Confluence Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons

Should you use Confluence in 2026? If your team already runs on Jira and needs structured, permission-controlled documentation—think product requirements, engineering runbooks, or compliance-driven knowledge bases—Confluence remains one of the strongest options. It excels at deep Atlassian integration, enterprise-grade security, and governance controls.

However, if you’re a startup prioritizing speed, a modern editing experience, or lightweight onboarding, you’ll likely find Confluence’s learning curve and legacy UX frustrating. Alternatives like Notion, Slite, or Nuclino may serve you better. This Confluence review breaks down exactly where Atlassian’s wiki shines, where it falls short, and how to decide.

Quick Verdict:
Confluence is a mature, enterprise-capable documentation platform best suited for mid-market and enterprise teams deeply embedded in the Atlassian ecosystem.

It’s not the fastest or most modern editor, but it offers unmatched Jira integration, strong permissions, and compliance controls. If Jira isn’t your backbone or you need rapid, lightweight docs, look elsewhere.

If you only read one section: Jump to the Scoring Rubric for a quick, criteria-based evaluation, or the Best Confluence Alternatives table if you’re actively comparing options.

What Is Confluence?

Core Purpose and Use Cases

Confluence is Atlassian’s team workspace for creating, organizing, and sharing documentation. Think of it as a structured wiki: teams use it for product requirements, engineering runbooks, HR policies, meeting notes, and knowledge bases.

Unlike lightweight tools (Google Docs, Notion), Confluence emphasizes hierarchy (spaces, pages, child pages), granular permissions, and deep integration with Atlassian’s suite—especially Jira.

Common use cases:

• Product requirements documents (PRDs) linked to Jira epics
• Engineering incident postmortems and runbooks
• Sales enablement and onboarding knowledge bases
• IT policies and compliance documentation
• Company-wide wikis and intranets

Where Confluence Fits in the Atlassian Ecosystem

Confluence is tightly coupled with Jira. You can embed Jira issues, roadmaps, and filters directly into Confluence pages. For teams managing software delivery, this integration is a major differentiator.

Other Atlassian products—Trello, Bitbucket, Statuspage—also integrate, though not as deeply. The Atlassian Marketplace extends Confluence with hundreds of apps for diagramming, macros, and workflow automation.

Who Should Use Confluence in 2026?

Best Fit: Team Profiles and Company Sizes

• Mid-market and enterprise teams (50–5,000+ employees): Especially those with compliance, audit, or security requirements.
• Engineering and product teams using Jira: The Jira-Confluence integration is best-in-class.
• Organizations needing granular permissions: Space-level and page-level controls, SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning.
• Regulated industries: SOC 2, GDPR, and (for Data Center) on-premises or single-tenant requirements.

Not Ideal For

• Startups or small teams (<20): The learning curve and admin overhead often aren’t worth it. Notion or Slite onboard faster.
• Teams wanting a modern, Notion-like editor: Confluence’s editor has improved but still feels dated compared to block-based alternatives.
• Organizations not using Jira: Without the integration, Confluence loses much of its unique value.
• Teams with minimal governance needs: If you just need a shared doc space, simpler tools suffice.

Read more: Best Knowledge Base Software (2026): Reviews & Pricing

Confluence Review: Key Features Breakdown

Documentation and Page Hierarchy

Confluence organizes content into spaces (project, team, or topic containers) and pages (individual documents). Pages can have unlimited child pages, enabling deep hierarchy.

Strengths:

• Clear structure for large documentation sets
• Easy to set permissions at the space or page level
• Good for navigating complex knowledge bases

Weaknesses:

• Deep hierarchies can become unwieldy
• Finding “where does this doc belong?” is a common user complaint

Real-Time Collaboration and Editing

Confluence supports simultaneous editing. Multiple users can work on the same page, with presence indicators and real-time updates.

Strengths:

• Functional co-editing for team docs
• Inline comments and @mentions

Weaknesses:

• Editor UX is not as smooth as Notion or Google Docs
• Some users report occasional sync lag in large pages

Templates and Blueprints

Confluence offers dozens of built-in templates (meeting notes, product requirements, retrospectives, etc.) and supports custom templates.

Strengths:

• Standardizes documentation across teams
• Easy to enforce structure for recurring docs (e.g., incident postmortems)

Atlassian Intelligence (AI Features)

Atlassian has introduced AI-powered features under the “Atlassian Intelligence” brand. As of early 2026, this includes:

• AI-generated summaries for long pages
• Smart search and recommendations
• AI-assisted editing (drafting, rephrasing)

Note: AI features are evolving rapidly. Verify current capabilities and availability on Atlassian’s official site, as feature sets may differ between Cloud and Data Center.

Search and Content Discovery

Confluence’s search covers all spaces and pages, with filters for labels, authors, and dates. Search quality is generally good for structured content but can struggle with large, unorganized instances.

Confluence Integrations: Atlassian Ecosystem and Beyond

Jira Integration (Deep Dive)

This is Confluence’s killer feature for product and engineering teams. You can:

• Embed Jira issues, filters, and roadmaps directly into pages
• Link PRDs to epics, auto-updating as status changes
• Use Jira macros for sprint planning docs, release notes, and more

Example workflow:
A PM drafts a product requirements doc in Confluence, embeds the Jira epic and linked stories, and shares it with stakeholders. As engineers update issue status, the Confluence page reflects progress in real time.

Trello and Bitbucket

Trello boards and Bitbucket repos can be embedded or linked, though integration depth is shallower than Jira. Useful for teams using Trello for lightweight project management or Bitbucket for code hosting.

Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Slack

• Microsoft Teams/Slack: Notifications, page previews, and search integrations are available via official apps.
• Google Workspace: Limited native integration; mostly file embedding and SSO.
• Microsoft 365: Similar—embed OneDrive files, use SSO, but not as seamless as SharePoint’s native experience.

SSO, SAML, and Identity Providers

Confluence Cloud supports SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and integration with major identity providers (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, etc.). Data Center supports on-premises identity management.

Marketplace Apps: What’s Worth It

The Atlassian Marketplace offers hundreds of apps for diagramming (draw.io, Gliffy), workflow automation (ScriptRunner), and advanced macros. Some are essential for power users; others add cost and complexity.

Tip: Audit your app usage annually. Many teams accumulate apps they rarely use, increasing cost and security surface.

Confluence Pricing 2026 (Cloud): Plans & Cost Table (300 Users)

Source: Atlassian Confluence pricing page. Prices/features can change by region and billing—verify before purchase.

Plan pricing (Monthly vs Annual)

Annual billing: Atlassian notes “save up to 17%” with annual billing (maximum savings).

Pricing reference: Atlassian Confluence Pricing.

What each plan includes

Uptime SLA reference (Premium 99.9%, Enterprise 99.95%): Atlassian Cloud SLA documentation.

Key points:

• Free tier is only viable for very small teams or pilots.
• Standard vs. Premium: Premium adds advanced permissions, analytics, and better support.
• Data Center is for organizations requiring on-premises or single-tenant deployment—often for compliance or data residency.

Confluence Cloud vs Data Center: Decision Table

Who should choose which?

• Cloud: Default for most teams. Lower admin burden, faster updates, better for remote/distributed teams.
• Data Center: Choose if you have strict data residency, regulatory, or air-gapped requirements—or prefer full control over upgrades and customizations.

Ease of Use and Onboarding

Editor Experience

Confluence’s editor has improved significantly since 2020, but it still lags behind Notion or Coda in terms of speed and intuitiveness. The toolbar-heavy interface can feel cluttered, and some users find drag-and-drop less smooth than block-based editors.

What works:

• Rich formatting, tables, macros
• Inline comments and @mentions
• Templates reduce blank-page friction

What doesn’t:

• Not as keyboard-friendly as Notion
• Large pages can feel sluggish
• Some legacy macros have quirky UX

Learning Curve and Adoption

Confluence requires intentional onboarding. Teams that invest in training, templates, and governance see higher adoption. Teams that “just spin it up” often end up with sprawling, disorganized content.

Security, Compliance, and Admin Controls

Certifications

Confluence Cloud holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance, and supports HIPAA (with Business Associate Agreement). Data Center allows for custom compliance configurations.

Verification note: Always check Atlassian’s Trust Center for the latest certifications, especially for industry-specific requirements.

Permissions, Spaces, and Governance

• Space permissions: Control who can view, edit, or administer each space.
• Page restrictions: Lock down individual pages or page trees.
• Groups and roles: Map to identity provider groups for scalable management.

Common challenge: Permissions sprawl. Over time, ad-hoc restrictions accumulate, making it hard to audit who can see what. Regular reviews are essential.

Audit Logs and Data Residency

Premium and Enterprise tiers include audit logs for compliance. Data residency options are available for Cloud (select regions); Data Center gives full control.

Performance and Reliability

Confluence Cloud’s uptime has been strong (Atlassian publishes status at status.atlassian.com). Large instances (10,000+ pages, complex macros) may experience slower search or page loads. Data Center performance depends on your infrastructure.

Support and Documentation Quality

• Free/Standard: Community forums, self-service docs.
• Premium/Enterprise: 24/7 support, faster SLAs, dedicated success managers.

Atlassian’s documentation is comprehensive but can be hard to navigate. The community is active, but enterprise-grade support requires higher tiers.

Confluence Scoring Rubric: Consultant’s Evaluation

Overall: 7.6/10

Methodology:
Scores reflect implementation experience across mid-market and enterprise clients, weighing real-world usability, admin overhead, and total cost of ownership. Scores are not based on feature counts alone but on practical value delivered in production environments.

Confluence Pros and Cons

Pros

• Deep, bidirectional Jira integration
• Granular permissions and compliance controls
• Extensible via Marketplace apps
• Strong for structured, hierarchical documentation
• Robust security certifications

Cons

• Editor UX lags behind Notion, Coda, and Slite
• Learning curve and onboarding overhead
• Permissions sprawl is a real risk
• Content rot: stale docs accumulate without governance
• Pricing can escalate at scale

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Permissions Sprawl

Problem: Ad-hoc page and space restrictions pile up, making it impossible to audit access.

Solution: Map permissions to identity provider groups. Review quarterly. Avoid page-level restrictions unless absolutely necessary.

Content Rot and Stale Documentation

Problem: Outdated docs persist, eroding trust in the knowledge base.

Solution: Assign content owners. Automate “stale content” reminders (Marketplace apps or manual audits). Archive ruthlessly.

Over-Customization

Problem: App bloat and complex macro chains become unmaintainable.

Solution: Start with core features. Add apps only when there’s a clear, ongoing need. Review annually.

Migration Notes: Moving to Confluence

From Notion

• Export Notion pages as Markdown or HTML.
• Confluence’s importer handles basic formatting but may require manual cleanup for complex pages.
• Plan for hierarchy mapping: Notion’s flexible structure doesn’t always fit Confluence’s space/page model.

From SharePoint

• Atlassian offers migration tools for SharePoint to Confluence.
• Expect a learning curve for users accustomed to SharePoint’s UX.
• Permissions may need remapping; plan for IT involvement.

From Google Docs

• Export as .docx or copy/paste into Confluence.
• Formatting fidelity varies; tables and embedded content may need manual adjustment.
• Consider which docs are worth migrating vs. archiving.

Implementation Checklist

Use this checklist for a structured Confluence rollout:

1. Define objectives: What problem are you solving? (Knowledge base, project docs, compliance, etc.)
2. Set up SSO/SAML: Integrate with your identity provider from day one.
3. Design space structure: Map to teams, projects, or functions. Avoid deep nesting.
4. Configure permissions: Use groups, not individuals. Document your model.
5. Create templates: Standardize PRDs, runbooks, meeting notes, etc.
6. Integrate with Jira: Set up macros, link types, and embed filters.
7. Pilot with a single team: Gather feedback before org-wide rollout.
8. Train users: Invest in onboarding sessions and quick-start guides.
9. Establish governance: Content owners, review cycles, archive policies.
10. Audit and iterate: Review permissions, app usage, and content health quarterly.

Best Confluence Alternatives (2026)

For Modern Knowledge Base: Notion, Slite, Slab

• Notion: Best for teams wanting a flexible, block-based editor and all-in-one workspace. Beats Confluence on UX; loses on Jira integration and enterprise controls.
• Slite: Clean, simple, fast. Best for small-to-mid teams prioritizing ease of use. Lacks deep integrations.
• Slab: Strong search, modern editor, good for scaling knowledge bases. Less extensible than Confluence.

For Enterprise Intranet: SharePoint, Guru

• SharePoint: Best for Microsoft-centric organizations. Deep M365 integration; steeper learning curve, more admin overhead.
• Guru: Best for verified, in-workflow knowledge (support, sales enablement). Not a full wiki replacement.

For Lightweight Wiki: Nuclino, Tettra

• Nuclino: Fast, visual, minimal. Best for small teams or quick-start wikis. Limited at scale.
• Tettra: Focused on internal knowledge for ops/support. Slack-native. Not for deep documentation.

For Docs + PM Hybrid: Coda, Document360

• Coda: Docs + spreadsheets + automation. Best for teams wanting a hybrid workspace. Steeper learning curve.
• Document360: Best for external/internal knowledge bases with publishing workflows.

Comparison Table: Confluence vs Top 5 Alternatives

Read more: Notion vs Confluence: Which Knowledge Management Tool Is Better?

Consultant’s Take: Should You Use Confluence in 2026?

If you’re already in the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, Bitbucket, Statuspage), Confluence is the default choice. No other tool matches its integration depth, and switching costs are high if your workflows rely on embedded Jira issues and macros.

If you’re not using Jira, the calculus changes. Confluence’s UX is not best-in-class, and the admin overhead is only justified if you need enterprise permissions, compliance, or extensibility. For most non-Jira teams, Notion, Slite, or Slab will onboard faster and feel more modern.

If you’re mid-market or enterprise, don’t underestimate governance. The biggest Confluence failures I’ve seen aren’t about features—they’re about content rot, permissions sprawl, and lack of ownership. Budget for training, governance, and ongoing audits.

FAQs – Confluence Review 2026

1) Is Confluence worth it in 2026?

Yes—if you need a governed “source of truth” tied to work. Confluence is worth it in 2026 when your teams (especially Product/Engineering) need structured documentation (PRDs, runbooks, policies) that stays connected to Jira and can scale with permissions and admin controls. It’s not worth it if you want a lightweight doc tool with minimal process, because adoption and search quality depend heavily on information architecture and ongoing governance.

2) How much does Confluence cost in 2026 (Cloud)?

On Atlassian’s pricing page, Confluence Cloud lists Standard at $5.42/user/month and Premium at $10.44/user/month, with Free for up to 10 users and Enterprise billed annually (contact sales). Pricing can vary by billing cycle and user tiering, so confirm your exact seat count and region in Atlassian’s calculator before finalizing.

3) Confluence Cloud vs Data Center: which should you choose?

Choose Cloud if you want faster feature delivery, less infrastructure burden, and a modern roadmap; choose Data Center if you have hard constraints requiring self-managed deployment and you’re prepared to own upgrades, performance, and operational overhead. Atlassian provides a feature comparison and migration guidance that highlights differences across deployments.

4) Does Confluence include AI features (Rovo), and what plans get it?

Atlassian states Rovo (search, chat, agents, and studio apps) is available to customers on Standard, Premium, or Enterprise Cloud plans for Confluence (and other Atlassian products), while Data Center users generally need to move to eligible Cloud plans to fully access Rovo’s AI features. Availability may roll out gradually depending on plan/site eligibility, so verify your instance status in Atlassian support guidance.

5) What are the biggest Confluence drawbacks—and how do you fix them?

The biggest real-world drawbacks are content sprawl, stale pages (“wiki graveyard”), and permission complexity, which can make search and trust degrade over time. The fix is governance, not more features: assign space owners, standardize templates, enforce naming conventions, and implement a review/archive cadence—especially after migrations. Atlassian’s end-user differences/migration notes help set expectations when moving between Data Center and Cloud.

6) Is Confluence secure enough for enterprise use?

Confluence can meet enterprise security expectations when configured correctly (SSO, least privilege, auditability), and Atlassian’s Trust Center provides up-to-date documentation on compliance resources (e.g., SOC 2) and related security/compliance materials. For identity and access governance, align your approach to established federation practices (SSO/SAML concepts) and verify the exact certifications and scope in Atlassian’s Trust Center resources.

Bottom Line: Three Paths Forward

1. Choose Confluence if…

• Your team runs on Jira and needs tight integration.
• You require enterprise-grade permissions, compliance, or audit controls.
• You’re mid-market or enterprise with resources for training and governance.

2. Choose an alternative if…

• You’re a startup or small team prioritizing speed and simplicity.
• You want a modern, block-based editor (Notion, Coda).
• You’re not using Jira and don’t need deep integrations.
• You need verified, in-workflow knowledge for support/sales (Guru).

3. Shortlist + Pilot Plan (2-Week Evaluation)

1. Week 1:
   • Spin up free trials of Confluence, Notion, and one alternative (Slite, Slab, or Guru).
   • Migrate 5–10 representative docs to each.
   • Test Jira integration (if applicable), permissions, and search.
   • Gather feedback from 3–5 pilot users on UX and adoption.
2. Week 2:
   • Evaluate admin experience: SSO setup, permissions, audit logs.
   • Compare pricing at your team size.
   • Score each tool against your must-have criteria.
   • Make a recommendation to stakeholders based on real usage, not feature lists.

Suggested External Citations

Atlassian Confluence Pricing and Plans Page
Cite for current pricing, plan names, and feature breakdowns (Free, Standard, Premium, Enterprise).
https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing

G2: Confluence Reviews (or Gartner Peer Insights as an alternative)
Cite for aggregated user ratings, common pros/cons, and sentiment trends.
https://www.g2.com/products/confluence/reviews

Atlassian Trust Center / Security & Compliance Documentation
Cite for certifications (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001), data residency, and compliance details.
https://www.atlassian.com/trust
(Compliance & certifications details are typically under Trust Center sections like Compliance, Security, and Privacy.)

This review reflects consultant experience and publicly available information as of January 2026. For the latest pricing, AI features, and certifications, always verify directly with Atlassian or official sources.

About the Author

Macedona

I’m Macedona, an independent reviewer covering SaaS platforms, CRM systems, and AI tools. My work focuses on hands-on testing, structured feature analysis, pricing evaluation, and real-world business use cases.

All reviews are created using transparent comparison criteria and are updated regularly to reflect changes in features, pricing, and performance.