Atlassian Confluence vs. Notion

I would recommend Atlassian Confluence for companies that want to have internal documentation and minimum governance processes to ensure documentation is useful and doesn't have a lot of duplicated and non-updated content. I wouldn't recommend Atlassian Confluence for companies with a low budget since this product might be a little costly (especially with add-ons).

Incentivized

At the company I work for, we use Notion as an organizational base for all sectors and projects. For example, we use it for the marketing team, customer support team, among others. And for each one, we can create pipelines, tasks, due dates, execution time, tags with different colors. It's something very versatile that helps with everything around here. We've even created a sales funnel in Notion.

Incentivized

• Cross product linking - If you use other Atlassian products then Atlassian Confluence is a no-brainer for your source of documentation, knowledge management etc. You can show previews of the linked asset natively E.g. showing a preview of a JIRA ticket in a Atlassian Confluence page.
• Simple editing - Though the features available may not be super complex right now, this does come with the benefit of making it easy to edit and create documents. Some documentation editors can be overwhelming, Atlassian Confluence is simple and intuitive.
• Native marketplace - If you want to install add-ons to your Atlassian Confluence space it's really easy. Admins can explore the Atlassian marketplace natively and install them to your instance in a few clicks. You can customise your Atlassian Confluence instance in many different ways using add-ons.

Incentivized

• I love that you can create nested pages, allowing for separate sections to organize information as needed.
• I appreciate the convenience of effortlessly uploading images to any section.
• I appreciate that when adding links, you can embed them so the website displays directly on the page.

Incentivized

• UI Design is very simplistic and basic could make use of more visually interesting colour choices, layout choices, etc.
• Under the 'Content' menu, it defaults to having a landing page for all L1 and L2 category pages. Meaning as long as the broader content category has a sub-category, it still creates a separate landing page. In my team's case, this often creates blank pages, as we only fill out the page at the lowest sub-category (L3).
• Hyperlinks are traditionally shown as blue, however, this results into very monotonously blue pages in cases where a lot of information is being linked.

Incentivized

• I use Notion on my personal tablet, and unlike on the computer, I have a lot of difficulty editing backgrounds, GIFs, and page dividers. It's not as user-friendly, and often the elements end up cut off or misaligned, which is frustrating.
• While the current calendar feature is helpful, I'd love to see more customization options. The Google Calendar style isn't always ideal, especially for tasks without specific times or for ongoing projects that require daily maintenance.
• It would be fantastic to have more flexibility in customizing Notion pages. For example, I'd love to create planners with the freedom to add illustration boxes, stickers, or GIFs without being restricted to a fixed layout.

Incentivized

I am confident that Atlassian can come with additional and innovative macros and functions to add value to Confluence. In 6 months, Atlassian transformed a good collaborative tools into a more comprehensive system that can help manage projects and processes, as well as "talk" with other Atlassian products like Jira. We are in fact learning more about Jira to evaluate a possible fit to complement our tool box.

We're too settled in the ecosystem and we have no major complaints with it. No reason to move unless you have a burning pain point

Incentivized

Great for organizing knowledge in a hierarchical format. Seamless for engineering and product teams managing software development. Helps in formatting pages effectively, reducing manual work. Tracks changes well and allows for easy rollbacks. Granular controls for who can view/edit pages. Search function is not great which needs improvement. Hire some google engineers

Incentivized

Notion addresses most of our needs and help teams to organize their tasks, track their progresses and then archive for future reference. The company uses Notion to share announcement, holiday schedules, employee contact information and organizational structures. Everyone finds it useful and helpful. The notifications are instant. Reminders are on time.

Incentivized

I do not recall having outages or applications error so far, very reliable and available.

Incentivized

We never worked against the tide while using Confluence. Everything loads considerably fast, even media components like videos (hosted on the platform or embed external videos from Youtube, for example). We are not using heavy media components a lot, but in the rare occasion we happen to use one we have no problems whatsoever.

Incentivized

This rating is specifically for Atlassian's self-help documentation on their website. Often times, it is not robust enough to cover a complex usage of one of their features. Frequently, you can find an answer on the web, but not from Atlassian. Instead, it is usually at a power user group elsewhere on the net.

Incentivized

Overall, I am very satisfied with the initial implementation (and the subsequent upgrades and implementations made over the years).

This product has never rose to the level of being an major issue at an executive level. It has quietly and valiantly done it's job for our company!

Incentivized

We chose Atlassian Confluence over SharePoint because it's much more user-friendly and intuitive. Atlassian Confluence makes collaboration and knowledge sharing easier with its simpler interface and better search. While SharePoint can be powerful, it often feels clunky and complex, making it harder for our team to actually use it.

Incentivized

Jira is a great tool, that is probably more robust than Notion and more scalable. But for a small company (under 50 people) the investment is hard to swallow without a significant revenue stream justifying it. Notion is a perfect low cost option that meets 80% of the capability, and that extra 20% is not needed by most organizations.

Incentivized

This tool is very adaptable. So much so we use it for three completely separate projects, in three very different ways.

Incentivized

• The AI feature which lets me find relevant documents while reading one document is really beneficial.
• Centralising of knowledge systems is one of the key differentiators for large organisations.
• As long as folks keep using Google Docs and Atlassian Confluence, there is going to be a challenge in building a continuum.

Incentivized

• The first positive impact of using Notion is saving time and increased productivity. Since switching to Notion, I spend less time searching for notes, tasks, or messy documents. Everything is in one place, making my workflow at least 30% more efficient compared to using multiple apps.
• The second positive impact is a better organization (and it leads to fewer missed business opportunities). Before Notion, it was easy to lose track of ideas, follow-ups, or small tasks. Now, I rarely forget important details, which has led to more consistent execution of projects and fewer last-minute rushes.
• Because Notion’s free plan has been more than enough for my needs, using the free plan has another positive impact on ROI for me. If I had to replace it with separate tools for note-taking, task management, and project planning, I’d likely spend $10–$30 per month on multiple subscriptions.
• Although they are very few, Notion has some negative impacts or limitations on ROI. I think the most important one is the offline mode issues can interrupt productivity. There have been times when I needed to access an important document while traveling or in a meeting with poor internet and couldn't. This led to delays or extra effort to work around the issue.
• While Notion is fantastic for organizing work, it's not a full replacement for spreadsheets, collaborative docs, or task management software in all cases. This means I still need to use some other apps for specific tasks, which slightly reduces the efficiency gain.
• If I need to give some figures; Notion helps me at least 3-5 hours per week to save time; $10–$30 per month by not needing multiple apps. Even with some limitations, Notion has had a net positive impact on my productivity, organization, and overall efficiency, all at zero cost!

Incentivized