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knowledgeowl alternatives

Top 7 KnowledgeOwl Alternatives in 2024

Category: Knowledge Base Software

Last updated on Feb 6, 2024

If you’ve been researching standalone knowledge base software you’ll know that KnowledgeOwl is one of the leading tools in the market. Many customers take advantage of this software’s full-featured knowledge base, but no doubt you’ll want to consider some of the other solutions available.

We’ve made it easy for you to evaluate other KnowledgeOwl alternatives which might offer more of the features you’re looking for in knowledge base software. It’s worth taking your time over this decision as this will impact how you help your customers or share knowledge within your organization.

In particular, you might want a solution with more options regarding multilingual knowledge bases and performance reporting. Not to worry – we include alternatives in this post.

What is KnowledgeOwl?

knowledgeowl documentation

KnowledgeOwl is knowledge base software that you can use to build both an internal and external knowledge base. Using KnowledgeOwl, teams of users can get together to collaborate on content and provide a resource that all readers can benefit from.

KnowledgeOwl is unique because it does one thing and one thing only – makes knowledge base software that makes it easy to create content. The company was founded in 2011 and remains a small startup, offering its software to a wide portfolio of customers.

Some notable features of KnowledgeOwl are their very responsive customer support team, intuitive WYSIWYG editor, user management and contextual help widget. With a price point starting at $79 a month for one user and one knowledge base,

KnowledgeOwl is a little on the expensive side for smaller teams.

At its most basic, KnowledgeOwl is an in-depth content management system that you can use to create a library of articles. The main advantage of KnowledgeOwl over other website software is the ability to insert information architecture and arrange articles in categories and subcategories. The powerful and prominent search enables users to find the content they’re looking for.

What Does KnowledgeOwl Offer?

KnowledgeOwl has some key features you should know about when considering this option for your business.

Editor

KnowledgeOwl’s WYSIWYG editor allows users to preview their content as they’re writing it, which works just as well as any word processor. Users don’t need any training in order to get up to speed with the editor.

creating articles in knowledge owl

Article Management

Unlike in a regular CMS, you can manage the articles in KnowledgeOwl’s interface by bulk changing an article’s author, status or group restrictions. You can easily reorganize articles and categories using the drag-and-drop functionality.

Categories

As we’ve mentioned, KnowledgeOwl enables you to split your articles into categories and display them in a number of different ways. You can choose from several different preformatted landing page layouts or display your articles in a single page.You can choose from as many category levels as you want and restrict your categories to groups. You can manage your categories on a granular level and redirect them to external pages.

Contextual help widget

KnowledgeOwl offers a contextual help widget that allows your users to view a miniature version of your knowledge base from any page on your company’s website or app. It can take your users to the full knowledge base or direct them to a particular recommended page. The widget allows your users to search through your knowledge base and browse through articles.

Customization

KnowledgeOwl’s knowledge base is completely customizable so you can change your site’s colors, logo and fonts. You can choose from one of KnowledgeOwl’s four pre-built themes, or open up the code editor to create your own from scratch. You can pick a website layout that meets your organization’s needs, whether that’s a single full page column for your content or multiple columns of navigation, content, and metadata.

File Library

Your organization’s files and images can be added to the file library and there is no limit to the number of files you can add. Uploads are limited to 200MB but larger video files can be embedded directly into your articles from your video hosting platform.

Search

KnowledgeOwl has a search functionality that autosuggests articles as users type in the search bar, so they can skip straight to content if they see something they’re looking for. You can create a synonym library to help users searching for alternative terms that don’t match your official terminology. You can also add search phrases that will return results even if they don’t exist in the article itself.

SEO and Tags

KnowledgeOwl allows you to optimize your knowledge base for SEO with article title tags and meta descriptions. You can install Google Search Console to track search performance and generate publicly available site maps.

User Management

KnowledgeOwl offers user management capabilities such as controlling who has administrative rights over your knowledge base. Standard editor and writer roles give users access to content without giving them publishing options and means you can control who does what in your knowledge base.

Reporting

KnowledgeOwl has limited reporting features which allow you to view article ratings report, popular articles report, and articles with no view reports. These reports allow you to understand how users are engaging with your articles.

APIs and Webhooks

KnowledgeOwl offers limited native integrations but you can use KnowledgeOwl’s API and webhooks with Zapier to create integrations with your other platforms and build custom workflows. You can subscribe to webhooks that give you automatic push updates when someone makes alterations to your knowledge base. Create multiple API keys for different uses, each with their own allowed methods (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE) and reporting (date last accessed and last accessed IP location).

Also Read: Knowledgeowl vs Document360: All you need to know

Limitations of KnowledgeOwl

While KnowledgeOwl has a lot to offer in terms of functionality, it also has some serious limitations that you should be aware of.

No Mixed Knowledge Base

When you use KnowledgeOwl as your knowledge base, you don’t have the ability to set your knowledge base as a mix of public and private. You do, however, have control over whether different teams or user roles have access to content or categories. You won’t be able to aim part of your knowledge base at customers and the other part at internally-facing employees.

Limited version control

KnowledgeOwl gives you the capabilities to revert back to previous versions of your articles in case you want to override unwanted changes. However, this revision history only includes 10 versions and anything before that is permanently lost.

No review reminders

If your content in KnowledgeOwl gets stale, there’s no way to set review reminders for a certain date that prompt you to update an article. This means it’s very easy for articles to get out of date because no one thinks to review it.

No Private Hosting

With KnowledgeOwl, you don’t have the ability to host your knowledge base on your own servers, because it has to be delivered over the cloud. This means you can’t benefit from the enhanced security that private hosting has to offer.

No Automated Import Options

If you’re migrating over to KnowledgeOwl from another tool then there is no way to automate the import of your content. This means you will likely have to migrate the content over by hand, losing valuable formatting and taking up lots of time.

Does Not Support Import From MS Word

In particular, KnowledgeOwl does not support import from MS Word which is a popular platform for authors to use to create documentation. Without this import, users will have to copy-paste content over.

Not Many Integrations

KnowledgeOwl mainly supports programmatic integrations through API and Webhooks, which require development resources to set up. It doesn’t have native integrations with popular tools that can be set up with just a few clicks.

No In-built Modern Editor

KnowledgeOwl doesn’t support a Markdown editor, which is an appealing way for technical authors to create their documentation. Instead, users are forced to use a WYSIWYG editor which is not as streamlined as an authoring experience. Content is created as HTML with all the associated code that goes with it.

Can’t Report on Link Status

In KnowledgeOwl, there is no way to report on broken links in your knowledge base which will likely have an impact on your SEO. You’ll need to rely on end users reporting broken links to your documentation, which provides a worse experience in the knowledge base.

Has Only a Few Templates

KnowledgeOwl only comes programmed with four templates that you can use to set up the design of your knowledge base. This means it’s very likely that your knowledge base will end up looking too similar to other KnowledgeOwl clients.

No Translation Capabilities

In KnowledgeOwl, you can’t translate your content into different languages for your users, therefore it does not support a multilingual knowledge base. This severely limits the target audience that you can appeal to with KnowledgeOwl.

Why You Need to Look for Better Alternatives

Although KnowledgeOwl definitely has some top features, there are several drawbacks that means you need to look for better alternatives. First and foremost, KnowledgeOwl is an expensive piece of software compared to similar solutions that only gets more costly as you add more users.

Another reason that KnowledgeOwl users will be disappointed is the lack of native integrations. It’s not so easy to connect KnowledgeOwl with your other favorite tools which denies you the opportunity to automate your workflows.

KnowledgeOwl’s reporting system is also very limited and means you can’t obtain insight into the nature of your users. The only way to get advanced reporting is to integrate with Google Analytics, otherwise KnowledgeOwl’s in-built analytics doesn’t give you many options.

Overall, it’s worth considering these top 7 KnowledgeOwl alternatives which we will present in the next section.

Top 7 KnowledgeOwl Alternatives

1. Document360

Document360 knowledge base portal

Document360 is a top alternative solution to KnowledgeOwl. Document360 starts off with a free plan for five users, which means you can experience the benefits without having to pay a penny. And after that, it costs $299 for five team accounts which represents incredible value for money.

It has to be said that Document360 offers the most intuitive authoring experience. It’s a well-structured product that allows you to create a world-class knowledge base for your customers or employees. It’s simple to get started with a drag-and-drop UI that enables you to build your site and customize it for your brand.

Content authors can start writing content with Document360’s Markdown editor. Articles can be moved around into different categories and it’s easy to create a hierarchy for your content. In-depth analytics can inform you about the performance of your knowledge base while many integrations allow you to connect Document360 with your favorite tools.

Clients choose Document360 for a powerful set of features that nevertheless translates to simplicity and efficiency for end users. It’s easy to create a multilingual knowledge base and localize your content for your users.

Also Read: KnowledgeOwl vs Document360 Comparison: Which Is Better?

User’s opinion on Document360

“The easiest and best tool for KB!!”

Easiest and more intuitive! Gives ownership to writers to manage the end-to-end process from writing, designing home page, insights with analytics, and publishing.
SEO meta tags and analytics are the best and give us an understanding of how we want to model the KB better.

Inbuilt image and table styles make it easier to work.

Source: G2 Crowd

 

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2. Confluence

confluene knowledge base

Confluence is an excellent wiki alternative to KnowledgeOwl, and functions best as an internal Knowledge Management tool. Confluence makes it easy to collaborate on projects and share knowledge among teams. It’s a remote-friendly workspace that comes with many in-built templates to help you create documentation for your team. You can tag team members, comment on pages, and post updates.

User’s opinion on Confluence

“Great place to document SOP’s and PRD’s”

The best thing about Confluence is that it auto-formats links into shortened button-like UI and also sets the alignment of the content like a blog. The same document can be shared and edited by multiple users as per the access assigned by document creator, which helps to ensure integrity of the document. Also, who last edited and when is displayed at the top right, which is very helpful.

Source: G2 Crowd

 

Read more: Document360 Vs Confluence: Which is a better Knowledge Base?

3. Guru

guru knowledge base

Guru is a very effective internal wiki software that organizes content into boards and cards. Guru is suitable for Knowledge Management and helping teams to share their internal knowledge. The Guru extension for Chrome means you can make updates to the knowledge base from anywhere. One of the best features is the ability to ask users to verify content for accuracy and integrity. Guru integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams so you can access knowledge from your communication tools.

User’s opinion on Guru

“It is very useful for small-medium companies to manage knowledge base.”

I like that Guru is not overloaded with features that are not critical for small teams, it is very easy to start utilizing Guru – just start writing your own thoughts, then formalize them each time you check the card and verify that the card is up to date. Don’t forget to add tags for easy searching info next time.

Source: G2crowd

 

4. Stonly

stonly knowledge base

Stonly is tailored for interactive step-by-step guides and troubleshooting. It allows you to guide customers and employees to success at scale by providing self-serve guides that adapt to each person. Stonly is suitable for onboarding, issue resolution, adoption and success, delivering personalized guidance when and where it matters. It offers integrations with Zendesk, Freshdesk, Zapier and Intercom so you can connect with all your favorite tools.

User’s opinion on Stonly

“Great functionality and easy to use!”

I love the variety of guide options Stonly supports (like product tours, NPS surveys, checklists, knowledge bases, etc) and I especially like the robust templates they provide for each type. I also appreciate how simple Stonly makes it to give your customers multiple paths to success within guides. When building a guide, I’m able to take a “choose your own adventure” approach that accommodates different customers and ways of doing things.

Source: G2crowd

 

5. Bloomfire

bloomfire knowledge base

Bloomfire is a knowledge sharing platform that allows teams to collect, connect, and democratize the knowledge and insights that exist across the entire organization. Bloomfire is an internal tool that provides teams with one central, searchable place for information and insights so you and your team members can do your best work, no matter where, when, or how you’re working. Employees have easy access to your collective intelligence so they can be more productive and efficient.

User’s opinion on Bloomfire

“Time saving tool for answering questions and learning”

Our science team can answer a question on Bloomfire and when another person has the same or similar question they can look it up on Bloomfire and either find the answer they are looking for or add to the previous question and continue the conversation. It saves time every day for those that would answer the question as well as those that need the answer. They can find the answer immediately and look at similar questions for alternatives and additional options. I do not get bothered by different Sales Reps asking the same

Source: G2crowd

An intuitive knowledge base software to easily add your content and integrate it with any application. Give Document360 a try!

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Document360

 

6. Elium

elium knowledge sharing platform

Elium is a knowledge sharing platform that offers a trusted and flexible source for sharing and enriching company knowledge. It makes company knowledge available and actionable at all times, so your employees can streamline the decision-making process, improve collaboration and the ability to innovate. Elium integrates with both Sharepoint and Google Drive so you can share important knowledge with the click of a button. New updates can be shared with the team using Elium’s Slack and Teams integration.

Also Read: Microsoft SharePoint Vs Google Docs: What’s the Difference?

User’s opinion on Elium

“Great way to share document, for all profiles”

Interface is really user friendly, and correspond to Internet standard in 2018. Most users do not need training in order to use it.Tags and spaces can allow various profile to see only information they need to see, in a very easy-to-implement way.

Source: G2crowd

 

7. Nuclino

nuclino knowledge base

Finally, Nuclino is a modern, simple, and blazingly fast way to collaborate. Bring knowledge, docs, and projects together in one place. Nuclino is intended for internal teams to create a single source of truth for their projects and presents information in a visual way. Instead of using multiple collaboration tools, teams can simply rely on Nuclino to cooperate with one another. Nuclino comes with a collaborative editor so you can see changes being made as they are typed.

User’s opinion on Nuclino

“Great tool for company docs and wiki material”

Easy to configure workspaces keep documentation well organised and easy to find. Private workspaces means you can use the system for both public wiki docs and also personal notes.
Source: G2Crowd

 

Wrapping up

Whether you want to provide self-service resources for your customers or improve knowledge-sharing in your organization, it’s important to think beyond KnowledgeOwl and consider some of the other solutions out there. Document360 in particular offers a powerful way for your company to centralize knowledge and provide an intuitive reader experience.

Document360 represents great value for money and is continually releasing new features to stay one step ahead of the competition. Take advantage of some of the stand-out features Document360 has to offer such as link status, setting up a multilingual knowledge base, and knowledge base assistant. Once you get started with Document360, you’ll find out that the software packs a big punch.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is KnowledgeOwl used for?

    KnowledgeOwl is a cloud-based knowledge management solution that allows customers to manage and share their information in the form of online manuals, handbooks, portals, user guides and software documents.

  • When you use KnowledgeOwl as your knowledge base, you cannot set your knowledge base to be both public and private. And does not support Import from MS Word and other features like Private Hosting, Inbuild modern editor and not many integrations available.

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