Atlassian Confluence vs. Slack

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Confluence
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Confluence is a collaboration and content sharing platform used primarily by customers who are already using Atlassian's Jira project tracking product. The product appeals particularly to IT users.
$0
Free for 10 Users
Slack
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The…
$0
Pricing
Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Free for 10 Users
Standard
$6.40
per month per user
Premium
$12.30
per month per user
Data Center
220,000.00
40,001+ Users - Annually
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ConfluenceSlack
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrices shown here reflect prices for deployments with 100 users or less. The prices decrease wien the user base surpasses 100.*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year. Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
Features
Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
5.3
Ratings
37% below category average
Slack
8.2
Ratings
6% above category average
Task Management6.30 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.90 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Scheduling7.20 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Workflow Automation4.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Mobile Access3.90 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Search5.70 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Visual planning tools2.50 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
6.9
Ratings
14% below category average
Slack
8.8
Ratings
11% above category average
Chat6.40 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Notifications5.20 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Discussions3.90 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Surveys7.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase7.70 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting6.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts9.30 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook9.60 Ratings8.90 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Atlassian Confluence
5.9
Ratings
28% below category average
Slack
8.7
Ratings
11% above category average
Versioning6.40 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Video files4.20 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Audio files3.70 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Document collaboration6.50 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Access control8.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Advanced security features7.10 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive5.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Device sync5.60 Ratings9.10 Ratings
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Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
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User Ratings
Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
6.7
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.6
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Atlassian ConfluenceSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
Atlassian Confluence is a great tool for housing important information and resources across the organization, as it's very easy to search and find content across different teams and departments. The search function is mostly very accurate and the additional tagging with keywords also helps in the search experience. It's also good at tagging other team members, which triggers an automated email to them. Atlassian Confluence also has an extensive template library for all kinds of purposes like project management, etc., which saves time overall.
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Slack is really effective for smaller teams to use as an internal communication platform. I think that it's still suitable even for companies of up to 500-1000 employees, but for larger teams it's less appropriate (or would require more aggressive organization, e.g. keeping channels protected and on an invite-only basis). It's really helpful for small team-to-small team communication too (like in our case where we create external channels to support POCs/business partnerships). It's not great for direct collaboration (e.g. it's hard to iterate on a project spec or a document together, directly in Slack) but it's well suited for conversational coordination, like planning meetings or asking informational questions.
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Pros
  • Its integration with Jira for tracking development and the bugs and work linked to detailed Confluence documentation.
  • We use it extensively for writing Software Product Requirement Documents, feature specs, architecture designs, and retrospectives.
  • Our company follows compliance very seriously, so it helps in streamlining all documentation for ISO27001/27017 compliance and security-related information.
  • Its integration with various tools allows us to create flow diagrams which are often required to make client and customer understand the overall flow of interactions across various modules of the design architecture
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  • Huddles Run smoothly without any interferences.
  • Smooth individual calls quick and easy without any interruptions.
  • seamless notifications across multiple devices
  • The ability to easily tag a team member to urgently attend to a specific escalation.
  • Slack being user friendly and able to integrate easily with other platforms and apps.
  • How to easily open up different channels for different escalations and needs.
  • a safe direct messaging option.
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Cons
  • You need to watch over the structure of the content yourself. if not you can get information added anywhere so nobody can find it.
  • Top search field is hard to set to only search a section of pages.
  • You really need to think your structure through before starting. a guide when setting up at the start could help in that perspective.
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  • Undoubtedly Slack’s search function is powerful but sometimes it is difficult to find specific messages or files in very active channels with high message volumes. This needs an improvement.
  • I have experienced notification issues on my phone. I am not receiving notifications and have missed important updates as a result. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the problem still persists.
  • The Business Plus plan does not include support for data loss prevention or offline backup providers.
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Likelihood to Renew
I am confident that Atlassian can come with additional and innovative macros and functions to add value to Confluence. In 6 months, Atlassian transformed a good collaborative tools into a more comprehensive system that can help manage projects and processes, as well as "talk" with other Atlassian products like Jira. We are in fact learning more about Jira to evaluate a possible fit to complement our tool box.
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Slack sitll lacks in functionality. It's better than Skype for Business in many ways, but it is still another chat/message board app. It has limits in free version and paid versions. Also Windows app has errors that bother me, for example, I see number on one of my team's icons. It suggests that one of channels has unread messages; I check all channels - no unread messages, but that "1" still appears
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Usability
It's very intuitive for most things, making it easy to jump in and start creating pages and collaborating. This makes it ideal for onboarding new members to the team. There are a few areas that could be a little smoother, but overall it's a great experience.
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The product is fantastic, it keeps everyone connected and ensures detailed connection.
User interface of Slack software is very is very straightforward no need for training.
Availability of unlimited tutorials and demos.
Slack can be easily tailored to perform specific tasks.
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Reliability and Availability
I do not recall having outages or applications error so far, very reliable and available.
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Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
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Performance
We never worked against the tide while using Confluence. Everything loads considerably fast, even media components like videos (hosted on the platform or embed external videos from Youtube, for example). We are not using heavy media components a lot, but in the rare occasion we happen to use one we have no problems whatsoever.
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Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
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Support Rating
This rating is specifically for Atlassian's self-help documentation on their website. Often times, it is not robust enough to cover a complex usage of one of their features. Frequently, you can find an answer on the web, but not from Atlassian. Instead, it is usually at a power user group elsewhere on the net.
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Whenever I've had to troubleshoot an issue with Slack (which, to be honest, has not happened very often), their online documentation has been easy to locate, easy to understand, and effective in resolving my issue. Slack's ever-growing popularity also means that there's a large community of practice out there that can be depended upon.
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Implementation Rating
Overall, I am very satisfied with the initial implementation (and the subsequent upgrades and implementations made over the years).
This product has never rose to the level of being an major issue at an executive level. It has quietly and valiantly done it's job for our company!
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I was not part of the implementation team, but I recall being 100% happy and excited to learn and use a new tool. I'm still am to be honest.
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Alternatives Considered
Atlassian Confluence is a super handy hub for sharing ideas and keeping all your docs in one place. While Jira Service Management is more about handling tickets and support issues, Atlassian Confluence really makes teamwork easy. I feel Atlassian Confluence is user-friendly, integrates smoothly with other Atlassian tools, and helps everyone stay in sync. It's great for brainstorming, and project planning as well. Overall, it is a great way to boost collaboration and ensure all team members are on the same page.
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I like Slack better than ClickUp, because I would spend 30-60 minutes a day updating my ClickUp tasks. The way ClickUp was used was very micromanaging. I billed by the hour, so I was willing to put in the time to alert the boss what tasks I was working on.
One of my jobs used Hive - I mostly just ran it in the background in case anyone messaged me. I did not use it often.
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Scalability
This tool is very adaptable. So much so we use it for three completely separate projects, in three very different ways.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Merging instances has saved search time - We used to have several instances of Atlassian Confluence, which means they're separate and so can't communicate with each other. We've since merged into one instance and now with the help of the search feature can find the documents you're looking for in seconds rather than several minutes.
  • Cross linking product assets streamlines following paper trails - Being able to click on a BitBucket link from a Confluence page which then links to a JIRA ticket means you can follow paper trails really easily; seconds rather than several minutes.
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  • Slack has been incredibly helpful in connecting various tech apps and ecosystems, creating a more streamlined and responsive process.
  • Slack has made it significantly easier to communicate with our team members across multiple time zones, creating a more engaging environment for our all-remote team.
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ScreenShots