9 ITGlue Alternatives for IT Documentation That All MSPs Should Consider

9 ITGlue Alternatives for IT Documentation That All MSPs Should Consider process.st /itglue-alternatives/ 8/9/2017

ITGlue is a collaborative, cloud-based IT documentation platform created to help MSPs standardize documentation, create knowledge bases, manage passwords and track devices.

As well as documentation, it lets you stay on top of what’s going on in your network by notifying you when key events happen, like an SSL certificate nearing expiry, or a firewall breach.

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These notifications can be used to automatically run checklists inside Process Street , meaning you can assign workflows to your team that guide them through tasks like SSL renewal, and then track whether or not the task is done through your Process Street dashboard.

For documented IT processes you can use in your own business, check out our free IT process pack .

ITGlue makes it easy to manage documentation both internally and for clients, and helps you track assets like devices, folders, domains, and contacts.

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Unlike broader documentation tools like Confluence and OneNote, it’s aimed squarely at the MSP market which makes it one of the only platforms of its kind. Its usefulness and uniqueness comes at a high price, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

Common positive points: Replaces the hacked-together mess of wikis and plugins you used to need to get the same job done Links documents together intuitively Fast and powerful search Easy to set up for customer access Works with your PSA (“Your PSA and IT Glue work together – IT Glue takes the data from the PSA and formats it into a user-friendly way.”)

Common issues: Too expensive for smaller teams Limited Zapier integration capability While ITGlue is widely regarded as having the best and most powerful range of features for IT documentation, you might be looking for an alternative tool that costs less, has more Zapier automation options, or has a different set of features.

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In this article, we’ll offer 9 ITGlue alternatives and give you some insight into how the tools compare against each other.

Docusnap

Docusnap is an IT documentation tool for Windows which specializes in network diagrams. Unlike a PSA tool, it can inventory your IT infrastructure without needing to use an agent. Like ITGlue, Docusnap charges a setup fee and a monthly fee, which varies depending on how many workstations you’ll need to serve. Its features include: Agentless, automated IT inventory IT documentation, including diagrams, processes, reports, and concepts Permissions and security analysis License management Organizational charts A Docusnap salesperson writing to a lead in reddit comments estimated that the fee would be around $100-$150 per month for a company with a client with 100 workstations, billing at $1/workstation and $3-4/server.

Pricing: from a one-time fee of ~$560 and then ~$25/month (limited to 50 workstations).

Stella

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Stella is a knowledge management and collaboration platform designed to tightly integrate with ConnectWise. Users have noted that it’s cheaper than ITGlue, allows you to give clients read/write access at no extra cost, and that it’s highly customizable when used in conjunction with Confluence.

Its features include: Knowledge base integrated with ConnectWise tickets IT documentation Reporting Customer self-service portal Single sign-on between ConnectWise and Confluence Stella is aimed at the market that’s already using ConnectWise. If that’s not you, it’s probably not the right option.

Price: $495 setup fee, then starts from $200/month for 10 users

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Confluence

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If a company isn’t already using ITGlue but needs a viable solution, they’re likely using Confluence. Confluence is a step up from paper notes or Google Drive and it’s very customizable thanks to the wide range of plugins on the marketplace, but it’s not a specialized tool like ITGlue. That means that you’ll have to use plugins and ‘roll your own’ set up.

Users have said that ITGlue beats Confluence for usability, speed, permission management, password management, customer access, and documentation audits. Confluence is a great general documentation tool, and, while ITGlue outperforms it in some areas, Confluence has a deeper and more powerful search than ITGlue because it searches inside attached documentation. Also, since Confluence is self-hosted, it is more likely to pass compliance regulations than a SaaS platform.

When it comes to pricing, Confluence has the edge over ITGlue for smaller teams because ITGlue’s 5-user minimum and setup costs can price some businesses out.

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Best for: customization and a wide range of plugins Price: starts from $10/month for 10 team members

DocuWiki

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DocuWiki is a lot like MediaWiki; a self-hosted, open source Wiki platform that’s available for free and highly customizable.

The same way that many businesses use the MediaWiki platform for SOPs, many IT firms cite DocuWiki as their goto IT documentation solution. But, it’s not a full-service package by a long shot. It’s free and open-source, which is a plus, but that also comes with the hassle of setting it up, maintaining it yourself, and forgoing the cloud.

Its wide range of plugins built by its community mean you can extend the basic features and add things like rich media in documentation, discussions, and authentication. To summarize, its features include: Rich media IT documentation (but with a very DIY approach) A big library of plugins that extend its documentation capabilities Self-hosted Free Open source Bear in mind that DocuWiki is a pure documentation tool, so it can’t do things like inventory, integrations, notifications, or reporting.

Pricing: free

BizDox

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BizDox is an IT documentation solution that integrates with ConnectWise to automatically create diagrams. It tracks the completeness and accuracy of your current documentation and features a powerful search that indexes everything including notes, IP addresses, and application names. Its features include: Automatically create diagrams of servers and networking equipment Pre-loaded with data on hudreds of common applications (support contact information, infrastructure relationships, etc) Audit documentation accuracy and completeness Search everywhere See IT diagrams in the context of organizational architecture and cost As it stands, BizDox is purely a documentation and diagramming solution, missing out on some of ITGlue’s more advanced and useful features like password and access management, and notifications. It integrates with ConnectWise out of the box, and with Active Directory via Bitium.

Price: starts from $75/month and includes access for 10 clients

SI Portal

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SI Portal is one of the cheapest specialized tools on the list at only $19/user/month and a 2 user minimum. Many businesses prefer on premises solutions for compliance reasons, so SI Portal offers both a cloud and self-hosted version of its software.

It stores, indexes, and allows you to easily share everything including documents, licenses, passwords, contacts, diagrams, knowledge base articles, and information on applications and network devices. SI Portal helps you track network activity, device relationships, and store all your IT-related documentation. Its features include: Document licenses, passwords, contaacts, knowledge base articles and network information Share it securely with clients or others in your organization Self-host or run in the cloud Mobile app ConnectWise and Autotask integrations Pricing: starts from $19/user/month with a minimum of 2 users.

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OneNote

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OneNote isn’t a dedicated IT documentation tool by a long shot, but according to a dedicated segment of its user base, it’s a robust solution. Its cloud availability, secure access, great search and flexible document editor makes it viable alternative to some of ITGlue’s more basic features.

Create documentation easily by pasting images, text, or data from Word and Excel Integrate easily with Sharepoint, OneDrive, and other Microsoft products Powerful search Simple sharing and access management Access on any device One of the most attractive features of OneNote for most offices is its native intregrations with the rest of the Microsoft 365 suite. You can easily import Excel data, create diagrams and then organize it all in the Sharepoint ecosystem.

However, it is missing PSA integrations, IT documentation templates, objects, and the ability to link articles, objects and passwords all together.

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Best for: affordability and flexibility Price: from free, but works best with Office 365

Passportal

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Passportal is primarily a password management tool for IT teams, but has expanded to cover IT documentation, too.

As a result, it’s a powerful tool for password management, but stands currently with only basic documentation capabilities. Its IT documentation positions it as an alternative to ITGlue, but its emphasis on password management leaves the documentation features lacking. Its features include: Password management Automated password updates Access control Client data reporting Personal password storage Integrates with ConnectWise, Autotask, and Tiger Paw Price: available on request

Which ITGlue alternative should you choose?

For plenty of MSPs, ITGlue is the number one solution for documentation. It comes at a high price for smaller businesses, but collects a variety of essential documentation and network management tools that you could otherwise only get by combining a number of plugins and customizing Confluence.

If your business can’t afford ITGlue right now, it’s probably best to use a free tool like OneNote, something less expensive like SI Portal, or go for the DIY approach with Confluence.

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