Internal knowledge base: What it is and how to implement it

This might be a strange personality quirk, but I love systems and processes — especially when they’re stored in a well-organized internal knowledge base. I've created training documents, where there were previously none, for my replacement when I was leaving several jobs. You can imagine how excited I was to join a company like HubSpot, which has an internal knowledge base where standardized systems and processes are kept.

When your employees need to find information, collaborate with other teams, or are in training, an internal knowledge base can be extremely helpful.

In this post, let‘s review what an internal knowledge base is and the best software to implement one. I’ll cover:

• What is an internal knowledge base?
• Internal Knowledge Base Software
• Benefits of Internal Knowledge Bases
• How to Create an Internal Knowledge Base

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With an internal knowledge base, you can store policies, handbooks, guidelines, and share information and findings cross-departmentally. Whether you‘re sharing short- or long-form documents, an internal knowledge base acts as a Wikipedia for your company. It’s an internal help center where employees can get information quickly.

Benefits of Internal Knowledge Bases

Save Employees Time

When your employees need to find information, they don't need to wait for an email response or spend hours trying to figure it out themselves. They can easily search your internal knowledge base to find information they need, boosting productivity.

Efficient Way to Disperse Information

Sending emails to your entire company isn't the most efficient way to disseminate information that employees will need to continue referencing. When you want to share information like employee benefits, holiday schedules, or FAQs, an internal knowledge base is the way to go.

Team Collaboration

It can be hard to communicate what all departments are up to. With an internal knowledge base, teams can share their experiments and findings with the entire company. For instance, your support staff could share information about support tickets with each other and other departments that want to review customer pain points.

Centralized Information

Finally, one place to find everything you might need. Having a single source of truth for information is important for companies that want to streamline, scale, and grow.

Assists With Onboarding

An internal knowledge base helps onboard new employees so they can review documentation and policies.

As a customer service team, you might store customer FAQs and troubleshooting guides on an internal knowledge base. With these types of articles, your support staff can bookmark and continue referencing them during their calls.

How to Create an Internal Knowledge Base

Building an internal knowledge base isn’t just about storing documents — it’s about creating a system your team actually wants to use. It should feel like a helpful colleague, not a cluttered file cabinet.

Here’s a simple framework to help you create one that’s useful, organized, and easy to maintain.

1. Identify what internal knowledge needs to be shared.

Start by figuring out what types of information your team needs most. Think: onboarding guides, IT help, HR policies, process checklists, tool walkthroughs — any piece of knowledge that lives in someone’s head or a hidden folder.

You’re not starting from scratch — you’re centralizing what already exists across emails, Google Docs, Slack threads, and people’s brains. A good internal knowledge base makes this tribal knowledge accessible to everyone, not just the tenured few.

You can:

• Interview team leads to surface frequently asked questions.
• Review recurring internal support tickets or Slack threads.
• Ask new hires what information they wish they had on day one.
• Review the recent or most viewed documents in your Google Workspace.
• Analyze where work is delayed or blocked due to missing info.

This step ensures your knowledge base solves real internal problems from the start — not hypothetical ones. It also helps you prioritize what to document first based on demand and impact.

2. Choose the right platform for your team.

The right software makes or breaks adoption. For internal teams, choose a tool that’s intuitive, integrates with your daily tools (like Slack or your CRM), and supports permissioning so you can control access by department or role.

You want something your team won’t resist using. If it feels clunky, they’ll go back to asking in Slack. The ideal platform is one that fades into the background and simply works — available when you need it, invisible when you don’t.

If you’re already using HubSpot, our Knowledge Base Software is a no-brainer — it’s tightly integrated with your support tools and lets you manage everything in one place. Plus, you get reporting tools to see what people are searching for, what’s helping, and what needs improvement.

3. Structure it like a library.

Group your content into clear categories: think “HR,” “IT,” “Customer Success,” “Sales Enablement,” etc. Then use tags or filters to help people drill down quickly.

Don’t overcomplicate the structure at first — aim for clarity, not perfection. You can always expand as your library grows. What matters most is consistency. If your HR policies are in four different folders with four different naming conventions, no one will ever find them.

Pro tip: Mirror how your org already talks about things. If your sales team calls it “battle cards,” don’t label that section “competitive intel.” Naming conventions matter more than you think. A familiar name is the fastest shortcut to findability.

4. Write articles that are clear, brief, and actionable.

Internal knowledge doesn’t have to read like legal copy. Use plain language, bullet points, and screenshots or video walkthroughs when helpful. The goal is to make it skimmable and useful in the moment someone needs it.

Every article should solve a specific problem or answer a clear question. Think one task, one page. The shorter and more direct the content, the more likely it’ll be used.

Include:

• A clear title that describes the task or question.
• Step-by-step instructions with formatting.
• Last updated date (so people trust the info).
• Owner or contact for follow-up questions.

It’s also helpful to include common “gotchas” or mistakes at the bottom of each article — things like “Be sure to click Save before exiting” or “This only works in Chrome.”

5. Set access and editing permissions.

Not all knowledge is meant for everyone. Set clear access rules — especially for documents that involve finance, HR, or leadership decisions.

You’ll also want to protect your content from unintentional edits. Choose who can view, edit, and approve updates. Version control is your friend here — you don’t want to lose a well-written article to a rushed copy/paste.

Also decide: Who can edit articles? Is there an approval process? Version control? Even basic permissioning helps you avoid the “everyone edits everything” chaos.

It’s worth creating a short internal style guide or contributor checklist to maintain consistency and quality across articles, especially as more people get involved.

6. Train your team to use it (and contribute).

Don’t assume people will just “find it.” During onboarding and team meetings, show how to use the knowledge base. Make it part of daily workflows by linking to it often and encouraging questions to be answered there first.

This isn’t a one-time announcement. You need ongoing visibility and gentle nudges. Reinforce the habit by pointing people to relevant articles when they ask questions — and recognizing when they contribute updates.

You could even:

• Create a #knowledge-base Slack channel for updates.
• Recognize top contributors each quarter.
• Link to articles in everyday comms (like onboarding checklists).
• Assign content champions in each department to keep docs relevant.

The more your team contributes, the more accurate, complete, and helpful your knowledge base becomes.

7. Keep it updated and useful.

A dead knowledge base is worse than none at all. Set up recurring check-ins (monthly or quarterly) to review outdated content, flag missing articles, and archive irrelevant docs.

Treat your knowledge base like a product — it needs a roadmap, ownership, and regular iterations. Otherwise, it becomes the digital junk drawer everyone avoids.

Some platforms (like Tettra or Guru) even remind you when articles haven’t been updated in a while — a great failsafe to keep content fresh.

You can also use data to drive updates: look at search terms with no results, articles with low ratings, or common feedback to see where improvements are needed.

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There are a lot of tools that say they can help you build an internal knowledge base — but only a few that actually make it easy for your team to find and share knowledge without a headache.

I’ve explored, tested, and used plenty of them, and these are the five I’d actually recommend.

Each one solves a different kind of problem — some are great for fast onboarding, others for real-time collaboration, and a few for making sure your documentation doesn’t collect dust.

Whether you are starting from scratch or upgrading a messy wiki, these tools are worth a serious look. Below is a list of the top internal knowledge base software to use.

1. HubSpot Knowledge Base Software

Best for: Teams already using HubSpot — or ready to scale fast

If you want an internal knowledge base that looks clean, works seamlessly, and ties into your CRM, support desk, and reporting without any duct tape — HubSpot is the one.

What impressed me most when I started using it was how simple it was to create polished articles with zero friction, all while having built-in analytics to see what people were actually searching for.

Plus, you can categorize content, customize the design, and track what articles are most helpful. That means you’re not just storing information — you’re learning from it and improving team workflows over time.

Why I recommend it:

• Fully integrated with your CRM, chat, and help desk.
• Beginner-friendly without sacrificing power.
• Insightful analytics to continuously improve content.
• Ideal for both internal and customer-facing knowledge bases.

2. Guru

Best for: Enabling teams directly inside Slack, Chrome, or Teams

Guru is like having a smart assistant that knows where everything lives — without having to leave your workspace. It uses AI to surface answers right when and where you need them. I’ve seen sales reps get real-time talk tracks and objection-handling docs in Slack threads or on calls, without even asking.

Guru doesn’t require employees to go “look something up” in a separate system. It brings the knowledge to them. It is the right option for teams of all sizes looking for an internal knowledge base that will boost productivity without a complicated setup process.

Why I recommend it:

• Contextual AI suggestions in Slack, Chrome, and beyond.
• Easy to set up and adopt — no steep learning curve.
• Great for real-time enablement across sales, support, and ops.

3. Confluence

Best for: Structured documentation in technical or cross-functional teams

Confluence, by Atlassian, is a workhorse. If your teams are used to Jira, or if you run lots of cross-functional projects that need structured documentation, Confluence keeps everything organized and searchable. It is a software where you can create an online team workspace. It makes collaboration in your internal knowledge base easy with its focus on social interaction.

The thing I appreciate about Confluence is its depth — you can go lightweight with sample pages or get really technical with layered permissions, embedded Jira tickets, and templates for things like retrospectives or meeting notes.

There are both free and paid versions of this tool for both small and large businesses.

Why I recommend it:

• Strong integration with other Atlassian tools (Jira, Trello).
• Ideal for teams with complex workflows.
• Endless flexibility for documentation style and depth.

4. Tettra

Best for: Fast-growing teams who need to keep knowledge fresh

Tettra is clean, fast, and purpose-built for internal documentation. Tettra is an internal knowledge base and company wiki software. If you’ve ever had a team wiki go stale (and who hasn’t?), Tettra is a breath of fresh air. It gently prompts you when content is outdated, missing, or redundant, so your internal knowledge base doesn’t rot over time.

It also plays really well with Slack. You can ask a question in Slack, and Tettra will suggest relevant pages. I’ve found it’s perfect for growing startups that don’t have time for heavy admin work but still want to build reliable documentation.

Again, this tool can be used by any-sized business as there are free and paid options.

Why I recommend it:

• Smart nudges to update or archive outdated content.
• Tight Slack integration for real-time answers.
• Clean UI that doesn’t intimidate new users.

5. Iorad

Best for: creating step-by-step tutorials with zero design skills.

Iorad is your go-to tool when you need to show someone how to do something, especially if it involves multiple steps or tools. It records your screen as you click around, then turns that into a polished, interactive tutorial with text instructions.

I’ve used Iorad for onboarding guides, software walkthroughs, and internal training docs. And because it integrates directly with HubSpot, you can embed those tutorials inside your knowledge base for even faster adoption.

With an integration of HubSpot's Knowledge base and Iorad, you can create onboarding and training systems within minutes.

Why I recommend it:

• Auto-generates step-by-step guides from screen recordings.
• Great for onboarding, support, and training documentation.
• Pairs perfectly with HubSpot Knowledge Base for rich content.

Build and Rebuild Your Knowledge Base

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from building (and rebuilding) internal systems over the years, it’s this: The best internal knowledge base isn’t the one with the most articles — it’s the one your team actually uses.

And honestly, it’s not about perfection. You don’t need to have every document in place before launching. Start small. Focus on the questions people ask every week, the how-tos you keep repeating, or the policies buried three clicks too deep in someone’s Drive folder. That’s your foundation.

From there, choose a platform that fits the way your team already works. If you’re using HubSpot, the Knowledge Base Software is a solid choice — it’s integrated, easy to manage, and comes with the kind of reporting and permissions features that make scaling feel simple. But even if you go with a different tool, the most important thing is that your team trusts it, finds it useful, and sees it as a go-to resource.

At the end of the day, creating an internal knowledge base is one of the highest-leverage things you can do to support your team. The sooner you start, the sooner your future self (and your entire company) will thank you.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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