Comparison between Confluence and Share point Features

[rthyam]

Is there a way to add lists and library of document folders in Confluence similar to Share Point? Confluence . Do you have any comaprison chart of feature of Confluence and Share Point

[SarahA · Accepted solution]

Hallo Rameshtn

I answered a similar question recently at Technical Writing World:

http://technicalwritingworld.com/forum/topics/what-do-you-think-about-using?commentId=6394117%3AComment%3A3996

Here's the gist of my comment from that site:

=== START QUOTE ===

I did spend some time a year ago doing a comparative analysis of Confluence and a beta version of SharePoint 2010.

...

My comparison was specifically related to using SharePoint or Confluence for technical documentation. I examined the following aspects of designing a documentation suite:

• Developing a document
• Collaboration
• Workflow and permissions
• Support for other formats
• Managing attachments and legacy documentation
• Overall usability and reader's experience

The result was a lengthy document, listing the pluses and minuses of each platform for each of the above functions. In summary, my conclusion was this:

SharePoint and Confluence are totally different things.

• SharePoint is an all-in-one portal development and document management tool, with wiki pages tacked on.
• Confluence is an all-in-one document development, document publishing and collaboration tool, with management of external documents tacked on.

Then I thought up my answers to the question, when should you use SharePoint and when should you use Confluence?

My thoughts were that you should use SharePoint if:

• Your primary need is document management. You have a large set of existing documentation in various non-wiki formats, such as legacy Word and PDF documents, complex Visio diagrams and spreadsheet formulae. In addition, you have an existing, stable and tidy SharePoint installation with competent, full-time site administrators.
• You need a wide variety of discrete content types all on a single portal (discussion lists, calendars, task lists, non-wiki documents and web pages).

And I thought you should use Confluence if:

• Your primary need is document development and presentation. You want a single platform for designing, developing and publishing your documentation.
• You want your documentation easily accessible to readers and authors, with a uniformity of interface that is unintrusive and predictable (in a good way). Content is king. Your readers and authors collaborate on the page itself rather than in separate discussion lists.

=== END QUOTE ===

I hope this answers your question. :)

Cheers, Sarah

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Thanks Sarah, that's a far better answer than anything I could write up. (Added to bookmarks for next time)

[rthyam]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you very much. Your article is very helpful.

[Joseph Priest]

Hi Sarah, did you post the comparison document anywhere online?

[Laura Mahalel]

I would add that Confluence handles document libraries quite well. In fact, some of my colleagues were surprised at how it manages versions and uploads in a simpler way than SharePoint does. 

For examples, see https://confluence.atlassian.com/conf56/displaying-a-list-of-attachments-658737036.html 

[Katie Maynard]

Hello Sarah, Your reply to Rameshtn in June of 2012 was very helpful. Thank you.

In April of 2012 I began my employment as a Technical Writer for a company who had just begun using Confluence. This is my first experience with Confluence and I will have to admit I am enjoying it. I also serve as the Front-end Administrator of Confluence.

At my company, there is a great deal of discussion about SharePoint vs Confluence going on. The company is looking for a one answer solution to serve as a single source of documentation. Because of everything we do, I am not sure there can be only one solution. Being able to identify the differences between the two tools will help this process.

For me, this information is timely; I found your insight very helpful. Thank you.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I'm not sure it's worth comparing them myself - one is a document repository, one is a wiki. They do significantly different things.

[rthyam]

I understand that, but both tools are meant to be collabaration tool, we don't want to use two system, hence wanted to know what collabaration features that can be compared

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Mmm, yes, but what do you mean by "collaberation"? It's one of those wonderful words which could encompass all sorts of things, but is too vague to define them beyond "more than one person working together on the same thing"

Unless you can define what you want to "collaberate" on, there's not actually a lot to compare them on. Obviously, you don't need to go into massive amounts of detail, but a very rough idea of what your desired outcome is will probably open up this question to all sorts of answers.

But without a rough idea of purpose, I'd say that Sharepoint is good for things like legal documents, books and manuals for systems with long slow release cycles (because you want slabs of paperwork which exist as discrete fixed objects) and Confluence is good for almost everything else - documentation on systems and processes, ideas, human descriptions of test plans, technical specifications, recipes, support documentation, etc etc etc.

[Laura Mahalel]

SharePoint is better for hosting and lightly organizing relatively static, Microsoft Office-based content in an organization where you have the patience to painstakingly manage permissions.

Confluence is better for everything else! In particular, it's better for content that is evolving. It's better for "crowd sourcing" content. It's better for technical documentation. It's better for focusing on content over format. 

[Sarah Hein]

IT Central Station has separate articles on Confluence Pricing and Sharepoint Pricing looking at features and pricing, this being very important when trying to decide between two products.

It is worth mentioning that Confluence has some very good reviews on the site.