Top Recommended Confluence Alternatives for Project Collaboration
Small businesses should carefully analyze their needs before choosing a project management tool. Should you go for a full-suite solution or a tool with niche features? Can you make do with the basic task management functionalities or do you need advanced features such as project portfolio management?
There’s a lot to consider!
SMBs should also remember that not every project needs project management software. A project collaboration tool might actually be a better fit.
One such solution that’s specifically designed to improve team collaboration is Confluence. A popular tool, with a 4.5 out of 5 rating by our users, it helps small businesses manage tasks, share files, build team knowledge bases and centralize project communication.
Confluence is built for project collaboration, especially for teams that need to manage a large number of files and documents. However, the tool might not be ideal for your business if you require additional project management features besides collaboration, such as granular task tracking or project planning.
Don’t worry—plenty of other different project collaboration tools offer these features. In this report, we’ll look at the top five most-recommended alternatives to Confluence that are rated highly by Software Advice users. We talk about their core capabilities and key differences to help you choose the solution that fits your unique business needs.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
1. Workfront: Feature-Rich, Suits Larger Teams
Workfront is a project management tool that offers various features including collaboration, project planning, task management and reporting.
Workfront is best suited for large teams with complex projects that need detailed reporting, in addition to collaboration functionalities**.**
Both Workfront and Confluence help you manage documents and keep all project communication in a central location. Team members communicate by adding comments on tasks using social media conventions such as # and @.
The essential difference between the solutions is that Workfront is more of a traditional project management tool with features that facilitate collaboration, project planning, task management, reporting, etc. Meanwhile, Confluence’s features facilitate content collaboration in centralized workspaces. It offers assistance on creating and sharing tasks, meeting notes, etc.
Check out the graphic below to see what features users like about Workfront and what they feel needs improvement:
2. Wunderlist: Task Management With Simplified Collaboration
Wunderlist is primarily a task management tool that allows teams to collaborate by commenting on tasks, sharing files, leaving voice messages on shared tasks and more.
Wunderlist is better suited for small teams that need a task management tool with simple collaboration features.
Wunderlist and Confluence share some similar features: Both allow you to share tasks and ideas with colleagues by creating team-wide to-do lists. Project members can also attach files to tasks and create a centralized repository of documents.
As for the differences, Wunderlist is a free tool for teams that just want to collaborate on and manage tasks. On the other hand, Confluence focuses more on team collaboration than task management. This allows multiple teams to work in online workspaces to build content repositories, such as online wikis and knowledge bases.
Check out the graphic below to see what features users like about Wunderlist and what they feel needs improvement:
3. Samepage: Better Project Communication
Samepage is a project collaboration tool that stands out for features such as task management, file sharing, team calendars, chat and team workspaces.
Samepage is ideal for teams that need to constantly stay in communication on projects.
Samepage and Confluence offer some common functionality such as team workspaces, file sharing and document editing. Both tools facilitate ideation, discussion and collaboration among cross-functional teams in a project.
However, Samepage is designed to facilitate team communication with features such as individual/group messaging, voice/video calling and real-time chat. Meanwhile, Confluence is a content collaboration platform with features such as a WYSIWYG editor, macros for formatting content and permission-controls for creating or sharing content.
Check out the graphic below to see what features users like about Samepage and what they feel needs improvement:
4. EasyProjects: Billable Time-tracking for Collaborators
EasyProjects offers project management and team collaboration features such as Gantt charts, message boards and file sharing.
EasyProjects is best suited for small teams that need to collaborate with clients and track employee work hours on each task and project.
Confluence and EasyProjects have some similar functionality; they each store all team communication and project files in one place. Both tools help you share documents, leave notes for project members and discuss ideas on team dashboards.
But, a key difference is that EasyProjects offers time tracking capabilities that allow you to create reports on billable work hours for your clients. Confluence lends itself better to internal team communication and knowledge-sharing tasks, such as developing technical documentation or a knowledge base for help desk service agents.
Check out the graphic below to see what features users like about EasyProjects and what they feel needs improvement:
5. Workplace by Facebook: Social Collaboration Enabler
Workplace offers many features that are similar to those found on Facebook, in addition to team collaboration functionalities such as news feeds, org charts and company-wide groups.
Workplace is a social collaboration tool best suited for small businesses.
The common capabilities of Workplace and Confluence center on keeping different teams updated on important organizational announcements. Workplace allows you to share key information via the News Feed feature, while Confluence allows you to build intracompany knowledge bases.
That said, there are also differences in the way the solutions are built. Workplace stands out as a team communication tool with functionalities such as live broadcast, chat and videoconferencing. Confluence, on the other hand, is better for content collaboration with its built-in editor, macros for content formatting, file sharing and other similar features.
Check out the graphic below to see what features users like about Workplace and what they feel needs improvement:
Next Steps
This report is an introductory guide for buyers who need an alternative solution to Confluence. We highly recommend doing your research before getting into the market and being inundated with vendors’ marketing demos that aren’t always helpful.
For more information on these solutions, including product screenshots and user reviews, you can visit their profile pages on Software Advice:
Further, you should compare the different collaboration software listed on our website. This will you understand what the vendors offer and if the features mentioned suit your business requirements and budget.
If you’re interested in learning more about the software mentioned in this report, such as Wunderlist, check out a comparison of simple and easy-to-use task management tools.
In addition, our software advisors can provide you free, no-obligation advice at (844) 687-6771. They will guide you on the pricing and functionalities of collaboration tools that can best address your business needs.
Note: The content in this piece that provides opinions and points of view expressed by users does not represent the views of Software Advice.