Overview

Made by Hallo Welt! GmbH, a company based in Regensburg and founded in 2007, BlueSpice helps teams maintain know-how, responsibilities, processes, and current documentation. Multiple users can edit company knowledge at once, while company-wide user administration provides access control. It supports internal and broader publishing, custom domains, single sign-on, version history, and content analytics.

Organizations can choose cloud, on-premises, Docker, or virtual machine deployment. The cloud service has 99.9% availability. BlueSpice says its products and services comply with EU laws and international safety standards, and include EU GDPR features in data protection and security.

Key features

Structured knowledge: Workflows, forms, manuals, templates, and subwikis help teams organize procedures and reference material. That structure is useful where documentation needs defined formats, but may be more than a small team needs for a simple shared notebook.
Controlled editing: Permissions and versioning support teams that need to manage readership and track changes to company documentation.
Search and portability: The free distribution includes a visual editor, performance search, templates, PDF export, and community support. Import and export features help move content in and out.
Connections and migration: BlueSpice integrates applications and connects to infrastructure. An AI chatbot can be used in Teams, Slack, or Rocket.Chat. Migration experts support moves from MediaWiki, Confluence, SharePoint, Office, and other platforms, which can ease a changeover for organizations with existing material.
Support choices: Community support, professional support, and annual service packages give teams different levels of assistance.

Pricing

BlueSpice has a free distribution as well as paid cloud and self-hosted editions. The free edition includes the most important business features, along with a visual editor, performance search, templates, PDF export, and community support. It is a sensible starting point for teams that can use community help and do not need a paid cloud allowance.

BlueSpice pro Cloud starts from €4.50 per user/month, billed annually. The entry price covers up to 25 users and includes 100 GB of storage. It is the lower-cost cloud option for teams within that initial user allowance; larger needs may affect the price.

BlueSpice farm Cloud starts from €8.50 per user/month, with up to 50 users at the first listed price and 500 GB of storage. It includes a 30-day free trial. The larger initial user and storage allowances suit teams with more people or substantial documentation, at a higher starting rate than pro Cloud.

BlueSpice pro On Premises and BlueSpice farm On Premises each support up to 50 users and have custom pricing. The pro and farm editions without a specified hosting label also have custom pricing, are billed per user/month, and include a 30-day free trial. These options suit organizations choosing deployment beyond the cloud tiers, but require a custom quote. The free plan is shown at 0.00 USD per free; paid cloud prices are stated in euros.

Platforms

BlueSpice is available as a self-hosted product, with cloud, on-premises, Docker, and virtual machine options. This range suits organizations that need deployment choice; teams looking only for a simple, hosted tool may find the range of options unnecessary.

Who it's for

BlueSpice is best suited to organizations that need a company wiki with managed access, structured documentation, and a choice between cloud and self-managed deployment. Migration assistance and professional support options are particularly relevant to teams moving established knowledge from another platform. It is less compelling for small groups that need only a lightweight place to share notes, or buyers who need predictable pricing for every deployment without requesting a quote.

Pros and cons

Pro: Cloud and self-hosted deployment choices let organizations match hosting to their requirements.
Pro: The free edition combines business features with search, editing, PDF export, templates, and community support.
Pro: Migration assistance covers several common knowledge and document platforms.
Con: The published cloud entry allowances are capped at 25 users for pro and 50 for farm, so teams should check how their needs affect pricing.
Con: On-premises and other non-cloud editions require custom pricing, making costs less straightforward to compare.

Alternatives

Choose Nuclino instead if you want a freemium tool with listed Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows platforms; its free plan is capped at 50 items, three canvases, and 2 GB of storage.

ProProfs Knowledge Base is another freemium option, with a free plan for one author and up to 25 pages.

Consider Confluence if a free plan for up to 10 users, 2 GB of file storage, and three active whiteboards per user better fits your needs.

Zoho Learn may suit teams looking for a free plan covering five users, three spaces, five manuals, five courses, 1 GB of storage, and two learning paths.

GitBook offers a free plan for individuals that includes one free user, unlimited page views, and 10 GitBook Agent messages per week.

Choose Wiki.js if you want free, AGPL-licensed, self-hosted wiki software.

Docmost is an alternative with a community edition that includes real-time collaboration, spaces, full-text search, page history and restore, and public sharing.

Slab has a free plan for up to 10 users, with 10 MB of attachments and 90 days of version history.

Explore knowledge base software, internal knowledge base software, or wiki software to compare more options.

Verdict

Choose BlueSpice if your organization needs a structured company wiki, managed permissions, and flexibility over where it runs, especially when migration help matters. Its free edition provides a useful entry point, but cloud user and storage allowances and custom-priced non-cloud editions mean buyers should match a plan to their scale before committing.

	BlueSpice	Ferndesk
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	No
Paid from	€4.50/mo	$149/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	self-hosted	Web
Free plan	Yes	No
Paid from	Free	$149/mo
Publishing audience	both	both
Custom domain	Yes	Yes
SSO support	Yes	Yes
Version history	Yes	—
Content analytics	Yes	Yes

BlueSpice vs Ferndesk

BlueSpice

Ferndesk