Knowledge, information, and data are significant assets for any organization. The best and efficient method to build a knowledge base in your organization is to use open-source software. One needs to keep track of the organization’s knowledge and share it correctly to ensure better customer support, knowledge sharing, and collaboration platform using the best knowledge base open-source solutions.
Table of Content
10 Best Knowledge Base Software Solutions In The Market
You will come across many open-source knowledge base software companies that offer open-source software for their clients. Being a business owner, it becomes quite difficult for you to satisfy your customers at any cost. It is because more customers mean more business to provide a bigger payday for your organization.
To understand it better, we come up with a list of the best open-source Knowledge Management (KM) software solutions for your consideration. In this table, we have given a list along with user ratings, pros, and cons that we have referred to Capterra that is a top reviewing website.
| Software Name | User Ratings | Pros | Cons |
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| Exo | 4.6 |
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| Documize | 4.6 |
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| phpMyFAQ | 4.0 |
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| OpenKM | 4.7 |
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| Zoho Desk | 4.5 |
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| ProProfs Knowledge Base | 4.7 |
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| FreshDesk | 4.5 |
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| Bitrix24 | 4.5 |
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| myBase | 5.0 |
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| LogicalDoc | 4.7 |
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Exo: Best for Enhancing Workforce Engagement
Exo is an open-source KM software that helps growing companies and large enterprises to connect employees and provide them with a piece of information from a single platform.
You can also integrate other features in this knowledge management software version such as a forum, chat for collaborating, your team’s wikis page, and other documents. Additionally, you can maintain multiple knowledge bases quickly using eXo’s existing source code.
Apart from this, there exist many benefits of using Exo:
- Customers collect, store, and share the information
- Document collaboration
- Access and version control
- Sends automatic notifications
- Easy to find information by using the dynamic search functionality
- Gain full control of content visibility by setting up permissions for the customers
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Documize: Best for Content Management and Project Management
Documize is an open-source knowledge base software that makes use of a wiki in combination with proprietary tools. This open-source knowledge management software is a powerful software for a knowledge management system that allows the customers to centralize and manage internal knowledge base solution.
Moreover, another option is you can use knowledge base tools for products, services, or other processes.
The main benefits of using Documize in the organization are as follows:
- Capture and centralize the information or data necessary
- User-friendly UX design
- Allows access to different versions of each document
- Organize the information with proper formatting and categorization
- Helps control workflows and seek approvals as per the hierarchy of the organization
- Reports and analytics for the content that the users are consuming
Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.
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phpMyFAQ: Best FAQ Software for PHP Version 7
Companies mainly use the phpMyFAQ for the FAQ content management system and are considered top open-source knowledge base software. It enables the customers to create and manage FAQ records with the ability to collaborate and discuss the same.
If one question persists before and some new users ask the same question again, this software automatically creates impressive answers for it. This open-source knowledge base management tool lets you assign user or group-based permissions to teams and individuals to view the editor to create content.Let’s now discuss the essential benefits of phpMyFAQ:
- Provides permission-based access
- A powerful search engine
- High-end security with LDAP and HTTP authentication
- Use multiple AD servers for configuration
- Customers are allowed to ask or answer questions
- Generates analysis reports of the content performance
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OpenKM: Best for Businesses Dealing with Record Management
OpenKM launched its knowledge base software, especially for businesses that were seeking document storage and records management solutions by building a controlled and seamless knowledge base repository to facilitate knowledge creation.
This open-source software also lets you create, receive, maintain, share, or dispose of records of business activities and transactions. Such a knowledge base platform is the best example for your business in terms of data regulations, ownership, and accountability.
The primary benefits of OpenKM are:
- User-friendly and speedy user interface and design
- Multiple global languages available for translation
- Scans uploaded files and documents for viruses and other malware
- Elaborate dashboard for obtaining in-depth information
- Includes Microsoft office support for various versions
- Collecting emails from IMAP, Pop3
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Zoho Desk: Delivering Exceptional Customer Services
Zoho Desk is the best open-source knowledge base software and a part of the expansive Zoho family that provides impressive customer service and supports software packages. The primary functionalities in Zoho Desk include ticket management, agent productivity, analytics, and customer self-service activities to provide an efficient SaaS customer support solution.
Employees can continue grabbing knowledge in such a way that it helps in converting ticket solutions to open-source knowledge base articles.
The core benefits of Zoho Desk includes:
- Impressive Help Desk support to your team
- Tech support and effective help center
- Complete management of Contracts and SLAs
- Help Desk customization
- Creating Standard and Customized Reports
- Enhanced Scalability and flexibility
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ProProfs Knowledge Base: Best for Small-Sized and Large Enterprises
ProProfs Knowledge Base is an open-source knowledge base software designed explicitly for the teams no matter the size that wants to focus on Knowledge Management solution strictly; rather than concentrating on a more extensive business software stack suite.
With this wiki software’s help, it becomes relatively easy for you to bundle your knowledge bases with other primary SaaS solutions if required. In addition to it, this open-source and internal knowledge base software is part of the broader ProProfs learning management, help desk, training, and management software system.
Let us now highlight the essential benefits of ProProfs knowledge base:
- Supports external integration
- Enhanced feature of Contact and Customer Management
- Google Apps integration
- Live Chat Support
- Attractive Pricing Plans
- Impressive and effective API
- Attractive Workflow Management
Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.
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FreshDesk: Best for Providing Impressive Customer Support
Freshdesk, the best open-source knowledge base software solution, provides the primary functionality including ticketing management, team collaboration, agent productivity tools, responsive source code, and other helpdesk automation functionality as a full customer support solution.
This open-source software is designed explicitly for businesses focused on customer service using the advanced and external knowledge management system.
The primary benefits of FreshDesk are as follows:
- Uses Effective Ticketing System
- Support for Consistent Branding
- Self Service Portal
- Multi-channel support
- Detailed and enhanced reports
- Advanced Notifications
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Bitrix24: Best for Small Companies
Bitrix24 is the perfect open-source knowledge base system software for enterprise companies, SMEs, and startups. It centralizes information for easy access to multiple users or staff working for the same or different organizations’ purposes.
In fact, you need to configure your access permissions based on who you want to access and edit the knowledge base.
The main benefits of using Bitrix24 are available below:
- Integration with MindMaps for effective project plans
- Best navigation search and pricing plan
- Support Bitrix24.Drive
- Wiki Knowledgebase
- Enhanced Customer Experience
- Accurate CRM
- Activity Stream intranet center
- Email Notification
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myBase: Perfect Solution for Text, Images, Videos, and Document Management
myBase is an open-source knowledge-based software system that efficiently captures and stores documents, images, emails, webpages, etc. irrespective of their length or format.
The resulting outcome of the information captured usually is a zip compressed file and structures decently in the tree-structured outline form.
Let’s highlight the essential benefits of myBase:
- Provides User-Friendly interface
- Information organization in tree-structured outline form
- Content Categorization using hierarchical labels
- Support large files but less than 2 GB
- Having high-end security Functions
- Supports HTML/Rich text formatting and editing
- Can assign customizable icons for different file types
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LogicalDOC: Best for Business To Gain Control Over Document Management
LogicalDOC is a free and open-source knowledge management system licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3. It is a community edition and usually contains the software code base accessible and publicly available for anyone intending to build a customized knowledge management system as per their business needs and efficiency.
This open-source software’s primary goal is to overcome the drawbacks of all your document management needs, including capturing, modifying, and sharing. In contrast, the person using the effective codebase deals with a variety of limitations to provide the perfect guidelines to overcome a particular drawback within the organization.
Apart from this info, there exist multiple benefits mentioned below:
- Allows users to search documents based on the search queries
- Allows local file storage
- Generates a necessary statistical and standard report
- Highly secure as the documents & folders can be password protected
- Includes event log, so that you can view the details of the changes done in the documents
- Compatible with HTTP/HTTPs, SOAP & RESTFUL, WebDAV, and CMIS protocols
Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.
Take your app and help center to the next level with The Cloud Tutorial.
Advantages of using Open Source Software
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It’s Free
You know that the original code is free to use by being open-source and relatively easy for developers to access more functionality in their projects or applications development.
However, in this case, time or money does come into action to build the open-source knowledge base individually; or you need to hire an expert from your department to work for you.
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Fully Integrates with Your Existing Software
Many businesses possess substantial benefits by currently adapting to use multiple applications and tools to have an integrated knowledge base for your business. As a result, such platforms make use of this impressive step to make a choice for the best integration support for the software or websites.
By performing the integration with your existing software, it becomes relatively easy for you to perform the core installation or build your knowledge base software to grab additional knowledge.
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It Can Be Self-Hosted
The most important question that arises in your mind is whether you would reply to your company’s process or operations or be dependent on any other open-source knowledge base software to work for you?
Many business owners’ best recommendation is to know that their management software for the knowledge base is self-hosted, making complete security on their platform.
These were the advantages of using the open-source knowledge base software in your organization. However, there exist some disadvantages of using such open-source software, let’s highlight them:
- You are bound to limited features. This means that you can access very few features in the open source knowledge base. To get more features, you need to buy the subscription plan and get the benefit of additional features.
- Your knowledge base possesses limited security. With the knowledge base you have in your organization, open-source software provides security to some extent. But what about high-level security? You need to access another plan to grab such security constraints.
- No possibility of customization in the open source platform, so it means your knowledge base cannot be customized as per your business needs. For that case too, you must have a proper subscription plan to perform customization to work as per your needs.
Not only these, but there are many other disadvantages of using open source knowledge management platforms such as handling technical part, get your hands dirty in coding and technicality, and limited functionalities.
After having a look at the disadvantages of using open-source software in your organization, you might be wondering that “Is there any possible alternative solution to overcome it?”.
Yes, you can opt for The Cloud Tutorial, a knowledge base platform that provides you with the best way to overcome the disadvantages of open-source.
The Cloud Tutorial provides you:
- Impressive features that allow you and your customers to create multiple knowledge base articles with varied functionalities. In fact, the free version of the platform allows you to create 25 articles for one site. Isn’t it great?
- SSL (HTTPS) hosting for your website. When you use a subdomain of ours (e.g. https://yourname.cloudtutorial.com) HTTPS supports automatically with no set-up required.
- A fully customized platform, allowing businesses of different industries to get tailor-made FAQ pages, help desk, and SOP to share information. The platform can be customized with different themes, custom HTML/CSS, and custom contact form to meet the needs.
So, what are you waiting for? Just start your journey to create your first knowledge-base article for free.
FAQs
The word “open” indicates that it is completely free; all the functionalities work free of cost. However, in the case of knowledgebase software that is open-source, it may or may not be free of charge.
On the other hand, the source code is open-source software that inspects, modifies, and enhances anything. It is nothing but a technique of what developers or programmers have access to perform. It is the code that they can improve or manipulate to change how they intend their program or wiki software to work.
- Is the software cloud-based or on-site?
- Does it have the latest software version?
- Is the UI easy to understand?
- What is the search functionality?
- Does it offer external and internal knowledge sharing?
Conclusion
So, which is the best knowledge base, and open-source software suits your needs?
All in all, it is essential to have a data hub or an information center for your organization. It will not only help you become more efficient but also allow you to serve your customers better.
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