HelpCenter.io vs Confluence
The public help center that Confluence's anonymous-access toggle isn't.
Custom domain on every plan
AI Widget for your own app
Flat per-workspace pricing
HelpCenter.io vs Confluence
Both can put pages on the public internet. Only one is designed for the customer reading them.
|
HelpCenter.io
|
Confluence
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Customer-facing help centers and self-service | Internal team workspace: docs, whiteboards, databases |
| Publishing to the public web | The default: a public help center is the product | Anonymous access toggle, on globally by a site admin first |
| Custom domain + SSL | Yes, every plan (from $29/mo) | Premium and Enterprise only, 1 per instance, forced three-part URL |
| Help-center themes and layouts | Purpose-built, branded UX | Public spaces show the Confluence UI; white-label usually needs a paid Marketplace app |
| Embeddable AI Widget in your app | Every plan, Bootstrap included | No |
| AI answers | AI Question Answering included on Catalyst, $29/mo add-on ($24 annually) on Bootstrap and Growth | Rovo bundled on paid plans, metered: 25 / 70 / 150 credits per user/mo |
| Analytics | Content performance, search queries, the questions customers asked the AI, and visitor journeys, on every plan | Site, space, and page analytics on Premium and up only |
| SEO indexing for public pages | Built to rank | Yes, public spaces are indexed by search engines |
| Pricing model | Flat per workspace: $29 / $119 / $179 | Per user, per month: from $5.42 (Standard), from $10.44 (Premium) |
| Free tier | 14-day free trial, no free tier | Free plan capped at 10 users |
| Free migration | Growth and Catalyst, done for you | Not built around customer help-center migration |
Confluence pricing verified July 2026.
What Confluence is and who it's right for
Confluence calls itself "the AI workspace that works with you," and that's an accurate description. It is a collaborative workspace for internal teams: pages, live docs, whiteboards, databases, and video, wired into Jira, Figma, GitHub, Loom, and Teams through Atlassian's Teamwork Graph. Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence come bundled on paid plans, metered by credits (25 per user/month on Standard, 70 on Premium, 150 on Enterprise). For internal engineering and product knowledge, especially knowledge that lives next to tickets, it is one of the strongest tools on the market.
It is not positioned as a customer-facing help center, and the product reflects that. A space can be opened to anonymous internet visitors, and that content does get indexed by search engines, so it is fair to say you can stand up public docs. But anonymous access is a coarse, all-or-nothing switch: a site admin has to enable it globally before a space admin can grant it on a single space, and there is no granular external-user segmentation underneath. What a visitor then lands on is the Confluence UI, not a help center you designed. If your goal is a branded public knowledge base that ranks, converts, and deflects tickets, you are asking an internal wiki to do a job it was not shaped for.
Built for the customers who read your docs
Your domain, on the $29 plan
Confluence's custom domain arrived in July 2024 and it is Premium and Enterprise only, one domain per instance, and forced into a three-part URL like confluence.wiki.acme.com. You also cannot serve one URL to customers and another to staff on the same instance. HelpCenter.io gives you a custom domain with SSL on every plan, starting at Bootstrap for $29/mo, and the URL is yours to shape.
An AI Widget that lives in your product
Rovo is powerful, and it points inward at your team. HelpCenter.io ships an embeddable AI Widget on every plan, Bootstrap included, so customers get help inside your app without leaving the page. Grounded AI Question Answering, which answers in natural language from your own published articles, is included on Catalyst and available as a $29/mo add-on ($24/mo billed annually) on Bootstrap and Growth.
Flat pricing that ignores your headcount
Confluence bills per user, per month on every paid tier: from $5.42 per user/month on Standard and from $10.44 on Premium, with volume discounts as seats grow. Those "from" rates are Atlassian's published estimator numbers at 300 seats billed monthly, so a 20-person team pays more per seat, not less. HelpCenter.io is flat per workspace at $29 / $119 / $179, whether 3 people or 30 maintain the help center.
Free, done-for-you migration on Growth and Catalyst
Export your Confluence space and our team rebuilds it for you at no cost on Growth and Catalyst, typically live in under a week, with structure and images included. Bootstrap does not include migration assistance, so if you have a large space to move, plan for Growth. See free migration.
If the knowledge lives next to Jira, keep Confluence
For internal engineering and product knowledge tied to tickets, designs and repos, Confluence is the better tool, and its Jira, Figma and GitHub integration is deeper than a help center should try to match. Plenty of teams run both: Confluence inside, HelpCenter.io facing customers.
Flat vs per user
Confluence's price is a function of how many people you add; ours is a function of which plan you choose.
| Plan tier |
HelpCenter.io
flat / workspace
|
Confluence
per user, per month
|
|---|---|---|
| Free | 14-day free trial | Free, capped at 10 users |
| Entry | Bootstrap, $29/mo (custom domain included) | Standard, from $5.42/user/mo (no custom domain) |
| Mid | Growth, $119/mo (AI add-on eligible) | Premium, from $10.44/user/mo (custom domain, analytics) |
| Top | Catalyst, $179/mo (AI Question Answering included) | Enterprise, contact sales (annual billing only) |
Read the Confluence numbers carefully. They are "from" prices: Atlassian's own estimator quotes $5.42 and $10.44 per user/month at 300 seats billed monthly, and per-seat rates fall as seat count rises, so smaller teams pay more per person. And the features a public help center actually needs, custom domain and analytics, sit on Premium. Our $29, $119, and $179 are the annual-billing prices ($39, $149, and $199 monthly) and they do not move when you add a teammate.
Confluence pricing, from $5.42 and from $10.44 per user/month with a 10-user free cap, verified July 2026.
Migrating from Confluence to HelpCenter.io
Most teams move only the customer-facing space and leave the internal wiki where it is. Export that space from Confluence and hand it to the HelpCenter.io migration team. On Growth and Catalyst, we rebuild your structure, articles, and images in your new branded help center for free, typically live in under a week. Bootstrap doesn't include migration help, so tell us the size of your space and we'll say honestly which plan fits.
Other Confluence alternatives worth considering
If HelpCenter.io isn't the fit, a few others depending on your job-to-be-done: Notion (flexible all-purpose workspace), Document360 (documentation-platform focus), and Slite (lightweight internal knowledge base). For a fuller landscape, see our roundup of the best knowledge base software in 2026, or compare the best Zendesk alternatives if you are weighing the big suites.
Frequently asked questions
Is HelpCenter.io a good Confluence alternative?
Yes, when the job is a public, customer-facing help center. Confluence is an internal team workspace that can make a space visible to anonymous internet visitors, and that public content does get indexed by search engines. But anonymous access is an all-or-nothing toggle a site admin has to enable globally before a space admin can grant it, and there is no granular external-user segmentation. HelpCenter.io is built for public knowledge bases from the first click: a branded help-center site, help-center layouts, an AI Widget you can embed in your own app, and a custom domain with SSL on every plan.
What does HelpCenter.io cost compared to Confluence?
HelpCenter.io is flat per workspace: Bootstrap $29/month, Growth $119/month, and Catalyst $179/month on annual billing. Confluence charges per user, per month on every paid tier, from $5.42 per user/month on Standard and from $10.44 per user/month on Premium, with volume discounts as seats grow. Those are Atlassian's own published rates at 300 seats billed monthly, so a smaller team pays more per seat. The Confluence free tier is capped at 10 users.
Can I use a custom domain for my help center on Confluence?
Only on Premium and Enterprise, and with two constraints worth knowing before you plan a domain strategy. You get one custom domain per Confluence instance, and the URL is forced into a three-part structure such as confluence.wiki.acme.com rather than a clean wiki.acme.com. You also cannot serve different URLs to external and internal readers on the same instance. On HelpCenter.io, a custom domain with SSL is included on every plan, starting with the $29 Bootstrap plan.
Does HelpCenter.io have AI, and what does Confluence include?
Confluence bundles Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence into paid plans at no extra upfront cost, metered by credits: 25 credits per user/month on Standard, 70 on Premium, and 150 on Enterprise. HelpCenter.io ships the embeddable AI Widget on every plan, including Bootstrap. The grounded AI Question Answering engine, which answers visitor questions from your own published articles, is included on Catalyst and available as a paid add-on at $29/month, or $24/month billed annually, on Bootstrap and Growth.
Who should stay on Confluence instead of switching?
Teams whose knowledge lives next to Jira. If your documentation is engineering and product knowledge tied to tickets, designs and repos, Confluence is the better tool and you should keep it, and its Jira, Figma and GitHub integration goes deeper than a help center should try to match. Many teams keep Confluence inside and run HelpCenter.io facing customers.
Give your customers a help center, not a wiki space
Start a free 14-day trial, and if you're coming from Confluence on a Growth or Catalyst plan, we'll migrate your space for free, usually in under a week. Not sure which plan fits? Ask us and we'll tell you straight.