I was at a client site this week and they currently have Confluence and are moving to SharePoint 2007 and wanted to understand the differences between the two products. I have personally implemented both products in different environments and like both of them. Each as its strengths and weaknesses.
Here is a side by side comparison:
| Confluence | SharePoint 2007 | |
| Company | Made by Atlassian in Australia. In my experience, Atlassian has wicked customer service, a great support network, etc. | Made by Microsoft. SharePoint is one of Microsoft’s most successful products and Microsoft has made a major commitment to the product. Support in my experience is standard product support but doesn’t have the tender love and care you get from Atlassian staff. |
| Consulting Support | Limited, but in some markets quite good. Look for open-source experts as Atlassian has strong ties to the open source community. The software itself is Java based. | Huge consulting market from small shops to major consulting companies such as Accenture. One of the major pluses of the platform is the talent pool to help implement and configure it. |
| Price | Free if you are a non-profit company and you ask them nicely. Server license is available ranging from $800-12000 depending on number of users. | Pricing starts at about $5000 but for intranet cost is per named user at about $75-94 a user. 200 users would cost about $20,000 vs. about $4,000 for confluence. |
| Search | Good with confluence content and Microsoft documents. No federated search model included. Did you mean feature allows for synonym searches. | Enterprise level search engine with relevance ranking, synonyms, large scale searches (up to 500,000 documents easily and up to 50 million in theory), and federation model. Out of the box search can index other web sites, file servers, etc. and plugins through third party products can index other systems such as OpenText, Oracle, SAP, etc. |
| Look and feel customization | If you’re changing the logo or basic colours you’re fine. If you want to create a whole new interface, you will find it a challenge. Confluence uses SiteMesh templates which are a set of XML/HTML files that need to be customized directly. In my direct experience (and I have done lots of HTML editing), wading through the library of templates is not a trivial undertaking. | SharePoint supports customization at multiple levels through separation of layout, look and feel, and master pages. SharePoint Designer is provided as a GUI based tool for creating new themes as well. Template system is significantly simpler than Confluence in my experience to customize. |
| WIKI | Stronger than SharePoint in supporting WIKI mark-up. Rich text editor is not bad but not as strong as SharePoint. | WIKI template provided as a site template. WIKI mark-up is limited to embedding links in text, but rich text editor make WIKI mark-up less needed in most cases. |
| Security | LDAP based. Authorization model is 100% stored in Confluence, so groups need to managed within the product. Single Sign On is not provided. | SharePoint is Active Directory based by default. Single Sign On is provided with Windows using Internet Explorer – users already logged into Windows are automatically logged into SharePoint. Groups in SharePoint can map to Active Directory groups which makes management somewhat easier than Confluence. |
| Web Parts | Confluence supports a plugin model and there are some available. Product availability is small in comparison to the third party web part market for SharePoint. | Long list of web parts are supplied out of the box for SharePoint. Massive third party market for Web Parts including integration with major vendors such Oracle, SAP, OpenText, etc. Web Parts can be easily built in .NET if custom parts are required. |
| Document Management | Version control, linking and embeddable. However, there is no check-in/out, content types, workflow, etc. | Much stronger in SharePoint including features such as check-in/out, content types, meta-data, integration with Office 2007, workflow, authorization models, etc. that are typical of an enterprise document management system. |
| Integration with Office | No support. | Very strong integration as long as you’re on Office 2007. |
| Other Features | Blogs, discussion forums, etc. are provided. | Too many features to name, but SharePoint is an enterprise portal with dozens of additional features including: reporting integration, dashboards, dozens of web parts, workflow, forms server, etc. See this link for a complete list of features. |
Comparing the two products is a bit of an apples to orange comparison because the markets for each are quite different. Confluence is primarily a collaboration tool for small to medium size enterprises. SharePoint is an enterprise portal that includes collaboration but also dozens of other portal features.
In my direct experience, SharePoint is more user friendly for end-users – creating pages, changing content, managing documents seems to be more intuitive than in Confluence. If you’re a power WIKI user then its less of an issue but I handed it to an HR department and found they struggled with it. SharePoint requires a lot of pre-configuration to get it right but if its set up right I find the adoption tends to be easier.
If you really want a strong WIKI collaboration tool and don’t have much money then Confluence is a very good product. The support you will get from Atlassian is awesome and they are constantly improving it. However, if you’re looking at enterprise collaboration, document management, search, etc. then in my experience you may be looking at an upgrade to SharePoint in the long run as your user base becomes more sophisticated.
21 comments:
For Confluence customisation, we've just made our Theme Builder plugin free to everyone - allows extensive customisation of design and navigation without screwing up the base install or modifying the core software or it's templates. http://www.adaptavist.com/display/Builder/About
Office integration in Confluence - free Office Connector included as standard allows full integration with MS Office (eg. edit pages in Word, etc.). http://atlassian.com/office
Approx 350 plugins freely available - http://plugins.atlassian.com
SharePoint connector: http://atlassian.com/sharepoint
Security: Can easily be connected to AD, but recommend using Crowd for improved SSO (incl. NTLMv2): http://atlassian.com/crowd
There are free plugins for attachment checkout, gazillions of macros for different content types (eg. widget connector, open social, google maps, office documents, etc.) and a commercial plugin for adding comprehensive workflow support.
You can do reporting directly in the wiki - eg. SQL and Chart macros (both free), Frevo Live Forms plugin (commercial), etc.
Unlike SharePoint, Confluence quickly achieves a high adoption rate by NOT placing endless barriers to adoption in front of end users.
Very immature compression; Sharepoint is an enterprise portal application with all the enterprise features, while Confluence is meant for small companies, 5-100 employees. It is almost like comparing Symbian OS with Linux!!!
Re. Office Customization. The one in Confluence allows for editing of pages in Word. However, the integration of SharePoint and Office 2007 is much stronger and richer including editing of meta-data in Word, Excel Services, Check-in and out from Office, Shared Calendars in Outlook, Shared Folders in Outlook, Linking to Lists from Access, etc. The entire Office 2007 suite is designed for integration with SharePoint.
While an apples/oranges comparision, the author points this out.
I'd point out that Windows SharePoint services, which offers most of the things listed is available as a free download.
We have over 11,000 users with other Confluence installs much larger, and very successful RE:
"Sharepoint is an enterprise portal application with all the enterprise features, while Confluence is meant for small companies, 5-100 employees. "
Re. Scalability of Confluence, I never said 5-100 users is the limit.
Confluence is primarily a collaboration tool for small to medium size enterprises. SharePoint is an enterprise portal that includes collaboration but also dozens of other portal features.
Certainly, you can scale it up to size and if you need a pure wiki tool than that might work for you. Certainly from a cost perspective, its much cheaper at scale than SharePoint. However, in my experience we are seeing a lot of orgs who have used Confluence in limited amounts but who are now upgrading to SharePoint as they move to enterprise wide deployments.
What you very often see is Confluence starting within teams and departments who need to get stuff done - it finds quick adoption and traction from the ground up because it's extremely easy to install and manage.
SharePoint is often a top down decision.
I have yet to talk to someone who has used both products actively and prefers the current incarnation of SharePoint, but that's not to say it won't happen. Dozens of my contacts prefer Confluence.
I've also seen numerous requests to convert SharePoint content including both wikis and doc management to Confluence. These come from people using SharePoint for years till they happen upon Confluence.
Confluence has instances in excess of 500,000 users that I've worked on and know of and larger deployments in the pipe.
Just FYI - there are a few statements here that don't tell the whole story.
What? How can you call Sharepoint an enterprise product. If anything, Sharepoint is a intranet and MS Office document management solution for mid size companies.
That companies actually use Sharepoint for internet sites depends largely on the fact that some consultants got it to work that way :)
Wait until you see it in action at large companies and you will quickly revise your statement.
Sorry to be so harsh, but thats a fact.
Heavy Microsoft bias in this write up. The writer appears to have only a very limited exposure to Confluence.
Both products are "enterprise" class, but Confluence will scale more easily and at far less cost than SharePoint.
This is an apples-to-tomatoes comparison. Confluence centers on wiki functionality but also provides social networking features. SharePoint is a basic content services platform and centers on document management. Which is better depends on what you want to do.
I've worked in companies that use both MS SharePoint and Confluence for project team sites and managing project backlogs for Agile projects.
I have to say while Confluence has its advantages, give me SharePoint any day - it's ability to effectively manage lists (grouping, filtering, sorting, in-line-editing, auto-sum, document management) put it miles ahead of Confluence if you are looking to use it to manage your story backlog.
Confluence has a heap of plug-ins available, but they don't seem to have anything to support Agile backlog management (or simply the ability to group, filter, sort and auto-sum items within a table)
@Benn: Confluence's integration with JIRA (http://www.atlassian.com/greenhopper/) is probably what you were looking for. This will give you everything you will need to manage your backlog.
Disclaimer: I work in Product Marketing at Atlassian.
I just wanted to clarify a couple of points made by the author.
"Consulting Support Limited"
Atlassian has a worldwide network of partners. You can browse their services here.
"If you want to create a whole new interface, you will find it a challenge."
Confluence allows you to make simple changes to the look and feel by making it easy to change the default colour scheme and logos. You can also completely customise the look and feel as many of our customers have. We've outlined all of your options for customising the look and feel of Confluence here.
"LDAP based. Authorization model is 100% stored in Confluence, so groups need to managed within the product. Single Sign On is not provided."
Confluence can delegate user authentication to LDAP and use LDAP group memberships to set the user's Confluence access permissions. This also allows Active Directory (AD) integration.
Confluence uses Seraph for authentication which is a very simple, pluggable J2EE web application security framework developed by Atlassian and used in our products. Seraph allows you to write custom authenticators which will accept the login credentials of your existing single sign-on system. If you have not yet selected an SSO then you may like to investigate Atlassian Crowd, an identity management solution which enables single signon between all Atlassian applications and more.
If you would just like to enable NTLM authentication for Confluence and have no other systems that you would like to integrate then the open source NTLM authenticator will be fine.
"Confluence supports a plugin model and there are some available"
There are hundreds of plugins and marcos available which you can briwse in the Atlassian Plugin Exchange.
"there is no check-in/out, content types, workflow, etc."
There are a few plugins that provide workflow and review capabilities which we have outlined for you here.
"Office Integration: No support"
The Office Connector comes bundled with Confluence and is fully supported by Atlassian.
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Nice overview! I think with Wikis getting more and more popular such comparisons become increasingly valuable.
Two comments though;
1) You say that with Confluence Single Sign On (SSO) isn't possible. However I've got it set up with Evidian Enterprise SSO, works brilliantly.
Link for product info:
http://www.evidian.com/iam/enterprise-sso/features.htm
Maybe amend your table? =]
2) Usability isn't included in your list, yet I believe it's the foremost important criteria when selecting your wiki.
Both products are quite mature, I have my preference, but I'd recommend anyone to install a test instance for both and see which is the easiest to use.
Remember; the easier it's to use, the better your wiki will be adopted.
Chris
I appreciated your post. In Brazil this issue is becoming hot. Would you already gotten in depth in comparing the new generation of both products? Atlassian Confluence 3.2 versus Sharepoint 2010?
Thanks a lot. I´d be glad in also sharing with you what we´ve learned in our experience, although we have a 6-7 years lag regarding the Northern Hemisphere.
Sergio Storch - consultant in knowledge management and social media
Very Detailed Comparison between Sharepoint Vs Confluence Comparison.
Thanks
Pdf Comparison
Comparison Spreadsheet
Couldn´t open your PDF on Confluence vs Sharepoint2010. Can you send it with the correct link?
Confluence list of features is only 1/10 of the sharepoint list of features.So i will go for sharepoint.
Having used both Sharepoint and Confluence, I think it depends on what you want to do. Mainly we are using Confluence as our wiki, with JIRA as our defect tracking system so the integration is fantastic. All product information is on Confluence and easily accessible and can be edited and collaborated on by all stakeholders, which is huge for us. It is easy to configure and in general very easy to use and hence adoption by technical and non-technical people in our company was very quick. The community and support out there for Confluence is very good.
However, I would prefer Sharepoint for storing documents or attachments, especially if you want to check in and out documents but to be honest I have taken most of the content of our documents and put it on our confluence wiki. I think with collaboration tools, the days of documents checking i:)
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