6 Best Free Wiki Software to Upgrade Your Team Documentation

By
Erica Hayton
January 10, 2023
10
min read
Updated
April 30, 2024
Photo credit
Discover the 6 best free wiki software options in 2024 to upgrade your team's documentation. Boost productivity and collaboration with free wiki software.
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Introduction

Teams work best when they can share knowledge and collaborate on ideas easily. But with remote, hybrid and distributed teams, it’s becoming harder and harder to do so. 

Sharing information with a team member isn’t as easy as popping by their desk anymore. And while tools like Slack and Zoom make it easier to stay in touch with team members regardless of where they’re located, it can still leave employees waiting for hours for an answer. 

A better solution is to create an internal wiki. A company wiki can give employees quick access to the resources, instructions, guides, and updates they need no matter when or where they need them. And with free wiki software, creating corporate wikis doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. 

Let’s look at what free wiki software can do for your team and what the best free tools to use in 2024 are. 

TL;DR: Top free wiki software of 2024

  1. Scribe
  2. Notion
  3. Nuclino
  4. Wiki.js
  5. Confluence
  6. Tettra
  7. Softr

What is free wiki software? 

Wiki software is used to create and host your content. Think of it as your own encyclopedia, custom-made just for your brand. 

The best wiki software helps make the process of creating, sharing and updating your wiki content easier. The right tool can speed up the content creation process, improve the wiki user experience and improve team productivity. 

And the best part about free wiki software — it doesn’t cost a thing. There are many great tools on the market capable of supporting your wiki without breaking your budget. 

Top free wiki software in 2024 

Here are the top free wiki tools to use in 2024. 

1.‎ Scribe

Scribe - Free Wiki Software

G2 Rating: 5 out of 5 starsCapterra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Pricing: Free plans available

Scribe automatically creates visual how-to guides in just a matter of seconds. Rather than having to manually screenshot and annotate each step of a process, Scribe just records your screen as you complete a task and then builds step-by-step guides to share with your team. As a wiki tool, Scribe makes the process of creating engaging knowledge base articles faster and easier. 

Scribe Pages make it easier to provide context, link multiple Scribes together and add videos, images, GIFs and more. You can even ask the AI to write documents for you.

Use Scribe

‎With Scribe, you can build robust wiki documents that cover multiple steps of a process or provide in-depth insight into certain functions or features of your product or the technology your team uses every day, like this one:

‎You can also use Scribe in addition to another wiki tool on this list. Embed your Scribes into Confluence or Notion pages, giving you all the benefits of creating easy-to-follow visual guides while sticking with documentation platforms your teams may already use and love. 

2. No‎tion 

Notion - Free Wiki Software
(Source: Notion)

G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

Pricing: Free basic plan 

Notion is a fully customizable workspace that can be used to create docs, share notes, or even publish content. Allow users to collaborate on documents, add comments and even mention other team members to alert them of changes or tasks they need to be aware of. 

Notion gives users the freedom to create pages that suit a variety of needs. Because Notion is so flexible, it does have a bit of a learning curve and requires some time to set up. However, teams can easily build templates to make creating new wiki documents faster and easier. Add integrations and embed third-party content to make your wiki documents more thorough and engaging.

Other Notion wiki features include:

  • Quick Find search bar to quickly access content you need. 
  • Built-in page hierarchy to eliminate the need for confusing and messy folders.
  • Mobile apps for on-the-go access to your wiki.
  • Template library to get started building documents quickly and easily.

3. Nu‎clino 

Nuclino - Free Wiki Software
(Source: Nuclino)

G2 Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

Pricing: Free basic plan

Nuclino is a place to create and share knowledge, management projects, ideas and more with your team. Add text, visuals, code blocks and embeds to make your content unique and beautiful, all with real-time editing and collaboration. 

As a wiki tool, Nuclino features internal links, instant search, comments, version history and special views to improve your reader experience. You can even export pages into Markdown, PDF or Word to make sharing content offline even easier. 

Nuclino is built for simplicity and speed. Additional features include:

  • Automatically generated “insights” page to point users toward FAQs. 
  • Pin content to be the first page newly joined members see.
  • Use groups for easy permissions and notifications.

4. Wi‎ki.js

Wiki.js - Free Wiki Software
(Source: Wiki.js)

G2 Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars

Capterra Rating: Not Rated 

Pricing: Free

Wiki.js is an open-source tool for creating and customizing digital wikis. It’s a great option for teams looking for free software that doesn’t compromise on features. Use Markdown, a visual builder, or plain HTML to customize your pages, and keep clear records of your pages with version tracking and version comparison tools. 

Set specific rules for pages, groups, and users, so your readers can only access the information they need. Create public-facing pages or keep your data protected under Wiki.js’s robust security. Wiki.js also makes creating multilingual content easy, allowing you to quickly switch between languages on the same page. 

Other features worth noting are:

  • Use code highlighting, diagrams, and math expressions to build out page content.
  • Integrate with over 50 popular tools.
  • Install your wiki software on virtually any platform.

5. Co‎nfluence 

Confluence - Free Wiki Software
(Source: Confluence)

G2 Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars

Capterra Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars

Pricing: Free plans available

Confluence is a team workspace designed for knowledge sharing and collaboration. As a wiki tool, Confluence does more than just share information between people — it creates an environment where culture can grow, regardless of team location. 

Confluence is particularly appealing to teams already using Jira or Trello. Connecting your wiki pages with relevant pages or tasks can make it easier for employees to access the resources or support they need to get a job done, and supervisors can easily check in on how projects are progressing without needing to switch between multiple tools. 

Other Confluence features worth noting include:

  • Ready-made templates to make it easier for all teams to contribute to building your wiki. 
  • Connection with 100s of apps, including the Atlassian Marketplace.
  • Live activity feeds to help your team stay on top of updates and changes. 
  • Comments, likes, and in-app conversations to make collaboration easier.

6. Te‎ttra

Tettra - Free Wiki Software
(Source: Tettra)

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Capterra Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars

Pricing: Free plans available

Tettra is a company wiki and knowledge base that integrates with the tools your employees are most likely to use to ask questions, including Slack and Teams. With Tettra, you can easily share your pages in Slack to give employees the resources they need to get their jobs done. You can even create new Tettra pages without ever leaving your Slack channel. 

Tettra also includes built-in usage analytics. See how your content is performing with detailed analytics and identify any knowledge gaps you still need to fill. Users can submit content requests with questions or pages they’d like to see created, and you can easily assign an expert to build that page for your team. 

Tettra features also include:

  • Zapier integration for custom automation.
  • Flexible permissions to keep private information secure. 
  • Integration with G-Suite to quickly convert pages into Tettra documents.

7.‎ Softr

G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Softr Pricing: Free basic plan 

Softr is more than a no-code platform; it's the simplest way to transform your spreadsheets or databases into fully functional business apps. Start by dragging and dropping pre-built blocks, customize the layout and design, and set granular permissions to define what your users can see and edit.

Softr's free Team Wiki template lets you gather all your company info in one place, covering onboarding, resource directories, newsfeeds, and feedback forms.

With a commitment to providing a fully secure building experience, Softr has various security features including user groups, access controls, global data restrictions, and more.

Other Softr wiki features include:

  • Different access levels and permissions for employees and managers.
  • Documents filtered by teams
  • A directory with all the company employees and their profiles.
  • Employee onboarding management
  • A fully responsive design, allowing each user to access the wiki from any device.

Free wiki software features

Opting for a free tool might require you to cut corners when it comes to software features — but that doesn’t mean you need to settle. Here are some of the key features of free wiki software to look out for: 

  • Easy editing and page customization. Your wiki pages should be engaging and easy to scan. Software allows you to add headers, links, visuals and more to make your content your own.
  • Real-time editing and collaboration. Your wiki is a place where your entire team can contribute and share knowledge. Real-time editing makes collaboration easy and your team can work together to create the best content possible.
  • Version history. Wiki software keeps a record of changes you’ve made to your content so you can refer back to an old version whenever necessary. No need to worry about messy folders or confusing document names.
  • Content hierarchy and linking. Link relevant content and establish a clear flow between content with wiki software. Your wiki software can recommend additional content or resources to your users based on the pages they are viewing.
  • Integrations and embeds. Embedding or integrating other tools can make your wiki software even better. Look for a tool that connects with the apps your team is already using to make it easier to get the most out of your new wiki.
  • Security and permissions. Your wiki may contain sensitive information that you don’t want to be exposed to the public, or you may have content you only want to share with specific people on your team. Wiki software has built-in permission settings and security to keep your information safe. 

Why you need free wiki software 

Wiki software isn’t just another nice-to-have tool in your tech stack. It can boost productivity, improve onboarding times, and help your team organize and retain knowledge. 

Here are just a few of the biggest benefits of free wiki software: 

  • Create a central knowledge base. Your wiki puts all your company knowledge in one place, creating a go-to source for information and resources.
  • Update your team on product or policy changes. Use your wiki to alert team members of new policies or procedures or keep them in the loop on product changes.
  • Reduce knowledge loss. Adding information to your wiki can prevent your team from losing knowledge if a team member takes another job or otherwise leaves the team.
  • Improve training and onboarding. Make training and onboarding smoother by using your internal knowledge base to make expert insights available 24/7.
  • Build stronger relationships. Your wiki can improve end-user experience and help your support team deliver better service to your customers, leading to stronger customer relationships. 

Create a better wiki experience with a free tool 

A company wiki doesn’t have to be boring — and with so many great free tools on the market, there is no reason to settle for a wiki that is. You can improve your documentation without needing to invest in expensive, complex software. 

See for yourself. Sign up for a free Scribe account and start building your own wiki today.

Ready to try Scribe?

Scribe automatically generates how-to guides and serves them to your team when they need them most. Save time, stay focused, help others.