20 Best Documentation Software of 2021
“Make good choices today so you don’t have regrets tomorrow.”
Documenting knowledge has become a prerequisite for businesses these days, given the fact that there’s an overload of information that needs to be stored and managed securely for optimum use.
Effective documentation is highly beneficial for both large and small businesses, regardless of the industry they operate in. It reduces tickets - both internal and external, increases workforce collaboration, enhances employee productivity, streamlines business processes, and much more. And to achieve this, all you need is the right tool that helps you fulfill your documentation requirements with ease.
To make it easier for you, we have put together a thoroughly researched list of the best documentation software.
Before we get to the list of the best tools, let’s take a look at what it is that makes a tool the best.
What Makes Online Documentation Software the Best?
The best online documentation software should come equipped with unmatched features. It integrates seamlessly with third-party tools, offers a wide array of customization, collaboration, user management options and it should be user-friendly. Regardless of your target audience - employees or customers, the best online documentation software helps you create a compelling document that is searchable and accessible anytime, anywhere. It offers reports for you to know what are people searching for that they aren’t finding answers to, popular articles, poorly rated articles, and more.
The table below consists of a summary of features while you can also take a look at details about each of them including their pricing right after the table.
Top 20 Documentation Software and Their Key Features
Documentation Software
Key Features
ProProfs Knowledge Base
- 25+ ready-to-use, professionally built templates
- Add images & videos to your documentation
- Improve collaboration - define roles & permissions
- Add your company branding & colors
- Get delightful reports & analytics
- 100+ settings & integrations
Bit.ai
- Real-time document collaboration
- Write and edit content with smart editor
- Built-in document tracking
DocuWare
- Import and index documents
- Track edits and save changes made to your document
- Automate workflows and assign tasks easily
Atlassian Confluence
- Create documents with customizable templates
- Set flexible permissions
- Create content collaboratively
StepShot
- Identify wrong content with OCR technology
- Customize documents without coding
- Export content in multiple formats
ClickHelp
- Publish content in various formats
- Save unlimited versions of your document
- Single sign-on and regular backups for document security
Process Street
- User-friendly interface to create a structured process document
- Single sign-on and regular backups for document security
- Assign workflows and monitor team activities
Paligo
- Set conditions to filter content
- Write and edit with XML based editor
- Compare different versions of a document easily
Docusaurus
- Create new versions of documents
- Translate content in over 70 languages
- Write content with Markdown editor
Heflo
- Effective version control system
- Export or import files easily to your document
- Write and edit with WYSIWYG editor
DocuShare
- Simple text editor to write and edit content
- Customizable templates to create content the way you want
- Save different versions of your document and keep track of the changes made
Documize
- Create a natural flow of your content for better readability
- Import word docs easily
- Reusable templates to help you create documents with ease
Nuclino
- Store previous versions of your document to track changes
- A powerful search mechanism
- Assign roles to users
Zoho Workdrive
- Upload bulk files instantly to your documentation
- Keep your folders private or public
- Assign roles to users and control access
Dokit
- User-friendly interface to create content easily
- Track revisions, check updates, and manage versions
- Allow team members to work collaboratively
Doccept
- Preformatted documents to build online documentation
- Automate workflow management
- Full-Text search system
Intellect Document Control
- Set user permissions easily
- Customize workflows and document controls
- Set workflow for quality check
Adoddle
- Document scanning and indexing
- Seamless workflow and approval system
- Archive documents easily
FormStack
- Create documentation with customized templates
- Set permissions for users and define their rights
- Allow multiple users to manage your content
Qualityze
- User-friendly interface to create documentation
- Save previous versions of your document and track changes
- Create workflows and track status of articles
Now, let’s take a look at the individual features, pricing, and why to use the above-mentioned online documentation software.
1.ProProfs Knowledge Base
ProProfs provides one of the simplest documentation software. It takes care of all your documentation needs right from creation and customization to editing and finally publishing it. You get insightful reports with stats such as popular articles, poorly rated articles, failed searches and more. Its powerful features are instrumental in building documentation of all kinds - technical, training, IT, and the like.
ProProfs is being used by some of the leading global brands, including Adobe, Acer, Nissan, HighQ, and many others. It addresses various concerns such as reducing external and internal tickets, increasing team collaboration, streamlining business processes, and much more.
It helps you at three major fronts:
- Streamlining knowledge management for businesses of all shapes
- Reducing tickets and bridging knowledge gaps among employees
- Ensuring smooth employee onboarding and support operations
Features:
-
Pick your favorite template and build any documentation you want in no time.
-
Provide employees or customers anytime, anywhere access to your help sites.
-
Choose from over 600 fonts, colors, and themes to design your document. Customize with your brand name and logo.
-
Cater to your global audience by creating documentation in multiple languages.
-
Get valuable insights into documentation performance. Know total searches made, failed searches, broken links, and much more.
-
Assign roles such as administrator, editor, contributor, and viewer to different users and groups. Take full control of who can do what in your documentation.
-
Add tooltips, lightboxes, and popups to provide a guided tour to readers. Explain concepts, include pricing disclaimers, provide additional information, and much more wherever necessary.
-
Set conditions to control content visibility. Hide or display specific content in your documentation based on the conditions.
-
Integrates seamlessly with third-party tools such as Zendesk, Salesforce Desk, Wufoo, and Google Analytics along with its sibling tools such as ProProfs Chat and Help Desk. 100+ settings to configure the tool the way you want.
Pricing starts at: $0
Why Use ProProfs Knowledge Base software?
Easy to Use
The software is carefully designed to ensure that people of all skill levels can use it. No hassles of software download or installation. No HTML skills required.
Customizable
You can customize the platform to match your branding. CSS helps you create documentation the way you want. Choose from over 600 fonts, themes, designs, and color schemes to customize your online document.
Robust Reporting
Insightful reports provide you a comprehensive view of how your documentation is performing. Get actionable insights into the number of searches performed, articles read, popular and poorly rated articles, and much more.
24/7 Support
Worry not, regardless of when and where you get stuck. Aside from the self-service support, you can also get in touch with us to clear your queries.
Trusted by Global Brands
Thanks to the software’s awesome performance, it has assisted businesses across the globe to address their concerns, both relating to customers and employees effectively.
2.Bit.ai
Bit offers a robust solution for document creation and collaboration. Packed with powerful features, Bit is the perfect tool to simplify your processes and work smartly.
It’s an all-in-one package that helps you with multiple things, including software documentation, content management, document tracking, document management, and much more.
Designed carefully to work with companies working across a spectrum of industries, Bit is the perfect choice for document creation and management.
Features:
Allow your teams to edit documents together, and add real-time comments, regardless of where they are located.
Get actionable insights into the time users spend on your doc, how far they scroll, when do they stop scrolling and more.
Choose from a wide variety of beautiful templates and themes that look great on multiple devices.
Style and format your content using the Smart Editor provided by Bit.
Pricing starts at:
$12/Up to 50 members/month
3.DocuWare
If you are looking for digital document management and automated workflows, DocuWare is the right solution.
Available as both cloud and on-premise solutions, it is perfectly designed to align with your business requirements.
The software currently caters to global customers across a wide spectrum of industries right from retail and healthcare to manufacturing and government.
Features:
Importing and indexing documents is a breeze with this feature. No user interaction with MS Office required.
Track edits and save changes made to your document. Get access to document histories anytime you want.
Keep track of your workflows from a centralized dashboard.
Automate workflows and set rules for document handling, assigning tasks, and much more.
Pricing -
Available on Request
4.Atlassian Confluence
Best known for its capability in building private as well as public technical documentation, Confluence is trusted by companies globally.
This software comes packed with powerful features that deliver an unmatched document-building experience, making it a great tool for documentation.
It allows you to conveniently write, organize, and share content, making it accessible to who so ever needs it.
Features:
Ready-made templates to help create documentation, the way you want.
Set granular permissions and control who can do what in the document.
Track changes and revert to previous versions when required
Allow users to add comments, mentions, likes, etc. for collaborative editing.
Pricing starts at:
$10/month
5.StepShot
StepShot is one of the best documentation software for creating process documentation. Simple, powerful, and comprehensive, this software provides the perfect solution to build and share content easily. It’s best for enterprise consultants, IT operations teams, CEOs of organizations, and human resources.
Features:
Export content in multiple formats such as PDF, HTML, PowerPoint, WordPress, and more.
Its PDF template editor allows you to customize your document to match your brand. Coding not required at your end.
The software’s OCR technology helps you spot the wrong content and allows you to add it wherever it fits best.
Pricing -
Available on Request
6.ClickHelp
ClickHelp is one of the best tools for software documentation. It houses unmatched features that help you build the finest documentation for your software. Striving to help firms reduce time while creating documents and increase conversion rates through improved user experience, ClickHelp is the best choice, especially for software vendors.
Features:
You get to save unlimited versions of your document and track the previous changes made by users.
Publish your document in multiple formats such as PDF, web page, and more.
Analyze how your document is performing with the help of useful insights into content quality, user behavior, and much more.
Single sign-on, regular backups, cloud or on-premise hosting for your document, and much more to ensure that your documentation is secure.
Pricing starts at:
$43/user/month.
7.Process Street
Process street is majorly used to build processes or procedures documentation. Its intuitive interface makes it super easy to create documentation in no time.
The software allows you to keep track of recurring workflows, enhance collaboration, and monitor activities from a single dashboard.
A great tool for documentation, Process Street, can be used for accomplishing multiple goals such as employee onboarding, candidate screening, IT help desk support, and much more.
Features:
The software’s user-friendly interface allows you to create a structured process document in a hassle-free way. Its simple keyboard shortcuts and drag & drop system make it extremely easy to use this software.
Assign workflows to your team, monitor the activities of team members and get notified on completion of tasks.
Include images, videos as well as audio to your document to make it engaging for readers.
This feature helps you manage the permissions of different users easily.
Pricing -
Available on request.
8.Paligo
Paligo is an effective technical documentation software comprising stellar features and powerful functionality. The software is carefully designed to help you reuse content and create an excellent document. Paligo strives to transform technical documentation by empowering teams to create rich content by working collaboratively.
Features:
Filter content by taking into account factors like product, audience, market, and more.
The XML based editor offered by Paligo works great for structured authoring.
Manage your translations smartly and get rid of shuffling through files for every language.
Compare different versions or roll back to a previous version of your document easily.
Pricing starts at:
$119/author/month.
9.Docusaurus
Docusaurus is counted among the most popular open-source documentation software. It’s crafted to provide you with the best-in-class experience. With global clients from various industries in its kitty, Docusaurus is slowly positioning itself as the best project documentation software.
Features:
Translate your documentation in over 70 languages and cater to a wider audience.
Write and edit content easily with Markdown.
Make search effortless for your audience.
Create new versions, rename existing document versions, and much more with this feature.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
10.Heflo
Heflo is intuitive, cloud-based, simple to use, and is a good choice for your business process documentation requirements. The software provides a complete documentation solution allowing you to build professional, comprehensive, and beautiful online documents.
Features:
Store previous versions of your document to track changes
Export or import files easily to your document
Ready-to-use collection of diagrams that you can refer to create your own.
The WYSIWYG editor allows you to write and customize content the way you want.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
11. DocuShare
DocuShare by Xerox is a cloud-based solution for all your documentation needs. It is simple, intuitive, and powerful, all at the same time. Packed with powerful features, this software helps you with the digitization and sharing of documents, capturing and managing knowledge, and much more.
Features:
Choose from a wide range of beautiful templates to build your documentation.
Write and edit content easily with its simple text editor.
Save different versions of your document and keep track of the changes made.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
12. Documize
A cutting-edge documentation software solution, Documize is perfect for both technical as well as non-technical people. The software is rich in features and helps you create an online central knowledge repository with ease. Well-suited for both internal and external documentation, Documize can be deployed both in the cloud or on-premise.
Features:
Import word docs right into your document.
Create a natural flow of your content for better readability.
Reusable templates to help you get started.
Pricing starts at:
$75/per 25 users/month.
13. Nuclino
Nuclino is a robust project documentation software that is of significant help in onboarding new employees, decreasing duplication of work, and enhancing productivity. Although Nuclino’s key focus is on internal documentation, yet, it still has capabilities that allow sharing documentation with stakeholders existing outside your organization.
Features:
Nuclino’s search mechanism is fast and accurate. Give a seamless search experience to readers, wherein they can find relevant information quickly.
Store previous versions of your document to track changes.
Assign roles and give rights to gain full control over what users can and cannot do in your documentation.
Pricing -
Available on request
14. Zoho Workdrive
If team collaboration is what you aim for, your search ends here. Zoho Workdrive is regarded as one of the best as far as managing files for teams is concerned. It helps you create a centralized and secure platform where teams can work together in collaboration. Zoho Workdrive is the right choice for bringing teams and fostering collaboration in the workplace.
Features:
Assign different roles to team members and control access.
Keep your folders private or public, depending on your requirements.
Save drafts and do a quality check before publishing content.
Upload bulk files instantly to your documentation.
Pricing starts at:
Rs120/per 3 users/month.
15. Dokit
Dokit offers a holistic solution to all your documentation requirements. It covers everything right from creating and organizing to sharing and collaborating. Its suitable both from employees as well as customers’ standpoint. The undisputed performance it delivers makes Dokit one of the best documentation software. It’s available both as SaaS and on-server.
Features:
Its user-friendly interface is designed to help you create content, import docs, and do much more.
Dokit enables you to keep full control over your documentation. Track revisions, check updates, manage versions, and more.
Infuse collaboration in teams. Allow team members to ask questions, get feedback, and work collaboratively. Get notifications whenever there is a change.
Pricing starts at:
€60/user/month.
16. Doccept
Doccept is a versatile documentation software offered by Kensium. The software was created after doing thorough research on the significant challenges organizations face and how documentation can conquer them. Doccept is a one-of-its-kind software that focuses on the entire document lifecycle management. Catering to a wide spectrum of industries, Doccept has brought a remarkable difference in the way its clients function.
Features:
Keep track of your documentation, set rules, and monitor the progress of articles until they are approved for publishing.
Use preformatted documents to build online documentation. Avoid mistakes and save time that would have been lost if you create documents from scratch.
Keep a tab on what’s going on with your documentation. Check the latest updates, changes, or any other activity made on a single, centralized dashboard.
Search by keyword, folder, date range, and more. Get information instantly at your fingertips.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
17.Intellect Document Control
Intellect Document Control is best suited for organizing, customizing, and managing documentation effectively. It’s feature-rich, easy to use, and helps you customize your documentation to meet your requirements. Flexible and configurable, Intellect Document Control software is the go-to option to streamline your documentation.
Features:
Customize workflows and document controls to match your requirements.
Set user permissions on the basis of documents, tasks, fields, and more. Keep track of who can access your documentation.
Set workflows to ensure quality checks before articles get approved.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
18. Adoddle
Adoddle by Asite is all about cloud-based collaboration. This cutting-edge tool helps in document management and control by enabling you to store data at a centralized platform securely. Everyone involved in projects can easily collaborate and get work done, which results in a sharp decrease in errors. It also saves a significant amount of time and cost. The vast capabilities of this software make it the right choice for document creation and management.
Features:
Save previous versions of your document, compare versions, and make sure that error-free documents are in use.
Streamline and manage documents effectively.
Create customized workflows and track progress.
Maintain document archives and keep track of the audit trail.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
19. FormStack
FormStack is a smart documentation tool that comprises ground-breaking features for document generation and management. It provides you a holistic solution, taking care of all your documentation requirements right from the point of creation and storing to management and publishing. Whichever industry you operate in, FormStack helps you generate impressive documents with ease.
Features:
Use pre-built templates to get started with your documentation.
Choose from a variety of themes, add your logo and customize content to match your brand.
Add multiple users and help them manage your content
Set permissions for users and define their rights.
Pricing starts at:
$19/user/month.
20. Qualityze
Designed for businesses of all sizes, Qualityze document management software helps you build documentation of various kinds, including instruction manuals, process narratives, and much more. It’s a cloud-based, configurable, and cost-effective solution that caters to a wide spectrum of industries across the globe. Whether you are a small and medium enterprise or a well-established firm, Qualityze has what it takes for effective document management.
Features:
Save previous versions and track changes made to the content.
Set the number of days for which a content piece should be displayed. Post that, it will be counted as obsolete and will be stored as an archive.
Using the software and creating documentation is a cakewalk with its user-friendly interface.
Create workflows and track the status of content easily.
Pricing -
Available on Request.
Ready to Adopt the Best Documentation Software?
- That was a quick list of the best documentation software out there and it for sure makes it easy for you to pick a tool that aligns well with your requirements.
- Since all these tools belong to the documentation family, they ought to have some similar features. What you need to do is - chalk out your requirements, compare the tools you like and then shortlist a few.
- You can also take trials of the software you shortlist, starting with the first one on the list, and based on your experience, take the shot.
- We're here to help if you need us. Give us a call at our toll-free contact (855) 776-7763, and one of our human support team will help you make a wise choice.
