Knowledge base software comparison: choose the right solution for your business

This article is a comparison between different types of knowledge base solutions. It’s intended to complement our comprehensive knowledge base software guide.

The main categories of the available software are:

1. Full service help desks
2. Standalone knowledge base tools
3. Developer knowledge base tools
4. Open source knowledge base tools
5. Help Authoring Tools
6. Static Site Generator
7. Publishing tools
8. Collaboration tools

There are also many knowledge management solutions out there, some which are not really knowledge bases at all.

A knowledge base is defined as:

“Human readable knowledge bases enable people to access and use the knowledge. They store help documents, manuals, troubleshooting information and frequently answered questions. They can be interactive and lead users to solutions to problems they have, but rely on the user providing information to guide the process.”

The many knowledge base (or knowledge base-like) options out there can be confusing. All the different software labels mean it might be hard to understand what you’re buying if you don’t have lots of experience.

This increases the risk you won’t be satisfied with your product and wastes valuable time.

Development of SaaS knowledge bases

Installing on-site software solutions can be very costly and are often not that suitable for bootstrapping companies or small businesses.

The growth of the SaaS industry has enabled vendors to develop a range of cloud-based software solutions offered as a subscription model – often a far more affordable and agile option for small companies.

As a result, there now several good SaaS knowledge base solutions out there to choose from.

1. Full service help desk

First, there are software solutions out there that offer the full range of customer support functionality, also known as the full service help desk.

A help desk is defined as:

“Help desk software streamlines conversations across channels into one place, keeps track of user requests, enables you to communicate with customers more easily, and helps you deal with other customer support related issues better.”

Software solutions like Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout and Zoho usually include a help desk, multichannel support, analytics, live chat, phone integration, shared inbox and API integrations, among other elements.

Some help desks include a knowledge base option (also called ‘help center’ or ‘self-service’), and you may be able to select specific applications if you don’t want the full service. Usually though, this isn’t possible or encouraged.

For example, Zendesk Guide is Zendesk’s knowledge base solution. It comes with smart features to provide personalized and contextualized help so it is supposed to integrate with the Zendesk platform. It comes bundled with the help desk software so you will be unable to buy the knowledge base as a standalone solution.

2. Standalone knowledge base solutions

Standalone knowledge base solutions are a useful category of software for companies seeking to invest in their self-service customer support. It is highly optimised for use by support agents and technical writers in the customer support software stack.

It will generally come with all the capabilities you need for an intelligent knowledge base, such as:

• WYSIWYG Content Management System
• Editing and approval process
• Content architecture
• Topic-based categories
• Search Engine Optimization

You may just want to build a knowledge base for your customer support team, or an internal knowledge base for sharing knowledge within your company. This type of software can usually be integrated with your customer support ticketing system, helping you easily turn tickets into documentation.

Solutions that focus on just building knowledge bases include:

• Document360
  
• HelpDocs
• Helpjuice 
• KnowledgeOwl

KnowledgeOwl is our own knowledge base software that enables you to create online manuals, handbooks, knowledge bases, portals, user guides, help sites, software documentation, and more.

3. Knowledge base tools for developers

API development teams may require a knowledge base solution with different capabilities than your standard knowledge base. This is because of the types of information formats, technical workflows, API calls and dynamic code snippets.

• ReadMe
• Read the Docs
• Stoplight 
• Swagger UI

Many developer teams also opt for Static Site Generators, which we will go into later in this post.

If you’re just looking for a employee or customer support product knowledge base, this type of software might not be a good fit.

4. Open source knowledge base solutions

Open source knowledge base solutions are often popular with developers due to the fact that you can technically “own” the source code. Open source software is also often free (but not always), so that means you don’t have to pay for it.

Also known as “free software” or “software libre”, this type of software has been developed using open principles. In this case, we're talking about open source software that is free to modify and distribute.

Examples of open source knowledge base solutions:

• Documize – a type of wiki software
  
• OpenKM – for internal knowledge bases
• phpMyFAQ – FAQ software

It can be integrated into your company’s software stack without maintaining a subscription or paying software vendors to install an integration for you (think the opposite of what happens with Microsoft).

If you require extreme flexibility and control over the code, open source software could be for you. It’s not suitable for companies without the developer resources to install and maintain.

5. Help Authoring Tools

Help Authoring Tools (HATs) are a type of knowledge base solutions that target technical writers and communicators working in the software industry. These solutions include Madcap Flare, HelpNDocs, and Adobe RoboHelp.

Solutions like these are geared towards helping teams write their documentation collaboratively and across different platforms. Mediums include web pages, PDFs, printed manuals, and printed booklets.

Tools like these are commonly found in enterprise software companies. They are closely related to the Tech Comm discipline with its roots in academia. It may be fair to say that while similar to knowledge base solutions, they are really a world apart.

HATs are different from similar types of software because they allow incoming data to be tagged in markup language Markdown, so content can be reused across mediums.

This type of system obviously requires some training and onboarding for team members – more than you would need to learn to use a standard knowledge base tool. Anyone who can use a web-based CMS will typically be able to learn to use knowledge base tools quickly.

If all you want is a knowledge base, HATs might not be appropriate. G2 Crowd has published a post comparing the best HATs in 2018.

6. Static Site Generator

Static Site Generators turn source files into an entirely static website, without needing to communicate with a database on a server while users are interacting with the site.

In contrast, dynamic sites (like a SaaS knowledge base for example) have more moving parts, and parts of the page will need to be able to load while the user is on the site.

Such tools are often used by technical writers who want to publish a very simple documentation site – without interactive features like comments or feedback forms. It can possibly sit alongside their software source code in the repository. Programming skills are required in order to successfully deploy and maintain a static site.

There are many different Static Site Generators, but ones specialized for documentation include Hugo, Sphinx, TravisCI or Jekyll.

Static Site Generators are frequently open source, and software companies who want control over the source code for their documentation are likely to use them.

7. Publishing tools

There are other publishing tools like Adobe InDesign CC, Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Publisher if your documentation is extremely graphics heavy. Extensive custom diagrams may require more flexibility from your software than a simple HTML and CSS-based CMS.

In such industries as consumer electronics, or medical equipment, for example, documentation needs to be flexible. Technical Writers need to place multiple text and picture frames around on a page and partition the page design without constraint.

Documentation needs to be moved fluidly between multiple formats both online and offline. Sometimes it needs to be translated and published in multiple languages.

You may be turning your documentation into professional-looking PDFs and therefore require Adobe InDesign CC. If your documentation needs to be written in XML or to be DITA-compliant, then something like Adobe FrameMaker is a good choice.

8. Collaboration tools

Sometimes teams need internal knowledge bases and this is where the category “knowledge base” gets really murky.

Something like Microsoft SharePoint is really a million miles away from a knowledge base, but because it’s an intranet and project management tool, customers often want a knowledge base solution as well.

Atlassian’s Confluence is specifically targeted at developers because of its advanced capabilities, but again it is aimed at help teams to collaborate.

While it has capabilities for an internal knowledge base, the scope and price of this software is not suitable for companies simply looking for a knowledge base.

Think about your type of business

Different options will suit different types of businesses and different business purposes. The type of values and development methodologies your company has will determine whether a SaaS knowledge base will be suitable or not.

For a small business or startup, you may not need all the functionality of a large enterprise business. Many of these companies are perfect customers for standalone knowledge base solutions like KnowledgeOwl.

Developer-focused companies producing API documentation may ideally choose a product like Stoplight, while others will be happy with a Static Site Generator like Jekyll that they can host and deploy with the software source code.

That being said, think about scalability. What software will you need in the future based on your business model? It’s far easier to choose software that can scale up than to have to switch to a new solution later down the line.

As an enterprise, you already may have particular requirements that make a HAT more appropriate. Similarly, if you’re working in the STEM industries or academia, and require documentation in XML or to be DITA-compliant, then it may well be likely that you need more specialist technical software such as Adobe FrameMaker or Madcap Flare.

Check out where to find knowledge base software reviews online and read our knowledge base software guide. 

If you’d like to find out more about what KnowledgeOwl knowledge base software offers, we’d love to hear from you!