Guide · Confluence

Comala Document Management alternative for Confluence: when Attestation Flow fits and when it does not

Attestation Flow for Confluence 3.1.0 is the production version (30 October 2026). Last updated 29 October 2026. On the Atlassian Marketplace.

By Bartosz Stankiewicz, founder, Stanki Guild.

You are looking at Comala Document Management (Appfire) for Confluence Cloud and wondering whether something smaller would do. The honest answer depends on the job. Comala Document Management is a workflow engine: a page moves through states you design. Attestation Flow, our Confluence app, does one narrower thing: named people confirm that they have read an exact version of a page, and with a paid licence each version can be approved first.

We make Attestation Flow, so this is a vendor's comparison and not an independent one. Every statement about Comala Document Management below links to the page we read on 20 October 2026. "Not found" means we did not find it in the pages we read, not that the feature is missing. Features and prices change; if you find an error, write to support@stankiguild.com and we will correct it.

The short answer: if you need your own document states, triggers that publish or copy pages, labels and page restrictions, Comala Document Management is the broader product and Attestation Flow does not replace it. If what you need is "approve this version, then show that these named people read exactly that version", Attestation Flow covers that with far less to configure.

What Comala Document Management is, from its own pages

What	Comala Document Management	Source
Vendor and listing	Appfire; listed on the Atlassian Marketplace with Cloud Fortified status approved	Marketplace listing, listing data
Installs and rating	5,980 installs (the Marketplace figure may include Server and Data Center) and 3.60 stars over 184 reviews, on 20 October 2026	listing data
Latest Cloud version	52.4.0, dated 20 October 2026	version data
Price	10-user tier $0; 50 users $1,185.00 for 12 months, renewing at $592.50 (Marketplace list price in USD)	pricing data

For comparison, Attestation Flow is free, with every feature, for sites with up to 10 users; above that $0.75 per user per month for users 1-100. These are our list prices for the Marketplace listing. The two apps quote prices in different units, so we do not put one total next to the other.

Feature by feature

Feature	Comala Document Management	Attestation Flow
Your own document states and transitions	Yes. Three built-in workflow templates (Basic Approval, Content Expiry, Quality Management System) and custom workflows built in a visual editor or a JSON editor (built-in templates, feature guide)	No. One fixed flow: require acknowledgement on a page and, with a paid licence, approve each version first
Approval by named reviewers	Yes. Reviewers can be assigned by user or group; all must decide, or a minimum number; the outcome can be unanimity, majority or minimum approvals and rejections (Approvals)	Yes, paid. Named approvers and optionally approver groups, how many approvals are needed, in any order or in the order listed; one rejection rejects that version (documentation)
Comment with a decision	Optional: an approval can require a comment on approve and reject (Approvals)	A rejection needs a comment (documentation)
Identity check when signing	One-time token from an authenticator app; the page says it does not work if the site uses single sign-on through Atlassian Access (E-signatures))	A signature PIN the app manages itself (paid): stored as a salted hash, locked for 15 minutes after five wrong tries (one hour, then 24 hours, after repeated locks), or a code from an authenticator app instead. It is not part of the Atlassian login (documentation)
Named readers confirm they read the page	Not in this app on Cloud. Appfire's comparison page says read confirmations are only available as a separate app, Comala Read Confirmations (Product comparison)	Yes, it is the core of the app: a receipt bound to the exact page version, and readers are asked again after an edit (documentation)
Review again after a period	Content Expiry workflow: an approved page expires after a set period, five months by default, then waits in Expired until it is reapproved or rejected (Content expiry workflow)	Paid: a periodic review of 30 to 1095 days with named review owners, and a re-acknowledgement window of 30 to 730 days for readers (periodic review)
History of decisions	A Document activity report per page lists approvals, rejections and state changes (Document activity report)	A tamper-evident log per page, in which each entry carries a SHA-256 hash of the one before; exportable as CSV or JSON (documentation)
Actions after a state change: labels, page restrictions, copying or publishing a page	Yes. The feature guide lists label, page restrictions, page copy and publishing actions among the trigger actions (Feature guide)	No. The app does not lock editing or hide unapproved versions in Confluence (documentation)
Regulatory material	Appfire publishes compliance statements for 21 CFR Part 11, ISO 9001 and ISO 13485, and says it does not claim compliance or certification for its tools (Compliance guide)	No 21 CFR Part 11 claim and no validation package; electronic-signature controls you assess against your own procedures (documentation)
Where data goes	Setting up an e-signature token sends the reviewer's email address and token through the Comala server, which the page says does not store them. Other data flows: not checked (E-signatures))	No Forge remote, no web trigger and no calls to external hosts (documentation)

Where Comala Document Management is ahead

Workflow design. You can define your own states, transitions and parameters, and apply a workflow to a page, a space or by label. Attestation Flow has one flow and no states to design.
Actions that change other pages. Comala triggers can add labels, set page restrictions, copy a page or publish it. Attestation Flow records approvals and acknowledgements, but it does not restrict or hide anything in Confluence.
Maturity and reach. About 6,000 installs and 184 reviews on the Marketplace against a listing of ours that is new on the Marketplace.
Regulatory documentation. Appfire publishes compliance statements for several standards. We publish no such statements.

Where Attestation Flow fits better

Proof that people read it. Receipts are bound to the exact page version, with a SHA-256 checksum of that version, and an edit asks readers again. In Comala's own documentation this is the job of a separate app.
One app for approve, then read. With a paid licence the same requirement approves a version and then asks the readers, with one log for both.
Less to set up. You name readers and, if you want, approvers on the page. There are no workflows to design.
Free for small sites. Every feature at no cost for up to 10 users. Comala Document Management also lists a $0 tier for 10 users.

Which to choose

You need custom states, publishing or page copying: Comala Document Management.
You need quorum approval of policy pages plus proof that named people read the approved version: Attestation Flow fits, and it is the smaller thing to run.
You need both, a designed workflow and read confirmations: Comala Document Management with its separate Read Confirmations app, or Comala for the workflow and Attestation Flow for the reading. We have not tested the two side by side.

There is no import from Comala Document Management into Attestation Flow, and we have not built one: its approval history stays in Comala. For the import paths we do have, see switching to Attestation Flow. The same data for other read-confirmation apps is on the Attestation Flow comparison page.

Common questions

Is Attestation Flow a full replacement for Comala Document Management?

No. It covers approval of page versions and read confirmation. It does not have custom workflow states, triggers that publish or copy pages, or label and restriction actions. Choose it when those are not what you need.

Does Comala Document Management include read confirmations on Cloud?

Appfire's Product comparison page says read confirmations are only available on Cloud as a separate app that you install and configure apart from Comala Document Management. That app is Comala Read Confirmations, which we compare on our Attestation Flow comparison page.

Can Attestation Flow require approval before readers are asked to read a page?

Yes, with a paid licence. Turn on approval of each version, name the approvers and how many approvals are needed, and readers are asked only once a version is approved. Each approval records the approver's name, the time, the meaning and a checksum of the exact version approved.

Does Attestation Flow meet 21 CFR Part 11?

We make no 21 CFR Part 11 claim and supply no validation package. Whether any app satisfies it for your process is for you and your auditor to decide.

How current is this comparison?

The statements about Comala Document Management were read on 20 October 2026 from the Marketplace listing data and Appfire's documentation linked above. Check the linked pages for what applies today.