WordPress Knowledge Base: Themes and Plugins to Use

Are you trying to build a knowledge base in WordPress?

WordPress is a popular content management system, and it is an excellent platform for developing a suitable knowledge base for your users. Regular WordPress pages and posts can’t be used for creating a feature-rich and fully functional knowledge base. You will need third-party plugins and themes.

This blog will share the best themes and plugins of 2021 that you can choose for your WordPress knowledge base. So, shall we start?



Creating a WordPress Knowledge Base: Two Approaches

WordPress websites come with two types of extensions: 

  • Plugins 
  • Themes 

There are two types of knowledge base solutions in WordPress.

  • Knowledge base plugins 
  • Knowledge base themes 

Which Approach Should You Use?

You cannot develop a knowledge base with standard WordPress pages and posts. These third-party plugins and themes will help you in it, but you can either use only one. There will be different results for each approach. The approach you choose depends on your requirements as neither is superior to another.

Knowledge base plugins will integrate the knowledge base with your WordPress website, but it won’t be compatible with the theme your site is currently using. You will have to custom design the theme for your knowledge base WordPress. 

Knowledge base themes will make your knowledge base WordPress look good, and there won’t be any need for customization. But you won’t be able to integrate it with your existing WordPress as it is a stand-alone theme. It will require a separate installation to run the knowledge base. Another option is to convert your entire WordPress website into a knowledge base.


Benefits of Using WordPress Knowledge Base

  1. Better Prices

    The WordPress knowledge base is cheap. You can create a knowledge base with free or low prized plugins. Here is the list of costs associated with it:

    • It will cost 10-30$ per month for hosting the WordPress knowledge base
    • 10$ per year for the domain name 
    • 150$ for functional themes 
    • 120$ for a good quality plugin 
    You can set up a WordPress knowledge base for an overall 300$.

    However, this is the approximate cost that varies from requirements to requirements and other important factors.

  2. Good Customization

    You will have access to the source code due to WordPress’s open-source nature. It opens up limitless possibilities for customizations. You also gain access to quality developers from the WordPress community if you want to change how your knowledge base looks. They can also add more functionalities for your wp knowledgebase.   

  3. Be The Self-host

    WordPress lets you be the host of your knowledge base. You won’t have to depend on third-party’s for managing the security of your wp knowledgebase. 

  4. Easy to Set Up

    WordPress is easy to understand. You will not experience any difficulty in understanding its content management systems and the backend dashboard. You will also be able to easily handle the technical aspects and integrations with easy to install plugins.


Creating a Knowledge Base: 9 Best Plugins and Themes to Consider

  1. Heroic Knowledge Base Plugin

    HeroThemes WordPress

    It is a popular premium plugin for the wp knowledge base. The Heroic knowledge base can fully integrate itself into any theme and comes with many useful features. Here is the list of features you will get from this plugin: 

    • Categorize your content 
    • You can drag-drop the content
    • Attach your other articles 
    • Display widgets 

    You can improve your knowledge base content by collecting the user insights from this plugin’s built-in analytics and user feedback feature. It will save time, improve sales, and reduce support tickets. 

  2. BetterDocs

    BetterDocs WordPress

    BetterDocs is a comprehensive and easy to use WordPress knowledge base plugin. It has ready to use templates for your wp knowledgebase. It has support for page builders. Users can use shortcodes for developing their layouts and can also add knowledge base articles anywhere.

    BetterDocs comes with a search function, floating table of content, and a knowledge base bot that can provide answers for support requests. You can also check insights on what your customers are viewing and have a user role-based control. 

  3. Echo Knowledge Base

    Echo Knowledge Base WordPress

    The echo knowledge base will show how the plugin works through its easy setup wizard. Users have the option to select multiple layouts and can customize every aspect of the tool. There are three types of layouts, including:

    • Basic layout 
    • Tabs layout 
    • Category focused layout 

    Each category has a search bar on the top that users can use in finding answers to their questions. Content can get sorted into categories and tags. The echo knowledge base plugin comes with 500+ icons for users to choose from and has templates and shortcodes. Users can use these in creating the FAQs section and show their other knowledge base articles over the website.

  4. WeDocs

    weDocs WordPress

    This WordPress plugin allows users to sort their knowledge base articles into hierarchical docs, sections, and tags. You can manage your knowledge base articles from one screen due to this plugin’s simple interface.

    It doesn’t have any additional templates but is compatible with every popular WordPress theme. The layout comes with breadcrumbs and a side navigation menu. 

  5. BasePress

    codeSavory WordPress

    BasePress comes with three templates with an instant search bar. Users can use this search bar to find their answers very quickly. They can also organize their articles in categories, sections, and tags with a drag and drop interface to rearrange the content. 

    Users can use this wp knowledge base plugin to create proper index pages by adding images and descriptions for each section. It provides easy customization options for them to modify the different aspects of their articles. 

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  6. KnowAll

    KnowAll WordPress

    The HeroThemes team developed KnowAll as a knowledge base WordPress theme. It does more than providing a better look for your website. KnowAll is an all-in-one tool for running a knowledge base on WordPress effectively.

    You can share your most popular help topics to your readers with the help of the Ajax-powered live service search tool that comes with KnowAll. It has made it easy to add downloadable attachments to the help articles, which will make it easy for you to help your customers in various ways. 

    KnowAll provides code-free customization options. You can use it to make sure that your knowledge base is in sync with your WordPress site. There are reporting tools that will tell you how effective the knowledge bases are and whether customers are getting any help from the content.

    KnowAll has forms for article feedback. It comes with search analytics that you can use to observe if your customers are getting answers for their problems. 

  7. HelpGuru

    HelpGuru WordPress Knowledgebase

    HelpGuru comes with the heroic knowledge base plugin. Together they make a popular choice for developing a WordPress knowledge base. The integration between two plugins enables your customers to rate the usefulness of your help articles. You can also arrange the knowledge base section easily with the theme’s drag and drop organizer. 

    HelpGuru is fully compatible with bbPress. You can install this free plugin to add a discussion forum to your WordPress site. It will allow your customers to post their questions and get answers.  

  8. Helper

    Helper WordPress

    Helper is an ideal knowledge base theme if you want to develop an online knowledge-base system based on WordPress. You can set up a high visibility search field for your users on the homepage. It will make it easy for customers to find answers to their questions. 

    It has a live search tool by Ajax, which automatically displays live suggestions to your visitors as they are typing. The recommendations get based on the content of the FAQs and knowledge base. 

    Helper theme is compatible with bbPress. You can use it to provide a discussion forum to your visitors. It has a good set of blog templates, which you can use to update your site with daily news and get the full benefit of content marketing. The template’s layout and design are modern and mobile responsive. The theme can also integrate with the visual composer plugin. It makes it a valuable tool to develop knowledge bases with WordPress.

  9. Lore

    Lore WordPress

    You can create a fast-loading knowledge base for your WordPress org with the help of Lore. It got last updated very recently to bring it on par with other modern themes available on the market. 

    The default settings of this theme have stylish color and font choices that make a website look professional. It is also flexible and lets you customize different properties, such as colors, layout settings, and fonts. Lore makes your website look good and also gives you diverse customization options to choose from in the settings. 

    You can import a demo website from this theme directly to your WordPress dashboard. It will also let you add content to the site through custom post types, which will manage all faq sections and knowledge bases.

    Lore also supports attachments, which will allow you to upload files to your support pages for the customers. It has a complete set of blog templates that will let you add blogs to your website. You can also use these to add updates or publish the latest news on the site. 

    Lore is compatible with many WordPress discussion plugins. You can use free plugins like bbPress for adding a support forum to the website for your customers. 

    It is one of the best themes for developing knowledge bases, online documentation, and discussion forums. 


Drawbacks of Having a WordPress Knowledge Base

Each coin has 2 sides, and in this case, there are quite a few drawbacks of having a WordPress Knowledge Base:

  1. The Knowledge base on WordPress is not suitable if you have too many support pages to organize and manage. Scaling and categorizing is going to be difficult on the WordPress website. 
  2. Only premium knowledge base themes have commenting features. 
  3. It has no approval process for managing the team. It will limit the workflow in reviewing and editing before the content gets published. 
  4. Hosting and maintenance of the WordPress website will be your responsibility. Hosting costs depend on the amount of content, which can be expensive if you have too many knowledge bases. 
  5. There are no means for setting up different access rights for the pages. You will not be able to keep any content private.
  6. You will not find much difference between a regular web page and a knowledge base in WordPress. Both can get set up with plugins in an easy way. 
  7. Your plugins might not work with the existing theme of your site. It may require some customization to make the style look consistent with your knowledge base. It defeats the purpose of having a free WordPress plugin. 
  8. Your site loading times may increase if you add too many wp knowledgebase plugins.
  9. A wrong WordPress plugin can make your site vulnerable. These wp knowledge base plugins aren’t updated frequently. They don’t have top-notch standards.  
  10. Most of the extensions lack the core features to make a fully functional knowledge base on WordPress.   

Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.

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Creating a Knowledge Base With CloudTutorial

CloudTutorial is an advanced knowledge base platform that aims to help your business in providing excellent customer support. Your customers will find answers very quickly from this knowledge base. CloudTutorial comes with the following features: 

  • Develop a user- friendly faq website
  • Provide quick solutions to your customer’s problems 
  • Customize your help-center based on the type of business you have. 
TheCloudTutorial

How Does Cloud Tutorial Work? 

  1. You can segregate the content by categories and sub-categories. It will help your customers in finding the information that they are looking for in their support ticket. 
  2. Cloud tutorial comes with a content editor that you can use in managing all types of information and data in just a few clicks. 
  3. You can customize your theme, domain, background, colors, contact form, and fonts. All these are customizable based on the type of content you are providing to your customers. It doesn’t require any technical knowledge. 
  4. You can add team members to your platform for managing the knowledge base. Cloud tutorials let you give specific access rights to your members. 
  5. There is also a customized contact form that allows you to edit fields as per your requirements. You can add new ones, remove current ones, and edit as per the necessary information. 
  6. You can customize the domain by using your brand name. Cloud tutorial also provides custom domain options.
  7. Cloud Tutorial is easy to use for creating articles, help desk, faq, and other pages. Manage your documentation sites with just a few clicks.
FAQs
There are four packages that you can choose from, and each comes with different benefits.
  • Free: $0/mo
  • Bronze: $14/mo
  • Silver: $49/mo
  • Gold: $99/mo
You can check pricing plans for more details on the benefits of each package.
Both are excellent options to consider. But, opting for a KNowledge Base software has certain perks:
  • You don’t need any technical knowledge
  • You don’t have to spend time “configuring” knowledge base
  • Writing articles is very easy
  • Better role management
  • No need for backups
  • And much more.
If you want to know more about which software to use, you can read our detailed comparison here.
Conclusion

Choosing between knowledge base software or WordPress for creating a knowledge base depends on many factors. You will have to decide what’s best that fits your business. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to a knowledge base.

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