11 Best Documentation Tools: A Curated List for 2024

As your business grows, the need for efficient documentation becomes a necessity. Whether you’re supporting customers, documenting development, or onboarding employees.

The right documentation tools can turn complex tasks into streamlined processes.

In this guide, I have listed the best documentation tools that are accessible, easy to use, and work like a charm.

I personally use most of the tools listed here on a daily basis. From website builders to AI companions, every tool listed here is extremely helpful for creating and managing documentation.

Let’s open my documentation toolbox 🧰!

What Is Documentation?

Documentation is the recording of any information. It can be a record of daily activities, important things, development or problem solving.

It can be in any format. Written, audio or video.

Ausmed¹ has explained documentation in health care very well.

In health care, documentation is a method of communication between health professionals about the care provided and the patient’s response to that care.

How To Choose the Documentation Tools?

In the typical old days and still today, we use pen and paper to document things. Nothing wrong with that, but now that we have the internet, we should use it to the fullest.

We will specifically look for online documentation tools. Why? Because it’s the best way to create, manage, share and collaborate on documents.

We have studied tons of documentation examples in the past, and worked on creating software to reduce the burden from customer service. Including tools for the documentation. And from that we can tell what is required from a good documentation tool.

1. Ease of use: Whether for creating or managing content. The tool you choose should be compatible with your knowledge.
   For example, a normal user like me would prefer a WYSIWYG Editor, and a developer will most likely prefer a tool with code-friendly markdown support.
2. Powerful search: Especially when you have a large collection of documentation, the need for powerful search capabilities becomes apparent.
3. Collaborative features: Features such as real-time team collaboration, user roles, permissions, comments, and feedback.
4. Analytics and reporting: To track user activity, gain search insights, and get user feedback.
5. Automation and Integration: To automate possible things. Such as monthly reporting or sending user feedback to the editor.
6. Import and export: To easily migrate or switch documentation platforms or to scale systems.
7. Security and backups: To ensure your documents are safe against accidental loss, data corruption, or unwanted user access.

That said, let’s start with a list of best documentation tools.

The Best Documentation Tools

Note: All the tool tests and data are as of September 2024.

1. Heroic Knowledge Base

Heroic KB is an open-source documentation tool based on the popular WordPress CMS.

It provides all the functionality needed to create internal or external documentation. Including documentation for customer support, development, company policies and user guides.

Without writing a single line of code.

How you create your site is up to you – you can create a brand new WordPress site that is exclusively for documentation or you could install Heroic Knowledge Base on an existing WordPress site to add documentation functionality to that site.

To create content, you can use the flexible WordPress block editor.

Heroic KB also adds its own dedicated blocks so that you can easily add callouts, warnings, and other highlights.

Some of the Awesome Features Includes:

• Real-time AJAX search with live suggestions.
• Categories and tags to organize articles.
• Built-in analytics to track searches, views, article effectiveness, and transfers to live support channels.
• Built-in OpenAI chatbot trained on your documents.
• Customization options to make documentation sites look and feel like your own.
• Access to all WordPress features. You can extend your documentation using thousands of other plugins.
• Unlimited users, articles, categories, and so on. Basically, there are no arbitrary limits like you typically encounter on SaaS documentation tools.
• Flexible. Heroic Knowledge Base includes tons of built-in features to help you configure your documentation.
• Full data ownership. All of your data stays 100% on your own servers at all times.
• Open-source. Both WordPress and Heroic Knowledge Base are open-source (Benefits of Building an Open-Source Knowledge Base).

Downsides

• If you don’t want to use WordPress for some reason, it’s important to note that Heroic Knowledge Base only works with WordPress.

Pricing

Heroic Knowledge Base starts at $149 for use on a single website and one year of support and updates. You’ll retain access to the software forever at no extra cost, but you’ll need to renew your license to continue receiving support and updates after the first year.

How to Get Started

Here’s how to set up a documentation hub using Heroic Knowledge Base:

1. Create a WordPress site to act as the base of your hub (if you haven’t done so already).
2. Purchase and install the Heroic Knowledge Base plugin.
3. Configure your documentation hub behavior using the settings (Heroic KB → Settings)
4. Add articles using the flexible block editor.

We have an in-depth guide to turn your WordPress site into a documentation hub. Start with it.

You can also add other tweaks, such as creating an intranet site, restricting access to logged-in users, or password protecting the entire WordPress website (which can be helpful for internal documentation).

2. FastStone Capture

Some concepts are easier to understand with images or videos, rather than just reading. Screenshots and videos improve the overall clarity of the tutorial, especially in product or software documentation.

FastStone Capture is a must have tool for content writers and editors. In fact, I used FastStone Capture to create images for this post.

It allows you to capture and record your screen. It’s more advanced and user-friendly than what we can get with Chrome screen capture extensions.

If you are used to tools like Figma and Photoshop, you will love the flexibility FS Capture provides.

Key Features of FastStone Capture:

• User friendly screen capture and video recorder.
• Built-in editing tools to quickly add annotations such as text, shapes, arrows, and highlights or blur sensitive information.
• Quick video editing features to trim unwanted sections or add basic transitions.
• Advanced features such as capturing text from images using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

You can get a lifetime license of FastStone Capture for only $19.95.

It’s a great tool for documentation, I just wish it supported SVG file format and SVG editing features like Figma though 😏.

3. GitHub Wiki

GitHub provides built-in options to create documentation for your projects.

Which quite makes sense considering you as a developer get the needed information next to the project section and don’t have to explore external websites.

GitHub wikis feature is very useful for small to medium-sized projects, especially if you don’t need overly complex or large documentation.

Key Features of GitHub Wiki:

• Because it’s automatically available for each repository, it’s easy to set up and get started.
• Support markdown markup language to create and format documents.
• Other useful features include version control, multiple pages and hierarchy, collaboration, permissions, and brand-specific wikis.

GitHub Wiki feature is available for any repository, free or pro. You can easily access and edit it with impressive editing capabilities and it is SEO friendly as well.

Considering that most software doesn’t need much documentation, users can easily get started with the contents of the readme file and a few other documents. The GitHub wiki is certainly a great thing to have for software documentation and GitHub users.

4. MkDocs

MkDocs is a static site generator for creating online documentation. It’s an open-source solution and costs nothing except some development time.

It’s an ideal solution for those with a little bit of coding and development knowledge. Even non-coders like me could easily install it and customize it a little bit after spending some time.

The default site created with MkDocs looks very basic, but after installing some themes it becomes downright gorgeous. And there are many themes to choose from.

Key Features of Documentation Created With MkDocs:

• Fast, simple static site generator. Especially if you are a web developer.
• Easy customization with style.css or custom third-party themes like Material for MkDocs.
• Uses the Markdown language to create flexible custom pages.
• Easy to deploy by copying and pasting the entire site or with GitHub Pages integration.
• Powerful search bar.

MkDocs is an almost perfect choice if you want to create your own custom documentation system. However, everything needs to be coded, something most of us are not familiar with.

5. Google Docs

We’ve all used Google Docs at some point. It’s one of the best tools for the documentation, that’s for sure.

It’s way more user-friendly than Microsoft Word or any other offline document editing software. In fact, I spend more than 50% of my daily work time using Google Docs.

Given its various features, many users and companies use it as a base documentation tool.

Create a group based access and voila! Only users with access or specific group based email IDs can access your documents. Many companies hardly have 10-15 important documents, so managing documentation with Google Docs is no big deal.

Key Features of Google Docs:

• User-friendly interface with flexible controls.
• Collaborate on documents with your team in real time.
• Access documents from anywhere, on any device, as long as you have Internet access and a browser.
• Advanced roles and permissions access.
• Best-in-class version control and document history.
• Easy integration with other third-party tools and add-ons. Like AI.

Google Docs costs nothing, and that’s the best part about it. There is also a business plan starting at just $6 USD per user/mmonth, which gives you custom and secure business email and 30 GB of storage per user.

6. Grammarly

There are hundreds of writing companion tools available on the market to improve your grammar. But Grammarly just works.

It’s not the best when it comes to creating content based on your tone, but the kind of consistency it provides makes me use it every day.

Unlike other tools that impressed me on the first try, and then the glitches, bothersome popups, speed issues, and inconsistencies kept me coming back to Grammarly.

Key Features of Grammarly:

• Grammar and spelling checks.
• Availability of browser extension, word extension, android app or other applications.
• Use of AI to improve grammar and plagiarism detection.

Grammarly has a generous free plan that is good enough to fix common spelling mistakes, grammar issues, and improve writing speed. Paid plans starting from $12 USD/member/month, when billed annually.

7. Document360

Document360 is a SaaS documentation tool that lets you create your own internal or forward-facing knowledge base.

It’s a CMS system which is specially designed for documentation.

Because of its SaaS approach, it’s very easy to get started with. You just register for an account and start building your documentation via the user-friendly interface.

You can create content using a simple WYSIWYG editor with Markdown support. You’ll also get access to collaboration tools and version control, which is helpful if you’re working with a team.

On the frontend, your users will get a well-designed interface to browse content, including useful touches such as live search suggestions, automatic table of contents, and more.

Key Features of Document360:

• Easy setup.To create documentation, you just need to register for an account and start writing.
• Hosted for you. Document360 handles hosting and maintaining your documentation for you, so you never need to mess with updates or anything.
• Productivity features. You get access to some nice features such as automatic review reminders, notifications for knowledge base events, and more.

Downsides

• Expensive. The cheapest paid plan is already $199 per month and that only includes limited features.
• Limitations. If you need more team accounts or knowledge bases, you’ll need to pay extra. For example, the Startup plan only includes five team accounts. If you want more than that, you’ll pay $19 per month per account.

Document360 is a SaaS tool so you’ll pay a monthly or yearly fee for as long as you want to use it. Plans start at $199 per project per month. There is also a free plan that lets you create up to 250 articles with limited feature access.

8. GitBook

As the name suggests, GitBook is a documentation tool that’s more geared toward software teams needing to create public or private documentation.

For example, you can sync GitBook with a GitHub or GitLab repository that contains markdown files to create your documentation that way. However, you aren’t forced to use Git just to use GitBook and you can also create content using an intuitive editor or import it from other sources such as markdown files, Word documents, and more.

To organize your documentation, you can use “spaces” (i.e. one unique knowledge base) and “collections” (i.e. one category within a knowledge base).

Key Features of GitBook:

• Use familiar technical workflows. For technical teams, GitBook lets you use tools that you’re already familiar with (such as Git). It also uses technical terms, such as “branches” and “change requests” for edits.
• Collaboration features. This can be helpful if you’ll have multiple people working on the same document (maybe even at the same time).
• Free for nonprofits. If you’re a non-profit or running an open-source project, you can use GitBook for free.
• Version control.
• Live team editing and collaboration.
• Rich embeds in the content editor.
• Easy PDF export.

Downsides

• Technical. If you’re not creating software documentation, GitBook might feel a little complex. People looking to create non-technical documentation will likely want to look elsewhere.

GitBook is free for individual use, non-profits, and open-source projects. Commercial plans start at $8 per user per month, with a minimum of 5 users. So the cheapest plan would be $40 per month.

9. Read the Docs

Read the Docs is a documentation tool that’s specifically built for software or technical documentation.

It lets you manage your content and versioning using Git and then easily deploy to a user-friendly frontend interface. This approach means that it’s only really accessible to developers…but that makes sense given that it’s focused on creating technical documentation.

Key Features of Read the Docs:

• Use development tools. By using tools like Git to manage documentation, Read the Docs tries to build itself into software developers’ existing workflows.
• Strong versioning. Git makes it easy to manage versioning and you can also publish multiple versions of your docs at the same time, which is great if people might be using different versions of your software.
• Analytics to see what visitors are searching for and reading.
• Live search results and suggestions.
• Multiple concurrent builds. For example, one build for production and another for beta or one for version 1.0 and another for version 2.0.
• Easy export to PDF, HTML, or epub.
• Single-sign on via Google Workspace or VCS provider (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).

Downsides

• More complex setup. Reading the Docs is a little more complex to set up than other documentation tools because you need to work via Git. However, given that it’s focused on technical documentation, the types of people who are using Read the Docs should have no issues.
• Only for technical documentation. If you’re not creating software/technical documentation, you’ll want to pick a different documentation tool as Read the Docs is not for you.

If you have an open-source project, Read the Docs lets you create and host your documentation for free. In fact, Read the Docs says that it hosts free documentation for over 240,000 open-source projects.

For commercial businesses, there’s also a paid Read the Docs for Business service, which starts at $150 per month. All plans include unlimited projects and users – the main limitations are the features you get and the number of concurrent builds you can have.

10. Notion + Engine.so

Notion is a bit of a curveball here in that it’s not specifically built for documentation. However, with the right setup, it can be a great tool to handle all different types of documentation.

If you’re not familiar with Notion, it’s basically an all-in-one tool to handle any type of knowledge, data, project management, and lots more.

You can use it for tons of different things, including creating all types of documentation. The downside, though, is that Notion by itself is not really focused on publishing that information to a website where other people can interact with it.

That’s where Engine.so comes in. With Engine.so (a third-party service), you can publish your Notion content to your own website to easily create your own documentation hub. You can see an example of what this looks like at the Engine.so documentation.

Key Features of Notion + Engine.so:

• Unique ways of presenting information. Using Notion gives you a lot of flexibility that you might not get with more narrowly targeted documentation tools. For example, you can use the many Notion blocks in interesting ways.
• Easy to use. Unlike the Git-based tools, this approach is easy for both technical and non-technical users.
• Affordable. While there’s no free plan, this approach should be affordable for most use cases.

Downsides

• Not purpose-built for documentation. While Notion works great for documentation, that’s not the sole focus of it as it is with the other documentation tools on this list. If you’re planning to have hundreds of articles, you might prefer a more purpose-built tool.
• Limited version control. This approach doesn’t offer strong version control. If you pay for Notion, you can get 30-days of version history, but it’s not as strong as Git or the WordPress system that you get with Heroic Knowledge Base.

Notion has a free plan that should work fine for basic use cases. However, there’s a chance that you might want to pay depending on your specific needs.

To turn your Notion content into a public documentation hub, however, you’ll need to pay for Engine.so. Engine.so costs $19 per month for up to 300 pages or $49 per month for up to 1,000 pages. You can test it out with a 14-day free trial.

11. Helpjuice

Similar to Document360, Helpjuice is another popular SaaS knowledge base and documentation tool.

It helps you easily create any type of documentation using a simple text editor, including options to import from Word documents to save time.

Key Features of Helpjuice:

• Easy setup.To create documentation, you just need to register for an account.
• Hosted for you. Helpjuice handles hosting and maintaining your documentation for you, so you never need to mess with updates or anything.
• No feature-locked plans. While Helpjuice doesn’t have a free plan, all of its paid plans give you access to all features.
• Instant search results/suggestions.
• Analytics to track searches, page views, and lots more.
• Option to publish multiple versions of your documentation.
• User access levels to control who can see different articles.
• Collaboration features including in-editor comments.

Downsides

• Expensive. The cheapest plan starts at $120 per month and it can range all the way up to $500 per month.
• User limits. If you have a large team, Helpjuice can get expensive. For example, if you have more than 60 users, you need the $500 per month plan.

Helpjuice’s paid plans start at $120 per month for all features and up to four users. Plans go up from there based on the number of users you need, topping out at $500 per month for unlimited users.

The unique thing is that you get access to all features on all plans, whereas something like Document360 locks certain features behind higher-tier plans.

You can also test everything out with a 14-day free trial.

To get started, all you need to do is register for a Helpjuice account and start adding your content.

Other Recommended Documentation Tools

• Mammoth .docx converter: It’s a free WordPress plugin that allows you to import documents created with tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice into a WordPress website.
  A very handy plugin to install on your WordPress site, especially if you work as an editor.
• Capitalize My Title: It’s an online tool that automatically capitalizes titles and headlines based on various style guides. Such as AP Style, Chicago Style, or APA Style.

Which Is the Best Documentation Tool for Your Needs?

In the end, choosing the best documentation tool really depends on your specific needs, budget, and knowledge level.

Here are some common questions that you’ll want to ask yourself to narrow down your search:

• Do you want a self-hosted solution or are you ok with using a SaaS tool?
• Similarly, do you want an open-source solution or are you ok with using a closed-source tool?
• Are you creating very technical documentation (e.g. API documentation) or more consumer-facing documentation?
• Do you like the idea of using Git for version control/content management or would you rather have a dedicated knowledge management system?
• What’s your budget? Are you ok with paying an ongoing monthly fee or do you want something that’s free or a one-time payment?

By answering those questions, you should have a good idea of which is the best documentation tool for your needs.

If you’re not sure where to start, we think that Heroic Knowledge Base can meet the needs of most businesses. It offers a cost-effective, open-source approach that gives you full ownership of your data at a price that’s lower than most other tools.

But at the same time, you still get access to tons of features to create top-notch documentation, such as live search suggestions and detailed analytics. You also get access to the whole WordPress ecosystem if you want even more flexibility.

To learn more and get started, head to the Heroic Knowledge Base product page.

Mentioned Resources:

1. Ausmed website ↩︎