Comparison for IT procedures, assets and handover. Evaluate permissions, exports and integrations against the information your team needs to maintain.
Stuart Kerr Spindlow has confirmed prior experience with the software covered by Happy SysAdm. This comparison’s plan-specific recommendations are editorial analysis of documentation reviewed on 23 September 2026, not a claim that every named plan or current release was personally tested. Calculations and AI-run checks are identified separately.The shortlist
| Product & fit | Documented scope | Limits to evaluate | Cost basis |
|---|---|---|---|
 Teams wanting a focused, self-hosted knowledge library Visit BookStack | Open-source documentation organised into books, chapters and pages. | Not a complete asset-discovery or secret-management platform; operate and back up the service. | No software licence fee; include hosting, maintenance, backups and identity integration. |
 Teams needing structured IT records and integrations Visit IT Glue | IT documentation with asset templates, access controls and versioning. | Evaluate export completeness and contract fit before importing critical operational knowledge. | Basic and Select show five-user minimums on a 36-month term, plus onboarding; other small-team offers may differ. |
BookStack
Best fit: Teams wanting a focused, self-hosted knowledge library.
Open-source documentation organised into books, chapters and pages. Not a complete asset-discovery or secret-management platform; operate and back up the service.
Cost considerations: No software licence fee; include hosting, maintenance, backups and identity integration.
Visit BookStackIT Glue
Best fit: Teams needing structured IT records and integrations.
IT documentation with asset templates, access controls and versioning. Evaluate export completeness and contract fit before importing critical operational knowledge.
Cost considerations: Basic and Select show five-user minimums on a 36-month term, plus onboarding; other small-team offers may differ.
Visit IT GlueChoose a library or structured operational records
BookStack suits a team whose central task is maintaining readable procedures, with books, chapters and pages as the organising model. IT Glue suits a team needing structured IT records and integrations as part of day-to-day service operations. The common test is whether an authorised technician can find the right service context and procedure; the products do not need identical data models to compete for that job.
BookStack is the preferred default for a small internal runbook library when someone can operate the service. IT Glue becomes the stronger recommendation when linked records and supported integrations replace enough manual reconciliation to justify its commercial commitment. Neither tool creates accurate ownership or current procedures automatically.
Who should avoid each option
Use these exclusions alongside the shortlist and the plan-specific analysis. A requirement that the selected edition cannot meet rules it out even if its headline price is attractive.
| Option | Avoid this option when | Better alternative or qualifying tier | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| BookStack | You require structured asset discovery or secret management from the same tool | IT Glue when its contracted structured-record and integration scope fits | A focused runbook library is a different job from a broader IT records platform |
| IT Glue | The quoted user minimum, term or export conditions do not fit your team | BookStack for a focused library with a capable hosting owner | Buy structured relationships when they remove a real workflow burden |
Calculate the commitment before comparing monthly figures
BookStack is free, self-hosted software under the MIT licence. Its payable total still includes the host, backup, identity integration and administration. IT Glue’s pricing checked on 23 September 2026 lists Basic at $29 and Select at $38 per user per month, both with five-user minimums and a 36-month term; a one-time onboarding fee also applies. Regional currency adjustments and taxes must be confirmed.
At the displayed dollar rates, Basic’s minimum is $145 per month, $1,740 annualised and $5,220 over 36 months before onboarding and taxes. Select is $190 per month, $2,280 annualised and $6,840 over the term. For a three-person team paying for Basic’s five-seat minimum, the base is effectively $48.33 per active person per month. These calculations expose the commitment; they are not a claim that every IT Glue offer has the same minimum.
| Option | Base calculation | Best reason to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| BookStack self-hosted | $0 software licence fee; operations additional | A focused library with an existing hosting owner. |
| IT Glue Basic, five-seat minimum | $5,220 over the stated 36-month term | Structured records when the selected integrations fit. |
| IT Glue Select, five-seat minimum | $6,840 over the stated 36-month term | A higher integration tier that solves a defined workflow need. |
The operational tradeoff
At the Basic minimum, BookStack’s annual hosting and administration would need to remain below $1,740 to beat that base subscription on those cost categories, before comparing the value of IT Glue’s extra capabilities and its onboarding charge. There is no supplied time record to establish that threshold has been met. The break-even figure is useful; an invented monthly maintenance estimate would not be.
BookStack’s backup guidance includes the database and relevant application files; a readable page export is not automatically a complete restore of the service. IT Glue’s structured relationships make export fidelity especially important when moving away. Access control, attachments and recoverable history belong in the decision alongside search and editing.
Recommendation and the remaining uncertainty
Choose BookStack when the publication of clear runbooks is the main job and its operation is already owned. Choose IT Glue when maintained structured records and the contracted integration tier materially support technician work. A small team should examine the actual small-team offers instead of assuming it must buy five seats or that a displayed monthly equivalent permits monthly cancellation.
A timed handover and a representative export-and-recovery exercise could change the recommendation. No such comparative result is established here. The judgment therefore favours the simpler tool for the simpler information job and the structured platform when the relationships are part of the requirement.