Help+Manual review
A broad Windows publishing suite, but its one-time price limits its value for smaller teams.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Help+Manual is a Windows-based technical documentation authoring suite from EC Software GmbH. It is designed for individual technical writers, software developers, professional authors, and small authoring teams that need to create multiple documentation formats from a single XML source. Its WYSIWYG XML editor supports online help, printed manuals, WebHelp, HTML Help, PDF, Word, ePUB, Kindle, and other outputs. Templates and skins, screen capture, animated screencasts, full-text WebHelp search, and Google Analytics integration extend the publishing workflow.
Pricing follows a perpetual-license model rather than a subscription. The Basic Edition costs €569 per seat and covers online help, PDF documents, and printed user manuals. The Professional Edition costs €899 per seat and adds WebHelp and eBook publishing, version-control support, translation and localization tools, and built-in multi-user functionality. The Floating License costs €1569 per license and includes concurrent shared licensing, the Professional Edition feature set, and Terminal Server and Citrix support. A 30-day free trial is available. Full-text search and Google Analytics integration are available in the Professional and Floating editions, while Basic has reduced functionality.
The product’s main strength is breadth: one source can support traditional help, document, and ebook outputs, while integrations include Subversion, Microsoft Team Foundation Server, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe-compatible systems, DeepL, Microsoft Word, Adobe RoboHelp, Author-It, and Confluence. This makes it a fit for Windows-based teams with established publishing, localization, or version-control workflows. Teams needing multi-user authoring should consider Professional or Floating rather than Basic. Help+Manual is less suitable for organizations that require cross-platform authoring or prefer a recurring subscription model, and the one-time entry price may be difficult to justify for occasional documentation work.
Help+Manual pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Publishes one XML source to WebHelp, PDF, Word, eBook, and HTML Help
- Supports version control, localization, multi-user editing, and WebHelp search
- Adds screen capture, screencasts, analytics, and broad publishing integrations
- Where it doesn't
- Windows-only coverage limits platform flexibility
- The €569 starting price is a significant one-time cost per seat
- Basic Edition excludes Professional features such as version control and localization
Help+Manual fact sheet, pricing and score →
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