Knowledge management tools can literally and figurately save you and your team from drowning in documents.
How?
Imagine a world where finding crucial information at the right time isn’t a dream. That’s what knowledge management tools bring to the table. They are like digital filing cabinets on steroids, acting as a central hub for capturing, organizing, and sharing all your organization’s valuable knowledge.
In this blog, we explore what knowledge management tools are, their types, and the available tools. We will also help you pick the right one for your team.
Table of contents
What are Knowledge Management Tools?
Knowledge management tools are software applications that help your organization create, organize, share, and access knowledge effectively. KM software take the scattered knowledge floating around your company and organizes it into a centralized, easy-to-search knowledge base.
Types of Knowledge Management Tools
Scattered documents and tribal knowledge locked away in individual minds hinder your team’s efficiency. However, a range of KM tools exist to tackle this challenge. Some popular options are:
1. Knowledge bases
A knowledge base is one of the foundational elements of knowledge management. It is a centralized repository that stores and organizes your company’s valuable knowledge, often in the form of articles, FAQs, and how-to guides.
With a centralized knowledge base, everyone accesses the same information, reducing redundancies and improving collaboration.
2. Learning management systems (LMS)
An LMS helps organizations train their employees. It stores all training materials like courses, videos, and documents in one place. This makes sure everyone has access to the same knowledge, regardless of their location and training time.
LMS does more than that. They can also be knowledge hubs. The employees can hold discussions and collaborate on the training content. This allows employees to share their insights, ask questions, and learn from each other’s experiences.
Struggling to Implement a KM Platform?
3. Document management system (DMS)
A DMS manages, tracks, and stores all e-documents in one place, making them easily accessible to everyone. The documents include word processing files, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and images used in your organization.
DMS centralizes information, making it easy to find. Some DM systems even allow collaboration.
4. Content Management Systems (CMS)
Similar to DMS but broader in scope, CMS manages different types of content like web pages, images, and videos. They allow for creating, editing, and publishing content, often used for internal knowledge bases or public websites.
5. AI-powered knowledge management
AI-powered knowledge management injects intelligence into your knowledge system. It automates tasks like information capture and categorization, recommends relevant knowledge to users, and even utilizes chatbots to answer basic questions.
6. Collaboration tools
Collaboration tools act as the communication bridges within knowledge management. The tools involve wikis, chat applications, video conferencing, and project management software. With these tools, your teams can share ideas, work together, and learn from each other.
10 Most Popular Knowledge Management Tools in 2024
- Knowmax
- Stack Overflow for Teams
- Guru
- Confluence
- Notion
- ClickUp
- Document360
- Bloomfire
- Slite
- Helpjuice
1. Knowmax
Knowmax is an AI-powered knowledge management system designed to create a single source of truth for your organizational knowledge. It helps you build incredibly easy-to-use internal as well as external knowledge bases.
Knowmax caters to both knowledge authors as well as support agents with the help of GenAI. It also integrates seamlessly with your existing CX tools like CRM, chat, and phone. So, your support agents can access exactly what they need right when they need it.
Key features:
- Ask AI search for instant answers
- Chrome extension
- Well-structured and versatile knowledge base
- Faster content creation
- Multilingual Support
- Content Repurposing
- Analytics and Reporting
Pricing:
Contact sales@knowmax.ai
Start Your Knowledge Management Journey with Knowmax
2. Stack Overflow for Teams
Stack Overflow for Teams is one of the knowledge management tools and collaboration platforms built upon the popular questions-and-answer forum, Stack Overflow.
Unlike the public Stack Overflow website, Stack Overflow for Teams provides a secure and private space for your team to share knowledge and solve problems internally. Your team can ask questions, share answers, and upvote the most helpful responses. In addition to Q&A discussions, it also creates and organizes long-form knowledge articles.
Key features:
- Q&A forum
- Content management tools
- Activity tracking & notifications
- Third-party integrations
- Team management & permissions
- Single Sign On (SSO)
Pricing:
Stack Overflow for Teams offers 4 plans.
- Free – Supports up to 50 teammates
- Basic – $6.50 per teammate / month (billed annually) and supports up to 250 teammates
- Business – $13.50 per teammate / month (billed annually) and offers unlimited teammates
- Enterprise – Contact Stack Overflow for a custom quote
3. Guru
Guru is a knowledge management platform that integrates with your CRM and other customer service platforms.
By capturing data from multiple channels, Guru compiles everything into a single knowledge source. It then intelligently organizes your knowledge base, eliminating duplicates and suggesting relevant tags for further organization.
Key features:
- Third-party tools integration
- AI reminders to update knowledge base
- Collaboration and information sharing
- AI-powered search
- Automatic updates
- Reporting and analytics
Pricing:
Guru offers a tiered pricing structure.
- Free trial – Grants you full access to the platform for 30 days
- All-in-one plan – $15 per user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Contact Guru for a customer quote
4. Confluence
Confluence is a web-based collaboration tool developed by Atlassian. It allows teams to create, store, and organize information in one place. This can include project documentation, meeting notes, how-to guides, and company policies.
Confluence is particularly suitable for businesses already using other Atlassian products, such as Jira, for seamless integration.
Key features:
- Real time editing
- Content management
- Powerful search
- Easy Atlassian and third-party integrations
- Permission and access control
Pricing:
Confluence offers different pricing plans suiting the organization’s specific needs.
- Free – Suitable for small teams with up to 10 users
- Standard – Suitable for growing teams. Costs $6.05 per user per month (billed annually)
- Premium – Suitable for larger teams. Costs $11.55 per user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Contact Atlassian for a customer quote
5. Notion
Notion is a web-based productivity and note-taking software app that goes beyond simply storing information. It offers you a versatile workspace for your various knowledge management needs.
Notion offers a customizable interface with building blocks like text, tables, databases, and Kanban boards. It also replaces the need for multiple tools with features like note-taking, task management, wikis, project planning, and databases into a single platform.
Key features:
- Kanban boards
- Customizable templates
- Real-time collaboration
- Integrations
- Single Sign On (SSO)
- Task lists & checklists
- Structured knowledge base
Pricing:
Notion offers a tiered pricing structure with different plans.
- Price – $0 (Free forever)
- Plus – $8 per user/month (billed annually)
- Business – $15 per user/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Contact Notion sales for a custom quote
Notion AI (Optional Add-on) – $8 per user/month (billed annually). Available for all plans (including the free plan)
6. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management solution. It helps with efficient task tracking and organized workspaces for improved focus and easy collaboration.
ClickUp’s AI tools come with features like automated summarization, writing suggestions, and powerful search that leverage your team’s collective knowledge within ClickUp. ClickUp also integrates seamlessly with popular design and marketing tools.
Key features:
- Customizable dashboards
- Real-time collaboration
- Embedded tasks in document
- Customizable knowledge bases
- Docs & whiteboards
- Searchable knowledge base
- Mobile and desktop apps
Pricing:
ClickUp offers 4 different pricing plans.
- Free forever – Suitable for freelancers, solopreneurs, or very small teams
- Unlimited – Ideal for small teams. Costs $7 per user per month (billed annually)
- Business – Suitable for mid-sized teams. Costs $12 per user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Suitable for larger teams. Costs $19 per user per month (billed annually)
7. Document360
Document360 is an AI-powered knowledge base platform to help your business create, manage, and publish a knowledge base. These knowledge bases can be internal (for employee use) or external (for customer self-service).
Document360 generates and organizes a knowledge base with customizable options. Like Guru, it’s stand-alone software that requires integration with your existing tech stack.
Key features:
- Content management system (CMS)
- Customizable templates
- Multilingual support
- Analytics & Reporting
- AI-powered assistance
- Editor and collaboration tools
Pricing:
- Free – Entirely free and allows you to create a basic knowledge base
- Standard – $149 per month (billed annually)
- Professional – $299 per month (billed annually)
- Business – $399 per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Contact Document360 for a custom quote
Document360 also offers various add-on features, like AI content creation and language translation.
8. Bloomfire
Bloomfire is one of the AI-based knowledge management tools designed to effectively organize, share, and access organizational knowledge.
Bloomfire is a central repository for capturing and organizing all your organization’s knowledge and expertise. This could include documents, best practices, FAQs, how-to guides, and even insights from individual employees.
Key features:
- Easy sharing and collaboration
- AI-powered features
- Team communities & channels
- Social features like liking, commenting, and following
- Implicit knowledge capture
- Analytics and Reporting
Pricing:
Bloomfire offers different tiers; however, you need to contact them to inquire about the pricing options.
- Team – For up to 50 users
- Growth – For up to 100 users
- Business – For up to 500+ users
- Enterprise – For up to 500+ users
9. Slite
Slite is an AI-powered knowledge base that allows you to store, organize, and share notes, documents, and tasks with ease. Multiple team members can work on these documents and notes simultaneously, ensuring everyone stays on the same page and gets the latest updates.
Slite allows users to create a variety of content formats within a single platform, including documents, notes, checklists, and even meeting agendas.
Key features:
- Simple and intuitive interface
- Real-time collaboration
- Flexible content creation
- Version control
- Discussions dashboard
- Mobile and desktop apps
Pricing:
- Standard – $8 per user per month (billed annually)
- Premium – $12.5 per user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise – Contact Slite for a custom quote
10. Helpjuice
Helpjuice is a web-based knowledge management system that helps your business build and maintain knowledge bases. Its user-friendly interface allows non-technical users to easily create and manage knowledge base content.
Helpjuice comes with a range of customization features that allow you to tailor the look and feel of your knowledge base. Plenty of collaboration features allow multiple team members to collaborate on creating and editing knowledge base content seamlessly.
Key features:
- Third-party integrations
- Analytics and Reporting
- Workflow management
- Internal & external knowledge base
- Content categorization and organization
- Friendly UI
Pricing:
Helpjuice offers a tiered pricing structure based on the number of users you need access to. You pay a fixed monthly cost based on the chosen plan, regardless of usage.
- Starter – $120/month for up to 4 users
- Run-up – $200/month for up to 20 users
- Premium limited – $289/month for up to 60 users
- Unlimited – $499/month for unlimited users
Wondering How to Choose a Knowledge Management System?
How to Pick the Right Knowledge Management Tool?
- Start with the “Why” Identify your core objectives. What do you want the knowledge management tools to accomplish?
- Identify the users: Who will be using this tool? When picking the KM tools, understanding their needs and technical comfort level is important.
- Make a list of the features: Once your goals and users are aligned, create a list of desired features.
Some important knowledge management features include:
- Ease of use
- Analytics & Reporting
- Smooth Collaboration
- Content versioning
- AI-powered search
- Security and Compliance
- Third-party integrations
- Compare the tools and buy: Once you know what you want in your knowledge management tool, compare different knowledge management tools. Many tools offer free plans with limited features or free trials with complete features.
Free trials can be good for testing the waters, but paid plans often provide more functionality and storage.
Bonus Tip!
Choose a tool that can scale with your team for your growing knowledge management needs.
The Final Word
Knowledge management tools come in a variety of types, with different features and use cases. However, how do you pick the one for your organization?
You can make an informed decision by considering your organization’s needs and following the tips outlined above.
Remember, a well-chosen knowledge management tool can transform multiple sources of truth into a uniform searchable knowledge hub, empowering your employees and customers.
