Free Knowledge Base Softwares & Tools: 5 Top Picks for Efficient Information Management

A comprehensive source of information is invaluable for your team, as  52% of customers expect staff to be knowledgeable, and 75% demand fast response times. Even if your team doesn’t handle client conversations, an internal knowledge base makes their work more efficient and reduces data silos, improving productiveness.

Yet, with so many digital resources for building knowledge bases available, how do you pick the best one? Your knowledge base software should be easy to create and navigate and have a customizable, modern design.

Let’s take a look at our top five picks for free knowledge base software with the best set of features for your company’s needs.

Top 5 free knowledge base software

Bettermode

Bettermode is a no-code builder for static and dynamic web apps, including knowledge bases. It works just like WordPress — it has blocks representing different features you can move up and down with your cursor to rearrange their order. The changes you make automatically appear on the right in your page preview. 

Don’t worry if you don’t know where to start – there is a whole pre-made knowledge base platform template. Feel free to play around with it and tailor it to whatever structure feels most logical and transparent for you, with unlimited, intuitive customizability. 

Bonus tip: Bettermode includes a native CMS, so you don’t have to store your self-service content in third-party apps. You can work on your knowledge articles in the same space where you design the look and feel of your portal. 

This feature has flexible user roles, so you can easily determine who can access these articles, and who can write or upload them. 

The Cloud Project - Support Center & Knowledge Base template includes some pre-made sections, typical for a knowledge base, including a search bar and these spaces:

• Getting Started
• Apps & Integrations
• Features
• Account & Billing

You can also add (and rearrange) any number of sections you want, such as Articles, Product updates or Discussions.

This is the right knowledge base software for you if you want extensive customization features, practical templates to base your site on, fast and easy implementation and a native content management system.

Bettermode doesn't end at knowledge-based software options. In fact, there are currently eight templates (look out for another 17 coming soon) you can build your web app from inspired by modern portals. 

You can also create a brand community portal, member directory, learning hub and event planner, or use it as a forum software solution.

Features

• Attractive, highly customizable templates
• Drag-and-drop builder with many use cases
• Logical structure with flexible spaces, collections and tags
• Authentication and accessibility management
• Extensive customization — spaces, blocks, landing pages, colors, typography, fields, navigation, branding, domain
• Member profile directory with roles and permissions
• Engagement tools — reactions, leaderboards, badges, messaging
• Advanced search
• Analytics covering reach, engagement etc.
• Moderation panel
• Notifications sending
• Security and audit logs
• Integrations-Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Intercom, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Slack and much more with API, Webhooks, SDK and template engine

UI/UX

Bettermode has an appealing and user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate for product managers setting it up, teams filling in the knowledge articles and customers looking for answers to their queries. 

All it takes to start testing various template options is signing up — no credit card or complex information required. This free knowledge base solution has a low learning curve and a drag-and-drop builder that doesn't require any technical expertise.

You can explore its functionalities on your own or seek help from its Knowledge Base, Academy or Community.

Pros

• Free forever
• A pleasant, visually attractive and fun-to-use design
• Easy to get started, even for users with no technical experience
• Own CMS with SEO options
• Quick deployment – get your KB live right away
• Templates for whole websites and individual elements

User ratings

Bettermode is a favorite among users due to its high quality, practical features, ease of use and affordable price (even in the paid plans).

• 4.8/5 on Capterra
• 4.6/5 on G2
• 8.9/10 on TrustRadius

Source: G2

Pricing

Bettermode is a 100% free knowledge base software with all the necessary features to build a comprehensive information hub. The only limit is five working spaces. Once you exceed that, prices start from $19 (paid annually) or $24 (paid monthly).

Guru

Source: G2

This knowledge base tool is a platform with a focus on improving knowledge sharing within organizations with the use of artificial intelligence. It includes a search feature powered by AI and offers pre-made content templates. There's also a browser extension that facilitates capturing information without switching windows.

Source: G2

Guru is best for creating internal knowledge base software. It works well for building a wiki that employees can use to help customers, e.g., at call centers.

Features

• Wiki — includes templates, content recommendations, duplicate detection, reactions and Q&As
• Intranet — this tool facilitates team collaboration with announcements, HRIS sync, personalized dashboards, organizational structure visualization, employee profiles and AI information suggestions
• Enterprise AI search — Guru lets you connect your existing tools to generative AI to help you get answers to anything your team needs to know from the sources you trust
• AI writing assistant for creating and summarizing content
• Access level management
• Analytics for understanding engagement and improving content
• Integrations — Chrome extension, Slack, MS Teams, Google Drive, Dropbox, Freshdesk, email and more

UI/UX

Guru is easy to set up and use, with a friendly interface and practical search and integration features. You can build a card structure that's logical and practical, even without many card customization options.

Source: G2

Pros

• Intuitive internal Q&A system powered by AI for instant answers
• Card verification for fact-checking information
• Collaborative features help with efficient information sharing
• The integrations make it easy to add content without switching apps

User ratings

Users appreciate Guru's integrations and AI search functionality for topics not covered in the knowledge base.

• 4.8/5 on Capterra
• 4.7/5 on G2
• 8.9/10 on TrustRadius

Source: Capterra

Pricing

The free version is available for 30 days. If you don't create your custom knowledge base in that period, the price is $15 or $18 per user per month.

Source: Guru website

Confluence

Source: Capterra

Confluence by Atlassian facilitates collaboration and information sharing with free knowledge base software features and up to 2 GB storage. 

It's yet another solution that's focused on internal use. There's an extensive template library for teams to create content spaces for their organizational knowledge.  A cool feature is – page history tracking, which lets you restore previous document versions if needed.

Source: G2

This tool is best for creating internal knowledge bases and project collaboration, with tools like whiteboards, pages and spaces where people can brainstorm ideas and exchange knowledge.

Features

• AI for improved communication, finding insights and summarizing content
• Whiteboards for brainstorming and collaborating
• Real-time editing, commenting and notification sending
• Access permissions management
• Personalized feeds based on previous activity
• Advanced search and content tree for organizing pages
• Basic customization — theme, header, footer and PDF layout 
• Integrations with other Atlassian tools and Google Drive, Sheets, Salesforce, Slack, Markdown, Trello, among others

UI/UX

Confluence is easy to use and has multiple templates for organizing data types. It has a basic and intuitive design.

Source: G2

Pros

• Cloud-based, centralized, real-time collaboration
• Best-practice templates for different kinds of documentation
• Supports adding images, tables, videos and attachments in documents

User ratings

Confluence users enjoy how easy it is to start using its knowledge base software features and templates.

• 4.5/5 on Capterra
• 4.1/5 on G2
• 8.1/10 on TrustRadius

Source: G2

Pricing

Confluence offers an always free knowledge base software option for up to 10 users, 2 GB storage and limited feature access. You can also sign up for a 7-day free trial of the Standard and Premium plans.

Source: Confluence website

Notion

Source: Software Advice

Notion is best known as a note-taking and collaboration app. It lets you build custom databases and customize them to your liking. This tool is meant primarily for internal use, because if you want to treat it as an external knowledge base, you'll have to purchase the Plus plan or above.

Source: Software Advice

This solution is best for teams that want to combine internal knowledge base software features with project management options.

Features

• Template library (free and paid options) that includes multiple knowledge base structures
• Sidebar that facilitates easy navigation within the knowledge base system
• Search with filters
• Drag-and-drop organization
• Linking to other pages
• Block syncing
• Information verification system
• Advanced permissions and admin controls
• Integrations with Slack, Google Drive, Panther, Jira, Github, Asana, Zapier and a few more

UI/UX

Notion can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. With a bit of learning and practice  you can use it for managing complex databases.

Source: PC Mag

Pros

• Flexible structure — combines internal wiki and project management software features
• Templates for kick-starting the organization of your knowledge base
• Good compatibility with other tools
• Scalable structure

User ratings

Users appreciate Notion because it's flexible and allows easy collaboration on articles and workflows.

• 4.8/5 on Capterra
• 4.7/5 on G2
• 8.8/10 on TrustRadius

Source: Capterra

Pricing

This knowledge base platform has a free forever option, limited in terms of file upload sizes, page history and number of collaborators. If you want to use it for internal and external documentation, prices start from $8 or $16 when adding AI features.

Source: Notion website

Slite

Source: Capterra

Slite is a knowledge base software for documenting company information. It leverages AI to give you writing improvements and answers to questions generated from the centralized repository. You also get insights about how your team uses the database and whether it's helpful or needs updating.

Source: Capterra

This tool is best for importing relevant knowledge base articles from your existing sources like Google Drive or Notion and creating a streamlined productivity workflow with Slack and Zapier.

Features

• Document editor with options to add sketches, videos and other media
• AI writing assistant for summaries, simplifications etc.
• Automation for creating recurring notes
• Real-time collaboration features with task assignments and simultaneous editing access for multiple users
• Document verification
• Knowledge base analytics
• Access permissions
• Search that allows asking in multiple languages and supports the presented information with sources
• Integrations with Trello, Sheets, Slack, YouTube, Asana, Airtable Github and more

UI/UX

The Slite interface is similar to Notion, with the drop-down navigation menu on the left and page editing on the right; it works faster and may be less complicated to use but has fewer functionalities. It has a user-friendly structure with an easy-to-read document editor.

Pros

• Intuitive and well-structured
• Big template library
• Complex editor with options to add sketches and embed media

User ratings

Users enjoy how easy Slite is to use. It has an intuitive interface and makes sharing information a breeze.

• 4.7/5 on Capterra
• 4.6/5 on G2
• 8.3/10 on TrustRadius

Source: G2

Pricing

Slite is only free for the duration of the 14-day trial period. After that, prices start from $8/month/member when paid annually (or $10 monthly).

Source: Slite website

How to build a knowledge base software (examples & best practices)

To create knowledge management software in Bettermode, start by signing up for a free account. Once you get that out of the way, you'll have access to awesome templates, so you don't even have to have ideas about what you want your knowledge base to look like.

The Cloud Project is the best structure for a knowledge management software platform. Select it to end up here. Next, you can press the "+" button on the upper right to add a new article or click "C" on your keyboard to edit the structure and appearance of the site.

From here, you can play around with our native CMS system and design studio to create the perfect information hub, employee handbook or customer self-service portal. You can change the appearance (theme, logos, typographies, styles), add and reorder elements or edit access settings.

Here are some ideas as to what kind of web apps you can build with Bettermode:

• Client portals
• Feature request platforms
• An internal knowledge base and onboarding guides
• Employee directories
• Community hubs
• Wiki software
• Product roadmaps with updates, notes and new releases
• Virtual help desks
• Customer support forums
• Learning platforms
• Resource libraries

Here are examples of what knowledge bases can look like out in the wild.

Source: Slack

Source: Amplitude

Source: Apple

Let's wrap it all up with best practices to help you create a valuable knowledge management system:

• Know the key features of a solid knowledge base – centralization, accessibility, searchability, scalability and consistency.
• Categorize content intuitively — think library, with genres and subgenres.
• Use clear, concise language without jargon.
• Opt for visuals where possible — screenshots, videos, step-by-step guides etc.
• Keep information up to date and review it regularly.
• Assign roles and responsibilities for writing content; promote knowledge sharing within your company.
• Track how users interact with your hub to identify knowledge gaps and ensure that people find what they need.
• Include links to related articles.
• Include a search bar with predictive text, autocorrect and filters — tag articles with all relevant keywords to make it easier to find relevant articles.

Comparison table

Conclusion

Implementing knowledge base software means your clients get around-the-clock support without waiting for someone from your customer support team. If you keep it SEO-friendly, it will also boost your company's visibility in search engines. 

Plus, it just makes all training and learning aspects faster and easier.

With free knowledge base software like Bettermode, you only have to invest time to write down (or visualize) your company's knowledge. It gives you enough customization freedom that you can build anything from a community platform to a SaaS self-service site.

Try Bettermode for free to create your personalized knowledge base.

FAQs

What is free knowledge base software?

Dedicated knowledge base software solutions provide free tools for sharing, storing, sorting and retrieving information. Such programs should serve employees (internal knowledge bases) and customers (external knowledge bases) by helping them get instant, in-depth and easy-to-understand answers to their questions.

How do I create my own knowledge base?

Sign up for Bettermode and choose the free Cloud Project template. Personalize it with branding and the drag-and-drop builder. Use our native CMS to add and organize all types of content.

How do I create a knowledge base in Google Drive?

Go to the Agent Assist Console and select your Google Cloud Platform project. On the left, you will see a menu overview. Choose Knowledge bases from the Data section. Select +Create New to add a document to the (currently empty) list. You can decide between FAQ or article formats.

Alternatively, you can organize Google Docs articles, Sheets and folders in your Drive space, but this solution is clunky, and you will probably need to buy more space.

Which platform is best for a knowledge base?

The best knowledge base software that you can use for free is Bettermode. It facilitates both internal and external knowledge bases. Building them is easy — you start with modern templates, which you can customize with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.