HelpDocsOne source of truth for every answer you give.
vs
ShelfNext-generation knowledge and governance platform for accurate GenAI answers.
Comparison · Knowledge Management · weekly run Nov 3
HelpDocs vs Shelf
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
HelpDocs is the stronger AI pick in Knowledge Management: it has a visibility score of 2.9 versus 1.5 for Shelf.
Choose HelpDocs if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (2.9 vs 1.5)
- Best customer-facing knowledge base
- Worth considering for customer-facing documentation
Choose Shelf if…
- You need SOC 2 Type II or GDPR or CCPA coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (51–200 employees)
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
- Suited to customer-service and contact-center knowledge management
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | HelpDocs | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 2.9% | 1.5% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in Knowledge Management | #24 | #38 |
| Share of voice | 0.8% | 0.7% |
| Mentions this run | 4 | 4 |
| Positive in AI answers | — | 67% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
HelpDocs 0pp · Shelf 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
HelpDocs leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
HelpDocsShelf
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0HelpDocs ranked higher
0Shelf ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | HelpDocs | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | — |
| Entry price | $129 per seat / mo | — |
| Free plan | No · 14-day trial | — |
| Deployment | Hosted knowledge base with custom domain, SSL certificate, and subfolder hosting | Cloud-hosted on AWS, with data centers in the US, Canada and EU |
| Compliance | — | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA |
| Support | Priority support on the Enterprise plan, Written security reviews and a signed DPA on the Enterprise plan, Docs and help for HelpDocs on the company website | Contact form on the website, Developer portal with API specs, cookbooks and SDKs |
| Founded | 2016 | — |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom | New York City, NY, United States |
| Employees | 1–10 | 51–200 |
| Funding | Bootstrapped | Series B · $61M raised |
| Best for | Small and growing teams that want one maintained set of answers for customers, staff and AI tools, without a full support suite. | Business and knowledge management teams that need governed enterprise knowledge, and technical teams that want a data layer under their own AI applications. |
Plans side by side
HelpDocs
Sprout$129per month; $99/mo billed annually
Bloom$299per month; $239/mo billed annually
Harvest$499per month; $399/mo billed annually
Enterprise$1,250per month billed annually ($15,000 a year)
Shelf
Pricing not available.
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
HelpDocs
- Best customer-facing knowledge base
- Worth considering for customer-facing documentation
Shelf
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
- Suited to customer-service and contact-center knowledge management
- Recommended for vendor landscape and competitive intelligence databases
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “HelpDocs vs Shelf”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/helpdocs-vs-shelf, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.