GTM AI Index
Index › Customer › Knowledge base › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Knowledge base and self-service for small business buyers

Asked as “knowledge base software”, and as “customer self-service help center tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 42 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Notion
Contested
38% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 73 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessNotion38%ContestedThis pageMid-marketNotion18%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseZendesk26%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Notion38%14%49endorsed leader
02Freshdesk12%7%15accepted challenger
03Slite10%4%27accepted challenger
04Help Scout10%0%21accepted challenger
05Zoho Desk7%0%11accepted challenger
06Confluence5%39%33criticized challenger
07Slab2%0%30accepted challenger
08Document3602%38%34criticized challenger
Show the eight products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
14Zendesk0%60%10criticized challenger
16Helpjuice0%55%20criticized challenger
15Zendesk Guide0%54%13criticized challenger
13Guru0%41%27criticized challenger
12Tettra0%27%26criticized challenger
11BookStack0%14%14accepted challenger
09Nuclino0%0%25accepted challenger
10HelpDocs0%0%21accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Notion vs Document360Notion vs FreshdeskDocument360 vs Freshdesk

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Notion38%
02Freshdesk12%
03Slite10%
04Help Scout10%
05Zoho Desk7%
06Confluence5%
07Slab2%
08Document3602%
09Nuclino0%
10HelpDocs0%
11BookStack0%
12Tettra0%
13Guru0%
14Zendesk0%
15Zendesk Guide0%
16Helpjuice0%

02What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Guru
41%
11 of 27 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 8 hard negative
“Requires a 10-seat minimum, sales-only model with custom quotes, and enterprise-style procurement” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Helpjuice
55%
11 of 20 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 8 hard negative
“Starts at $249/month, which is prohibitively expensive for most small businesses” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Confluence
39%
13 of 33 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Overkill for small teams, complex macros intimidate non-technical users, expensive licensing” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Document360
38%
13 of 34 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Tools to Avoid or Be Cautious About ... **Document360, Guru, Bloomfire** ... custom quote-based pricing” Kimi K2, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

19 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 166 links across 77 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.

slite.com
vendor site · Slite9 answers · 10 citations · 3 models
ferndesk.com
vendor site · Ferndesk9 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
knowledge-base.software
6 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
learn.g2.com
6 answers · 7 citations · 2 models
softr.io
vendor site · Softr5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
helply.com
vendor site · Helply4 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
g2.com
4 answers · 5 citations · 3 models
knowledgeowl.com
vendor site · KnowledgeOwl4 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
assembly.com
4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
bolddesk.com
vendor site · BoldDesk4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
desk365.io
vendor site · Desk3654 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
featurebase.app
vendor site · Featurebase4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

slite.com/learn/knowledge-base-softwares
9 answers · 3 models
ferndesk.com/blog/best-knowledge-base-for-small-teams
8 answers · 2 models
knowledge-base.software/comparison/small-businesses-knowledge-base-software
5 answers · 2 models
assembly.com/blog/best-knowledge-base-software
4 answers · 2 models
bolddesk.com/blogs/best-knowledge-base-software
4 answers · 2 models
desk365.io/blog/best-knowledge-base-software
4 answers · 2 models
learn.g2.com/best-knowledge-base-software
4 answers · 2 models
peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-knowledge-base-software
4 answers · 2 models
softr.io/blog/best-knowledge-management-software
4 answers · 1 model
featurebase.app/blog/best-knowledge-base-software
3 answers · 2 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best knowledge base software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which customer self-service help center tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top knowledge base tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best knowledge base software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a knowledge base software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which knowledge base tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Notion
Six alternativesDocument360, Freshdesk, Groove, HelpDocs, Nuclino, Tettra
no first choiceChangedno first choice
Four alternativesDocument360, Help Scout Docs, Notion, Slite
Notion
Three alternativesNuclino, Softr, Zoho Desk
against: Helpjuiceno first choiceagainst: Glean, Notion
GPT-5.4 miniNotion
Two alternativesDocument360, Slite
IntercomChanged
One alternativeZendesk
Nuclino, Slite
Four alternativesConfluence, Document360, Helpjuice, Notion
against: GuruConfluence, Zoho Desk
Two alternativesBlueSpice, osTicket
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashDocument360
Four alternativesGuru, Help Scout, Notion, Plain
against: Atlassian Confluence, Zendesk GuideHelp ScoutChanged
Three alternativesDocument360, Plain, Stonly
against: ZendeskNotion, Slite
Five alternativesDocument360, Guru, Help Scout, Slab, Tango
against: ConfluenceFreshdesk, Notion
Four alternativesBookStack, Confluence, GitBook, ProProfs Knowledge Base
no first choice
Three alternativesGuru, Outline, Slab
against: Coda, Confluence, Notionagainst: Airtable, Archbee, Atlassian Confluence, BookStack, Coda, Documentum, GitBook, GitHub/GitLab Wikis, Intercom, MediaWiki, Notion, Onyx, OpenText, Salesforce Service Cloud, SharePoint, Zendesk Guide
Perplexity SonarNotion
Four alternativesHelpDocs, Plain, Pylon, Slab
Zoho DeskChanged
One alternativeHubSpot Service Hub
Notion
Six alternativesDocument360, HelpDocs, Nuclino, ProProfs Knowledge Base, Slab, Slite
Notion
Four alternativesBookStack, Help Scout, HelpDocs, Slab
no first choiceagainst: BookStack, Confluence, Document360, Guru, Helpjuice, Notion, ServiceNow Knowledge, Tettra, Zendesk Guide
Grok 4.1 FastNotion
Six alternativesHelpDocs, Nuclino, ProProfs KB, Slab, Slite, Tettra
against: Document360FreshdeskChanged
Two alternativesHelp Scout, Zoho Desk
against: ZendeskNotion, Slab
Five alternativesConfluence, Guru, Nuclino, Slite, Tettra
Notion
Three alternativesBookStack, ProProfs KB, Slab
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, Document360, Guru, Helpjuice, ManageEngine, Notion, ServiceNow, SharePoint, Tettra, Zendesk Guide/Suite, eXo Platform
Mistral SmallPlain, Slite
Seven alternativesConfluence, HappySupport, Help Scout, Helply, Notion, Pylon, Zendesk Guide
FreshdeskChanged
Two alternativesHelp Scout, Plain
Notion, Slite
Six alternativesConfluence, Document360, HelpDocs, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
against: Ferndesk, HelpjuiceConfluence, Notion
Three alternativesHelp Scout, Slab, Zoho Desk
no first choiceagainst: Bloomfire, Dropbox, Google Drive, Guru, Salesforce Knowledge, SharePoint, Zendesk
DeepSeek V4 FlashSlite
Five alternativesDocument360, Notion, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
Help ScoutChanged
Four alternativesFreshdesk, HelpDocs, HubSpot Service Hub, Zoho Desk
against: Document360Notion, Slite
Five alternativesConfluence, Helpjuice, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
against: Document360, GuruNotion
Three alternativesGitBook, ProProfs Knowledge Base, Slab
against: Confluence, Helpjuice, Slite, TettraSlite
Four alternativesConfluence, Helpjuice, Notion, Tettra
against: Document360, Guruagainst: Bloomfire, Confluence, Document360, Glean, Google Drive, Guru, Helpjuice, ServiceNow, SharePoint, Zendesk Guide
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceHubSpot Service HubChanged
Two alternativesFreshdesk, Zoho Desk
Notion
Three alternativesNuclino, Slite, Tettra
Notion
Two alternativesHelp Scout, Tettra
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, Document360, Guru, Helpjuice, Tettra
Qwen 3.7 FlashHelp Scout, Plain
Two alternativesDocument360, Pylon
Help ScoutChanged
Two alternativesFreshdesk, Zoho Desk
against: IntercomNotion, Slite
Four alternativesHelpDocs, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
against: ConfluenceHelpable
Five alternativesBookStack, Confluence, HubSpot Service Hub, Slab, tawk.to
against: Freshdesk, Intercom, Notion, Zendeskno first choiceagainst: Atlassian Confluence, BambooHR, Coda, Docusaurus, Hugo, Jive, MkDocs, Notion, SharePoint, WordPress with third-party Knowledge Base plugins
Kimi K2Notion, Slite
Two alternativesConfluence, Help Scout
against: Zendesk GuideFreshdeskChanged
Two alternativesHubSpot Service Hub, Zoho Desk
against: ZendeskNuclino, Slite
Five alternativesBookStack, Guru, HelpDocs, Notion, Tettra
against: Confluence, Document360, HelpjuiceNotion
Three alternativesBookStack, Docmost, ProProfs Knowledge Base
Notion
Two alternativesNuclino, Slite
against: Tettraagainst: Bloomfire, Confluence, Docmost, Document360, Ferndesk, Guru, Helpjuice, HubSpot Service Hub, MediaWiki, Outline, SharePoint, Tettra, Trainual, XWiki, Zendesk Guide
GLM 4.7 FlashXNotion
Seven alternativesDocument360, Guru, Help Scout, Helply, ProProfs Knowledge Base, Slab, Tettra
Zoho DeskChanged
Three alternativesFreshdesk, Help Scout, HelpDocs
no first choice
Five alternativesHelpDocs, Notion, Nuclino, Slab, Tettra
against: Confluence, Document360, ProProfs Knowledge BaseNotion
Four alternativesHelp Scout, Helpjuice, Slab, Tettra
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, Document360, Guru, Helpjuice, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Intercom Essential, Zendesk, Zendesk Guide
MiniMax M2.5Plain
Three alternativesHelp Scout, Pylon, Slite
FreshdeskChanged
Two alternativesHelpDocs, Zoho Desk
Notion, Slite
One alternativeBookStack
Slab
Three alternativesBookStack, Notion, ProProfs Knowledge Base
no first choiceagainst: Confluence, Document360, Guru, Helpjuice, Tettra
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:05yes139 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:21yes36 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:47yes1120 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:32yes208 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:08yes09 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 22:52yes07 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:48yes032 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:07yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:48yes033 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:39yes024 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:48yes017 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:44yes09 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:38no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:38yes24 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:38yes1024 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 22:56yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:22yes06 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:31yes09 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 03:25yes017 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:23yes02 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:55yes042 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:14yes021 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:51yes050 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:14yes015 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:26yes97 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 22:52yes38 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:16yes1223 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:06yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:34yes06 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:04yes08 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:26yes049 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 05:05yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:35yes028 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:10yes021 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 05:04yes024 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:22yes013 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:41yes77 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 05:00yes15 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:26yes1320 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:18yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:10yes05 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:43yes07 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:57yes013 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:43yes02 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:49yes031 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:46yes026 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:32yes050 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:23yes013 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 03:02no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:12no04 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:54no017 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:27yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 03:15yes08 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:32no04 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:51yes013 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:48yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:13no039 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 22:55yes033 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:33yes070 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:40no08 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 03:37yes87 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:50no05 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:08yes2825 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:52yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:57yes05 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:52yes08 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:38yes044 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:25yes02 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:09no043 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:37yes041 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:21yes077 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:17yes015 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
Documentum
Freshdesk's KB module
HappySupport
Help Center
HelpKit
Intercom Essential
Jive
ManageEngine
Staxx
Typemill
WordPress with third-party Knowledge Base plugins
Zendesk Guide/Suite
Zendesk Help Center
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in customer

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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