11 Best IT Documentation Software Tools for 2026

IT documentation software is a central, searchable place for everything an IT team needs to run its infrastructure: runbooks, standard operating procedures, asset and configuration records, network diagrams, licence details and, in many tools, a secure vault for credentials. Good documentation shortens outages, speeds up onboarding, and stops critical knowledge leaving the company when one engineer does.

The market splits into four groups. There are purpose-built IT documentation platforms (IT Glue, Hudu), general wikis that IT teams adapt (Confluence, SharePoint, BookStack), network sources of truth (NetBox, Device42), and process-capture tools (Scribe). The best choice depends on what you need to document and, increasingly, on where you are allowed to store it.

What IT teams should document

How we evaluated these tools

IT documentation software at a glance

11 best IT documentation tools reviewed

1. IT Glue

Best for: managed service providers already using Kaseya tools.

IT Glue is one of the best-known documentation platforms for MSPs. It structures documentation around organisations, configurations, contacts, passwords and flexible assets, and links related records so a technician can move from a server to its credentials, warranty and runbook in a few clicks. It integrates deeply with Kaseya’s RMM and PSA products.

Key features

• Structured records with relationships between them
• Built-in password management
• Templates and flexible assets
• Network Glue add-on for automated discovery and diagrams

Deployment: cloud.

Pricing: not openly published. A third-party pricing site lists Basic at about $29, Select at $38 and Enterprise at $44 per user per month, with a typical five-user minimum and an onboarding fee [VERIFY].

Pros

• Mature, MSP-focused structure
• Strong integrations with Kaseya products

Cons

• Long contracts are common
• Small teams pay more per user

Not for: organisations that need to self-host.

2. Hudu

Best for: MSPs and internal IT teams that want a single, transparent price.

Hudu covers documentation, asset management, a password vault, IP address management, rack diagrams, a knowledge base, SOPs and a client portal in one plan. It also monitors websites and SSL certificate expiry. An optional add-on called Hudu Radar handles network discovery. Hudu is one of the few dedicated IT documentation platforms that can be self-hosted.

Key features

• Password vault, IPAM and rack management included
• Client portals with free read-only users
• AI assistant and browser extension
• REST API, webhooks and more than 60 integrations

Deployment: cloud or self-hosted.

Pricing: $27 per user per month on annual billing, with no minimums or contracts and a 14-day free trial, according to Hudu. Self-hosted pricing is quoted.

Pros

• Simple, all-inclusive pricing
• Self-hosting option

Cons

• Younger platform than IT Glue
• Network discovery is a paid add-on

Not for: teams that only need a general-purpose wiki.

3. Atlassian Confluence

Best for: IT teams that already run Jira and Jira Service Management.

Confluence is the most widely used team wiki. IT teams use it for runbooks, architecture pages and post-incident reviews, often linked directly to Jira tickets. Templates, page trees and powerful search make it easy to start. Atlassian is ending its self-managed Data Center products: new customers could no longer buy them after 30 March 2026, and they reach end of life on 28 March 2029, after which they become read-only.

Key features

• Page trees, templates and real-time editing
• Deep Jira integration
• Large marketplace of apps
• AI features in paid tiers

Deployment: cloud. Data Center (self-managed) is ending in 2029.

Pricing: free for up to 10 users. Standard is about $5.78 and Premium about $11.16 per user per month according to a third-party pricing site; Enterprise is quoted.

Pros

• Familiar to most IT staff
• Excellent for linking documentation to tickets

Cons

• No built-in credential vault
• Self-hosted users must plan a migration before 2029

Not for: organisations that must keep documentation on their own servers beyond 2029.

4. Document360

Best for: teams that want a polished knowledge base for both internal IT and external users.

Document360 is a knowledge base platform with a structured editor, versioning, categories, analytics and AI-assisted search. IT teams use it for internal SOPs as well as end-user help articles. Pricing is now quote-based, built from the number of team accounts, workspaces, languages, security options and AI usage.

Key features

• Structured editor with version history
• Separate private and public knowledge bases
• AI search and writing assistance
• Analytics on what users search for

Deployment: cloud.

Pricing: quote-based; 14-day free trial.

Pros

• Clean reading experience
• Good for both internal and customer-facing content

Cons

• Not built around IT assets and credentials
• No published price list

Not for: MSPs that need client-by-client documentation.

5. BookStack

Best for: teams that want a free, simple, self-hosted wiki.

BookStack organises content into shelves, books, chapters and pages, an intuitive structure that non-technical staff pick up quickly. It is open source under the MIT licence, has Draw.io built in for diagrams, and runs on modest hardware.

Key features

• Shelves, books, chapters and pages
• Built-in Draw.io diagrams
• Role-based permissions and LDAP or SAML login
• Full-text search

Deployment: self-hosted.

Pricing: free and open source.

Pros

• Very easy to adopt
• Fully under your control

Cons

• No real-time co-editing
• No IT-specific asset or password features

Not for: teams that need structured asset records.

6. Docmost

Best for: teams that want a self-hosted alternative to Confluence with real-time collaboration.

Docmost is an open-source wiki with real-time collaborative editing, built-in Draw.io, Excalidraw and Mermaid diagrams, and a Confluence importer. The community edition is free under the AGPL-3.0 licence. A paid edition adds enterprise features such as SSO, LDAP, SCIM provisioning, MFA and page-level permissions.

Key features

• Real-time collaborative editing
• Built-in diagramming tools
• Confluence importer
• Enterprise identity features (paid edition)

Deployment: self-hosted.

Pricing: free community edition; paid enterprise licence.

Pros

• Modern editing experience while self-hosted
• Easy route off Confluence Data Center

Cons

• Younger project
• SSO and fine-grained permissions require the paid edition

Not for: teams that want a managed SaaS service.

7. Wiki.js

Best for: technical teams that prefer Markdown and Git-based content.

Wiki.js is an open-source wiki that supports Markdown, can sync content to a Git repository, and offers multiple authentication options. It suits engineering-led IT teams who like treating documentation as code.

Key features

• Markdown and visual editors
• Git storage synchronisation
• Many authentication providers
• Full-text search

Deployment: self-hosted.

Pricing: free (AGPL-3.0).

Pros

• Documentation-as-code workflow
• Lightweight and fast

Cons

• No real-time co-editing
• Check project activity and the release roadmap before committing

Not for: non-technical contributors.

8. NetBox

Best for: network teams that need a source of truth for IP addresses, devices and racks.

NetBox is the leading open-source tool for IP address management (IPAM) and data centre infrastructure management (DCIM). It models sites, racks, devices, cables, circuits and IP space, and is widely used as the authoritative record that automation tools read from. NetBox Labs sells NetBox Cloud (managed), NetBox Enterprise (self-managed with support) and an Enterprise air-gap edition.

Key features

• IPAM and DCIM data models
• REST and GraphQL APIs for automation
• Plugins and custom fields
• Air-gap edition for isolated networks (Enterprise)

Deployment: self-hosted community edition, managed cloud, or self-managed enterprise.

Pricing: community edition is free; Cloud and Enterprise are quoted.

Pros

• Excellent structured network data
• Strong automation ecosystem

Cons

• Not a general documentation wiki
• Data entry needs discipline or automation

Not for: teams looking for runbook or SOP storage.

9. Device42

Best for: organisations that want documentation generated automatically through discovery.

Device42, now a Freshworks company, discovers servers, network devices, applications and their dependencies, and builds a configuration database with dependency maps. It also includes a password vault and data centre visualisation. That makes it as much a discovery and CMDB tool as a documentation platform.

Key features

• Agentless discovery and application dependency mapping
• Data centre and rack visualisation
• Built-in password management
• Integration with Freshservice

Deployment: [VERIFY: traditionally delivered as an on-premise virtual appliance].

Pricing: quote-based [VERIFY].

Pros

• Documentation stays current through discovery
• Strong dependency mapping

Cons

• Heavier to deploy than a wiki
• Pricing not published

Not for: small teams that need simple pages and passwords.

10. Microsoft SharePoint

Best for: organisations standardised on Microsoft 365.

Many IT teams already have SharePoint and use its pages, document libraries and lists for documentation. Permissions come from Entra ID, content is searchable across Microsoft 365, and Copilot can answer questions from it where licensed. SharePoint Server Subscription Edition remains available for organisations that must host on-premise.

Key features

• Pages, libraries and lists
• Entra ID permissions and Microsoft 365 search
• Version history and retention policies
• On-premise option through SharePoint Server

Deployment: cloud (SharePoint in Microsoft 365) or on-premise (SharePoint Server Subscription Edition).

Pricing: included in most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans. The last listed standalone price for SharePoint Plan 1 was $5 per user per month [VERIFY].

Pros

• Often already paid for
• An on-premise option still exists

Cons

• Not structured for IT assets
• Easy to sprawl without governance

Not for: MSPs managing many client environments.

11. Scribe

Best for: quickly turning a process into a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

Scribe records your clicks as you complete a task and generates a written guide with annotated screenshots. IT teams use it for onboarding guides, user instructions and repeatable admin procedures, then embed the result in their main documentation tool.

Key features

• Automatic step-by-step guides from screen activity
• Screenshot redaction
• Export to PDF, HTML and Markdown
• Embedding in wikis and knowledge bases

Deployment: cloud, through a browser extension and desktop app.

Pricing: free Basic plan. A 2026 comparison article lists Pro Personal at $25 and Pro Team at $13 per seat per month on annual billing, with a five-seat minimum; Enterprise is quoted [VERIFY].

Pros

• Saves hours writing procedures
• Very easy for anyone to use

Cons

• Captures screenshots of internal systems in a third-party cloud, so check redaction settings
• A complement to, not a replacement for, a documentation platform

Not for: documenting infrastructure records or credentials.

Self-hosted and open-source IT documentation

If your documentation describes sensitive infrastructure, where it is stored matters as much as how it is organised. Self-hosted options include:

Self-hosting gives you control over access, back-ups and data location, which matters for regulated and classified environments. You also take on patching, back-ups and security hardening of the documentation server, which is a high-value target because it describes how everything else is built.

Keeping operational knowledge inside your perimeter

Many IT teams carefully self-host their documentation, then discuss the same details in a SaaS chat tool. Server names, IP addresses, firewall changes and even passwords end up in chat threads that are stored on a third party’s servers and are searchable by anyone in the workspace. In practice, chat has become an undocumented second documentation system.
Two habits help. First, link to the documentation record instead of pasting sensitive details into chat. Second, if your documentation must stay inside your perimeter, keep the conversations about it there too. A self-hosted messaging platform such as Troop Messenger, deployed on-premise, keeps operational discussions on your own servers, with admin controls and audit trails, so the knowledge your team shares never leaves your infrastructure.

How to choose IT documentation software

1. List what you must document using the table above, and check which tools model it natively.

2. Decide where the data may live: cloud, a specific region, or only on your own servers.

3. Check credential handling. Use a proper vault with audit logs, or integrate a dedicated password manager.

4. Confirm integrations with your RMM, PSA, ticketing and discovery tools.

5. Test search with real questions your team asks during incidents.

6. Review permissions: per client, per team and per page.

7. Plan migration and exit: export formats, APIs and import tools.

8. Compare three-year cost, including minimum seats, onboarding fees and add-ons.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the best IT documentation software?

For MSPs, IT Glue and Hudu are the most popular dedicated platforms. Internal IT teams often use Confluence or SharePoint, and network teams pair them with NetBox for IP and device records. For self-hosting, Hudu, BookStack and Docmost are strong choices. The best option depends on what you document and where it must be stored.

2. What is the best software for technical documentation?

For internal technical documentation, Confluence, Docmost, BookStack and Wiki.js are widely used. For published product documentation, teams often choose Document360, GitBook or static site generators such as Docusaurus. IT-specific tools like Hudu and IT Glue are better when you need asset records and credentials alongside written guides.

3. What are the four main types of software documentation?

Software documentation is commonly grouped into four types: requirements documentation, which explains what the system must do; architecture and design documentation, which explains how it is built; technical documentation, such as code and API references; and end-user documentation, such as manuals and how-to guides.

4. Can IT documentation software be self-hosted?

Yes. Hudu offers a self-hosted option, and open-source tools such as BookStack, Docmost, Wiki.js and NetBox are designed to run on your own servers. SharePoint Server can also be hosted on-premise. Atlassian is ending Confluence Data Center in March 2029, so self-hosted Confluence users need a plan.

5. How much does IT documentation software cost?

Prices vary widely. Open-source tools are free apart from hosting. Hudu lists $27 per user per month. IT Glue is reported at roughly $29 to $44 per user per month. Confluence Cloud is free for up to 10 users, with paid plans from a few dollars per user. Always include onboarding fees and minimum seat counts.