Notion and Confluence are project management tools that offer a diverse set of features designed to help teams collaborate and manage their work more effectively, with a strong focus on knowledge management. Notion is a versatile tool that combines note-taking, task management and project management on a single platform. It’s praised for its flexibility and the ability to customize the workspace to suit various needs.
On the other hand, Confluence, developed by Atlassian, is a collaboration tool that enables teams to start, share and collaborate on projects in one place. It’s known for its robust content and space management features, making it an excellent choice for teams looking to create and maintain an extensive knowledge base to support their work.
Notion vs. Confluence: Comparison
| Features | ||
|---|---|---|
| Free forever plan | ||
| Starting price (per user per month, billed monthly) | ||
| Starting price (per user per month, billed annually) | (for 1 to 10 user tier per year) |
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| Space management | ||
| Note-taking | ||
| Task management | ||
| Content management | ||
| Real-time collaboration | ||
Notion vs. Confluence: Pricing
Confluence’s pricing can be more cost-effective for small teams due to its free plan for up to 10 users. However, the cost increases for larger teams or teams requiring more features. On the other hand, Notion’s pricing is more straightforward and may be more appealing to teams of various sizes due to its comprehensive feature set, even in its Plus plan.
Notion pricing
- Free: No cost for one user and allows up to 10 invited guests.
- Plus: $8 per user per month, billed annually, or $10 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Business: $15 per user per month, billed annually, or $18 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing.
Confluence pricing
- Free: No cost for up to 10 users.
- Standard: $600 per year for the 1- to 10-user tier or $6.05 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Premium: $1,150 per year for 1- to 10-user tier or $11.55 per user per month, billed monthly.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing.
Notion vs. Confluence: Feature comparison
Content management
Confluence excels in content management. It allows teams to create, share and collaborate on content in a structured and organized manner. Its rich text editor and variety of content types, from meeting notes to project plans, make it a versatile tool for content creation and management.
Notion, on the other hand, also offers robust content management features. It supports a variety of content types, including text, images and embedded videos. Its unique block-based approach allows users to create complex layouts and structures, making it a powerful tool for content management.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Notion AI and Atlassian Intelligence are both AI-powered features within their respective platforms.
Notion AI is a collection of AI-powered tools within Notion’s collaborative workspace platform. It includes features like text summarization, content generation, language translation, grammar and spelling checks and more. Notion AI augments and automates specific tasks to streamline workflows and improve collaboration within the Notion platform.
On the other hand, Atlassian Intelligence is a feature available in Atlassian’s Enterprise and Premium Cloud plans, specifically for their products: Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Jira Work Management and Confluence. Atlassian Intelligence uses generative AI to create new content and provide intelligent insights within these products. The emphasis is leveraging AI to generate valuable and tailored content to support project management and collaboration efforts.
Atlassian Intelligence is only available to Confluence’s premium and enterprise plan users, meaning lower-tier plans cannot access this feature. Notion AI, on the other hand, comes at extra costs. You can add it to your workspace (free to enterprise plans) for $8 per member per month, billed annually or $10 per member per month, billed monthly.
Notion vs. Confluence: Space management
In terms of space management, Confluence stands out. It allows teams to create dedicated spaces for different projects or teams, making it easier to organize and manage content. Each space can have its own set of permissions, ensuring that the right people have access to the right information.
Notion, while not offering a dedicated space management feature, allows users to create separate pages and sub-pages, which can serve a similar purpose. However, it lacks the granular permission controls found in Confluence.
Note-taking
While Confluence supports note-taking, it’s not its primary focus. Notes in Confluence are typically part of larger documents or projects. Notion, however, shines in this area. It offers a versatile note-taking feature that supports a variety of content types. Users can create simple text notes, add images, create checklists and even embed code snippets. This makes Notion a powerful tool for capturing and organizing information.
Task management
Both Confluence and Notion offer task management features. Notion’s task management features are more flexible. Users can create tasks as standalone items or as part of larger projects. Tasks can be assigned to team members and their status can be tracked using a variety of views, including table, kanban and calendar views.
Confluence allows users to create tasks, assign them to team members and track their progress. It also integrates with Jira, a popular project management tool, for more advanced task management capabilities.
Real-time collaboration
Both Confluence and Notion support real-time collaboration.
Notion also supports real-time collaboration, with the ability to comment on any text or image. It also supports @mentions to notify team members whenever they’re mentioned. However, it’s worth noting that Notion does not currently support a true offline mode, which may be a consideration for teams that often work without an internet connection.
In Confluence, users can see who else is viewing or editing a page in real time and changes are automatically saved and synced. It also supports page permissions, so you can control who interacts with your pages.
Notion pros and cons
Pros of Notion
- Notion is highly versatile, supporting many content types and use cases.
- It offers a rich text editor that makes content creation easy and flexible.
- Straightforward and competitive pricing, making it a cost-effective choice for many teams.
- Has no steep learning curve as it’s an easy-to-use tool.
Cons of Notion
- Lacks advanced project management features, which can make complex projects more difficult.
- The platform can be overwhelming for new users due to its wide range of features and options.
- No true offline mode, which may be a consideration for teams that often work without an internet connection.
Confluence pros and cons
Pros of Confluence
- Confluence offers an intuitive structure that makes navigation easy.
- The setup process is straightforward, allowing teams to get started quickly.
- Seamless integration with other Atlassian products, enhancing its functionality.
- Robust security features, ensuring your team’s work is secure.
Cons of Confluence
- Can be expensive for small teams and teams with a limited budget that need access to premium functionalities.
- Confluence can have a learning curve for new users to understand its structure and features.
- It lacks a versatile note-taking feature, which is a key requirement for some teams.
Should your organization use Notion vs. Confluence?
If your team needs a tool with strong content and space management features and you’re willing to pay a bit more for premium functionalities or you already use other Atlassian products, Confluence might be the right choice.
However, if you’re looking for a versatile tool that can handle a variety of tasks and you don’t mind a bit of a learning curve, Notion could be a better fit.
Remember, the best tool is the one that your team will actually use. It might be worth trying out both Confluence and Notion to see which one your team prefers. Both offer free plans, so you can test them out without any financial commitment.
Review methodology
I compared both products across features, capabilities and verified user reviews. I also tested both products for personal experience to deliver an objective comparison. ​​To evaluate capabilities, I conducted a series of tests to assess the performance and efficiency of both products. These tests allowed me to understand each product’s strengths and weaknesses and determine which performs better in specific areas.
I considered verified user reviews to incorporate real-life experiences and opinions into the comparison. I collected feedback from current users of both products, paying close attention to the advantages and disadvantages highlighted by them. This helped me gain insights into customer satisfaction, overall user experience and potential issues with either product.