Confluence is an excellent basis for your corporate intranet. But only together with Linchpin or Refined you get your interface and functions that make Confluence a central hub for communication, the provision of important information and the extended arm of your company. But you're probably asking yourself the questions, which app should I use for my intranet? Linchpin vs Refined. Which solution is better?
In the following we have examined the Linchpin and Refined in more detail and recorded the most important differences in a clear table.
Linchpin vs Refined
| Linchpin | Refined | |
|---|---|---|
| Target group | People looking for an intranet solution with social media features. | For people who want to use Confluence as an intranet. |
| Product Use Case | Create a social intranet that matches your company's look and feel and creates a familiar work environment. | Add structure, themes, layouts, and navigation to Confluence to create intranet, documentation, and collaboration pages for projects. |
| Summary | With Linchpin, you can customize your Confluence to your brand and add social features like team events and microblogging. There are also modules to support different use cases like content personalization or extranet features. | An out-of-the-box solution that is very easy to use and covers most requirements in terms of design. Among the most important features is a navigation system that organizes the entire space into categories. With the theme and website designs you can create a structure for your content and intranet layout. |
| Advantages and limitations | Easy to install and use. Theming with Logo and individual colors for buttons, header icons, etc. Extensive intranet features with microblogging, personalized content, localization, custom navigation, advanced profiles and more. | Quick to set up and you can get great results with minimal effort. There are limitations as far as customizing the design, the navigation and news-streams. Social functions like events, org charts, extensive profiles and microblog are missing. |
| success story | BSH Linchpin Success Story | EEX Refined Success Story |
Read more about what an intranet should be able to do and how to find the best solution for your company in this article: How to find the right intranet for your company.
Theme and Features
Theme and design features
| Feature | Linchpin | Refined |
|---|---|---|
| Design / Themes for Confluence | ✅ | ✅ |
| Different designs per Confluence space | ✅ | ✅ |
| Personalization of designs* | ✅ | ✅ (to some extent) |
| Inherit design elements from global designs to space and adapt automatically. | ✅ | ❌ |
| Easy to update (even with major UI changes) | ✅ | ✅ |
*Basically, the design of Confluence Confluence can be customized with both intranet providers. However, Linchpin offers more functions, e.g. a more extensive customization of the header or the fonts. This can be seen in the demo-instances.
Further intranet features
| Feature | Linchpin | Refined |
|---|---|---|
| The ability to like posts, entries, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| The ability to comment on posts, entries, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Simple design features, so teams can manage their own spaces without a web designer. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Personalization of menus | ✅ | ❌ (global menu can be created and structured, but no further customization possible) |
| Social functions besides the normal Confluence (microblogging, events / RSVP function, profiles, organigrams) | ✅ | ❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace) |
| App Center for a personalized set of legacy systems | ✅ (no SSO of legacy apps) | ❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace) |
| Terms of Use for Compliance with Laws. | ✅ | ❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace) |
| Touchscreen and native mobile app. | ✅ | ❌ |
Summary and recommendation: Linchpin vs Refined
| Linchpin | Refined | |
|---|---|---|
| Why we love it | Transform Confluence into a modular, fully personalized social intranet platform. | Customize Confluence design partially (which is sufficient in most cases), very quick & easy setup. |
| Theming & Personalization | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ |
| User-friendliness | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ |
| Social Intranet Features | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ |
| Implementation effort | Medium | Low |
| Pricing | €€€ | € |
Refined
If you're looking for a simple and relatively inexpensive upgrade to Confluence's design and navigation, you should go with Refined.
Linchpin
If you want to use Confluence as the basis for a full-fledged social intranet, Linchpin is probably the right solution for you.
Here you can find more information and Success Stories from former projects to intranet with Confluence, Refined and Linchpin.
Do you need support with the implementation of an intranet in your company? Feel free to send us a message or call us directly.
