HelpDocs vs KnowledgeOwl

HelpDocs

• Support teams that want to buy a help center without a sales call
• Products that need help content embedded inside the app
• Early-stage startups, which can apply for 50% off for two years

KnowledgeOwl

• Documentation teams that want migration and onboarding done with them
• Knowledge bases with many readers and only a few authors
• Nonprofits and B Corporations, which get a 25% discount

HelpDocs

• There is no free plan: after the 14-day trial the cheapest plan is $99 a month billed annually, or $129 billed monthly.
• Plans include 5, 15 or 25 editors. Only Harvest lists extra editors, at $25 each per month.
• Sprout is limited to 3 languages and 10 machine translations a month, and has no audit trail, advanced permissioning or SSO.
• Analytics history covers 90 days on Sprout, 180 days on Bloom and 365 days on Harvest.

KnowledgeOwl

• Each plan includes only 1 author and 1 knowledge base; additional ones are listed at $25 per author and $50 per knowledge base.
• Basic has no custom domain, HTML/CSS/JS branding control, developer API or remote authentication. Those start on Pro at $250 a month.
• SAML SSO, Salesforce SSO and custom author roles need the Business plan at $500 a month.
• Articles are capped by plan: 1,000 on Basic, 2,500 on Pro and 5,000 on Business.

HelpDocs

Editor with reusable content

Clips are reusable blocks that update in every article they sit in, and Variables store a value such as a product name once so a change reaches every mention.

HelpDocs AI

AI credits pay for drafting and rewriting articles, generating meta descriptions, alt text and search tags, and Ask AI answers. Bloom adds AI style enforcement.

Lighthouse widget

An embeddable help widget lets customers find answers from the knowledge base inside a website or product, and is set up without writing code.

Connections to AI tools and Slack

An MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other clients to the knowledge base, a Slack app brings articles into a workspace, and a REST API returns JSON.

Multilingual knowledge bases

Articles are translated by machine or by hand. Sprout covers 3 languages, Bloom 20 and Harvest unlimited, each with a monthly allowance of machine translations.

Permissions and governance

Advanced permissioning and an audit trail start on Bloom. Single sign-on, IP restriction and custom HTTP headers come with Harvest.

KnowledgeOwl

Editor and versioning

A no-code rich text editor with reusable content snippets, article statuses from Draft to Needs Review, and major and minor versions that can be compared and restored.

Search and AI chatbot

Search needs no tagging and includes semantic search, a synonym library and indexed PDF content. The AI chatbot answers only from the knowledge base and links to its source articles.

Reader access controls

Unlimited reader groups decide who can read which content. Remote authentication starts on Pro, and SAML and Salesforce single sign-on on Business.

AI writing help

AI credits cover first drafts and outlines, article summaries, meta descriptions and style guide review: 100 a month on Basic, 500 on Pro and 1,000 on Business.

Owl Analytics

Built-in reports track searches, article performance and content gaps, keeping 45 days of data on Basic, 90 days on Pro and 450 days on Business.

Migration and theme build

KnowledgeOwl's team migrates existing content, builds a custom branded theme at no extra charge and holds regular 1:1 onboarding calls until launch.

HelpDocs

• Sprout$99

  per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)

  5 editors, 1,000 AI credits a month, 3 languages, unlimited viewers, the Lighthouse widget and custom CSS and JavaScript.

• Bloom$239

  per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)

  15 editors and 5,000 AI credits, adding advanced permissioning, an audit trail, embedded SSO (JWT), 20 languages and custom HTML templates.

• Harvest$399

  per month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)

  25 editors and 10,000 AI credits, adding SSO with anonymous mode, IP restriction, unlimited languages and 2 additional domains.

KnowledgeOwl

• Basic$100

  per month

  1 author and 1 knowledge base, up to 1,000 articles, 100 AI credits and 45 days of analytics. No custom domain, developer API or SSO.

• Pro$250

  per month

  Up to 2,500 articles and 500 AI credits, adding a custom domain, HTML/CSS/JS branding control, the developer API, remote authentication and reader reports.

• Business$500

  per month

  Up to 5,000 articles and 1,000 AI credits, adding SAML and Salesforce SSO, custom author roles, payment by invoice and a 99.5% uptime guarantee.

• Enterprise$1,250

  per month

  Custom article, author and knowledge base counts, 10,000 AI credits, dedicated account management, custom terms and a 99.9% uptime SLA.

HelpDocs

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with annual billing

  The pricing page marks annual billing as saving 20%: Sprout is $99 a month instead of $129, Bloom $239 instead of $299 and Harvest $399 instead of $499.

• Startups

  Greenhouse: 50% off for two years

  Startups under 3 years old with 5 or fewer employees can apply for 50% off Sprout, Bloom or Harvest for 24 months, plus 3,000 bonus AI credits.

KnowledgeOwl

• Nonprofit

  25% off for nonprofits and B Corps

  The KnowledgeOwl for Good discount gives nonprofits, B Corporations and purpose-driven organizations 25% off.