SharePoint vs Confluence – A Side-by-Side Comparison

If your organization tries to decide between SharePoint and Confluence, you’ve come to the right place. Confluence and SharePoint are both popular collaboration platforms used by organizations to facilitate teamwork, document management and knowledge sharing. Both software platforms were created by two of the most well-respected companies in the technology game. Atlassian is the Australian company that makes software geared primarily for developers and tech users, and Microsoft, the American firm that first cornered and then retained the market for office communications tools.

Both firms offer award-winning collaboration software to consumers and businesses. Microsoft offers SharePoint and Atlassian has Confluence. This article provides a side-by-side comparison of the similarities and differences between Confluence and Sharepoint.

SHAREPOINT VS. CONFLUENCE – COMMONALITIES

A surface look at Confluence vs. SharePoint shows that both offer ways to manage documents and tasks via wikis or intranet sites. Atlassian’s Confluence focuses on creating, organizing and sharing content with teams across an entire organization. Microsoft’s SharePoint is a broader platform encompassing document management, intranet/extranet portals, content management and enterprise search. It’s a central hub for communication, collaboration and information sharing within and organization.

Both software platforms are now in the cloud, accessible wherever there is a digital connection. Cloud connectivity means the ability to edit documents in real-time is a standard feature. Continuous security and feature updates are a standard of cloud software. SharePoint and Confluence also have good customer service and free trials of the products, along with community discussion boards to share information between end-users.

A deeper dive into the features of SharePoint vs. Confluence shows that both platforms integrate well with email and calendars. Integrating these features is a terrific benefit from a project management perspective.

Other features of both products include:

• An application program interface (API) for seamless integration between platforms
• Customer support and extended service warranties
• Document templates to speed communication
• Training resources in the form of partner-led third-party training as well as user groups
• Robust project management tools
• Live editing of documents in the cloud
• Document management capabilities

But when comparing Confluence vs. SharePoint, there are more differences in features and each user interface that make these products distinctly different.

SHAREPOINT VS. CONFLUENCE – DIFFERENCES

The first difference is that Confluence does not offer a desktop version. But Confluence does integrate with JIRA and other Atlassian products. On the other hand, Microsoft integrates all of its tools under the Microsoft umbrella, including ERP, CRM, office tools and more. In this, Microsoft wins the interoperability race. Another negative for Confluence is that it offers fewer features than SharePoint. Fewer features might make Confluence software easier to learn. While SharePoint is a more robust tool, it does require upfront training to know all the features and benefits of the software.

Here are some of the key feature differences between SharePoint vs. Confluence:

Confluence Features:

• Page and Content Creation: Confluence allows users to create and edit pages using a WYSIWYG editor. It supports rich text formatting, images, tables, macros and attachments, making creating and organizing content easy.
• Spaces and Permissions: Confluence uses spaces to organize content into separate areas or projects. Administrators can set granular permissions to control access and editing rights for different users or user groups.
• Macros and Add-ons: Confluence offers a wide range of macros and add-ons to extend its functionality. Macros allow users to embed content from external sources, create dynamic content and integrate with other applications.
• Version Control: Confluence tracks the version history of pages, allowing users to revert to previous versions if needed. This feature helps maintain a record of changes and allows comparing and merging different versions.
• Search and Discovery: Confluence provides powerful search functionality to find content, including pages, attachments and comments quickly. Advanced search filters, tagging, and labeling options enhance content discovery.

SharePoint Features:

• Document Management: SharePoint offers robust document management capabilities, including version control, check-in/check-out, co-authoring, metadata management and document workflows. The software provides a repository for storing, organizing and securing documents.
• Intranet and Portal Sites: SharePoint allows organizations to create customizable intranet/extranets, departmental and team sites. These sites can host content, announcements, news, calendars and other resources, providing a centralized hub for collaboration.
• Lists and Libraries: SharePoint supports various types of lists and libraries to manage structured data and documents. Users can create custom lists and set up specific project libraries for document storage and collaboration.
• Workflows and Automation: SharePoint offers workflow capabilities to automate business processes and approvals. Users can create custom workflows, streamlining routine tasks using SharePoint Designer, Power Automate or other tools.
• Integration with Office 365: SharePoint seamlessly integrates with Office 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Users can edit and collaborate on documents directly in the browser or in desktop applications. (Confluence does not have a desktop version).
• Business Intelligence and Reporting: SharePoint provides features for business intelligence, including dashboards, data visualization and reporting tools. It supports integration with Power BI for creating interactive and dynamic reports.

In addition to having more features than Confluence, SharePoint intranet sites can publish as public-facing sites, something that the Confluence wikis haven’t offered yet. SharePoint also offers an integrated chat feature; Confluence does not.

Probably the biggest difference between SharePoint vs. Confluence is that SharePoint offers advanced customization options. SharePoint also comes with a robust data warehouse for document storage. Finally, SharePoint has dozens of additional add-ons than Confluence, although Atlassian is working to improve.

Now that we understand the similarities and differences between Confluence and SharePoint, which is better? Confluence may be a good option for a small business or entrepreneurial startup. SharePoint is a better option for small businesses with over 25 people, mid-level companies or enterprise organizations.

Ultimately, you will have to decide, however, we can offer you a test drive of Microsoft’s SharePoint to see all the features that could help your team collaborate. Contact us to find out more.

Q&A

SharePoint vs. Confluence: Which is Better?

From a features and integration perspective, SharePoint may come out ahead of Confluence. However, choosing one product over the other depends on your organization’s size and requirements.

What Are the Top Three Differences Between Confluence and SharePoint?

1. Confluence is primarily designed as a team collaboration and knowledge management too. SharePoint is a broader platform encompassing document management, intranet portals and more.
   2. Confluence offers a clean, intuitive interface focusing on easy content creation. SharePoint is more extensively customizable and potentially, more difficult to learn.
   3. Confluence integrates well with other Atlassian products and offers third-party add-ons. SharePoint integrates with all the Microsoft products along with an extensive array of apps and services.