The 14 Best Knowledge Management Tools, Compared (2024)
Knowledge management is increasingly important in today’s distributed workforce. The most effective support teams need accessible, up-to-date, and accurate information to do their jobs.
With a plethora of knowledge management tools on the market, it can be tough to understand which tool is the best fit to organize your team's knowledge and documentation.
To help out, we've put together a list of some of the best options for each use case.
What is knowledge management?
Knowledge management is a broad term that describes the ways we gather, store, and share information.
Every organization contains a ton of knowledge, but getting that knowledge documented and accessible can be challenging. When your organizational knowledge is tied up in people’s brains or in tools that are hard to find and access, your team and your customers are unable to benefit from it.
The easiest way to solve that problem is to use a great knowledge management tool.
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What are knowledge management tools?
Knowledge management tools are applications that help you collect, organize, and distribute information. A huge variety of them exist — designed for different use cases and needs — but the end goal is the same: organizing and making use of your knowledge.
For customer support teams, knowledge management systems also play a foundational role in improving self-service.
Why is using a knowledge management system important?
People are inundated with content all day, every day, and retaining it all is a huge challenge. A knowledge or content management system allows you to make all of that information more accessible so that it can be surfaced and put to use when needed.
For businesses, knowledge management tools can create transparency, facilitate collaboration, and prevent the loss of knowledge when employees move on. In addition, companies that sell a product or a service can improve customer satisfaction and reduce support volume by investing in self-service solutions like knowledge base software.
For customers, knowledge management tools enable them to receive help when and where they want it, giving them an improved experience with a product or brand.
For individuals, knowledge management tools help keep track of work projects, notes, or other information so that it can be accessed again in the future.
While almost everyone can benefit from the use of a knowledge management tool, each use case will require a different type of tool, each with features that best align with the type of information being stored and the audience it caters to.
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Types of knowledge management tools
There are many different ways to manage an organization’s knowledge, and different tools reflect those different approaches.
The type of tool you choose depends heavily on the specific needs of your team or situation. For example, some knowledge management tools are focused on internal users, while others are focused on external use cases. Other tools might blend both use cases, enabling knowledge sharing across your organization and your customers.
In addition, while cloud-based knowledge management tools are standard, you may want something that can operate locally.
To help make picking the right knowledge management solution easier, it’s useful to break them down into a few key categories:
Knowledge bases and wikis: These tools are used to create a central repository of information where employees or customers can easily search for and access company knowledge. Standard knowledge bases are typically maintained by a small group of internal editors, while wikis allow collaborative editing (like Wikipedia).
Document management systems: Most folks are familiar with these classic systems. These are tools that focus firmly on creating, storing, and organizing information in documents, such as Google Docs or Dropbox.
Collaboration tools: These tools allow team members to collaborate on tasks, share ideas, and store project-related knowledge. They typically include chat functions, project management features, and document editing capabilities.
Personal knowledge management tools: Personal knowledge management (PKM) tools apply many of the same principles used by standard tools to collect, structure, and share knowledge at the personal level. These apps facilitate note-taking, idea mapping, archiving, categorizing, and information retrieval, enhancing learning and productivity by creating a personalized knowledge base.
Question and answer tools: Q&A tools enable users to ask questions and get answers from other users. They’re interactive and rely on participation from across your organization. Over time, these tools can create helpful libraries full of answers to your most commonly asked questions.
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The best knowledge management software in 2024
Here are 14 tools you can use to better organize and manage your personal or professional knowledge.
1. Help Scout
Best knowledge management tool for support teams.
Help Scout is a complete platform for managing your customer communications. While it can transform nearly every aspect of your customer communications, one fantastic part of Help Scout is Docs, its knowledge base component.
Docs can be highly customized to match your brand, but it’s beautiful and super easy to use right out of the box. You can launch Docs and create valuable knowledge articles within minutes, making knowledge instantly accessible to both internal users and customers alike.
Since Docs is part of the Help Scout platform, plans also include a ton of features that can help you maximize the impact of your knowledge. For instance:
Beacon enables you to embed a chat-style widget within your app or on any page of your website, meaning users can access your help center without needing to navigate away from the page they’re already on.
Docs is also deeply integrated with Help Scout’s shared inbox. Your support team can share links to your knowledge base articles without needing to copy and paste or leave a conversation, meaning your customers can get faster responses (and your agents will have fewer headaches).
AI assist makes it easy to polish content and get it published more quickly. It can also help you translate content from one language to another, making your knowledge accessible to a wider audience.
With powerful search capabilities, detailed reporting, and the rest of the Help Scout platform behind it, Docs is a great fit for growing support teams of all kinds. There’s no easier way to make your organizational knowledge available to your customers and your team.
Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $20/user per month.
Learn more about Help Scout:
2. Obsidian
Best personal knowledge management tool.
Obsidian is designed to help individuals build a personal knowledge base. It uses a unique “networked” note-taking approach where notes are stored in plain text and can be linked together, forming a web of interconnected information that is easy to navigate and expand.
Obsidian has a vibrant community of plug-in authors and supporters who create a rich and customizable ecosystem for folks who love to tinker.
For someone looking to take a structured approach to their own knowledge and documents — outside of work — Obsidian is a powerful tool that provides an incredible experience.
Price: Free for personal use, with optional paid add-ons. Commercial plans start at $50/user per year.
3. Stack Overflow for Teams
Best tool for question-and-answer-style knowledge management.
Stack Overflow for Teams is the lesser-known sibling of the classic engineering tool Stack Overflow.
Instead of a public board, Teams gives a private take on the question-and-answer-style tool, specifically designed to facilitate knowledge sharing within a single organization.
It allows team members to ask questions and get answers from their colleagues, thereby encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration. The Q&A format also creates a searchable knowledge base — similar to a community forum — that preserves valuable information over time.
Price: Free for up to 50 users with limited functionality. Paid plans start at $6.50/teammate per month.
4. Logseq
Best open-source knowledge management software.
Logseq is a privacy-focused, open-source platform for knowledge management and note-taking.
It's designed to support the implementation of non-linear and networked thought processes.
This method of note-taking is sometimes known as “linked thought” and is similar to Obsidian, where each note or piece of information can be linked to others, creating an interconnected web of knowledge.
For users who are looking to support the open-source ethos or who simply want a security-focused platform for their knowledge management, Logseq is a fantastic choice.
Price: Free for personal use.
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5. Coda
Best knowledge manager for no-code enthusiasts.
Coda is a collaboration-focused platform that combines key features of documents, spreadsheets, databases, and project management tools — all in a single interface.
Coda’s Swiss Army knife approach allows users to create and customize tools to fit their specific workflows: everything from simple to-do lists to complex business processes. Coda is supported by a diverse ecosystem of plugins (called “Packs”) that allow you to draw information from other apps into Coda, taking a simple doc format and pulling in information from tools like Figma, Slack, Airtable, and more.
If you want to create an integrated, app-like experience using multiple tools for your team’s knowledge base, Coda can make it happen — all without any code.
Price: Free for all users with limited functionality and integrations. Paid plans start at $10/month per Doc Maker (Coda only charges for users who can create new docs).
6. Tettra
Best knowledge management tool for Slack.
Tettra is a popular knowledge base software that allows companies to create a centralized repository for their collective knowledge that is easily accessible in Slack.
The standout feature of Tettra is the depth of the integration with Slack, which allows users to access and interact with their Tettra knowledge base without leaving the Slack environment. For instance, you can search your Tettra knowledge base directly from Slack or turn a Slack conversation into a new Tettra page.
Reducing the barrier to creating and consuming knowledge is critical to a robust knowledge management process, and for teams that live in Slack, Tettra makes it as easy as possible.
Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $4/user per month (minimum 10 users).
7. Guru
Best internal knowledge tool for embedding in your workflow.
Guru is a flexible solution that is best known for its emphasis on delivering the information your team needs when and where you need it.
Unlike traditional knowledge bases, Guru integrates directly into your workflow, enabling team members to access and capture knowledge without leaving their work. Its biggest key feature is its browser extension, which ensures that no matter where your work happens, Guru is there for your team.
This makes Guru particularly great for teams that need on-demand and in-context information. It works for all kinds of use cases, from new employees looking for information on benefits to a CSM who needs quick access to specific documents during a meeting with a customer.
Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $15/user per month.
8. Notion
Best knowledge management tool for collaboration.
Notion is a powerful, all-in-one app that enables teams to organize and collaborate on a diverse set of information types. It combines features of note-taking, task management, databases, and project management into a single place.
Its flexible structure supports the creation of hierarchical pages, allowing users to organize information in a way that suits their workflows. This means Notion can serve in a variety of ways, including as your company wiki, a place for capturing meeting notes, a project management tool, or as your process library.
For teams with a diverse set of knowledge, Notion packs in everything and the kitchen sink, creating a space anyone can use their way.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $8/user per month.
9. Helpjuice
Best knowledge management tool for troubleshooting.
Helpjuice is a knowledge base platform that is perfect for creating either an external or internal knowledge base. It has all of the features you need — an intuitive editor, roles and permissions, versioning, and plenty of customization options — to get your business’ help center up and running fast.
One of the best features of Helpjuice is its ability to create knowledge base articles that include decision trees. With the decision tree option, you can walk readers through a set of questions, and, based on their answers, you can display different content. This can be especially helpful for technical products like electronics or software, where readers may need to use knowledge base content for troubleshooting.
Finally, Helpjuice offers a web widget that allows you to embed access to your knowledge base within a website or app, helping customers get the help they need, wherever they need it.
Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $120 per month for four users.
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10. Slab
Best knowledge management tool for documenting internal policies and procedures.
Slab is a knowledge management platform that can help your team access, maintain, and share company information. You can nest individual posts within topics to aid in organization, utilize collaborative editing on documents to create posts as a team, and control access to content so that team members only have access to what they need. It also supports a verification feature that lets your readers know that the information that they’re accessing is up to date.
Beyond these standard features, Slab also integrates with many tools that are likely part of your team’s tech stack. For instance, if your team also uses Slack as a primary communications tool, people can easily search for or create content right from Slack.
Finally, the tool has some cool AI features to speed up your workflow by automatically fixing typos, suggesting content as you type, and providing readers with quick answers to their questions based on the knowledge within your Slab instance.
Price: Free for up to 10 users. Paid plans start at $6.67/user per month.
11. Confluence
Best knowledge management tool for Jira users.
Confluence is a great tool for project management, as it allows you to keep all of the information about a release or initiative together, creating a single source of truth for your team. In addition to the ability to create knowledge base articles, Confluence also has tools and templates for brainstorming, project scoping, creating a product roadmap, documenting meeting notes or best practices, and more.
Given that Confluence is made by Atlassian, it can be a great option for companies whose development teams are already using Jira for their issue-tracking solution. The native integration lets teams link Jira issues to documentation easily, helping readers get additional context if needed.
Price: Free plan and trial available. Paid plans start at $6.05/user per month.
12. ClickUp
Best knowledge management tool for project management.
ClickUp is a knowledge management and productivity tool that brings all of your team’s work into one place. The user experience can feel a little similar to Confluence — you can scope out projects, keep track of tasks, create separate spaces for different teams within your organization, and, of course, create knowledge base articles.
When it comes to creating knowledge base docs, it’s easy to create aesthetically pleasing, highly functional documentation with ClickUp. You can even embed tasks and widgets into your docs or update workflows right from the editor. The platform’s real-time editing and the ability to share documents both internally and with guests make it a good choice for teams that like to manage knowledge collaboratively.
Finally, ClickUp’s AI tools can help save your team time with automatic summarization, writing assistance, and answers to questions based on your account’s content.
Price: Free for individuals. Paid plans start at $7/user per month.
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13. Document360
Best knowledge management tool for teams requiring localization.
Document360 is a stand-alone knowledge base solution that allows you to create a public or private knowledge base. Authors can compose articles using either WYSIWYG, markdown, or code block editors, making it really easy to get content published. If you find that you create a lot of similarly formatted articles, you can also create templates to make the documentation process even faster.
If you are a business owner and you want to display public-facing docs on your website or within your app, Document360 has a web widget to help get information to your customers within your UX. The platform also has AI features that use generative AI to help answer customer questions, summarize articles, generate meta descriptions, and more.
For businesses that operate globally, Document360’s localization features can be helpful. It can be really easy for translations and article text to fall out of sync. Document360 helps you know which articles require updates, and for those without access to translators, it can provide AI-powered machine translation for your text.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $149 per project.
14. KnowledgeOwl
Best knowledge management tool for small businesses.
KnowledgeOwl is another stand-alone option that could be great for a small business. The platform lets you create a knowledge base — either public, internal, or mixed-use — without any content limits. You can create articles using the software’s WYSIWYG editor, or if you want to further customize, you also have access to HTML, CSS, and JS.
With KnowledgeOwl you can use permissions and roles to ensure that only authorized readers and authors have access to your documentation. The software also has versioning tools to help keep track of article revisions, typo-tolerant search and glossary functions to help users find what they need, and a web widget for embedding documentation directly into websites or apps.
Finally, KnowledgeOwl, like Help Scout, is a certified B organization and offers discounts for purpose-driven organizations. This can be a plus for businesses looking to align with other companies committed to the same values.
Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $100 per month.
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Choosing the best knowledge management tool for your team
Simply having a knowledge management tool available won’t make knowledge more accessible. Effective knowledge management requires careful thought and disciplined behavior:
Support agents need to create or update documentation for resolving issues.
Internal users need to remember to use knowledge management tools as a first step when they have questions.
Customers need to trust that your help center has valuable resources and to use it when they need help.
When choosing and implementing a knowledge management tool, it’s critical to look at the big picture and consider what new processes and habits your team and organization will need to adopt.
Beyond considering how the use of a particular tool will affect your team’s processes, here are some other factors to consider:
Type of knowledge: Teams looking to organize images or PDF files will need a different solution than those who are looking to create a company wiki.
Use case: Are you looking to create a help center for your customers? Do you want to create a space where employees can read up on company policies or collaborate on team initiatives? Some of the products we’ve discussed will work well for both scenarios, while others cater to a specific use or audience.
Must-have features: Before you start signing up for trials or requesting demos, it’s good to have an idea of what your non-negotiables are. This can be anything from needing a tool that integrates with the rest of your tech stack to wanting a platform that integrates AI.
Budget: While there are plenty of knowledge management tools on the market that have a free plan, these plans often have limited functionality compared to paid options. Know what your budget is, and look for a tool that gives you the most value for what you can spend.
If you’re able to adopt these behaviors and find a tool that matches your use case and budget, your new knowledge management software will be able to facilitate improved collaboration, increased efficiency, and continuous learning.
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Improve your knowledge management
Different knowledge management products exist for the many different use cases out there, but they all serve similar goals: helping people — individuals, teams, or companies — get more value from the knowledge they already possess.
If you'd like to improve your customer experience by making it easier for your customers to access essential knowledge about your product, you should take advantage of Help Scout’s 15-day free trial.
It’s the easiest way to improve your customer communications at scale — give it a try today!
Note: Additional content for this article was provided by the Help Scout content team.
Thomas Hils
Thomas is a 10+ year veteran of the customer support space at companies like Zapier, Coda, and CoinTracker. He’s the founder of CX consultancy Silience Group and Head of Support at Replo.
