Confluence for the Cloud not so hot
February 25, 2022

Confluence for the Cloud not so hot

Nicholas Wade | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Atlassian Confluence

Confluence for the Cloud cannot handle numbered
lists well – it resets the sequence to 1 if you have other items such as a table
or certain apps (such as /note) or similar included in the list. This is a major
drawback if you have complex procedures to create. Don’t be fooled. Confluence is actually very,
very expensive to own. The Marketplace apps are seemingly very cheap - even free, however, if you have a large user base, that £5 per app is automatically multiplied by
the number of users, in my case the company has some 500 users, which
represents some considerable investment, especially if you want the app to do
something pretty basic. The included apps look like a good deal, that
is until you start using them. These apps have not all been developed with love
and care (or decent supporting documentation) and turn out to be inflexible,
and format themselves according to how the developer has designed them. Plus,
the apps are really not all that proficient. The styles are limited to what THEY consider
you will use - which personally, I don't like. Their spell checker is inaccurate for the UK
market. If you've been using the old template they now
have a new one and upgrading existing documents may not always work. All requests for enhancements are handled by
Developers and if your request falls under a certain number of 'likes' then you
can forget having the enhancement - as is the case with the numbered lists (2
years and no improvement). The page layouts are restricted to their idea
of what columns of information should look like and there is little
flexibility. Changing the column widths is poorly implemented to using their presets which do not always suit. You can't include anything other than videos or photos (graphics) unless you purchase an app - useless for say using Excel Tables are 'clunky' to work with. There is none of the functionality you would expect from a more proficient word processor such as Word - forget such items as search and replace Overall, if I were to choose again, I would not
use Confluence for anything more than a form of a notebook.
  • Simple text entry
  • Simple headings
  • Simple connection via links
  • Simple copy from other sites
  • Pretty good search for pages
  • Numbering sequenced lists with other content inserted - awfull
  • Page layouts / columns very poor
  • Styling restricted
  • Expensive apps to do simple operations
  • Word processing functionality next to zero
  • Inflexible design
  • Poorly implemented free apps
  • Free templates poorly executed
  • No search for out of date pages
  • version control
  • simplicity
  • Presented a very challenging environment for managing and completing documents

Do you think Atlassian Confluence delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with Atlassian Confluence's feature set?

No

Did Atlassian Confluence live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Atlassian Confluence go as expected?

No

Would you buy Atlassian Confluence again?

No

I have worked in large companies where they have been overwhelmed by the various confluence sites. At the end of the day, document control has to be much better. Give confluence to developers and they run riot with half-completed pages or out-of-date material and very quickly the sites become a nightmare to administer. I would not recommend confluence where you have a serious library of documentation to maintain.

Confluence Feature Ratings

Task Management
Not Rated
Workflow Automation
Not Rated
Mobile Access
Not Rated
Search
Not Rated
Visual planning tools
Not Rated
Not Rated
Notifications
Not Rated
Discussions
Not Rated
Internal knowledgebase
Not Rated
Versioning
7
Video files
7
Audio files
Not Rated
Document collaboration
6
Access control
10
Advanced security features
8
Integrates with Google Drive
Not Rated
Device sync
Not Rated