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Program Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Business users create business collaboration solutions and web-like interfaces.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to create business collaboration solutions without having an army of IT professionals. We can create web-like interfaces without needing to be an expert in Java, Java scripts, or HTML.

How has it helped my organization?

We use the tool to establish a collaboration space across federal agencies, state agencies, and other public stakeholders. We are able to create a simple workflow and have an electronic record of those activities.

What needs improvement?

The basic improvement needed from my perspective (and it may be more to do with how Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has allowed certain features of Confluence to be used) is the ability to move multiple attachments at a time. I would like to be able to copy a set of pages in Confluence as a template. It would be nice to have better business collaboration examples.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used this product for five years.

Buyer's Guide
Atlassian Confluence
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Atlassian Confluence. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had stability issues sometimes, but I am not quite sure where those issues occurred. I don’t know if slowness is occurring on the OMB server end or on my organization's end in terms of network transfer of information. Sometimes the system does not respond as fast as a normal web interface. I am happy, overall, because I understand the power of the collaboration efforts being done. However, I think most people are used to one-way communication when it comes to the internet and they expect the same speed when collaborating from a two-way (or more )perspective.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The system has incredible scalability. I have not used all of the features that OMB provides, but we have an integrated system with:

  • Collaboration & Information Sharing
  • Data Collection
  • Analysis
  • Publications
  • Specialized Applications
  • PaaS
  • Records Management
  • Publishing
  • Business Intelligence
  • Workflow
  • Web Frameworks
  • Common Database
  • Identity and Provisioning

How are customer service and support?

I don’t interact with Atalssian directly, but rather through OMB who interacts with Atalssian. OMB is my technical contact and in terms of my use of the system they are fairly responsive. The system is a federal-wide system, in which participating federal agencies pay a fee ($50-200K) to be a member and use it as a shared service. When there are special initiatives, a federal agency may have to pay a little more. When I say a little more, I mean a little more, not huge amounts of money.
.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used previous systems, such as email, common spaces, CDs, snail mail, and lately, SharePoint (we are still using this as well). These are all painful, unsecure systems and require an IT army.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, we evaluated SharePoint.

What other advice do I have?

If you want to solve complex problems with a simple solution, then use Confluence and use it to scale to more complicated things as you grow.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Siarhei Leshchanka - PeerSpot reviewer
CIO at IBA Group
MSP
Stable solution and easy to setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability is enough for our use cases. It covers all our needs."
  • "There is room for improvement in terms of pricing."

What is our primary use case?

There are some documents for users, some for developers, and some workspaces for projects, both in Jira and others for internal business processes within our company. It's not for customers, only for internal use.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature for me is the structure of documents. The page tree feature is more convenient for me.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for around four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. We never faced any problem with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is enough for our use cases. It covers all our needs. 

How was the initial setup?

There was no problem with the setup process. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When we started using Confluence, it was more convenient for us, but later, it became more expensive. Unfortunately, the data center version is expensive for us. So, it could be a bit cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

In my opinion, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Atlassian Confluence
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Atlassian Confluence. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Simple to use and affordable
Pros and Cons
  • "What I find the most valuable about Confluence is how easy it is to use."
  • "The area that needs improvement is the search capability. It should have generalized capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

I use it as a knowledge base system for sharing knowledge and creating Kanban boards.

What is most valuable?

What I find the most valuable about Confluence is how easy it is to use. In addition, we have a lot of good clients and it can help us achieve a lot of things.

What needs improvement?

The area that needs improvement is the search capability. It should have generalized capabilities. The support should be better when it comes to analytics features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Atlassian Confluence for over five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. I give it an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is amazing. It supports a lot of pages and it's very helpful. I give it a nine out of ten. 

Approximately 300 people are using Atlassian Confluence within my business unit and there are around 1,000 users in the company. 

How are customer service and support?

We haven't had many issues with the solution. Another team at our company handles the technical support, an IT expert who manages Confluence.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple although it was not done by our team. We had a separate team do it for us.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When it comes to affordability, I give it an eight out of ten. It's reasonably priced since many people are using it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Microsoft SharePoint is a bit fancier and can possibly achieve more complex things than Atlassian Confluence, but it's not easy to use. Confluence is simpler, and the integration with Jira is good.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. I would definitely recommend it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Commercial manager at AIOps
Real User
Popular solution used to manage different types of documentation but that comes at a high price
Pros and Cons
  • "The customization that Confluence offers is one of its most useful features. You can customise it based on the specific project you are working on. It also supports multiple languages."
  • "The one way in which this solution could be improved is by offering better design and UI."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to manage different documentation such as PDFs and PowerPoint. It's similar to Dropbox but is more organized. We have approximately 1,000 users that make use of this solution in our business. 

What is most valuable?

The customization that Confluence offers is one of its most useful features. You can customise it based on the specific project you are working on. It also supports multiple languages. 

I also like using the web browser version of this solution and the fact that it is easy to search. You are able to see more that ten rows of results. 

What needs improvement?

We currently only use this solution for retrieving information. In a previous company, I also used it for HR and onboarding. The one way in which this solution could be improved is by offering better design and UI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. It is built on a crop base and so adding additional documents is simple. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This is a very expensive solution. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We compared this solution with Lark and I think Lark is a better option. When using Confluence, you can only search using a search bar. When using Lark, you can search through a messaging bot and everything is translated. For example, Chinese words can be translated into English without requiring AI. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a six out of ten. It is one of the most well known solutions but comes at a high price and does not offer the best functionality. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Lead at Capgemini
Real User
A good tool for team management and collaboration
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution allowed us to easily input details beyond just text, such as creating basic data charts to monitor team performance."
  • "We would like there to be more advanced data manipulation features available in this solution, such as creating more complex charts, and a column freezing option."

What is our primary use case?

We used this solution to create and manage shared documentation, as well as managing the team details and giving visibility of attendance and absence to all team members.

What is most valuable?

This solution allowed us to easily input details beyond just text, such as creating basic data charts to monitor team performance. 

The document creation features of this solution are also very impressive.

What needs improvement?

We would like there to be more advanced data manipulation features available in this solution, such as creating more complex charts, and a column freezing option.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We always found this solution to be stable.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise new users of this product, to begin by creating simple documentation, and then move on to using macros and the different features provided, once they know how the solution works.

I would rate this solution as 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Attila Mozes - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at provalida GmbH
Real User
Can work with multiple people on one document inside the solution
Pros and Cons
  • "As for valuable features, the team management features help us to share information very easily."
  • "The scalability for larger companies could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

It's the knowledge base for our company.

We have project spaces for our customer projects, and the project teams share information about the projects.

We also use it as a wiki for our company.

What is most valuable?

As for valuable features, the team management features help us to share information very easily.

Also, you can work with multiple people on one document inside the solution.

What needs improvement?

The scalability for larger companies could be improved.

Atlassian has decided to stop the server edition of Atlassian Confluence. In the future, you can only buy an enterprise installation called Data Center, and you have to pay for a thousand users on up. This means that it will be very expensive. So, small installations will only have the cloud option, but the cloud version of Atlassian Confluence is not as stable as the on-premises version.

It would be good to have more graphical components on dashboards to show table components as graphics, pie charts or bar charts. These are not included at the moment.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for the last five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the on-premises version is really good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is not so good, but it's enough for us because our company is small. We have 30 users. However, we have customers who have 10,000 people on Confluence, and then it becomes a problem.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support at three on a scale from one to five.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We chose Atlassian Confluence because it is really easy to set up the system and because of the functionality. The system has many good functions, and the UI is really modern and easy to use.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

Less than one full-time employee is needed for the maintenance of this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing wise, it ends up being an expensive solution. In the beginning it's cheap, but by the time you have all the functions you need, it turns out to be expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Use the 30 day test period to be sure that you want the system. You should use it and test it during this time and then decide.

At the moment, Atlassian Confluence is the best team product you can buy, and I would rate it at eight on a scale from one to ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Technical Test Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
This became the primary location where all knowledge documents and other documentation were recorded and held, but JIRA and Confluence connectivity needs to be stabilized.

What is most valuable?

1. Its ability to display data from an excel sheet attached to the page. A simple one line code can do this.

2. Allows markers in the page so that they can be referenced in other pages thereby avoiding duplication.

3. Allows creation of random tables when needed for representation.

4. Allows document attachments to be visible as a link whose display text can be user-defined.

How has it helped my organization?

This became the primary location where all knowledge documents and other documentation were recorded and held. Its ability to allow creation of child pages helped to nest topics within topics

What needs improvement?

1. When excel sheets are added for being displayed, it skips document formats and does not recognize merged cells.

2. Supports only MS office 97-2003 formats. Should also support 2010 formats as its a overhead to convert everytime.

3. JIRA and Confluence connectivity needs to be stabilized. We've faced embarrassing situations with stakeholders when the Confluence pages could not pull the list of JIRAs to be referenced on the page.

For how long have I used the solution?

5 years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Deployment was handled by the client's infrastructure team. I'm unable to comment on this.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Yes. JIRA to confluence connectivity was a nagging issue. To circumvent this, we started using JIRA dumps into excel and uploading them to the Confluence page.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

None

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I'm unable to comment on this.

Technical Support:

I'm unable to comment on this.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Confluence was already used as the primary tool for reporting and documentation.

However, there have been Sharepoint based solutions for holding documents and their version which I did not find as user-friendly as Confluence.

The other option, of course, is to maintain your documents in a configuration management tool like Visual Safe Source.

How was the initial setup?

Deployment and setup was handled by the client's infrastructure team. I'm unable to comment on this

What about the implementation team?

Deployment was handled by the client's infrastructure team. I'm unable to comment on this.

What was our ROI?

I'm unable to comment on this.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not particularly evaluate other tools, but when compared with VSS and Sharepoint based solutions, Confluence would be an easy choice. This depends on what exactly is your purpose of using this tool. My views are based on its use as a tool for documentation and a QA's perspective on it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Administrator at Cotiviti
Real User
Top 20
Macros streamline documentation with ease of data sharing and a simple setup process
Pros and Cons
  • "The macros feature in Confluence is quite valuable."
  • "There is a significant difference between the data center version and the cloud version of Confluence. Providing the same features in both versions would be beneficial."

What is our primary use case?

I use Atlassian Confluence for documentation purposes. It is utilized for storing project data, sharing tickets through Jira to Confluence, and measuring documentation for every step of a project, much like a Wikipedia-style tag. Everything is noted in a step-by-step process on the Confluence pages.

How has it helped my organization?

Confluence helps save time and facilitates easy data sharing among team members. It allows us to create spaces for meeting notes that can be shared with other team members without reaching out individually.

What is most valuable?

The macros feature in Confluence is quite valuable. It allows the creation of tables, calendars, and the integration of hyperlinks with ease.

What needs improvement?

There is a significant difference between the data center version and the cloud version of Confluence. Providing the same features in both versions would be beneficial. 

Additionally, there is no functionality in Confluence to have a team title as a home page header and footer on each page export, which is something I've requested from Atlassian.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Confluence for more than six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability depends on the setup. If you have good hardware and availability servers, Confluence is usually available continuously. The stability is primarily determined by the server and hardware configuration.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability also depends on how you set up Confluence. It is easy to scale and expand the product.

How are customer service and support?

If you take the premium support from Atlassian, they reach out within one hour. Otherwise, normal support takes one to two days.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple. Migrating from other tools to Confluence, or from cloud to the data center, is easy.

What about the implementation team?

We didn't require any third-party consultants for the setup. We established this in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Atlassian products, including Confluence, have yearly price increases of approximately five to twenty percent.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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