Flare offers a completely "open" architecture. It stores all content and project files as XML, making Flare projects transparent and easily accessible. You can easily share, add, remove and edit content and project files in Flare simply through Flare's UI or by using Windows Explorer (or other means).

RoboHelp® is not aware of files added via Windows Explorer (or other means). You have to import content files through the UI even if they already exist in the project's file structure.

Flare not only offers a large amount of 'static' reports for users it also provides a set of 'dynamic' reports. The errors or warnings in these reports can be double-clicked to open the topic with the error or warning message selected. Some of these reports in Flare are: Broken Hyperlinks, Topics not in Index, Topics not in TOC, and more. MadCap offers a standalone product called MadCap Analyzer that will analyze projects and provide more of these type of reports.

RoboHelp® only offers a limited number of 'static' textual reports.

Flare supports all common link types from the standard Hyperlink, See Also/Related Topic links, Concept links (A-links), Cross-Reference links, to Relationship Tables. Relationship Tables, originally created to support the DITA environment, have been adapted by MadCap Software to work with Flare projects and outputs.

RoboHelp® can handle basic link types, however it does not support cross-reference links (supporting both web and print publishing) and has nothing even close to Relationship Table support.

Using Flare's File Tagging feature, topics can be tagged with author, status, or other pieces of metadata as required. New tags can be created by the authoring team as needed.

RoboHelp® supports setting three statuses on topics. The interface suggests that authors can be assigned to topics, but there does not seem to be a way to actually accomplish this. No additional statuses or metadata can be created.

Snippet Conditions are special condition tags that you apply to content within Snippets at a Topic level rather than a build target level. With Snippet Conditions, you can separate certain Snippet content so that it displays in some Topics or Master Pages but not in others. This allows you to use one Snippet for many purposes, rather than having to create multiple Snippets.

RoboHelp® has no such support.

For those who need to control sensitive information (such as personal data like social security numbers) while publishing in a legal environment where the use of a Conditional Tag would not meet the legal requirements, Flare supports Redacted Text. This renders the text unreadable and inaccessible without changing the flow of the document.

RoboHelp® has no such support.

Flare handles indexing at the character level, providing the tightest integration possible between index terms and the actual content being referenced. Any meta data, such as conditional tags applied to content, are automatically applied to the index markers as well. So if you use a conditional tag to suppress some content when you build an output, the associated index terms tied to that content are automatically suppressed; there is absolutely no extra work to do. Note: This same indexing model is used in FrameMaker® and is one of the reasons that Flare has the tightest FrameMaker® integration in the industry.

Outdated indexing model. Index keywords are associated at the page level, not at the character level (the actual point of reference). To work around this architectural defect, RoboHelp® uses an awkward model of manually applying build tags to index terms outside of the content page. You must rework the same content multiple times. First write the content, then index the content at the page level, not the content level. If you apply build tags, you do it to the page content. Now you must research if and where that content may have index terms. Then you must manually locate those index terms in a separate interface and apply build tags to those keywords individually. This is a very time-consuming and inefficient process. This model also means that RoboHelp® and FrameMaker® use two extremely different indexing models making "integration" difficult.

Flare has an internal QR Code editor and supports them in all outputs. A QR Code is a type of barcode that can be read by devices such as smart phones. The data encoded in the QR Code can be text, a website URL, an email address, contact information, or SMS (Short Message Service, which is used for sending text messages). QR codes are a way to bridge the gap between a static print document and searchable, more detailed online information at your fingertips.

RoboHelp® has no such support.

With the MadCap Flare & MadCap Capture combination, MadCap Software can single-source images. When adding text notations/call outs on screen captures, you can use the same variables used in your Flare projects. This allows for extreme customization of the images and screen captures in your documentation. The same can be said of conditional markers as well. You can conditionalize any part of the image using the same markers from your Flare project. Capture can also assign different profile values to a single image for different uses (like 300 dpi, TIFF format for print, 96 dpi, JPG format for online). Capture images can even use Conditional Tags to control areas of an image.

No dedicated single-sourcing capabilities for images.

Flare supports EPS, PS, and SVG images in the authoring environment and PDF output. The vector graphics are used for other outputs but converted to images that can be supported in those outputs.

RoboHelp® has no such support.

Can import entire style sheets into a project. Can also import individual styles from another style sheet.

No support for importing multiple style sheets.

Provides direct connectivity with Microsoft® Visual Source Safe, Microsoft® Team Foundation Server and Subversion, allowing you to work with Flare projects stored in these source control environments without a third-party plugin. Also supports additional source control solutions that conform to the Microsoft® Source Code Control APIs (Microsoft® SCC APIs).

Only integrates with RoboSource Control or to other source control software through the Microsoft® SCC API.

Flare projects can be stored on a network share drive and is a full "network aware" application. Multiple authors can even access the same project at the same time without any network software installation. No IT department involvement. Works with files as all applications should, within the designs of network protocols.

Not a "network aware" application. Placing a project on a network share drive and working on it from that location can cause project corruption.

Anyone in the company can review, annotate, and/or edit Flare topics using MadCap Contributor. This all happens in the native XML of the Flare topics file so there is no chance of data loss since there is no code conversion. With Flare, every "change" in a topic is marked for review whether it is adding or removing text, tables, images, applying conditional tags, applying inline formatting, etc.

RoboHelp® supports a review process that entails converting the RoboHelp® topics to PDF and then having the PDF file reviewed. This involves converting the topic XHTML to PDF then PDF back to XHTML. RoboHelp® does not track all changes made to a topic.

Once you select a SharePoint Server from the SharePoint Explorer, you can see the entire SharePoint Folder structure. Copy files to the project, check in and check out files, add SharePoint Folders to the External Resources Pane, sync files and folders, add files to the SharePoint Server as templates, even edit and save Flare XML files directly on the server. Flare can even publish to SharePoint locations.

Only publishes to SharePoint.

For WebHelp and PDF Accessibility, Flare gives you control over what warnings to report for your 508/Accessibility compliance. You can save this log and double-click each error to open the topic and fix the problem.

RoboHelp® claims to be 508 compliant but they have no warnings or reporting capabilities.

Flare supports Native PDF and XPS generation. There is no conversion to Microsoft® Word first then to PDF or XPS.

In RoboHelp®, the files are converted to MS Word output before being saved as a PDF. RoboHelp® does not output Microsoft® XPS.

Tightest FrameMaker® integration in the industry. If Flare and FrameMaker® are installed on the same machine, Flare can open and work from the native FrameMaker® source files (.fm and .book). This gives Flare full access to FrameMaker® variables, conditionals, auto-numbering, import of cross-references, etc. Flare can also export back out to the .fm and .book formats and is the only tool in the industry with this level of FrameMaker® integration.

Improvements have been made to support FrameMaker® documents, but it is still a limited to a "one-way" workflow. You cannot get RoboHelp® edits out to a FrameMaker® environment.

A Help format designed specifically to support Visual Studio developers. The DotNet Help format includes a freely redistributable viewer (written in C#) and includes components for the Visual Studio developer to drop into your project to for context-sensitive Help, embedded Help, and things like automated search string communication between the application and the DotNet Help documentation.

No dedicated .NET support.

This output type is identical to the regular WebHelp output in most ways. However, WebHelp Plus works on a Microsoft® Web server running Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS), ASP.NET, and Microsoft® Indexing Service. You and your users can take advantage of some advanced features, including searching of non-XHTML content (PDF files, MS Word Documents, etc.), faster server-side search, and automatic runtime merging.

No support for advanced features without paying thousands of dollars extra for the RoboHelp® Server in addition to the Microsoft® server requirements.

Not only does Flare create a report for warnings and errors while compiling, but it allows you to save the report to a "dynamic log" file. This file allows you to open the topic double-click the individual error messages. Flare will also highlight the area that contains the error in the open topic when possible.

RoboHelp® offers a textual list of errors in their Output View.