Is this a knowledge base editor?
Answer
No. There is no article editor, no version history, and no publishing workflow. It holds questions and answers, and it is meant to sit beside a knowledge base rather than replace one.
Compare
Knowledge base software is one shelf.
This is the shelf beside it.
Article tools are priced per plan, and per seat on some tiers. This page says what each one is for, in plain words. Then it shows the cheaper shelf next to them: the questions your customers actually asked, answered once. $9 one time on a Forumcat subdomain, or $99 a month for your own domain.
This is not a knowledge base editor. It is a public Q&A archive that sits beside one.
Free for 7 days. No credit card. Live in about five minutes.
5 minfrom sign-up to a live portal
0articles to write before you start
$9one time for a working portal
7 daysfree, no card needed
The shape of it
Two shelves in one help center
A knowledge base holds the articles your team decided to write. Someone plans them, writes them, and keeps them in order.
A Q&A archive holds the questions your customers actually asked. The order comes from them, not from a content plan.
Most support teams end up wanting both. The articles explain the product. The questions cover the corners no article thought of.
Search
The list of what to write next
Every search on your portal is counted. When a search finds nothing, it lands in a list you can read on the Analytics page.
That list is the honest version of a content plan. It is written by the people you are writing for.
- Full-text search over every question, open to everyone
- A log of searches that found nothing
- Views per question, so you can see which answers carry the load
Side by side
An article, and an answered question
Both are help content. They are made in different ways, and they age in different ways.
| Knowledge base article | Answered question on Forumcat | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | Someone on your team, ahead of time | A customer asks, your team answers once |
| Where the topic comes from | A content plan | A real customer, in their own words |
| How it stays current | Someone reviews and edits it | Replies keep arriving, and the accepted solution sits on top |
| Findable by | Your site search, and Google when the page is public | Portal search, Google, and AI engines |
| Structured data | Varies by tool | QAPage on every answered question, set up for you |
| Private cases | Varies by tool | A private question, or a whole private category |
| Cost shape | Per plan, per seat on some tiers | $9 one time, or $99 a month on your own domain |
| Time to the first one | As long as writing takes | The day a customer asks |
The left column describes article tools as a group, not any one vendor. Vendor numbers move, so price them on their own pricing pages.
Related questions
Answered once, then it answers itself
While a customer types a title, the form shows questions that look like it. Many people stop there and read the answer.
Every thread also carries up to five related questions beside it, so one answer leads to the next one.
- Duplicate suggestions while the title is being typed
- Up to five related questions beside every thread
- One accepted solution, pinned under the question
The shelf you are pricing
Six knowledge base tools, in plain words
How much does knowledge base software cost? It depends on the tool and the seat count. The numbers move, so we do not print them here. What follows is what each tool is for, and what to weigh. If you are pricing knowledge base software today, read this as the cheaper shelf beside it.
- 1
GitBook
- Best for
- Product and developer documentation teams who write in git and publish a docs site.
- Price
- Per plan, and per seat on some tiers. Check their pricing page for the number today.
- Does well
- A real editor with version control and a clean reading experience. Developers are happy to live in the docs site it publishes.
- Worth weighing
- It is built for documents you plan and maintain. Customer questions still land somewhere else.
- 2
Document360
- Best for
- Support and docs teams who want a full knowledge base platform, public or private.
- Price
- Per plan, and per seat on some tiers. Check their pricing page for the number today.
- Does well
- Article workflow, categories, versions, and reader analytics in one place, with roles for who can publish.
- Worth weighing
- It is a platform, so there is setup to do first. And someone still has to write every article.
- 3
Guru
- Best for
- Internal teams who want their own answers to show up inside the tools they already use.
- Price
- Per plan, and per seat on some tiers. Check their pricing page for the number today.
- Does well
- Short cards, and reminders that ask an owner to verify a card again. A browser extension brings them into the work.
- Worth weighing
- It points at your own staff. A public archive your customers can read is a different job.
- 4
Bloomfire
- Best for
- Bigger companies sharing knowledge across departments, not only in text.
- Price
- Per plan, and per seat on some tiers. Their site asks you to talk to sales for a number.
- Does well
- Search that reaches inside documents and video, so knowledge that is not an article is still findable.
- Worth weighing
- It is an internal knowledge tool. Your customers are not in it, and they cannot ask it anything.
- 5
Helpjuice
- Best for
- Teams who want a hosted public help center and care how the articles look.
- Price
- Per plan, and per seat on some tiers. Check their pricing page for the number today.
- Does well
- Focused on authoring and on customizing a public help center, with reporting on what readers search for.
- Worth weighing
- Same shape as the rest of the shelf: articles written ahead of time, while the questions keep arriving.
- 6
Zendesk Guide
- Best for
- Teams already paying for Zendesk who want help articles beside the work their agents do.
- Price
- Comes with Zendesk Suite plans rather than as a separate line. Check their pricing page.
- Does well
- The articles sit next to the queue your agents already work in. Nobody logs into a second tool to publish.
- Worth weighing
- It is the article half of a suite you are already buying. This is the public question half, and it leaves your queue alone.
AI engines
A copy an AI engine can read
Every public thread is also served as raw markdown, with front matter that describes it. AI engines and your own agents read that instead of scraping a page.
The same thread with the layout stripped out. This is the copy an agent asks for.
Pricing
What this shelf costs
Free for 7 days. No credit card. After that it is $9 one time on a Forumcat subdomain. Your own domain is $99 a month. The bill does not grow with traffic, questions, or seats.
Basic
$9 one-time
Create your portal- Portal on yourcompany.myforumcat.com
- 2 team seats
- 1,000 registered members
- 10,000 questions
- 1 GB (≈2,000 images) of media
- Full SEO and GEO: structured data + sitemap
- Analytics built in
most popular
Pro
$99 per month
Start with ProEverything in Basic, plus
- Your own custom domain
- Unlimited team seats
- 10,000 registered members
- Unlimited questions
- 50 GB (≈100,000 images) of media
- 1,000,000 page views / month
Questions people ask before switching
Fair questions.
Can we import our old forum or help docs?
Answer
Not today. There is no importer. Most teams start fresh and let the new questions build the archive, which is live in minutes.
We are choosing between Document360 and Helpjuice. Where does this fit?
Answer
Pick between them on the writing experience, because both are article tools. This goes next to whichever you pick, and holds the questions the articles never covered.
We use Confluence or Notion as our knowledge base. Do we need this too?
Answer
Those are good homes for internal documents. Neither gives customers a public place to ask. If you want a Confluence alternative for the customer-facing half, start with the questions.
Will the answers show up in Google and AI engines?
Answer
Every answered question becomes a fast public page with QAPage structured data, a sitemap entry, and a raw markdown view. That is what search engines and AI engines read.
What does it cost in month twelve?
Answer
The same as month one. $9 one time for a portal on a Forumcat subdomain, or $99 a month for your own domain. The bill never grows with traffic or questions.
Do customers need an account to read?
Answer
No. Reading and searching are open to everyone. Signing in is only for asking, replying, and voting, and it is passwordless.
Where to go next
Community help centerArticles and questions in one help center, and who looks after each half.Help center softwareWhat a hosted help center costs here, and what comes with it.Support forumThe public place customers ask, live in about five minutes.All comparisonsEvery comparison page we have written, in one list.
Start with the questions you already answer
Put your ten most common questions in, answer them once, and send the next customer the link.
Create your portalFree for 7 days. No credit card.
