Published on: 18 Nov , 2024
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The customer education landscape has been evolving rapidly over the past few years and companies are realizing something: Customers don’t want to wait for replies. They want to get the answers to their queries by themselves. The numbers tell the story - Over 67% of customers prefer self-service to talking to a customer service representative.
What’s the solution? A robust knowledge base. But here's the catch - it's not just about dumping information online. Knowledge bases are dynamic platforms that transform knowledge into searchable, scalable resources. They're becoming the backbone for efficient customer enablement.
A Knowledge Base Software is a centralized system where you can create, store, and manage documentation like user guides, FAQs, troubleshooting articles, and how-to guides. Think of it as a super-smart digital library that makes it easy for people to find the exact information they need, right when they need it.
While simple websites can host documentation, dedicated knowledge base software offers essential features like powerful search functionality, content organization tools, analytics to track usage, and customization options to match your brand - all designed to make self-service support more effective.
Here are five knowledge base software providers in the market for you to evaluate:
Trainn is a no-code platform that enables you to create a comprehensive knowledge base from the ground up without needing a design and development team. Trainn provides a built-in content authoring tool and the ability to edit after publishing them, making it the most efficient and scalable knowledge base software option.
Key Features:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Multi-format content support | Limited collaboration features |
5-minute video creation process with automated zooms, spotlights, and summaries | Absence of support for eCommerce |
Login-based personalization for private knowledge base | Limited integrations |
SEO-optimized URLs | |
Category and learner-level analytics |
Pricing Plans | Free Trial |
---|---|
Starter - $49 (only content creation suite) | Trainn offers a 14-day free trial with all features unlocked—no credit card required. Click here to try it out now! |
Plus - $149 (only content creation suite) | |
Business - $249 (Content creation + Knowledge base + LMS) | |
Enterprise - Contact Us |
Document360 is a knowledge base software that lets you create, and publish text-rich documents - be it software documentation, API docs, SOPs, or user manuals. They also provide AI tools to automate the document creation process.
Key Features:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
High categorization abilities | The content type you can create within Document360 is limited |
Ability to create API docs | No content personalization capability |
Monthly plans are capped with the $249 plan. |
Pricing Plans | Free Plan Features |
---|---|
Free | Public + private knowledge base 250 articles 5 editors |
Professional - $249/month | |
Business - $399/month (only annual plan) | |
Enterprise - Contact Sales |
Trainn vs Document360: A Comparison
Helpjuice provides users with deep customization features to create a knowledge base that best fits their brand’s design. They also provide real-time collaboration and article planners to help put out the best articles on time.
Key Features:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
AI-powered search assistant | Lack of a “suggestion mode” for collaboration |
Version history | Table editor can be clunky |
Dozens of themes for customization | Article preview sometimes does not fully reflect your editor |
Pricing Plans | Free Trial |
---|---|
Single Plan - $120/month (4 users) | 14-day free trial with an extension of up to 7 more days with a credit card. |
Helpjuice AI - $99/month |
Archbee is a developer-friendly tool that focuses on a “content block” editor, team collaboration, and reviews. It helps you create code-heavy docs using integrations with tech apps.
Key Features:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Real-time team collaboration | lags in content and learner analytics |
AI writing assistant | Does not provide multi-format content creation |
Integrations with code-related apps | No persona-based grouping |
Pricing Plans | Free Trial |
---|---|
Growing - $60/month | Free trial is available with all features unlocked—no credit card required. |
Scaling - $250/month | |
Enterprise - Contact sales |
Trainn vs Archbee: A Comparison
While Proprofs is a dedicated Knowledge Base tool, you can also connect it with their other tools like Proprofs Live Chat, Help Desk, and Survey, given that you own them as well.
Key Features:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Support for multi-format content | Content creation is limited to text |
Article expiration | Limited third-party integrations |
In-house integrations to expand support suite | Custom domain and white labeling is an add-on |
Pricing Plans | Free Plan Features |
---|---|
Free | 25 pages 1 author |
Business - $79/month | |
Enterprise - Contact sales |
First things first - what kind of content will you actually need? Will basic product documentation cut it, or do you need to go all out with video tutorials and technical docs?
Choosing the content types for your knowledge base comes down to your product’s learning curve complexity and its requirement for technical knowledge like coding.
The less complex and technical your product is, the less intricate your content needs to be. The more complex and technical your product is, the more intricate your content needs to be. The table below can help you understand this better. Here’s an image to help you understand this better:
Let's be real, creating content for your knowledge base is a time-consuming task, especially if you’re starting from scratch. So, before you commit to a platform, think about your team's bandwidth and skills.
The last thing you want is to plan for your team to create 10 video tutorials daily when they are already stretched thin. This is where your choice of platform really matters. Look for one that makes content creation a breeze, not a burden.
Something people often overlook is the knowledge base’s capability to sustain over a long period. This means finding a knowledge base that will support a growing audience, and provide rich insights for you to make data-led decisions.
From a content creation perspective, the knowledge base should also make it easy for your team to organize your content better, and make edits to existing content without having to spend time creating new ones.
Trainn can help you with: