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Atlassian Confluence vs HCL Connections vs SharePoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Atlassian Confluence centralizes knowledge, reduces onboarding time, and offers cost-effective advantages by enhancing information sharing and process management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Users achieved ROI from HCL Connections in nine months by encouraging daily use and eliminating redundant features like chat.
Sentiment score
5.9
SharePoint reduces costs by improving efficiency and document management, offering better control and collaboration with initial training recommended.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Atlassian Confluence support is responsive but seen as limited, with premium support and a strong online community aiding users.
Sentiment score
6.5
HCL Connections' customer service varies, with mixed reviews on support responsiveness and challenges in reaching knowledgeable staff.
Sentiment score
5.3
SharePoint support quality varies; some rely on external teams for better service due to complications and infrastructure differences.
This team manages all queries and uses various plugins, such as Tempo for time tracking.
There is a lack of detailed and timely responses, and support is not always transparent with the solutions.
The quality of Microsoft's technical support is very high.
It's also difficult sometimes to get the right information because we speak at first to a generalist and they have to go to a specialist.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Atlassian Confluence is praised for effective scalability, handling growth smoothly, though some cost and performance issues may arise.
Sentiment score
7.6
HCL Connections offers high scalability with effective IBM WebSphere support, despite Solr search limitations and manageable storage challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
SharePoint is highly scalable and adaptable, supporting various user scales; proper setup and planning mitigate storage challenges.
Making it easy to scale from a load-balancing and infrastructure perspective.
SharePoint is massively scalable and I would rate it as 8.5 out of ten.
SharePoint allows multiple teams to work at the same time, making it adaptable for large data volumes.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Atlassian Confluence is stable with rare issues, usually due to hardware, memory, or storage constraints, rated highly by users.
Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Connections is stable on WebSphere but needs tuning for performance; IBM support addresses occasional instability effectively.
Sentiment score
7.5
SharePoint is generally stable and reliable, though users may encounter performance issues and support challenges with larger data volumes.
The stability of SharePoint is high; it is quite stable and resilient.
Everything runs smoothly, and I have no problems with its stability.
SharePoint is a stable product.
 

Room For Improvement

Atlassian Confluence struggles with search, pricing, user interface, editing, integration, administrative roles, and reporting features needing improvement.
HCL Connections needs better document management, interface customization, third-party integration, collaboration, and cloud stability for improved usability.
SharePoint users seek improved usability, document management, customization, and training, facing challenges with setup, updates, and licensing.
The software does not currently have any kind of AI integration.
This chart used AI to offer users the option to create it based on the data.
Microsoft forces users to upgrade their license to access proper auditing information, which is essential and should be included in any license.
The rights management aspect can be particularly challenging, which may affect the overall user-friendliness of the product.
Expansion of scalability is needed, specifically the threshold limits for site items should be increased beyond the current 5,000 items.
 

Setup Cost

Atlassian Confluence's pricing varies by setup choice, user licensing, and plugins, with potential annual increases of 5-10%.
HCL Connections pricing varies widely, offers discounts, flexible licensing, and competitive pricing compared to Jive or SharePoint.
SharePoint pricing varies by business needs, with cloud options for small businesses and complex licensing for larger enterprises.
It streamlines license management and renewal processes, which can otherwise lead to complications or lapses in access.
Unlike Drupal, all necessary applications are included in the Microsoft license, making it cost-effective.
Microsoft offers bundled pricing for Office, SharePoint, and Exchange, making it cost-effective.
Enterprise licensing is generally cost-effective compared to individual purchases.
 

Valuable Features

Atlassian Confluence offers intuitive navigation, flexible collaboration, JIRA integration, and plugins, making it a versatile document management tool.
HCL Connections enhances collaboration with file sharing, tool integration, expert profiles, mobile access, and efficient content management.
SharePoint boosts productivity with collaboration, document management, Office integration, and automation, benefiting large enterprises through adaptability and powerful features.
This tool provides a single repository for interacting with the entire team.
Additionally, SharePoint acts as a version control system, allowing easy recovery of past document versions.
Its rights management capabilities and ability to restrict access to certain people are also very useful.
The most valuable feature of SharePoint is the ability to collaborate on documents without having multiple versions.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) category, the mindshare of Atlassian Confluence is 14.6%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL Connections is 3.1%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SharePoint is 26.7%, down from 28.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals)
 

Featured Reviews

Rabindra K Maharana - PeerSpot reviewer
Editing features improve document accessibility
There is a holiday calendar, however, I need to install an app or add something to it. The add-on feature is not readily available or well-documented. Guidance on this should be available in a forum. Recently, I used a feature in another tool—perhaps GitHub—where it helped prepare a chart. It involved listing resources, like having fifteen people in the X team, ten in the Y team, and seven in the Z team. It created a bar chart showing these numbers. This chart used AI to offer users the option to create it based on the data. It was then created on a separate page and made available.
Hasnain Zahid - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable tool useful to manage marketing-related activities
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Sometimes, the portal hangs because I find that if I am on a web page, I have to log out, and then I have to log in to the portal again. Since I see that the portal hangs at times, I have to move from one side of the portal to the next, making me feel that some things are scattered in the product. I attended a meeting with IBM recently, and they are improving a few of the things, in my opinion. The concerns that I have related to the product are being improved since I think many other users have reported issues similar to the ones I faced.
Madhur D'silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Collaborative work benefits while user-friendliness challenges persist
The most valuable feature of SharePoint ( /products/sharepoint-reviews ) is its user interface, which is very easy to use. I do not have to be very technical to use it. Its rights management capabilities and ability to restrict access to certain people are also very useful. Furthermore, I can access SharePoint from any device, whether it is a phone or laptop, which is very convenient.
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Comparison Review

it_user8925 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 23, 2013
Jive vs Sharepoint vs Drupal Commons
At Mediacurrent we often get requests to compare Drupal to other platforms used for intranet sites and social business platforms (like https://dev.twitter.com/ for example). This is often referred to as “Social Business Software”, which has grown in popularity in recent years. I decided to do a…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Performing Arts
19%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Media Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Atlassian Confluence?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from its document-controlling feature. In Atlassian Confluence, contr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atlassian Confluence?
With Atlassian, the costs are reasonable. Although higher than before when we used multiple platforms and licenses, h...
What needs improvement with Atlassian Confluence?
There is a holiday calendar, however, I need to install an app or add something to it. The add-on feature is not read...
What do you like most about HCL Connections?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with HCL Connections?
The support is an area where the product can improve. My company faces some support-related issues because whenever w...
What is your primary use case for HCL Connections?
I use HCL Connections for marketing purposes. The IBM product in our company already provides us with direct links to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint?
As SharePoint is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, the pricing is acceptable.
What needs improvement with SharePoint?
The web parts in SharePoint could be more intuitive for end users. Many do not fully understand these features, and i...
 

Also Known As

Confluence
IBM Connections, Lotus Connections
SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Facebook, Skype, Microsoft, NASA, Netflix, Adobe, Bonobos, LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Yamato Financial Co. Ltd., University of Zurich, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., Telus, Rabobank, Christian Brothers Services, Grupo Financiero Banorte, The Loft Group, Dow Water & Process Solutions, JGC Corporation, College of Medicine, Swansea University, solvito GmbH, Loft Group, Hamm-Reno Group GmbH, Geno SA
Toyota, Aeroports de Paris, ASBBank Ltd., Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals, CambridgeshireConstabulary, D&M Group, NPL Construction Company, and The Regional Municipality of Niagara.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Atlassian, Liferay and others in Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals). Updated: August 2025.
864,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.