Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#1

Post by alexbecker » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 12:29 AM UTC

My team currently uses Confluence (an Atlassian product) for requirements, designs, procedures, and for various other engineering and product-related documents. However, I find it slow and difficult to navigate.

Has anyone found a better alternative?

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#2

Post by chrisked » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 1:54 AM UTC

You can try https://www.getoutline.com/.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#3

Post by tianshuo » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 4:02 AM UTC

I played around with: https://www.notion.so/ it didn't stick. Our team is using Tapd (free, in Chinese, made by Tencent) for kanban boards, document sharing and other kinds of collaboration.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#4

Post by boltzmannbrain » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 4:18 AM UTC

tianshuo wrote: post #3

I played around with: https://www.notion.so/ it didn't stick. Our team is using Tapd (free, in Chinese, made by Tencent) for kanban boards, document sharing and other kinds of collaboration.

I'm curious, why didn't Notion stick?

We started using Notion as an alternative to Confluence, but I'm not a fan. It feels too fluffy (as do other tools like Monday). Confluence can be a pain and expensive, but the UI/UX is professional.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#5

Post by purephase » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 4:36 AM UTC

In these situations, I find that the conversation always revolves around the tool, and not the end goal. Documentation is a lot like code, but with a lot less people willing to write it.

Confluence and it's ilk are only as good as the effort / ownership of those that are willing to put in the time. If your org is not willing, than no other tool is really going to solve the core product.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#6

Post by tekronis » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

Maybe try Slab: https://slab.com/

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#7

Post by boltzmannbrain » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 4:46 AM UTC

purephase wrote: post #5

In these situations, I find that the conversation always revolves around the tool, and not the end goal. Documentation is a lot like code, but with a lot less people willing to write it. Confluence and it's ilk are only as good as the effort / ownership of those that are willing to put in the time. If your org is not willing, than no other tool is really going to solve the core product.

Respectfully disagree. We may not be representative of all teams, but we did devote considerable time and energy into Confluence. No amount of love from the users can resolve application issues like slow load times, buggy draft-saving, inability to copy-paste, clunky commenting UI, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#8

Post by deeteecee » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 5:39 AM UTC

purephase wrote: post #5

In these situations, I find that the conversation always revolves around the tool, and not the end goal. Documentation is a lot like code, but with a lot less people willing to write it. Confluence and it's ilk are only as good as the effort / ownership of those that are willing to put in the time. If your org is not willing, than no other tool is really going to solve the core product.

ill agree with you for most cases except atlassian software.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#9

Post by stevesimmons » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:50 AM UTC

I could live with Confluence if it played better with Markdown

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Atlassian Confluence?

#10

Post by bigtrakzapzap » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:55 AM UTC

tl;dr, check these sites:

https://www.wikimatrix.org

http://wiki.c2.com/?TopTenWikiEngines http://wiki.c2.com/?WikiWikiWeb )

Having setup the whole Atlassian on-prem SSO suite of apps on Linux with Git and LDAP talking to AD on Windows, it depends on your needs, as there are a variety of different wiki/collaboration solutions with different capabilities. I've also used these:

- Dokuwiki (very simple, text file-based)

- Mediawiki (LAMP / database-backed)

- SharePoint (MS $$)

- Quip

Others to look at (including sometimes CMSes)

- OneNote

- Liferay

- Drupal

- Statamic

- WordPress

Also, Confluence has tons of plugins for customization and can be made to be fast with proper configuration.