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We use GIT for DITA content. We integrate well with development, and can execute near-miraculous processing that saves us tons of time.
You could as easily use GIT for Markdown or any other text-based format. If you use Markdown, you could probably use the DITA Open Toolkit to transform Markdown to Word. Or there seem to be other tools (like this... https://pandoc.org/). So you could carry on with your work flow to generate glossies. Markdown is good for collaboration, if that's a goal.
Git is in the cloud, you get version control, text is text so you can DIFF, and there are tools (like gitk) that you can use for visual diff between commits to your branch. Not sure about specific access locks to folders. But you can set up different repositories and give different access to those (I assume -- I'm not interested in that stuff, so I can't say from experience).Â
With Git as a base you can get into docs as code, set up frameworks that generate your web site automagically, and process the content in various ways if necessary. You can even use GitPages as your docs delivery service, if that's what you want.
The price is probably not bad... Free tools. As with all freeware solutions, you have to bolt it together. But there are lots of people who have done this, and you can learn from them. Look at Tom Johnson (It's Rather Be Writing) or Anne Gentle (Docs as Code), for example. These days setup should be relatively cheap. And the skills you gain go onto your resume.
I avoid Confluence like the plague for real docs... A silo is a silo. It is among the worst editing platforms I can imagine. (Fun Quote: A person I respect VERY much says WIKI == Where Information Kills Itself.) We would need a team at least 5x what we currently have if we had used anything of that ilk.
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And, in particular, if not Confluence, what do you and others use for efficient, _relatively_ inexpensive (given the number of people we have), content management systems that:
ÂÂÂ (a) are "in the cloud" - important in these WFH times for easy access by everybody
ÂÂÂ (b) have version control - including easy comparisons between multiple revisions
ÂÂÂ (c) have access controls for folders and documents - to individuals or pre-defined groups?
ÂÂÂ (d) support other need(s) - please elaborate if you have the time.
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