Confluence vs MediaWiki: What are the differences?

1. Ease of Use: Confluence is known for its user-friendly interface and easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, making it more approachable for non-technical users. On the other hand, MediaWiki has a steeper learning curve due to its markup language editing style, which may be challenging for those unfamiliar with wiki syntax.

2. Customization Options: Confluence offers more customization options, templates, and plugins out of the box, allowing users to tailor their wiki to specific requirements without the need for extensive technical knowledge. MediaWiki, while highly customizable, may require additional technical expertise or development skills to achieve similar levels of customization and functionality.

3. Pricing and Licensing: Confluence is a commercial product offered by Atlassian, with pricing based on the number of users and additional features included in different plans. MediaWiki, on the other hand, is open-source and free to use, with no licensing fees, making it a more cost-effective solution for organizations on a budget.

4. Security Features: Confluence provides advanced security features such as granular permissions, encryption options, and integration with single sign-on (SSO) providers to ensure data privacy and protection. MediaWiki also offers security measures but may require additional plugins or configurations to reach the same level of security as Confluence.

5. Support and Community: Confluence users benefit from Atlassian's customer support, documentation, and a large community of users for troubleshooting and best practices. MediaWiki, being open-source, relies heavily on its community for support, updates, and development, which may not offer the same level of dedicated assistance as a commercial product like Confluence.

6. Scalability and Performance: Confluence is designed to handle large amounts of content and users efficiently, making it suitable for enterprises with extensive documentation needs. While MediaWiki can also scale effectively, additional optimizations and configurations may be required for high traffic or data-intensive environments.

In Summary, Confluence excels in ease of use, customization options, and support, while MediaWiki offers cost-effective pricing, security measures, and a robust community for collaborative development.