Confluence vs Notion

2024. Notion acquires privacy-focused productivity platform Skiff



Notion has acquired Skiff, a platform established in 2020 by Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg, which specializes in providing end-to-end encrypted file storage, document management, calendar functionalities, and email services. Skiff initially garnered $14.2 million in funding and positioned itself as a secure alternative to Google Docs, expanding its offerings to include productivity solutions like calendars and emails. Skiff announced its integration with Notion on its website, along with the decision to discontinue its services after a transition period of six months. The company assured users that their Skiff accounts would not be automatically converted into Notion accounts but emphasized the ease of exporting or migrating data to other platforms.


2024. Notion launches a stand-alone calendar app



Notion, a widely used platform for note-taking and project management, has introduced a dedicated calendar service, drawing from its acquisition of the well-designed Cron calendar app in 2022. Positioned as a free next-generation iteration of Cron, Notion Calendar incorporates a built-in scheduling tool reminiscent of Calendly and offers optional deep integration with Notion. Accessible on Mac, Windows, iOS, and the web (with an Android app in development), the calendar seamlessly merges work and personal calendars, providing users with a unified view for effective day management. Although Notion has previously featured a calendar view within workspaces, it now integrates with external calendars, starting with Google Calendar. Emphasizing its standalone nature, users can opt for Notion Calendar as a standalone smart calendaring service, but for Notion users integrating it into their workflow, there's the added benefit of attaching Notion docs to calendar events, fostering better preparation and alignment within teams.


2023. Atlassian brings an AI assistant to Jira and Confluence



Atlassian has introduced Atlassian Intelligence, an AI-powered 'virtual teammate' that utilizes the company's proprietary models and OpenAI's large language models to create customized teamwork graphs. This technology enables various functionalities, such as AI-generated summaries in Confluence and test plans in Jira Software, as well as the rewriting of responses to customers in Jira Service Management. Atlassian Intelligence provides users with a chatbox similar to Chat-GPT, which is deeply integrated into different products and allows for the referencing of specific documents. For instance, to generate a summary of action items from a recent meeting, users can link the document with the transcript and request the summary inside Confluence. The tool then generates a list of decisions and action items from the meeting.


2021. Notion acquires India’s Automate.io in push to accelerate product expansion



Workplace productivity startup Notion has recently acquired Automate.io, an Indian startup renowned for developing connectivity and integrations with more than 200 services. This acquisition serves as a strategic move for Notion to expedite its product expansion and enhance its appeal to the growing number of individuals and businesses transitioning to digital collaborative tools. With the addition of Automate.io, Notion gains valuable insights into the 200 integrations the Indian startup has built. This knowledge will enable Notion to empower users and enterprises by incorporating their workflows seamlessly into the Notion platform.


2021. Atlassian peps up Confluence with new graphical design features



Confluence, the collaborative workspace developed by Atlassian, has been a staple knowledge-sharing tool for over 15 years, widely adopted by companies for its versatility. In its latest update, Confluence introduces several new features to enhance user experience. Users can now customize their spaces with cover images, title emojis, and personalized avatars that represent different sections of Confluence. The addition of smart links allows for seamless integration with platforms like YouTube and Trello, automatically recognizing and displaying links in their native formats. Furthermore, users can schedule the publication of new pages and convert pages into blog posts, reflecting the increasing popularity of corporate blogging within organizations, particularly for internal audiences during the pandemic.


2020. Online workspace startup Notion raises $50M



Online workspace startup Notion has secured $50 million in fresh funding, valuing the company at $2 billion. Established in 2016, Notion offers a comprehensive workspace solution encompassing note-taking, task management, wikis, and databases. Its unique proposition lies in consolidating various work applications into a single platform, making it ideal for efficient task and project management. Notably, amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, Notion's remote work support played a significant role in attracting investors. The company experienced a surge in new customer sign-ups, setting new records, as remote working became the norm due to the pandemic. The exponential growth of remote work in 2020, spurred by COVID-19, has significantly bolstered the user base of remote work tool providers across different industries.


2020. Atlassian’s Confluence gets a new template gallery



Confluence, the content-centric collaboration tool by Atlassian, is simplifying the onboarding process for new users through the introduction of an enhanced template gallery, featuring 75 additional templates. This update signifies the evolution of Confluence from a specialized wiki primarily used by technical documentation teams to a widely adopted tool utilized across various organizations. The revamped template gallery offers improved search tools, filters, and previews conveniently located in the right-hand panel of your Confluence site. These enhancements facilitate the seamless discovery of templates that are most relevant to your business needs.


2014. Atlassian launches JIRA and Confluence for large companies



Atlassian has unveiled two new products designed specifically for large enterprises. In the upcoming week, Atlassian will release JIRA Data Center, a version of its project management software that supports running the service on multiple nodes. Additionally, later this summer, it will introduce Confluence Data Center, a collaboration service centered around wikis. With the Data Center versions, larger companies will enjoy improved support for scaling the services across multiple nodes, resulting in enhanced performance and scalability. Administrators will have the ability to route specific applications, teams, or geographies to designated nodes within a cluster, while additional nodes can be added in real time. The clustering technology and shared file systems are seamlessly integrated with industry-standard technologies, ensuring smooth operations.


2011. JIRA, Confluence available as SaaS services


Atlassian has launched the new SaaS service Atlassian OnDemand, which includes its popular tools for managing software development projects: JIRA (issue-tracker), Confluence (wiki), GreenHopper (Agile Project Management), Bonfire (bug reporter), FishEye (code manager), Crucible (code review) and Bamboo (integration). All products in the SaaS version provide the full functionality of the installable counterparts. There are only minimal restrictions on the tool integration and use of the custom plug-ins. You can turn on/off the tools as needed. The service pricing is traditional for Atlassian - "everything for $10 for 10 users." Recall that the company is also selling the 10-user leniences of the same installable products for $10. So you can either buy the product for $10, or rent it for $10/month. ***


2009. Atlassian announced Confluence 3.0 and Plugin Exchange

Atlassian has announced the release of Confluence 3.0, an upgraded version of their enterprise wiki platform, with a strong focus on enhancing the social networking aspects. The new release introduces activity streams and Twitter-like status updates, marking a significant advancement for Atlassian. Users can now post status updates of up to 140 characters and choose to follow their colleagues' updates selectively or subscribe to entire activity streams through the web interface or RSS. While personal profiles and status updates are not groundbreaking in the realm of social software, these features enhance collaboration and communication within Confluence. Additionally, Atlassian has introduced the Plugin Exchange, a marketplace where users can download, rate, and review numerous third-party plugins. With this centralized site, Atlassian aims to create a more community-driven marketplace for Confluence plugin developers. As part of this initiative, Atlassian has acquired GreenHopper, an agile project management plugin for their JIRA issue tracking software, further complementing the launch of the Plugin Exchange.