Salesforce Knowledge and Document360 come at knowledge management from very different directions, so the comparison isn't as simple as stacking feature lists.

Salesforce Knowledge is a module inside Service Cloud (now Agentforce Service), built to surface articles to agents while they're working cases. If your support operation already runs on Salesforce, Knowledge is already part of the ecosystem, and that native CRM integration is a real advantage. Document360 is a standalone documentation platform with a clean editor and publishing workflow, aimed at teams that need to build out a help center or internal wiki without the overhead of a larger suite.

What support teams actually need from knowledge goes beyond both approaches. Teams handling complex processes, multistep troubleshooting, or high ticket volumes often need knowledge that goes further, guiding agents through each step and helping customers self-serve on issues that aren't simple FAQ material. Neither platform was designed for that kind of guided execution, so we'll also cover Stonly, which was built specifically for it.

Before we get into a deeper comparison, here's a quick summary of who each platform may be best suited for:

  • Salesforce Knowledge: Best for teams already running Salesforce Service Cloud who want a native knowledge base tightly connected to their case management and CRM data.
  • Document360: Best for small companies and startups that need a straightforward knowledge base with a simple interface for creating and publishing documentation.
  • Stonly: Best for high-volume customer service teams that need interactive, process-driven knowledge for both agents and customers, with deep help desk integrations and analytics tied to support outcomes.

Let's now walk through each platform's key features, advantages, and shortcomings. Then, we'll compare them head-to-head across the categories that matter most when evaluating knowledge base software.

Salesforce Knowledge Overview

Salesforce Knowledge is Service Cloud's built-in knowledge base, aimed at support teams that run case management on Salesforce. Agents use it to find, attach, and write articles as part of handling cases, and companies can extend the same library to partners and customers. As a component of a larger CRM suite, its strengths and limits follow from that context.

Key Features

  • Integration With Agentforce: Agents can find and attach an article without leaving the case, which shortens the path to resolution.
  • Einstein Article Recommendations: Einstein, Salesforce's AI, reads cases and suggests the articles most likely to resolve them. Agents can skip the search step, and newer agents find answers they wouldn't have known to look for.
  • Article Versioning and Approval Workflows: Every article has a version history, and changes route through an approval process before publishing. Teams can trace who changed what and keep unreviewed drafts away from readers.
  • Knowledge Analytics: Reports and dashboards cover article views, ratings, search terms, and how often articles get linked to cases. Support managers can see which content resolves cases and which searches come back empty.

Advantages

  • Salesforce Knowledge is native to the system where agents are working, so finding an answer never means switching tools. Articles appear next to the open case.
  • Access control follows the Salesforce role hierarchy. Large organizations can scope article visibility to existing roles and channels instead of rebuilding permissions in a new system.
  • There's no new vendor to buy or integrate. Teams already paying for Service Cloud get knowledge, case data, and reporting on one platform and one contract.

Shortcomings

  • Content in Salesforce Knowledge is limited to static articles. An article can tell an agent what to do, but it can't walk them through the process. Consistent execution depends on each person's interpretation.
  • Customer self-service requires Experience Cloud, a separate product with its own cost and configuration work. A public help center becomes a second project rather than a setting you turn on.
  • Setup and upkeep typically call for a certified admin or consulting partner, and finding stale content is a manual job. Knowledge also competes with dozens of other product lines for Salesforce's development attention.

Document360 Overview

Document360 is a knowledge base platform for teams that write and maintain a lot of documentation. Companies can run it as a public help center, a product documentation site, or a private internal knowledge base. Writers work in an editing portal, while readers see a separate, published site.

Key Features

  • Dual Editors: Writers can work in Markdown or in a WYSIWYG editor that behaves like a word processor. Technical writers and occasional contributors each get a format they're comfortable in.
  • Custom Workflow Builder: Teams define the stages an article passes through, assign owners, and set due dates. Review and publishing stay accountable as more contributors join.
  • Eddy AI: The built-in assistant generates drafts, answers reader searches, summarizes articles, and builds glossaries. An AI chatbot for automated support responses is sold as an add-on.
  • Ticket Deflector: Before a user submits a support request, the deflector suggests articles that might resolve the question. Companies can measure how many contacts it prevents.

Advantages

  • Document360 is quick to launch and simple to run. Publishing a working help center doesn't require certified admins or consultants, which keeps operating costs down for small teams.
  • Content management fundamentals are strong. Version history, reusable content blocks, and bulk article operations keep large libraries manageable.
  • Of the three, Document360 is the least expensive option. Teams that only need a documentation hub can get one without paying for capabilities they won't use.

Shortcomings

  • Aside from its decision trees, Document360's content is static. If the right fix depends on the reader's situation, the article can't adjust, and the reader has to pick out which steps apply.
  • Document360's help desk integrations stop at article access. Agents can search and share content from their ticketing tool, but the knowledge can't read ticket data or act on the case.
  • Reporting centers on content consumption, with the ticket deflector as the main outcome signal. There's no way to connect knowledge to resolution rates or agent handle time.

Stonly Overview

Stonly is a knowledge platform designed for customer service teams. Its content provides guidance rather than reference material, walking agents and customers through processes step by step. Everything in the platform, from authoring to analytics, connects back to resolving cases.

Interactive Guides for Complex Support Scenarios

Stonly supports standard articles, but its signature format is the interactive guide. Guides present one step at a time, branch on the reader's choices, and pull in personal or contextual data to adjust the path. That makes guides a fit for troubleshooting, SOPs, and any process where the answer changes with the situation.

Authors build guides in the same editor as articles and can add images, GIFs, and video at any step. One guide can serve customers in the help center and agents inside the ticket view, so teams maintain a single version of each process.

AI That Follows Support Processes

Stonly's AI draws on structured guides instead of unstructured articles, which makes its answers more consistent. AI Answers responds to customer questions directly and asks clarifying questions when several answers are possible. When it hits a knowledge gap, it hands the conversation to an agent with full context.

Agent Copilot works on the agent side. It reads the ticket, finds the matching workflow, and drafts the reply. Custom instructions let teams tell the AI exactly how to handle recurring situations.

Knowledge Agents That Keep Content Accurate

Knowledge Agents watch incoming tickets, failed searches, and changes to source documents. They catch content that's outdated, duplicated, or missing, then draft the fix for a human to review and publish. Maintenance runs in the background instead of waiting for a quarterly audit.

The agents also take direct assignments. A knowledge manager can ask them to turn release notes into a customer-facing FAQ, convert a PDF policy into a step-by-step guide, or update every article that references an old pricing tier.

Two-Way Help Desk Integrations

Stonly connects to Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshworks, and ServiceNow with integrations that read and write ticket data. Guides adapt to the ticket in front of the agent and can fill fields or trigger macros along the way. Agents follow the matching process and complete the work without leaving the ticket view.

Relevant guides appear based on ticket data rather than keyword search alone. Context gathered during customer self-serve also carries into the handoff, so agents don't ask customers to repeat themselves.

Contextual Delivery Across Channels

Stonly delivers knowledge to products, websites, and agent tools rather than keeping it in the help center alone. Widgets, tooltips, banners, and popups appear based on who the user is and what they're doing. Help arrives in the moment, which improves usage and self-serve resolution.

Targeting rules control which content each segment sees, using customer attributes and behavior. Teams can show different guidance to different plans, regions, or user types without duplicating content.

What Real Customers Are Saying About Stonly

"Being able to edit content in one place while keeping everything consistent is invaluable for ensuring our teams always have the most up-to-date information."

Ryne Sorensen, Sr. Manager of CS Operations at Zeel

"Stonly enabled nearly all of our customers to migrate to new software on their own without having to contact support, saving our team a ton of work."

SĂ©bastien Faure, Head of Customer Service at Devialet

"We have significantly reduced our most critical customer obstacles by adding contextual knowledge popups in our agents’ flow of work."

Jessica Pechloff, Director of Customer Operations at Motus

Comparing Salesforce Knowledge, Doc360, and Stonly Head-to-Head

The three platforms overlap on paper but differ in how they handle daily support work. The comparisons below walk through nine categories to help you find the best knowledge base software for your organization.

Content Formats

Formats span static articles on one end and interactive, branching guides on the other. That range determines how much users can get done before escalating.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Content Formats Article-only, using configurable article types like FAQ and How To. Supports rich text, images, video, and file attachments. No branching or interactive formats. Articles created in Markdown or WYSIWYG editors, with callouts, media, and reusable content blocks. Includes an interactive decision tree feature for guided troubleshooting. Standard articles plus interactive guides and decision trees. Guides branch on user choices and personalize steps with contextual data. Built for troubleshooting, SOPs, and complex processes.

AI Capabilities

Each platform includes AI knowledge management features, but they serve different goals. Depending on the vendor, the focus is CRM intelligence, content creation, or support resolution.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
AI Capabilities Einstein recommends articles and classifies cases in the agent console. Agentforce handles cases autonomously. AI investment centers on the broader Service Cloud and CRM suite rather than on knowledge itself. Eddy AI assists with writing, search, and article summarization. It also generates glossaries and detects duplicate content. An AI chatbot is available as a paid add-on. AI Answers resolves customer questions using structured guide content. Agent Copilot reads the ticket and follows the matching process. Knowledge Agents monitor tickets and source documents continuously, then flag stale content and draft updates for review.

Help Desk Integrations

Depth of integration varies from native but confined to one ecosystem, to simple article access, to two-way exchange of ticket data.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Help Desk Integrations Native to Service Cloud. Articles attach to cases and appear in the agent console. Teams running ticketing outside Salesforce will find limited value. One-way connections to Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Salesforce, Drift, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. Agents can search and share articles from those tools. Two-way integrations with Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshworks, and ServiceNow. Guides read ticket fields to adapt and write data back to the ticket as agents work.

Workflow Automation

This category has the widest gap, running from automation of content publishing only to guided flows that perform actions directly in the help desk.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Workflow Automation Approval workflows govern article publishing. Service Cloud's macros and assignment rules automate case handling, but knowledge content doesn't drive or execute those workflows. A custom workflow builder automates content review and publishing cycles. No automation extends into agent support workflows. Agent-facing guides act on the help desk directly. They pre-fill ticket fields, trigger macros, and skip irrelevant steps based on ticket data.

Unified Internal + External Knowledge

Internal and external audiences get different treatment on each platform. The distinction becomes important when agents and customers will share one system.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Internal + External Knowledge Articles can be scoped to internal, partner, or customer channels. Publishing self-service content to customers requires Experience Cloud, a separately purchased and configured product. Supports public and private projects from one platform, each with its own users and branding. Audiences are managed as separate knowledge bases rather than one shared body of content. One content set serves both audiences. The same knowledge powers agent guidance and customer self-service, with rights management and targeting controlling who sees what.

Analytics and Reporting

Standard knowledge base analytics end at views and searches. Connecting usage to resolution rates, handle time, or deflection calls for reporting built around support outcomes.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Analytics and Reporting Reports on article views, ratings, search terms, and case-attach rates. Connecting knowledge activity to outcomes generally means building custom reports or dashboards. Broad content analytics covering article performance, reader behavior, search queries, and feedback. Also tracks author activity, broken links, and ticket deflector results. Measures knowledge against support outcomes, including resolution, deflection, and agent usage. Shows where users get stuck mid-guide and reports on search and AI effectiveness.

Contextual Help

How and where knowledge reaches people differs on each platform. Delivery might happen in the agent console, inside an app, through behavioral triggers, or only in a standalone portal.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Contextual Help Case context drives article suggestions inside the agent console. Reaching customers in your own product or website requires Experience Cloud portals or custom development. Embeddable knowledge base widget with contextual page mapping and a ticket deflector. Conditional content varies by reader group, country, device, or date. No-code widget, tooltips, banners, and popups triggered by user behavior and data. Content targets audience segments, and agents get the same contextual delivery inside their ticketing tools.

Service and Support Model

Service models run from standard vendor support up to dedicated success teams. Each platform also demands a different amount of admin work on your side.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Service and Support Support follows Salesforce's tiered Success Plans, and premium tiers cost extra. Setup and maintenance typically depend on a certified Salesforce admin or consulting partner. Onboarding sessions, training, and migration assistance are part of the standard motion. A success manager is assigned to accounts. A dedicated onboarding, success, and account team is part of the engagement. That team consults on content strategy, rollout, and adoption.

Price

Exact pricing requires a sales conversation with each vendor. The tiers below show relative cost for a mid-sized support team.

Salesforce Knowledge Document360 Stonly
Price $$-$$$$ (Read-only Knowledge available at the Enterprise tier, from $175/user/month; full read-write Knowledge included in the Unlimited tier, from $350/user/month. Full AI suite requires an upgrade to the Agentforce 1 Service tier, starting at $550/user/month) $$ (Quote-based. Priced on setup.) $$$ (Quote-based. Tailored to small business and enterprise setups and goals.)

Which Platform Should You Choose?

After comparing content formats, AI, integrations, automation, analytics, and pricing, your decision depends on what your team needs knowledge to do.

Choose Salesforce Knowledge if your support operation already runs on Service Cloud and you want a knowledge base connected to your case and CRM data. Articles stay inside the system agents already use, and Einstein suggests relevant content based on case context.

Remember that Knowledge is one module inside a much larger suite. Content is limited to static articles, and customer self-service means buying and configuring Experience Cloud separately. You'll also likely need a certified admin or consulting partner, and teams with tools outside Salesforce may want to compare the platform's alternatives.

Choose Document360 if you're a smaller team or startup that needs a straightforward documentation tool. The content management basics are solid, including version control, approval workflows, and AI-assisted writing.

It's a reasonable starting point for teams that don't yet need workflow automation, two-way help desk integrations, or outcome-based analytics. As your support operation scales, those are the areas where you may feel constrained first. 

Choose Stonly if your team needs knowledge that drives support performance. Interactive guides adapt to each situation, and two-way help desk integrations bring knowledge into the agent workflow. Analytics tie usage to outcomes like deflection and handle time.

One platform serves both agents and customers. The hands-on partnership model adds strategic help with content architecture, rollout, and adoption. Stonly also works across the whole support stack, including Salesforce, so knowledge can travel with you if your tools change.

Most support and CX teams will choose based on how much they need knowledge to do beyond storing articles. To see how interactive guidance, workflow automation, and outcome-based analytics work in practice, request a demo of Stonly and test it against your specific support challenges.