As remote work becomes increasingly prevalent, the demand for efficient collaboration tools has skyrocketed. Notion and Confluence stand out as two of the most popular options, each offering distinct functionalities to support team collaboration and project management. In this article, we’ll compare these two platforms across various criteria to help you decide which collaboration tool is the perfect fit for your team.
Table of contents
Notion vs. Confluence: An overview
| Feature | Notion | Confluence |
|---|---|---|
| User interface | Intuitive, customizable, minimalistic | Structured, professional, wiki-style |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes | Yes |
| Comments and discussions | Yes | Yes |
| Task assignments and tracking | Basic task management with to-do lists and boards | Advanced task tracking with Jira integration |
| Templates and blueprints | Extensive library of templates for various uses | Comprehensive set of blueprints for documentation |
| Page hierarchy and linking | Flexible, supports nested pages and backlinks | Robust hierarchy with parent-child page structure |
| Databases and tables | Powerful databases with relational properties | Basic tables and lists |
| Embedding and media support | Rich media embedding (videos, code snippets, etc.) | Supports various media types, less flexible |
| Integrations | Supports integration with various third-party apps | Extensive integrations, especially with the Atlassian suite |
| Security | Data encryption, compliance with industry standards | Data encryption, compliance with industry standards |
| Customizability | Highly customizable with flexible layouts | Limited customization, more rigid structure |
| Knowledge management | Good for personal and team knowledge bases | Excellent for organization-wide knowledge bases |
| User community and resources | Active community, extensive resources and tutorials | Strong community, extensive documentation and support |
| Customer support | Email and self-service support, community forums | Email, phone support, and extensive documentation |
| Use cases | Suitable for small to medium teams, creative projects, personal life | Ideal for large enterprises and projects, detailed documentation needs |
| Overall flexibility | Highly flexible, adaptable to various workflows | Highly structured, optimized for documentation and project management |
| AI support | Focused on content creation and Q&A | Focused on content generation and automation rules |
| Platforms | Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, browser extensions | Web, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, browser extensions |
| Pricing | Free | Plus plan: starts at $12/month | Free | Standard plan: starts at $5/month |
Reasons to choose Notion
- Intuitive and customizable user interface
- Powerful databases with relational properties
- Flexible page hierarchy and linking
- Extensive library of templates
- Rich media embedding (videos, code snippets, etc.)
- Highly customizable with flexible layouts
- All-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, and databases
- Ideal for small to medium teams
Reasons to choose Confluence
- Robust hierarchy with parent-child page structure
- Advanced task tracking with Jira integration
- Comprehensive set of blueprints for documentation
- Extensive integrations, especially with the Atlassian suite
- Excellent for organization-wide knowledge bases
- Ideal for large enterprises
- More structured, professional, wiki-style interface
- Better suited for complex project documentation needs
Notion vs. Confluence: What are the differences?
Notion and Confluence offer robust features for enhancing productivity and streamlining workflows, but they cater to different needs. Here are the differences.
Ease of use
Notion’s clean interface and intuitive drag-and-drop editor make it incredibly user-friendly, even for those without experience with similar tools.
Its block-based system allows for effortless customization and rearrangement of content, making it a breeze to create visually appealing pages.
While its vast array of features might seem overwhelming at first, Notion’s learning curve is relatively gentle. You can quickly grasp the basics and gradually explore more advanced functionalities that will help you better organize your content.
Confluence’s interface might appear slightly more complex, with a greater emphasis on hierarchy and organization.
Confluence’s learning curve might be slightly steeper than Notion’s, particularly for users unfamiliar with its terminology and conventions. However, once users become accustomed to its layout, they can leverage its powerful features to create comprehensive knowledge bases and project documentation.
Task management
Notion offers versatile task management capabilities thanks to its multiple templates and ease of use.
You can create task lists, Kanban boards, and timelines, all within the same environment where you can manage documents and databases. This tight integration enables a holistic view of projects and tasks, streamlining collaboration and progress tracking.
Notion’s flexibility allows for extensive customization of task properties, views, and filters, making it adaptable to various workflows. However, for complex project management needs, it might lack the depth of dedicated project management tools.
Confluence, on the other hand, leverages its seamless integration with Jira, a powerful project management platform also developed by Atlassian.
This integration allows teams to track tasks, create roadmaps, and manage project progress within Confluence itself.
While Confluence’s native task management features are not as extensive as Notion’s, the Jira integration provides a robust solution for teams already invested in the Atlassian ecosystem.
However, for teams not using Jira, Confluence’s task management capabilities might feel limited compared to Notion’s built-in options.
👉 Learn more: How to Create Recurring Tasks on Notion: A Complete Guide
Customization
Notion stands out for its customization capabilities. Users can tailor nearly every aspect of the platform, from the layout and design of pages to the specific functionality of databases and integrations.
The app allows users to drag and drop different types of content blocks—such as text, images, databases, and embeds—into their pages.
This block-based architecture provides users with the flexibility to create highly customized workspaces that suit their specific needs, whether for personal task management or collaborative project work. Anything can be built from scratch to serve your purpose.
In addition to its customizable content blocks, Notion offers a rich set of templates that can be used as starting points for creating customized pages and databases. Any template can be further modified to fit the unique requirements of different teams or projects, providing a balance between ease of use and customization.
👉 Learn more: 18 Best Notion Widgets in 2024 (For Free!)
Confluence, while also offering customization, is more structured in its approach. It provides a robust set of features aimed at creating and managing documentation, wikis, and knowledge bases.
Users can customize spaces and pages with different templates designed for various types of documentation, such as meeting notes, project plans, and product requirements.
Confluence’s strength lies in its ability to maintain a consistent structure across documentation, which is particularly beneficial for larger teams or organizations that must adhere to specific standards and procedures.
Collaboration
Notion excels at real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to edit a page or document simultaneously.
One of Notion’s standout collaboration features is its ability to create shared workspaces where team members can access and contribute to various projects and documents.
This flexibility makes it suitable for a wide range of collaborative tasks, from brainstorming sessions and project planning to detailed documentation.
Additionally, Notion offers integrations with tools like Slack and Google Drive, which help streamline communication and document sharing across different platforms.
Confluence, while supporting real-time collaboration, emphasizes version history and structured feedback more strongly.
It provides robust real-time editing capabilities, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously while tracking changes through its version history feature. This allows users to track changes and revert to previous versions if needed, ensuring accountability and preventing accidental overwrites.
Confluence also excels in managing permissions and access controls. Administrators can set detailed permissions for spaces, pages, and even individual elements within pages, ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to authorized team members.
AI
Notion introduced its AI features to help users streamline various tasks within the platform.
Notion AI assists with generating content, summarizing documents, Q&A, and even rewriting text to improve clarity and conciseness.
This functionality is particularly useful for creating initial drafts of documents, providing summaries of long notes, and generating insights from large datasets.
The AI can also handle repetitive tasks, such as filling out templates or automating simple workflows, which saves time and reduces the potential for human error. Notion’s AI capabilities are available for an additional monthly fee.
👉 Learn more: Notion AI vs. ChatGPT: Which AI Tool Is the Best for You?
Confluence, part of the Atlassian suite, integrates with Atlassian Intelligence.
Atlassian Intelligence aims to provide comprehensive AI support across all Jira cloud products, including Confluence. This AI tool focuses on enhancing knowledge management by offering automatic query responses, suggesting relevant content, and providing data-driven insights to improve team productivity.
The AI’s capabilities include advanced search functions, which help users quickly find the information they need by understanding the context of their queries. Additionally, Atlassian Intelligence assists in automating workflows and managing tasks more efficiently by integrating closely with Jira.
Customer support
Notion provides several avenues for customer support, including a comprehensive help center with detailed articles and tutorials covering various aspects of the platform.
Users can access step-by-step guides, video tutorials, and a robust FAQ section to troubleshoot common issues. Notion also offers email support, which is known for its responsiveness, though response times can vary depending on the volume of inquiries.
Additionally, Notion has an active online community where users can seek advice, share tips, and discuss best practices.
Confluence, as part of the Atlassian suite, benefits from Atlassian’s extensive support infrastructure.
You can have access to a wide range of support options, including a detailed documentation library, a community forum, and a knowledge base filled with articles, how-to guides, and best practices.
Confluence also offers more direct support through its ticketing system, where users can submit issues and receive assistance from Atlassian’s support team. This system includes tiered support options, with higher tiers providing faster response times and more personalized assistance.
Pricing
Notion offers a generous free plan, three paid plans, and a Notion AI add-on.
- Free Plan:
- For personal use
- Unlimited pages & blocks
- Share with up to 5 guests
- Limited file uploads (5MB per file)
- Plus Plan: $10 per user/month (billed annually) or $12 per user/month (billed monthly)
- For small teams
- Unlimited file uploads
- 30-day version history
- Share with unlimited guests
- Business Plan: $15 per user/month (billed annually) or $18 per user/month (billed monthly)
- For larger teams
- Everything in Plus, plus:
- SAML SSO
- Advanced page analytics
- Bulk export
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
- For companies
- Everything in Business, plus:
- User provisioning (SCIM)
- Audit log
- Dedicated success manager
- Notion AI add-on: $8 per user/month (billed annually) or $10 per user/month (billed monthly)
- Available to all plans (except guests)
- Includes features like content generation, summarization, and AI-powered insights
Confluence also offers a generous free plan and three paid plans:
- Free Plan:
- Up to 10 users
- 2GB of storage
- Community support
- Unlimited pages and spaces
- Standard Plan: Starts at $5.75 per user/month
- For growing teams
- 250GB of storage
- Knowledge base space
- 99.9% uptime SLA
- Premium Plan: Starts at $11 per user/month
- For established teams
- Unlimited storage
- AI support
- Analytics
- Admin insights
- 24/7 Premium support
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
- For large organizations
- Everything in Premium, plus:
- Unlimited sites
- Global permissions
- Data residency controls
Conclusion
Notion and Confluence are two powerful collaboration tools, each with its strengths and weaknesses.
👉 Notion excels with its flexible, all-in-one workspace, catering to individuals and small or medium-sized teams. It shines in personal knowledge management and offers a user-friendly experience with highly customizable features.
👉 Confluence, with its structured approach and robust integration with Jira, is well-suited for larger teams and enterprises, particularly those prioritizing comprehensive documentation and project management.
To further enhance your productivity and create a truly unified workspace, consider using 2sync.
2sync seamlessly syncs Notion with other essential tools like Google Calendar, Google Tasks, and Todoist. By integrating these platforms, you can:
- Streamline task management: Keep your Notion tasks in sync with your other to-do lists and calendars, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
- Consolidate your workflow: Access and manage all your tasks, projects, and notes from a centralized location.
- Boost productivity: Avoid the hassle of switching between multiple apps and focus on getting things done.
