10 Glean Alternatives for Enterprise Search & Knowledge Management (2025)
As organizations scale, managing information overload while maintaining smooth workflows becomes a challenge. Gaps in knowledge management—or a platform that doesn’t fit your needs—can quickly lead to inefficiencies and lost opportunities.
With Glean offering robust enterprise search, you might wonder: Is it the best fit for your team, or are there other options more attuned to your tech stack and internal knowledge landscape?
Here are 10 powerful Glean alternatives to consider, with a closer look at their unique strengths for search, knowledge-sharing, and business intelligence.
What Makes a Great Glean Alternative?
When selecting a knowledge management tool, prioritize:
- Powerful search and organization: Can you find, tag, and retrieve any file or answer quickly?
- Easy integrations: Will it tie into your existing document management, chat, and project tools?
- Scalability: Can it scale for more users, more data, and more complex workflows as you grow?
- Customization: Is it flexible enough to fit your specific workflow, user roles, or security needs?
1. ClickUp – Unified AI Work & Knowledge Management
AI Agents That Do More Than Just Search
Glean is built to help you find information. ClickUp helps you act on it.
With features like ClickUp Brain and AI Agents, you get a productivity partner that:
- Answers questions from across tasks, Docs, and projects
- Summarizes content, automates updates, and runs standups
- Connects your data, workflows, and people in one system
It’s more than search—it’s smart execution.
Universal Search That Goes Beyond the Workspace
ClickUp’s Universal Search lets you find anything—not just across ClickUp Docs and tasks, but also connected apps and local files. It includes:
- Custom search commands
- AI-powered context understanding
- Instant shortcuts and recall
Glean is limited to indexing and retrieving from existing tools—ClickUp is the tool.
One Platform for Knowledge + Work
Why search across 10 tools when you can do everything in one?
ClickUp unites:
- Docs for collaborative knowledge
- Tasks and goals for execution
- Dashboards for visibility
This eliminates tool sprawl and the need for a separate enterprise search layer like Glean.
AI Knowledge Manager with Contextual Understanding
With ClickUp Brain, you don’t just get search—you get conversational, contextual AI that understands your role and workspace. It helps:
- Pull answers from tasks, docs, and comments
- Provide role-based suggestions
- Keep knowledge fresh and usable
Glean offers search and basic Q&A, but not workflow-aware intelligence.
Productivity + Knowledge in One Ecosystem
ClickUp doesn’t stop at surfacing knowledge—it automates and manages the work around it.
With its AI Project Manager, you can:
- Automate task creation and updates
- Generate meeting summaries
- Run async standups
It’s everything Glean can’t do—because Glean doesn’t manage work, it just helps you find it.
🚀 When ClickUp Might Be a Better Fit Than Glean:
- You want AI that powers both knowledge and execution, not just retrieval.
- You prefer a centralized workspace over indexing dozens of apps.
- You need both project management + internal search in one ecosystem.
- You’re looking to cut tools and reduce complexity—without losing power.
2. Guru – Contextual Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge-First Approach
Guru is designed specifically as a knowledge management platform, not just a search tool. While Glean focuses on aggregating and searching across all workplace tools, Guru encourages structured, verified documentation—making it easier to build a single source of truth.
Knowledge Verification
Guru offers a built-in verification workflow that prompts subject-matter experts to keep content up to date. This is critical for maintaining trust in internal documentation over time—something Glean doesn’t natively enforce.
In-Workflow Access
Guru’s browser extension, Slack integration, and AI suggest cards in real time based on the context of your conversations. It proactively surfaces relevant information without needing a manual search, unlike Glean which is more passive and search-reliant.
AI-Powered Authoring and Answers
Guru has strong AI tools that help with:
- Drafting and updating knowledge cards
- Auto-answering questions in Slack or Teams
- Recommending content improvements
This makes Guru a more collaborative and adaptive system—not just a static archive or search layer.
Team Enablement
Guru is built to support onboarding, enablement, and training use cases. It helps teams ramp up faster by centralizing how-to guides, policies, and best practices with accountability and tracking—something Glean doesn’t specialize in.
Less Tool Dependence
Unlike Glean, which relies on being connected to dozens of third-party apps, Guru works well even if you're using just Slack, Chrome, or a wiki. This makes it more accessible for smaller teams or those with simpler tech stacks.
When Guru Might Be a Better Fit Than Glean:
- You need structured, trusted knowledge—not just fast search.
- You want to ensure knowledge stays fresh over time.
- Your team relies heavily on Slack or Chrome for day-to-day work.
- You’re focused on onboarding, support, or internal enablement.
3. Algolia – Lightning-fast Enterprise Search
Fully Customizable Search Experience
Algolia is a developer-first search platform, giving you complete control over:
- The design and UX of your search interface
- Ranking and relevance rules
- Search filters, facets, and behavior
Glean is more of a plug-and-play enterprise search layer, with limited customization.
Search Beyond the Workplace Stack
Glean is focused specifically on workplace knowledge—it connects to tools like Google Drive, Slack, Jira, etc., to centralize internal search.
Algolia can power any kind of search, including:
- External websites
- Customer-facing apps
- Internal tools
This flexibility makes Algolia a better long-term fit for teams that want a single search backend across multiple use cases.
Speed + Relevance Control
Algolia is known for blazing-fast performance and customizable relevance tuning. You can control exactly how search results are ranked using rules, AI re-ranking, and synonyms—something Glean handles more automatically and opaquely.
Scalable & API-First
Algolia’s API-first architecture allows you to build scalable, tailored search across large datasets. If your internal data lives in custom systems or isn’t covered by Glean’s integrations, Algolia gives you the tools to ingest and index whatever you want.
Not Limited to Pre-Built Integrations
Glean shines when you’re using popular SaaS tools and want a fast setup. But if you have proprietary platforms or need to search across unique data sources, Algolia’s flexibility wins—you can index any structured or unstructured content.
When Algolia Might Be a Better Fit Than Glean:
- You want to build or own the search experience end-to-end.
- You have custom or external data sources that Glean can’t index.
- You need search for both internal and external users (e.g. docs site, app search, help center).
- Your team includes developers who can implement and tune search relevance.
4. Coveo – AI-driven Custom Search Experiences
Deeper AI-Powered Search Personalization
Glean offers solid enterprise search across connected tools. But Coveo takes it further with personalized, AI-driven relevance tuned to each user’s behavior, intent, and context.
Coveo's platform learns over time, optimizing results with:
- Behavioral analytics
- Query tuning
- Machine learning models
Glean is smart, but Coveo is smarter and more adaptable for enterprise-level needs.
More Than Internal Knowledge
While Glean is focused exclusively on internal workplace search, Coveo supports:
- Internal knowledge search
- Customer self-service portals
- E-commerce product discovery
- Support case deflection
It’s not just for employees—it powers personalized search across your entire business ecosystem.
Flexible Integration & Indexing
Glean depends on integrations with common workplace tools (Google Workspace, Slack, Jira, etc.). Coveo can:
- Ingest data from any source (including proprietary systems)
- Index structured and unstructured content
- Extend to web content, CRMs, databases, and more
It gives you total control over what gets indexed and how—ideal for enterprises with custom tech stacks.
Search + Recommendations + Analytics
Glean surfaces content. Coveo helps you understand why users search, what they find, and how to optimize it.
You get:
- Detailed usage analytics
- Query insights
- Recommendations for content improvements
Glean is easy to use, but Coveo is built for search performance at scale.
Built for Scale and Complexity
Coveo is enterprise-grade—designed for organizations with:
- Complex data architectures
- Multiple lines of business
- High expectations for security, scalability, and compliance
Glean is a great plug-and-play solution for standard SaaS stacks, but Coveo shines when you need a tailored search solution for a complex environment.
When Coveo Might Be a Better Fit Than Glean:
- You need hyper-personalized, AI-powered search across roles, teams, or customers
- You want to power search across internal, external, and customer-facing systems
- You need analytics and optimization to continuously improve content findability
- You operate in a complex, multi-system environment that needs flexible indexing and control
5. Google Cloud Search – Effortless Organization-wide Discovery
Powered by Google’s advanced algorithms, Cloud Search makes it simple to surface information spread across Google Workspace and connected services. Its intuitive interface and smart filters help teams quickly zero in on documents or conversations.
Notable features:
- Federated search across cloud and on-premise data
- Machine learning–powered contextual results
- Tight integration with Google Workspace
6. Elastic Search – Scalable Real-time Search & Analytics
Elastic Search (the core of the ELK stack) handles vast datasets with speed and flexibility. An open, distributed architecture lets teams conduct lightning-fast full-text searches, aggregations, and data visualizations, ideal for organizations with custom search needs.
Notable features:
- Distributed, high-speed search on huge datasets
- Custom analytics and real-time insights
- Advanced filtering and aggregation support
7. Lucidworks Fusion – Advanced Data Discovery
Lucidworks Fusion offers sophisticated tools for blending structured and unstructured data, equipping enterprises with AI-powered search and analytics. Relevance tuning and plug-in machine learning models let you truly customize your knowledge discovery engine.
Notable features:
- Unified search over multiple data types and sources
- User-driven customization of AI and relevance
- Analytics for actionable business decisions
8. GoLinks – Smart Knowledge Shortcuts
GoLinks streamlines internal knowledge sharing with easy-to-remember shortcuts and a centralized dashboard. Teams use smart URLs for quick access to frequently used resources, and administrators can manage usage and retire outdated links.
Notable features:
- Custom short links for resources and documentation
- Dashboard for centralized link management
- Security integrations with SSO and access control
9. Knowledge Miner – Automated Insights from Data
Knowledge Miner automates the discovery of insights and relationships from your company’s data. Its self-organizing AI identifies patterns, trends, and connections—reducing manual effort in surfacing valuable business knowledge.
Notable features:
- Automated modeling and mining of structured/unstructured data
- Intuitive visualization of patterns and trends
- Flexible reporting tools for stakeholders
10. Yext – Location-based Search and Online Presence
Yext helps organizations manage and maximize visibility across digital directories, search engines, and social platforms. Its platform ensures accurate, up-to-date location and business information, with tools for review monitoring and local search optimization.
Notable features:
- Central management of business listings and location data
- Built-in SEO and reputation monitoring
- Insights into online visibility and performance
Conclusion: Find Your Ideal Knowledge Management Platform
Every company’s knowledge management needs are unique. Whether your priority is streamlined AI search (like ClickUp), robust developer toolkits (like Algolia), or contextual in-app support (like Guru), these Glean alternatives cover a broad spectrum.
When choosing your solution, focus on the tool that best integrates into your daily workflow and connects seamlessly with your existing knowledge repositories. Consider trialing your top candidates to see which platform feels most natural and delivers the fastest time-to-value for your team.

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You will learn:
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Who should join this webinar?
Product Managers, Product Owners, Software Developers, Tech Managers
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Rodney Erickson is a content marketing professional at HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. Previously, Rodney worked as a marketing manager for a tech software startup. He graduated with honors from Columbia University with a dual degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing.

Alex Omeyer is a Co-founder & CEO at Stepsize, a SaaS collaboration tool for engineering teams to manage technical debt. Alex spends most of his time speaking to the best software development teams in the world about how they handle technical debt and sharing this knowledge with the community.
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