Now, let’s explore an in-depth overview of the software options on our list to help you make the best choice for your needs.

1. Zendesk

Best for AI-powered customer and employee self-service

Zendesk offers AI-powered knowledge base software that is fast to set up, easy to use for both customers and internal teams, and scalable. Our generative AI tools can turn a few bullet points into a complete article, adjust the tone to match your brand guidelines, and refine the copy for clarity, enabling you to create a comprehensive help center quickly and cost-effectively.

AI-powered Content Cues provide insights into trending support topics, helping you fill content gaps. They can also flag underperforming articles, allowing you to update or archive them to keep your knowledge base current.

Once your knowledge base is established, enhance your self-service offerings with Zendesk AI agents. These industry-leading bots are pre-trained on over 18 billion real customer interactions and can be set up in minutes without technical expertise by connecting them to your knowledge base. They reference your knowledge base to answer questions, direct users to relevant articles, or connect to a conversation flow.

Zendesk is highly customizable, allowing you to create language-specific versions of articles and develop multiple help centers for different audiences or brands. Team Publishing simplifies managing updates by enabling collaboration, review, approval, and publishing workflows. The Content Blocks feature lets you add and place text, images, and videos in relevant articles.

Additionally, our semantic search capabilities improve search results by understanding the meaning of queries even without exact keywords. Generative search provides AI-generated answers within your help center, so users don't have to sift through multiple search results to find the information they need.

Finally, our knowledge base software is integrated into our comprehensive customer service solution, providing everything you need to deliver exceptional CX from day one, including omnichannel support and an AI-powered Agent Workspace.

Pricing: Plans start at $55 per agent/month. A 14-day free trial is available.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Helpjuice

Best for single-purpose knowledge base software

Helpjuice offers knowledge base software that can help businesses manage content. The solution features a search engine designed for knowledge bases to help users find what they need. Users can create articles using the native What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor and publishing interface to add content.

The platform employs AI-driven algorithms to recommend article topics and generate suggestions for content improvements. Analytics highlight which articles get the most views and which users search for them. Additionally, Helpjuice offers customization options. The customizable themes allow you to create a tailored brand experience, and multilingual support lets you switch languages from the authoring panel.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Customizable
• Responsive customer support

Cons:

• Interface can have pop-ups
• Can be difficult to navigate

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $120 per month for up to four users. A 14-day free trial is available.

Learn about the Helpjuice integration for Zendesk.

3. Bloomfire

Best for internal knowledge sharing

Bloomfire helps teams organize company knowledge in a centralized platform. The platform mimics social media with capabilities for users to engage with the content with likes, shares, comments, or follows. Bloomfire’s AI technology can also understand the user's queries and provide suggestions.

The reporting features and feedback loops can help management teams understand if the content is engaging or if there are any opportunities for improvement. Moreover, Bloomfire's platform supports the creation of crowd-sourced FAQs so teams and communities can collaboratively build a repository of best practices.

Pros:

• Versatile product
• Easy to use
• Excels in inter-departmental communication

Cons:

• Indexing can be clunky
• Navigation can be confusing
• Customer onboarding may be difficult

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Contact Bloomfire for pricing. A 30-day free trial is available.

Learn about the Bloomfire integration for Zendesk.

4. Guru

Best for creating an employee intranet

Guru’s knowledge base system enables teams to create, share, access, and update information. It can unify contextually relevant information with existing tools like chat, email, and your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Businesses can set user permissions and view revision history.

Guru uses AI to surface information in the knowledge base to improve suggestions based on customer and employee search patterns. Guru also lets businesses compare their engagement analytics to performance benchmarks. Though Guru is an internal knowledge base, you can use its application programming interface (API) to publish content externally.

Pros:

• Easy customer onboarding
• Features are accessible
• Keyword search makes it easy to find information

Cons:

• Document layouts are lacking in customizability
• Search function can be problematic
• Generative AI could give unrelated results

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $10 per user/month, billed annually. A 30-day free trial is available.

Learn about the Guru integration for Zendesk.

5. Zoho Desk

Best for companies using Zoho products

Mostly known for its ticketing system and help desk solutions, Zoho Desk also offers knowledge base software. The customizable structure allows you to form separate categories for how-to articles, FAQs, and other self-service options. Users can also create separate categories if they have different brands and sub-categories for brand-specific topics.

Writers and editors can create content using Zoho’s collaboration tools. Businesses can control access to their knowledge base by requiring users to create accounts. Additionally, Zoho lets users customize their knowledge base themes and branding with logos and color schemes. Community forums also allow customers to collaborate and interact with your team.

Pros:

• Can aid in customer communication
• Easy to use
• Intuitive features

Cons:

• There can be technical issues in the login process
• Sorting and assigning content can be difficult
• Notifications and alerts are sometimes lacking

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A 15-day free trial is available.

Learn about the Zoho CRM integration for Zendesk.

6. Document360

Best for free public knowledge base access

Document360 lets you create public knowledge bases for your customers and private knowledge bases for your team. Common features include real-time search, version control, and category manager. Plus, writers and editors can collaborate in discussion platforms while creating or reviewing drafts.

This knowledge base software includes markdown and WYSIWYG editors, so authors can create content using their preferred method. Document360 allows you to create how-to guides, tutorials, and technical documents for your teams. The software also offers article view permissions, which keep data private and secure by requiring a login to access information.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use folder structure
• Wealth of customizability
• Integration capabilities

Cons:

• Character limits to new pages
• Occasional technical difficulties
• Limited product support

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $149 per project/month. A 14-day free trial and free plan for up to two users are available.

Learn about the Document360 integration for Zendesk.

7. Notion

Best for team collaboration

Businesses can use Notion as a database, notepad, project management tool, and collaborative writing space. Its wiki software enables companies to organize knowledge in a searchable format, and permission settings can determine what users can access and do.

Notion lets you customize your customer knowledge base and organize content by adding tags, labels, and owners to your articles. It has pre-built templates and drag-and-drop tools to help build and structure pages.

Pros:

• Extensive tutorials and startup information
• Easy to build
• Several integration options

Cons:

• Collaboration can be clunky
• Missing some advanced article writing features
• Occasional glitches

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $10 per seat/month. A seven-day free trial and free plan are available.

Learn about the Notion integration for Zendesk.

8. HappyFox

Best for social sharing

HappyFox provides help desk software with knowledge base solutions for businesses across various industries. Its knowledge base offers self-service options and helps organizations collect customer feedback. The tool also has branded client portals and separate internal and external knowledge management systems.

Users can utilize HappyFox’s search engine to find relevant and top-ranking articles for their queries. Auto-suggest and structured index features guide customers through their self-service journey. HappyFox also allows businesses to share content over social media channels.

Pros:

• Good product support
• Customizable content options
• Flexible use cases

Cons:

• Software can be overly technical
• Occasional bugs
• Some difficulty exporting information

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

9. Confluence

Best for Jira users

Confluence is a document collaboration and sharing platform by Atlassian (which owns Jira) that businesses can use for internal or external knowledge base purposes. The software can keep track of document changes for content auditing and lets teams collaborate on drafts.

The analytics tools in Confluence allow teams to track content performance, monitor user engagement, and identify areas that may require additional attention. Confluence also supports real-time co-authoring and editing of articles, as well as user comments and permissions management. This can help teams collaborate and maintain their knowledge base.

Pros:

• Easy to learn
• Promotes employee development
• Easy to collaborate with team members

Cons:

• Can be difficult to export information
• Page editing can seem lacking
• Text-based search can be hit or miss

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra

Pricing: Plans start at $0 per month for 10 users.

Learn about the Confluence integration for Zendesk.

10. Knowmax

Best for learning management

Knowmax provides AI-powered knowledge management resources that allow agents to retrieve articles using natural language queries. The platform integrates with a learning management system, enabling businesses to create and deliver training materials directly within Knowmax.

The product also offers functionalities to manage the presentation of information. Decision trees guide agents through troubleshooting procedures step by step. Picture guides provide visual aids alongside written instructions to add clarity for both agents and customers.

Pros:

• Easy to create content
• Intuitive design
• Decision trees are easy to navigate

Cons:

• Lacking in some features compared to other options
• Can be a high initial investment
• Could be better features related to content scraping and tone detection

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Contact Knowmax.

Learn about the Knowmax integration for Zendesk.

11. Nuclino

Best for project management

Nuclino’s knowledge base solutions offer AI that can assist users in creating structured, interconnected documents. The AI sidekick can generate ideas, write content based on provided keywords, and summarize notes.

With Nuclino, companies can set access restrictions to control who views, edits, and contributes content. Multiple users can work together, editing and commenting on documents in real time. The platform also includes an article version history tool, allowing users to track changes and revisions over time. Additionally, Nuclino provides a collection of templates that give users a starting point in designing wikis, product roadmaps, and handbooks.

Pros:

• Wealth of integrations
• Easy to create and edit content
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Pricing structure can be problematic for some businesses
• Initial product integration can be difficult
• Can be convoluted if managing large databases

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $0 per month with limited features. A 14-day free trial is available.

12. ProProfs Knowledge Base

Best for individual authors

ProProfs Knowledge Base lets businesses view reports on article views, user interactions, and content performance to understand how readers are engaging with articles. Companies can also define workflow processes so everyone knows how to create, review, and approve content.

ProProfs lets users create conditional content, and it can hide or display content based on the reader’s viewing device or customer segment. Additionally, its WYSIWYG editor lets teams customize content templates and add images or videos.

Pros:

• Helpful related features like workflow templates
• Cost-effective
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Can be lacking in automation
• Lack of integrations
• Occasional bugs

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $0 per month for one author and up to 25 pages. A 15-day free trial is available.

13. Help Scout

Best for teams using a shared inbox

Help Scout provides knowledge base software as part of its help center solution. Businesses that use it can maintain a consistent look that aligns with their brand identity. Customization options include color schemes, logos, and layouts.

Businesses can control access and user permissions to protect sensitive information while allowing collaboration and content management between teams. AI-powered tools can guide users to resources and provide recommendations for content creation. Additionally, its analytics can help teams track metrics like article views and search trends.

Pros:

• Clean interface
• Several integrations
• Core features are easy to use

Cons:

• Occasional glitches
• Advanced capabilities can be difficult to learn
• Few customization options

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $22 per user/month, billed annually. A 15-day free trial is available.

14. HelpCrunch

Best for chat widget integration

HelpCrunch offers knowledge base software as part of its broader customer support solutions. This allows businesses to integrate their knowledge bases within chat widgets to promote self-service. The AI-powered editor assists in creating content for search engine discoverability. It can translate articles, change the tone, and expand text.

The software also provides insights through its "failed searches” feature. This report identifies search queries that don't yield relevant results within the knowledge base, highlighting potential content gaps and areas for improvement.

Pros:

• Macro systems can be useful for customer support
• Helpful product support
• Cost-effective

Cons:

• Occasional bugs
• Product design can be lacking
• Could use additional access features

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Plans start at $12 per team member/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

15. Whatfix

Best for user onboarding

Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that helps businesses with user support and in-app guidance. While this product is not a traditional knowledge base software, it can help teams embed their internal and external resources directly into third-party applications and digital workplaces.

Organizations can utilize guided flows, product tours, and helpful pop-ups to aid user onboarding and product adoption. Teams can gather engagement and user data to determine task completion rates, common self-help questions, knowledge gaps, and more.

Pros:

• Easy initial setup
• Wealth of customizations
• Users can grow capabilities without needing developer help

Cons:

• Customer support can be hit or miss
• Advanced flows can be difficult to implement
• Analytics capabilities can be lacking

Pros and cons sourced from Capterra.

Pricing: Contact Whatfix for pricing. A free trial is available.