The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and Obie. We wrote this article for the purposes of evaluating the Obie and Guru platforms, respectively. This article is meant to be a helpful resource for organizations who are currently in the midst of their journey to onboarding a new internal knowledge base system.
A side-by-side comparison of key features
It is important to begin by stating that, here at Obie, we truly believe in the adage: a rising tide lifts all ships. In other words, we believe that it is possible for more than 1 team/product/company to benefit by trying to make knowledge more accessible at work. With that said, we made this blog to help those evaluating knowledge solutions make an informed decision about Obie and its alternatives.
Since 2015, we have learned from our customers and countless prospects about their journey acquiring different business wiki software vendors. Often, they are forthcoming with the various business wiki software products they have evaluated.
We are most often compared to a product called Guru (getguru.com), developed by Guru Technologies in Philadelphia, PA. Both Guru and Obie emerged in the Slack wiki realm early in the Slack platform’s history. We have independently tried to solve common knowledge management pains, but have arrived at different solutions.
The Pros
| Obie | Guru |
| Robust Slack integration | Robust browser extension |
| 16+ knowledge integrations | Focus on native content tools |
| Affordable for all teams | Granular verification settings |
The Cons
| Obie | Guru |
| Less verification features | Not built for heavy Slack workflows |
| Younger browser extension | Bias to native content tools create silos |
| No SOC2 certification | Cost prohibitive, particularly at scale |
Obie vs Guru – Notable Mentions
| Obie | Guru | |
| Offers free trial | ✅ | ✅ |
| Per user pricing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Browser extension | ✅ | ✅ |
| Slack integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| Content verification | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built-in knowledge base | ✅ | ✅ |
| FAQs | ✅ | ❌ |
| Intelligent knowledge integrations | ✅ | ❌ |
| Ticketing / Helpdesk integrations | ✅ | ❌ |
Guru and Obie are two different solutions with different focus directions
Product direction
At Obie, our mission is to make knowledge universally accessible and more useful within organizations. Our vision, is to be the most intelligent solution for learning anything at work. From a product standpoint, we translate that mission and vision into a unique look at how vendors traditionally solve the internal knowledge management problem. Obie enables customers to create one single source of truth for knowledge without forcing customers to solely use our native knowledge authoring tools. Rather than create another place to have to go to to access information, Obie aims to deliver knowledge within the flow of work. With over 16 knowledge integrations, Obie allows for more flexibility when it comes to how you manage company knowledge. Use a combination of the built-in knowledge base, FAQs and third-party integrations such as: Confluence, Google Drive, Zendesk, Jira and more to create one central access point to organizational knowledge.
If you’re solely looking for a brand-new destination to manage your company’s knowledge and don’t intend to have more than one knowledge source, Guru might be the best fit for you.
Use-cases
Between Guru and Obie there is definitely overlap among the different variations of business wiki software we seemingly are most popular for, with a few exceptions. This is worth noting to further understand the product direction of both vendors.
| Obie | Guru |
| IT/DevOps* | Sales |
| Support | Support |
| Sales | Marketing* |
| Company-wide (HR) | Company-wide (HR) |
“I am really impressed with the Obie support team, they have done everything from holding our hands during set up to responding instantly to any issues encountered. Truly one of the best support experiences with a vendor we ever had”
Mohammed Dajani, Senior IT Manager – Cvent
When it comes to remote sales team enablement, and supporting distributed teams in general, any business wiki software is a step in the right direction for most organizations to begin to manage their company’s knowledge.
Obie Pricing
We also have a Slack-wiki software for startups that costs less than a cup of coffee a day: The Startup Plan. This product is the easiest way to manage your company’s knowledge if you’re early in your journey.
Guru Pricing
There you have it! We have done our best to lay out all of the key components between Obie and Guru for the purposes of easier evaluation of the two products. We truly think everyone that is building products to help manage your company’s knowledge is awesome, so props to the Guru team!
Hey 👋, before you go, check out Obie in action! — watch the Fastest Demo Video Ever
