AI Indexes
IT AI Index
October 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › IT operations and endpoint › IT documentation › Small business › October 2026 Edition

IT documentation for small business buyers

Asked as “IT documentation platform”, and as “IT knowledge and asset documentation tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 61 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories: how the two compare.
Standing · first-choice share
30%
Contested · Hudu 26%
30Notion26Hudu11IT Glue33others

30% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Notion30%25%64criticized challenger
02Hudu26%8%39accepted challenger
03IT Glue11%52%42criticized challenger
04Confluence10%23%57accepted challenger
05BookStack7%5%19accepted challenger
06Nuclino2%0%13accepted challenger
07Slite2%0%12accepted challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08Document3600%17%29accepted challenger
09GitBook0%0%14accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Notion30%
02Hudu26%
03IT Glue11%
04Confluence10%
05BookStack7%
06Nuclino2%
07Slite2%
08Document3600%
09GitBook0%

What they warned about

Two of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX, MiniMax M2.5 and Muse Glimmer 30B changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Notion
25%
16 of 64 labels negative · 12 of 14 models · 1 hard negative
“Small businesses should avoid general-purpose wikis and LMS platforms for IT documentation” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Confluence
23%
13 of 57 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 3 hard negative
“Small businesses should avoid general-purpose wikis and LMS platforms for IT documentation” Mistral Small, negative prompt
IT Glue
52%
22 of 42 labels negative · 8 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“Caution level: High — Especially for small businesses on a tight budget... Who should avoid: Small businesses with 1–3 IT staff” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Document360
17%
5 of 29 labels negative · 5 of 14 models · 3 hard negative
“Document360 was discontinued in November 2024, so it is no longer a viable option for new users.” Mistral Small, negative prompt

What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the fourteen in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

74 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 992 links across 226 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.

vendor site · Ferndesk40 answers · 44 citations · 12 models
vendor site · G229 answers · 42 citations · 13 models
vendor site · Document36024 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
vendor site · ONES.com22 answers · 32 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Hudu17 answers · 25 citations · 6 models
vendor site · ClickUp16 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Docsie16 answers · 16 citations · 10 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Flamingo14 answers · 17 citations · 5 models
vendor site · Slite14 answers · 17 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best it documentation platform”, “it documentation platform”, “it documentation platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Notion notion.com30%153673,00015,6081,061,46652
Hudu hudu.com26%883,600672,3151
IT Glue itglue.com11%1186,600231,37320,56618
Confluence atlassian.com10%155165,0006,6174,724,388$5,906616
BookStack bookstackapp.com7%4612,100989,396
Freshdesk freshworks.com
Freshservice 2%, Freshdesk 2%
3%38112,100391111,586$14,486113
Nuclino nuclino.com2%241,6002110,4890
Slite slite.com2%222,9007038,0451
Snipe-IT snipeitapp.com2%1255,40013,8606,867
Docmost docmost.com2%3

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 19 sites; 1 of them are among the sites the models cited here (ferndesk.com). The first result for “best it documentation platform” is reddit.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best IT documentation platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which IT knowledge and asset documentation tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top IT documentation platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best IT documentation platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an IT documentation platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which IT documentation platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Freshdesk
Two alternativesConfluence, Document360
against: Notion
Freshservice, ManageEngine's AssetExplorerChanged
Four alternativesAsset Panda, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
Notion
Four alternativesConfluence, ProProfs Knowledge Base, Scribe, Slite
Notion
Two alternativesConfluence, GitBook
no first choiceagainst: DocuWare, Google Drive, IT Portal, M-Files, Nintex, Notion, SharePoint
GPT-5.4 miniConfluence
Four alternativesDocument360, Hudu, IT Glue, Notion
HuduChanged
One alternativeIT Glue
Notion, Slite
Six alternativesConfluence, Document360, Docusaurus, GitBook, MkDocs, ReadMe
BookStack
Two alternativesConfluence, Notion
against: GitHub wiki / markdown in repo
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, IT Glue
Gemini 3.5 FlashHudu
Four alternativesBookStack, Confluence, Notion, Scribe
against: IT Glue
HuduHeld
Five alternativesBookStack, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Notion, Snipe-IT
against: IT Glue
Hudu
Three alternativesBookStack, Confluence, Notion
against: IT Glue
BookStack, Hudu
Two alternativesConfluence, Outline
Hudu
Three alternativesBookStack, IT Portal, Notion
against: Confluence, IT Glue
against: Atlassian Confluence, BookStack, Google Drive, IT Glue, Jira Service Management, Loom, Microsoft OneNote, Outline, SharePoint, Tango, Trainual, Wiki.js
Perplexity SonarHudu, Notion
Two alternativesConfluence, DokuWiki
NotionChanged
Three alternativesBlueDocs, Confluence, DokuWiki
Notion
Four alternativesConfluence, Document360, GitBook, Nuclino
Confluence
Two alternativesBookStack, MediaWiki
against: Hudu, Notion
no first choiceagainst: 360Learning, Confluence, Docebo, Guru, Jira, Lucidchart, Notion, ProProfs Knowledge Base, Slab, TalentLMS
Grok 4.1 FastNotion
Four alternativesClickUp Docs, Confluence, Nuclino, Slab
IT GlueChanged
Two alternativesSnipe-IT, Spiceworks Inventory
Notion
Three alternativesGitBook, Nuclino, Slab
against: Confluence
Notion
Four alternativesBookStack, ClickUp Docs, Confluence, GitBook
no first choiceagainst: Notionagainst: Atlassian Confluence, Document360, Guru, IT Glue, MediaWiki, Notion, ServiceNow, TalentLMS
Mistral SmallHelp Scout, Notion
Two alternativesDocument360, Slite
PlainChanged
Three alternativesAssetSonar, Atera, HelpSpace
Notion
Three alternativesConfluence, Document360, IT Glue
Notion
Two alternativesHelpndoc, Scribe
no first choiceagainst: 360Learning, Confluence, Docebo, Document360, Guru, Notion, TalentLMS
DeepSeek V4 FlashConfluence, Huduagainst: IT Glue, NotionHuduChanged
Three alternativesConfluence, Freshservice, Notion
against: IT Glue
Hudu
Five alternativesBookStack, Confluence, Notion, Nuclino, Tettra
against: IT Glue
BookStack
Three alternativesConfluence, Hudu, Notion
Hudu, IT Glue
Two alternativesConfluence, Notion
against: Confluence, Google Docs, IT Glue, NinjaOne Documentation, Notion, Trello boards, Wix, Word documents
Llama 4 MaverickIT Glue
Five alternativesDocusaurus, Mintlify, Notion, Plain, Scalar
no first choiceChangedno first choiceNotion
One alternativeHelpndoc
no first choiceagainst: 360Learning, Confluence, Docebo, Document360, Guru, Notion, TalentLMS
Qwen 3.7 FlashNotion
Three alternativesConfluence, GitBook, Slite
Snipe-ITChanged
Five alternativesDocuSign's "SignLive", Document360, GitBook, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, Notion
Notion
Two alternativesDocument360, GitBook
against: Confluence, Obsidian
Notion
Three alternativesGitBook, Obsidian, Wiki.js
against: Microsoft 365
IT Glue
Four alternativesConfluence, Document360, Hudu, Notion
against: Coda, Confluence, Excel, Google Sheets, Jira Service Management, Logseq, MediaWiki, Microsoft OneDrive, Notion, Obsidian, ServiceNow, SharePoint Server, Slack, Teams, Wiki.js
Kimi K2Hudu, Notion
Three alternativesConfluence, Document360, Nuclino
against: IT Glue
HuduChanged
Three alternativesDocument360, Freshservice, Notion
against: IT Glue
Hudu
Four alternativesConfluence, GitBook, Notion, Nuclino
against: Document360, IT Glue
Confluence, Notion
Three alternativesBookStack, Docmost, Hudu
against: IT Glue
Hudu
One alternativeConfluence
against: IT Glue, Notion
against: Confluence, DokuWiki, IT Glue
GLM 4.7 FlashXNotion
Four alternativesDocument360, Hudu, Nuclino, Slite
against: IT Glue
IT GlueChanged
Three alternativesBloomfire, Snipe-IT, Zoho Desk
Hudu, IT Glue
Five alternativesConfluence, Flamingo, ITFlow, Notion, Passportal
Confluence, Notion
One alternativeTettra
against: Hudu
no first choiceagainst: Atlassian Confluence, Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, Google Docs, MediaWiki, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Word, Notion, OpenText Content Cloud, ServiceNow
MiniMax M2.5Nuclino, UsePylon
One alternativeProProfs Knowledge Base
NotionChanged
Two alternativesIT Glue, Snipe-IT
Notion, Nuclino
Four alternativesConfluence, Document360, GitBook, ONES Wiki
Notion
Three alternativesBookStack, Confluence, Wiki.js
no first choiceagainst: Atlassian Confluence, Notion
GPT-6 LunaHudu
Two alternativesConfluence, Document360
against: IT Glue
HuduHeld
One alternativeSnipe-IT
Hudu
Five alternativesBookStack, Confluence, IT Glue, Notion, SharePoint
Hudu
One alternativeBookStack
against: Confluence, IT Glue
Hudu, IT Glue
Two alternativesConfluence, SharePoint
against: Confluence, Hudu self-hosted, IT Glue, Notion, SharePoint
Muse Glimmer 30BNotion, Slite
Three alternativesConfluence, Document360, GitBook
IT GlueChanged
Four alternativesClickUp Docs, Notion, Slite, Snipe-IT
NotionBookStack, Confluence, Docmost, Notion
Three alternativesDesk365, Nuclino, Wiki.js
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, Document360, Hudu, IT Glue, Notion, OneNote, SharePoint wiki pages, SuperOps
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:39yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 00:01yes35 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 22:12yes1223 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 22:56yes192 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:28yes2511 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:52yes95 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 23:56yes2326 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:50yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:40no023 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 22:48yes1420 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 23:54yes2572 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:12yes516 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-05 00:06yes412 s
Direct recommendationMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-05 00:18yes1422 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-04 23:38yes1910 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 00:39yes45 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:54yes1228 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:30yes203 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:15yes248 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:15yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 22:38yes2321 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:01yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:23no029 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:59yes2020 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:23yes1532 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:14yes1019 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-05 01:26yes215 s
ParaphraseMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-05 01:14yes2428 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:47yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 00:59yes05 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 01:19yes1628 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 00:17yes166 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:49yes219 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 23:28yes108 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:24yes2265 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:56yes51 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:28no024 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 23:59yes1427 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:03yes1960 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:15yes1523 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-04 23:41yes622 s
ComparativeMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-05 00:36yes1514 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:13no04 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 22:34yes15 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 01:18yes1327 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 00:43yes192 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:14yes156 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 22:59yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 23:48yes2429 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:13yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:25no025 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 23:50yes1521 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:14yes2524 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-04 23:52yes1026 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-05 01:26yes416 s
Budget constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-04 23:55yes1517 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-04 23:26no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:10no06 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 22:11yes1227 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:19yes185 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-04 22:12yes117 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:47no08 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:48yes1024 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:27yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:25yes1026 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 23:01yes1328 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:28yes12103 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:37no09 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-04 22:46yes221 s
Scale constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-04 23:53yes1424 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:43yes188 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 23:28yes55 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:40yes1527 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 23:59yes203 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:22yes2012 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 01:04yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 23:20yes2339 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:01yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:51yes1054 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 01:40yes2324 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:01yes2349 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:04yes2351 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-05 01:08yes321 s
Negative framingMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-05 00:38yes2329 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
ClickUp read as ClickUp Docs
NinjaOne read as NinjaOne Documentation
Unresolved, counted raw
Baklib
Docsio
DocuSign's "SignLive"
GitHub wiki / markdown in repo
HedgeDoc
HelpSpace
Hudu self-hosted
Logseq
Loom
ManageEngine's AssetExplorer
Microsoft OneNote
OpenText Content Cloud
ProProfs
Scalar
SharePoint Server (On-Premise)
SharePoint wiki pages
Trainual
Trello boards
UsePylon
Word documents
Zim Wiki
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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