Confluence vs Docmost

Confluence is a commercial product, so its cost is set by Atlassian's licensing for your chosen tier and deployment, and the figure you pay depends on your user count and contract terms. Docmost's core is free under AGPL-3.0, so your costs shift to infrastructure, administration and any paid edition you choose. Confluence costs recur as subscription or maintenance fees, while Docmost's recurring costs are hosting, storage, backups and staff time. Ask Atlassian for a written quote for your user count and deployment, and build your own infrastructure and labor estimate alongside it.

The Docmost pricing page lists a Business plan at $6 per seat per month, billed annually, with a 10-seat minimum. Enterprise is priced by custom quote and adds SCIM, audit logs, SIEM integration, security controls and a page verification workflow. The Community edition is free to self-host, but it does not include the Confluence importer, SSO, LDAP, MFA or page-level permissions, which are paid-edition features. Confirm which features your sign-in and permission model needs before you choose a tier, because that decides whether Community is enough.

One-time costs include the initial installation, configuration of single sign-on and the reverse proxy, and the migration of Confluence content, which may need manual cleanup of links, macros and diagrams afterward. Recurring costs include servers or cloud instances, PostgreSQL and Redis hosting, file storage, backups, certificates, software upgrades and the time an administrator spends on them. Per-seat paid-edition fees recur monthly or annually if you choose Business or Enterprise. Separate these two groups in your budget so the one-time migration effort does not hide the ongoing operating cost.

Hosting cost depends on user count, concurrent editing, the size of your attachments and how many spaces and page histories you keep. Docmost's compose template runs PostgreSQL and Redis alongside the application, and it stores files locally by default, with S3-compatible or Azure Blob storage as options. Object storage may cost less per gigabyte at scale, but it adds a service to operate and pay for. Ask your infrastructure team to size compute, database and storage for your expected growth, then compare that figure with the Confluence quote.

Backups, upgrades and reverse proxy configuration are ongoing tasks that someone must own, whether an internal team or a provider. Backups must cover the PostgreSQL database and the file store, and restore tests take time that is easy to skip. Upgrades require reading release notes and testing before rollout, and the reverse proxy must have WebSockets enabled for the real-time editor. Each of these adds staff hours or retainer fees each year. Confirm your backup retention, recovery targets and upgrade cadence before you estimate the operating cost.

Migration cost depends on the volume of spaces and attachments, how many macros, Marketplace apps and permission rules need rework, and whether you import through a tool or by hand. Confluence Cloud export options differ by format, and XML export reaches end of life on December 1, 2026, so the export route affects both effort and timing. Docmost's Confluence importer is a paid-edition feature, so budget for that tier if you need it. Ask any implementation partner for a written, scope-based quote that lists the spaces, content types and checks included.

Your team can run Docmost if it has the skills to manage Docker, PostgreSQL, Redis, TLS, backups and identity integration, and if it can absorb upgrade work on a steady schedule. Teams without that capacity often choose a fixed-scope implementation followed by a support retainer. DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted platforms in the client's own infrastructure, and most engagements are fixed-scope with terms agreed in writing. Compare the internal staffing cost with a written scope before deciding.

For Confluence, ask Atlassian for a written quote that states the deployment type, user count, tier, term and any support or hosting components. For Docmost, separate the Community edition, any Business or Enterprise seats, infrastructure, storage, backup tooling and admin hours. For any implementation partner, request a written scope that lists deliverables, migration boundaries, testing, documentation, handover and any retainer for ongoing support. Compare all options on a three-year total, including one-time and recurring costs, so the figures are comparable.

The switch cost is mostly labor and hosting, and the software license is only one line. Docmost's Community edition is free to self-host, so the recurring costs are the servers, database and storage, the time an administrator spends on upgrades and backups, and any Business or Enterprise subscription you choose for paid features. Your one-time costs are migration planning, content cleanup and user training. The biggest drivers are the number of spaces, the volume of attachments and diagrams, how many Confluence apps your pages depend on, and whether you need paid features such as the Confluence importer. Ask any provider for a quote built from a written scope that lists each of these components separately.

No migration duration is supplied for this comparison, so treat any number you hear as unverified until it is tied to a scope. The timeline depends on how many spaces and pages you move, how much content is outdated and can be archived, how many attachments and draw.io or Excalidraw diagrams need checking by hand, how many permission models must be recreated, and how many people are available to review content. A scoped plan should start with an inventory of spaces and an export test on a small sample, then set phases by space owner, so each stage has a clear finish point.

Yes, a capable internal team can run a Docmost migration, provided it has someone who understands Confluence spaces, Docker and PostgreSQL administration, and reverse proxy configuration. Docmost's documentation describes a Docker installation with PostgreSQL and Redis, and its import path works from Confluence HTML exports. The gaps usually appear in the details: macros and Marketplace apps with no equivalent, page links that break, permission rebuilds, and diagrams that need manual review. If your team has no capacity for these tasks, a fixed-scope engagement from DeployOpen can plan, implement and document the work, but the decision should rest on your own skills inventory.

Your staff must supply decisions and knowledge that no installer can supply. Space owners need to confirm which content is current, which pages should be archived, and who should have access to each space. Administrators need to define the identity source, the authentication method and the backup schedule. Reviewers need time to check internal links, attachments, embedded diagrams and page history for important documents. Plan for a named project owner and a small test group that reads migrated spaces before the cutover date. Without these inputs, the technical import will move content quickly, but the result may not be usable.

No. Docmost's documentation lists the Confluence importer as a paid-edition feature, so the Community edition does not include it. The Community edition can still import Markdown and HTML files, Word files in some cases are a paid feature as well, and pages or whole spaces export as Markdown or HTML. A practical route for the free edition is to export your Confluence spaces to HTML, then check the result with the import documentation before you commit. Confirm the current edition boundaries on Docmost's pricing page before you plan, because feature lists change between releases.

Basic sign-in and multi-factor authentication are available in the free edition, while enterprise identity features are paid. Docmost's documentation lists email and password, LDAP, SAML or OIDC single sign-on and TOTP multi-factor authentication as authentication methods, but its paid-edition list includes SSO with SAML 2.0 or OIDC, LDAP and SCIM provisioning. Read this carefully before you assume your identity provider works on the free tier. Ask Docmost to confirm in writing which methods your chosen edition enables, and test each one in a staging environment before rollout.

For internal use only, the AGPL-3.0 license generally does not require you to publish your modifications, because its network clause applies when you let outside users interact with a modified version over a network. Docmost's core is AGPL-3.0, but code in its enterprise directories falls under the Docmost Enterprise license, so a paid edition adds separate terms. If you plan to modify Docmost, offer it to customers or run it as a service for third parties, have your legal team review the obligations first. This is general information, not legal advice.