Atlassian Confluence vs. Microsoft SharePoint

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Confluence
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Confluence is a collaboration and content sharing platform used primarily by customers who are already using Atlassian's Jira project tracking product. The product appeals particularly to IT users.
$10
per month
SharePoint
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's SharePoint is an Intranet solution that enables users to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications to empower teamwork, quickly find information, and collaborate across the organization.
$5
Per User Per Month
Pricing
Atlassian ConfluenceMicrosoft SharePoint
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Free for 10 Users
Standard
$5
Per User Per Month
Premium
$10
Per User Per Month
Server
$10
10 Users - Perpetual License
Server
$2,700
25 Users - Perpetual License
Server
$5,300
50 Users - Perpetual License
Server
10,200.00
100 Users - Perpetual License
Data Center
15,000.00
500 Users - Annually
Server
19,800.00
250 Users - Perpetual License
Server
30,000.00
500 Users - Perpetual License
Data Center
30,000.00
1,000 Users - Annually
Server
45,000.00
2,000 Users - Perpetual License
Data Center
52,000.00
2,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
79,200.00
3,000 Users - Annually
Server
90,000.00
10,000 Users - Perpetual License
Data Center
105,600.00
4,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
132,000.00
5,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
143,000.00
10,000 Users - Annually
Server
150,000.00
10,001+ Users - Perpetual License
Data Center
154,000.00
15,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
165,000.00
20,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
176,000.00
25,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
187,000.00
30,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
198,000.00
35,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
209,000.00
40,000 Users - Annually
Data Center
220,000.00
40,001+ Users - Annually
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Plan 1
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Plan 2
$10.00
Per User Per Month
Office 365 E3
$20.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ConfluenceSharePoint
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Atlassian ConfluenceMicrosoft SharePoint
Considered Both Products
Confluence
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Atlassian Confluence is more intuitive than MS SharePoint, however, SharePoint has some reach features because of the MS integration with its tools stack.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Confluence smashes competitors out of the ballpark. There is no compromise for quality and great product design with Atlassian
Chose Atlassian Confluence
It's quite famous and consistency and alignment are what we're after with using Confluence and all of Atlassian's products. This has helped us to be more transparent with out product and development teams as well.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
[Atlassian] Confluence is backed by direct, and superior support from Atlassian versus their vendors. For end users, [Atlassian] Confluence provides way more options for layout and content, while also being simpler and easier to use. Most other tools also require a higher …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Atlassian is better suited for project management than SharePoint. Also, most employees are already had experience around Atlassian.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
We used Confluence because we were already using BitBucket and it was within the same family. I haven't really used any other software that would be like this other than SharePoint and this is slightly better. On a whole I am not a fan of this type of software in general and …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Sharepoint is a little bit more complex to get set up. You have to invent part of the wheels to make the product work for you.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Atlassian Confluence is a simpler platform than Microsoft SharePoint, which is good and bad. It is much easier to use and has less overhead than SharePoint, which makes it ideal for quick documentation and sharing knowledge. If more advanced features and document sharing are …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
SharePoint has grown to be a very large and complicated beast. We needed something simple and easy to use that our Employees could adopt and being used very quickly with minimal or no training.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
SharePoint is used at my org as the main place to document projects and store other docs. While Confluence does not have the same check out functions for Word and Excel it is a living document and can do the same type of things. Also it is much easier and cleaner to look at.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
We were using MS SharePoint which was integrated with TFS for managing our developer workflow and it was quite clunky. We had to be signed into the VPN to access any of it and it relied upon Internet Explorer for access. It felt slow and sometimes you could use other browsers …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
SharePoint is great, I use it and I love it. Confluence is a lot like SharePoint with a more modern look and a fancy suit. If you have the skills for implementation, it is great and developers will enjoy it more.
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Overall, I would say that I do like Confluence more than tools like Sharepoint and OneNote for the purposes that we are using it for (basic team collaboration, task assignment, and decision tracking). I prefer the document relationship navigation of Confluence over Sharepoint. …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
For our needs, Confluence absolutely blew both SharePoint and Google Docs out of the water. We were able to get more granular security than with SharePoint while maintaining the collaborative tool sets found in both SharePoint and Google Docs. Additionally, the integration into …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
We still have SharePoint and use it for its database functionality, however, as a collaboration tool Confluence wins hands down!
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Other products evaluated: SharePoint, corporate-WIKI.
SharePoint has a clunky user interface, and the resulting websites look poor. It resulted in low acceptance from our users. WIKI was over-simplistic and had a lousy search engine. Confluence was selected because of its great …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Confluence really makes organization of content far better and easier than in either Sharepoint (which is a chaotic mess) or in Google Drive. It has far easier access controls, especially at the admin or space admin than in Google Drive, and in an easier way that Sharepoint.

Thou…
Chose Atlassian Confluence
We actually use all of the above, so we did not select just one. That is part of our problem. Confluence stacks up well against all of these platforms, but they are all so similar so organizations end up using both. I believe they all have similar value propositions as well, so …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
We had used a lot of different tools in the past and it was always difficult to implement and train users. They were not easy to use. Confluence was so easy to learn and use. We never had executives even look at the other tools and now we have them actively using Confluence. …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Confluence is much easier to use, it's philosophy is more modern because of social, and it's a by far lower investment (better value for money).
Chose Atlassian Confluence
Having now experience with either Atlassin Confluence or Microsoft Sharepoint, I found that Confluence was much easier to learn from both an administration and a content build-out perspective. This opinion seems to hold true for most users. From a user's perspective, Confluence …
Chose Atlassian Confluence
I have used SharePoint at a prior employer, for file sharing and workflow. Usage is a bit different, but feel that Confluence can do a similar job and more and is much easier to learn and use. Same with right management: SharePoint required an administrator, while every manager …
SharePoint
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
JIRA has one of the easiest project management and workflow tools that have many integration points available. It also integrates with Confluence which provides easy and up-to-date information for both internal and external documentation.

Dropbox and Google Drive provide a free …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
  • Google Docs: Not enterprise ready, but great at multi user edits. Subsites and integration not native. Use of service accounts not a strong suit. Not audit friendly
  • Slack: Discontinued due to security features and lack of AD integration (At the time)
  • Confluence: Better at …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint is a more mature product than Confluence but this does come with both positives and negatives. We are a heavy MS technology company so using SharePoint is a logical step for us. If you are not heavily invested in MS tech then Confluence is a perfectly viable option …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
we have tried Confluence as a collaboration tool as well. Confluence does have a steep learning curve in my opinion. I think SharePoint is easier to adapt to because it builds off of other Microsoft habits, but neither is super intuitive. If I were to pick one it would be …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
Teams is the new front end for SharePoint. So far, I like the look, feel and adaptability of it better. As for Confluence, I have never been a fan of it's searching capabilities. Additionally, we've encountered users having a hard time being aware of other "spaces" within …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
We still have Confluence and Google Drive, but we wanted a product that could provide document security and a single point of access that easily integrated into our active directory. Since we use this for our intranet site, we found the features easier to stand up and the UI …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
The reasons for selecting MS SharePoint are: SharePoint provides ease of use and web design assistance and support SharePoint helps you schedule your content for publishing. enables users to share documents with external parties and offers a better internal structure of the …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint has more features than Google Drive, but is not free. It has the ability to present full web pages, which Google Drive does not have. It also has integration into Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Outlook which are strong product lines for business. Googl…
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
There are overlapping capabilities of SharePoint and the above list of products. The simplest form seems to be the Google Suite of products that provide cloud integration with document creation, such as Docs/Slides/Sheets/Forms where storage is in Drive. The cloud nature …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
We use Google Drive as well BUT the functions that are available in SharePoint are not translated in Google Docs. Formatting and uploading are not the same and some of the Excel functions do not transfer over. SharePoint makes it seamless! Either system is good but the …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
Sharepoint stacks up very well against all of its competitor software. It gets upgrades at the right time. However, from an integration perspective, none of the other software are able to do so properly with SharePoint. It is a very basic use of project management and access to …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
MS SharePoint stacks great against its competitors for a simple reason, it is perfectly integrated into Microsoft ecosystem, as it is tightly synchronized with Skype for business, Outlook, Outlook calendar and any other O365 software. The great thing about MS SharePoint is that …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
MS SharePoint has more practical functionalities because we use MS Office software.
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint is well up front from its competitors. For a simple reason, it is integrated with THE Office package and all the Office programs which are widely used across the numerous companies. Its integration with OneDrive makes it even better and offers something that no …
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
For the use case we have I think SharePoint is the best fit for the task being done. It is so flexible at the same time simple and powerful. It does not require a lot of coding skills and, with even with the basic knowledge, you can still do a lot.
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
Ease of use, ease of setup, ease of administration, ease of configuration, ease of customization... what's not to like? SharePoint's got exactly what you need. Just don't expect too many frills, bells, whistles in terms of UI, but even then, it gets the job done.
Chose Microsoft SharePoint
We selected SharePoint mainly due to the fact that we were already using an older version. Migration to a new system would require significant end-user training. Being a "Microsoft Shop," stakeholders were well informed on how the product "should function" etc. In addition to …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Atlassian ConfluenceMicrosoft SharePoint
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
7.2
109 Ratings
9% below category average
Microsoft SharePoint
-
Ratings
Task Management7.087 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.912 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling7.221 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.058 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access6.882 Ratings00 Ratings
Search6.9107 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual planning tools7.586 Ratings00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
7.9
109 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft SharePoint
-
Ratings
Chat6.415 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications8.2107 Ratings00 Ratings
Discussions7.9101 Ratings00 Ratings
Surveys7.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase8.5101 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts9.37 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook9.610 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
7.9
109 Ratings
3% below category average
Microsoft SharePoint
-
Ratings
Versioning8.092 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files7.869 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files7.763 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration9.0104 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control8.7102 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced security features8.178 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive7.148 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync6.748 Ratings00 Ratings
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User Ratings
Atlassian ConfluenceMicrosoft SharePoint
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(126 ratings)
6.3
(192 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(19 ratings)
9.8
(21 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(12 ratings)
8.2
(17 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.4
(25 ratings)
8.6
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.8
(4 ratings)
6.0
(4 ratings)
Configurability
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Atlassian ConfluenceMicrosoft SharePoint
Likelihood to Recommend
Atlassian
It has a comment option on the page, where you can tag other teammates tagging them. it sends the mail notification. Comment at the page end is pretty good for referring to other stakeholders and future references of the topic on the page. Creating the highlights of the discussions, and meeting held points with highlighted tagging. Easy shortcuts such as to add a date just type "//". The interface is cool and has easy shortcuts for quick page making.
Read full review
Microsoft
Very user friendly. If you're already using M365 products it offers great integration! If you're using Azure AD it offers SSO for IAM and integrates nicely with Azure AD Groups which can then be used for Access management. As our IT / Azure Administrator, I particularly like the "sharing link" options where you can send a link with an expiration date and not have to remember to remove the link / access after a project / business case scenario is over.
Read full review
Pros
Atlassian
  • QUICK How-to Guides that can be generated and share instantly
  • One can subscribe to the pages and spaces and receive updates in the feed on their home page
  • Automatic Email notifications of new updates in the Confluence area
  • The platform integrates easily with other Atlassian platforms including third-party apps thus improving its reliability
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Making collaboration easier via a better connection between accounts. You can share anything from a file to events with just a couple of clicks.
  • All services are connected and switching between services is a breeze[.]
  • Solutions to the majority of everyday business problems.
Read full review
Cons
Atlassian
  • Navigation. Similar to other Atlassian products, users have complained that aspects of Confluence are difficult to learn right away[.]
  • An issue that users can face when using Confluence is attempting to edit a document while someone else is editing. Although users can access the document and save it, they are unable to see the changes happening in [real-time] that other users are implementing until they refresh their page. Some users have also noted that this can result in loss of edits.
  • Another drawback of using Confluence is its specific organizational structure. All information is stored within one page or project, although the page is able to be broken up into sections, some users do not prefer this style. Users can use the ‘page tree’ on each page to organize the different elements of each project.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • There are far too many good features to choose from, and advanced features are noticeably absent.
  • There is room for improvement in terms of integration with non-Microsoft products, as well as developer Story.
  • It is challenging to provide easier access via file explorer while also granting outside users and guests access.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Atlassian
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
It's integral to our business. It's already included with most of the Office 365 licensing we buy, so the cost is effectively zero. It stores our files, it is the foundation for custom applications, and Microsoft only continues to enhance its functionality and its connections to other Microsoft tools. SharePoint just keeps getting better and better.
Read full review
Usability
Atlassian
Confluence can - and in my personal opinion, it will - be a bit hard to use in the first moment. Atlassian is a great company and is eager to help you with any question you have, though. The interface seems to be a bit clumsy at first but the customization options are enough to make it easier and simpler. In general, Confluence is easy to use when you understand what each section does, but this can take a while.
Read full review
Microsoft
No usability issues reported. Individual teams also have allocated areas which replace legacy shared drives on local LANs. Access to Sharepoint resources is fully integrated with corporate Active Directory with additional two-factor authentication required for administrative users. Users have access to Microsoft Services Hub which allows you to create, manage, and track support requests while staying current on Microsoft technologies with access to select self-paced learning paths
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Reliability and Availability
Atlassian
I do not recall having outages or applications error so far, very reliable and available.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Atlassian
Pages load very quickly, which makes it useful for quickly obtaining information. The search functionality is also very quick and is able to parse through all of the documents to provide the most relevant results for the query. Other information based software gets bogged down, but so far Atlassian Confluence maintains its performance.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Atlassian
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Support for SharePoint is quite good. Microsoft provides good support. Microsoft offers
  • Quick turnaround time for issues
  • A range of support services
  • Access to a network of resources
  • Escalation of issues
  • Ongoing development and commitment to produce enhancement
The majority of support is required for initial installation. Once complete and the system is operating we have had very few support issues.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Atlassian
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The face to face training I received was on SharePoint Administration. It was rushed as there was a lot of information to cover and the application of the labs weren't that great either. I like to be able to relate what I am learning to what I am currently doing.
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Online Training
Atlassian
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I like to learn at my own pace and online training allows for that. Additionally, you can skip through pieces of content that you already know or are already comfortable with. Microsoft actually offers great videos on their website for basic fundamental SharePoint Training. I have used these training videos in some of my own training sessions with end users.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Atlassian
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!
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Microsoft
Planning to the last detail would be advised. SharePoint is a very large application that takes a lot of finesse to get operational
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Atlassian
We used to use Google Drive to store all of our documentation, but it is disconnected from our every day working environment and it was easy to lose documents and become disorganized within the broad drive environment. [Atlassian] Confluence has kept us more organized and its tight coupling with Jira has made documents more accessible and more likely to be kept up to date.
Read full review
Microsoft
The reasons for selecting MS SharePoint are: SharePoint provides ease of use and web design assistance and support SharePoint helps you schedule your content for publishing. enables users to share documents with external parties and offers a better internal structure of the content and better indexing and searching capabilities.
Read full review
Scalability
Atlassian
This tool is very adaptable. So much so we use it for three completely separate projects, in three very different ways.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Atlassian
  • We've gone from folders and folders of Word documents and PDFs into a single system with a search feature to bring all of our data together and trackable
  • While onboarding took a bit longer for the company (to switch from a Word document centric mindset - to a web-based one), overall the company has embraced the features and power of Confluence within the working stack
  • However, as costs continue to climb for the Atlassian product, we are forced to continue our evaluation of the product - with replacing it a remote possibility if it begins to outprice its usefulness to us.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Increased collaboration - MS Sharepoint has increased knowledge share and collaboration between departments. This saves time and energy because of its efficient and effective communication
  • Increased document security - MS Sharepoint has increased our document security so we're safer knowing that our documents are security and access controlled appropriately. We are less prone to get in trouble by our customers due to the security provided by MS Sharepoint
  • Negative Impact Compared to other software - Not sure if the MS Sharepoint's main functionalities could've been met with other tools we currently have
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ScreenShots