Intranet Management Is SharePoint a good intranet? If you work in internal comms, HR, or IT at a mid-sized organization, SharePoint is probably already your intranet, or someone is pushing for it to be. So is it a good one? Jess Cooper 12 minute read • Updated October 13, 2026 You might also like… Resource Building an intranet business case Resource ThoughtFarmer vs Sharepoint Resource 2026 Award Winning Intranets SharePoint is a capable intranet platform, and it works well for small teams with simple content needs and dedicated IT support. For most mid-sized organizations, though, it falls short day to day: it depends on ongoing IT support and development, content gets harder to find as it grows, and it lacks the social features that keep employees coming back. SharePoint can be an intranet. The hard part is keeping it a good one. It shows up in familiar ways. Comms teams wait on IT to update a page. Employees message a colleague instead of searching. Leadership starts asking whether the problem is the tool or the setup. Here’s where SharePoint works, where it breaks down, and how to tell if you’ve outgrown it. Why so many organizations use SharePoint as an intranet Most organizations start with SharePoint because it’s already there. It comes with most Microsoft 365 business plans, so there’s no new vendor, contract, or security review. IT already manages it, with the same permissions, identity, and compliance controls as the rest of Microsoft 365. That keeps the technology stack simple, which is why IT often prefers it. It’s a reasonable place to start. The real question is what it takes to keep going. Is SharePoint really free? The licence is included with Microsoft 365, but running SharePoint as an intranet has real costs: IT and admin time for setup, structure, and ongoing maintenance Add-on licences, since detailed page analytics and targeted dashboards require Microsoft Viva External consultants when your team doesn’t have SharePoint expertise in-house Third-party tools brought in to fill functionality gaps Employee time lost searching for information that’s hard to find The licence itself is getting more expensive, too. Microsoft raised Microsoft 365 prices worldwide on July 1, 2026, and frontline plans saw the biggest jumps: F1 went from $2.25 to $3 and F3 from $8 to $10 per user per month. Every employee who uses a SharePoint intranet needs a licence, so those increases apply across your whole workforce. Still on SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019? Both reached end of extended support on July 14, 2026, with no extended security updates. A platform decision is coming either way. Book a demo to learn more about ThoughtFarmer Where SharePoint works well as an intranet SharePoint works well when the demands on your intranet match the resources you have to maintain it. That usually looks like one of these: A small organization with one communication site. About 100 people in one office, a news feed, a handful of policies, and one IT admin or contractor who handles structure and permissions A document-focused department hub. A finance team storing policies, templates, and reports with version history and controlled access, without trying to run company-wide comms from it An organization with a dedicated SharePoint owner. A full-time admin or Microsoft partner who maintains the hub sites, navigation, governance, and content reviews For examples of what that investment can produce, Microsoft publishes a SharePoint Look Book. Three questions tell you whether you’re still in that zone: Scale. More employees, locations, and departments mean more content to keep current and search through. Past a certain size, people also stop knowing who’s who, and documents alone won’t fix that Content. A news feed and a few policies are manageable. Dozens of teams publishing regularly need strong governance IT capacity. SharePoint rewards ongoing investment. When IT is stretched, the intranet slowly degrades If all three are low, SharePoint can serve you well. If even one is high, expect to feel the limits below. SharePoint limitations as an intranet SharePoint breaks down when the work of configuring, governing, and maintaining it outgrows your IT capacity, or when you need more than document management. Microsoft says anyone can build intranet pages without code, and for a single page that’s true. Most of the frustration starts after launch. Anything beyond a basic page edit needs IT Comms teams can usually edit text and images. Changing navigation, reorganizing sites, adjusting permissions, or updating branding typically needs someone with SharePoint admin skills. The result is a ticket queue and an intranet that moves at the speed of IT’s backlog. Custom features add risk, too. When Microsoft fully retired SharePoint Add-ins on April 2, 2026, organizations that relied on them had to rebuild on SharePoint Framework: unplanned work for IT. With ThoughtFarmer, comms and HR teams update pages, navigation, and branding themselves with built-in content management and design and theming tools. No IT ticket required. Employees can’t find what they need Content is spread across SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and OneDrive. Search returns documents instead of answers, surfaces old versions next to current ones, and shows different results depending on permissions. After a few failed searches, employees stop trying and ask a colleague. That’s when the intranet stops doing its job. ThoughtFarmer’s universal search and AI Assistant give employees answers the first time, across intranet pages, people, and connected drives, including your SharePoint files. Book a demo to learn more about ThoughtFarmer Engagement fades after launch Many SharePoint intranets launch with energy, then drift into feeling like a document library. Without built-in engagement features, there’s little to bring employees back. It’s also hard to see what’s working. Standard SharePoint site analytics are reported site by site and cover the last seven, 30, or 90 days. Deeper page analytics, like reactions, click-through, exports, and a full year of data, require a Viva licence. ThoughtFarmer’s analytics dashboard is included in every plan, with adoption and engagement data across the whole intranet. Six months after launch, 73% of MTE staff rated their intranet helpful or very helpful for staying informed. Content goes stale Microsoft’s SharePoint Advanced Management can flag inactive or ownerless sites for admins, and it’s now included with Microsoft 365 Copilot licences. But it works at the site level. Content editors need page-level ownership: every page assigned to someone who’s reminded to review it. SharePoint doesn’t offer that out of the box, so pages drift out of date and employees stop trusting what they read. In ThoughtFarmer, every page can have an owner and a scheduled review, and content audits show what needs attention. Is it SharePoint or the way it was set up? Both. A well-planned setup solves a lot, but SharePoint’s flexibility is what makes a good setup expensive to build and hard to maintain. It’s a platform built for IT to configure, and an intranet works best when the team closest to the content runs it, usually HR, comms, or marketing. The best intranet platforms are designed around that team. At New York State OCM, a two-person team runs the intranet for a 270-person agency. Does Microsoft 365 change anything? Microsoft 365 makes your intranet easier to see, but not easier to run. Teams, Viva Connections, and Copilot bring SharePoint content into the apps employees already use. The content still lives in SharePoint, so someone still has to build pages, manage permissions, and keep everything current. Teams and Viva Connections Viva Connections surfaces SharePoint news, dashboards, and quick links inside Teams, including on mobile. That’s a real win for reach. But navigation, search, permissions, and content ownership stay the same, Viva Connections is one more layer to configure, and running multiple targeted dashboards requires a Viva Suite licence. What about Copilot? Copilot changes how employees search, not what they find. It answers questions in plain language using SharePoint and Microsoft 365 content, and it respects existing permissions, so every stale page and old overshare comes along with it. An outdated policy employees once ignored can now show up in a confident AI answer. As Petri puts it, Copilot doesn’t create SharePoint governance problems; it makes them much harder to ignore. Clean, owned, regularly reviewed content is what makes AI answers reliable. What does a modern intranet platform do differently? A modern intranet platform is built for comms and HR teams to run, not for IT to configure. SharePoint is strong at one piece of the picture: storing and securing documents. A full intranet covers three jobs. Internal communications Comms teams publish news, target it to specific locations, departments, or roles, and see what employees read across the whole intranet. No IT tickets, no add-on licences. Knowledge management Every page has an owner and a review schedule, and one search covers pages, people, and documents, ranked for answers rather than file matches. Documents can stay in SharePoint, with the intranet as the front door. Employee engagement Shout-outs, badges, and anniversary cards celebrate wins. Comments, forums, and staff feedback give everyone a voice, and event calendars with registration bring people together. Rich employee profiles help staff find expertise and connect across locations. See all community and culture features. SharePoint vs. a modern intranet platform SharePoint as an intranetModern intranet platform (e.g. ThoughtFarmer)Who it’s made forIT teams to configureComms and HR teams to run day to dayChanging layoutAdmin skills needed beyond basic editsContent editors make changes themselvesKeeping content up to dateSite-level tools for adminsPage-level owners with scheduled content review alertsEngagement analyticsSite by site; deeper page analytics need a Viva licenceAvailable on demand, across the whole intranetShowing content to the right peopleMultiple targeted dashboards need a Viva Suite licenceFlexible group targeting by location, department, or roleSearchSpread across sites, Teams, and OneDriveOne search across pages, people, and documents, including connected drives—plus AI searchCustom featuresBuilt by developers; rebuilt when Microsoft retires tools, like Add-ins in 2026Core features included and maintained by the vendorHow much you need ITOngoing, for structure, permissions, and changesMainly for setup, security, and integrationsCostIncluded licence, plus add-ons, consultants, and admin timeSeparate subscription, less internal overhead Intranet Lookbook What if your intranet could be easy to update without development work and reflect the unique personality of your organization? With ThoughtFarmer, it can. Download Can you use SharePoint and a modern intranet platform together? Yes, and plenty of organizations do. They keep SharePoint right where it is for storing and securing documents, and use a modern intranet platform as the place employees go first for news, policies, people, and answers. Intranet pages link to the current version in SharePoint, so there’s one source of truth, and your comms and HR team can run the intranet without waiting on IT. Signs you’ve outgrown SharePoint as an intranet You’ve likely outgrown SharePoint as an intranet if several of these sound familiar: Employees ask colleagues where things are instead of searching Your comms team waits on IT for anything beyond simple text edits You can’t say which pages are out of date or who owns them You’re rolling out Copilot and worried about what outdated content it will surface Traffic spikes after big announcements, then drops off until the next one Frontline employees aren’t being reached, or licensing them is getting expensive One SharePoint admin holds everything together, and the intranet would stall if they left SharePoint may well have been the right place to start. These signs just mean your needs have changed. See how ThoughtFarmer compares ThoughtFarmer is the intranet built around the team that runs it, and it works alongside your Microsoft 365 setup. Learn more about ThoughtFarmer as a SharePoint alternative. Frequently asked questions Is SharePoint an intranet? Yes. SharePoint can be used as an intranet, and Microsoft positions it as one. But it’s a toolkit for building sites and managing documents, so the experience depends on what IT builds and maintains. Most people now picture an intranet as an interactive, culture-building internal website that comms and HR can manage without IT, like most other software they use. Learn more about what an intranet is and what it does. Can Microsoft Teams replace an intranet? No, Microsoft Teams is not a replacement for an intranet. However, it can complement it. Teams is built for chat, meetings, and team collaboration, not organized, company-wide information. It can display intranet content through Viva Connections, but that content still needs a home, whether that’s SharePoint or a modern intranet platform. Who should own the intranet, IT or comms? Both, with different jobs. IT owns security, identity, and integrations. Comms and HR own the content, structure, daily management, and employee experience. An intranet works best when the content team can make changes without opening IT or development tickets. See how ThoughtFarmer supports internal communications teams, HR teams, and IT teams. How do I get IT on board with a modern intranet platform? Lead with what IT cares about: security, governance, and fewer support requests. A modern intranet platform that integrates with Microsoft 365 keeps documents and identity where IT already manages them, while taking day-to-day intranet changes off IT’s plate. Download our guide on Building an Intranet Business Case. Can you move from SharePoint to a modern intranet platform? Yes, and you don’t have to move everything. If you’re not ready to let go of SharePoint completely, your documents can stay there while staff use ThoughtFarmer as their main intranet, with its interactive features and clean, easy-to-use interface. Does ThoughtFarmer integrate with SharePoint? Yes. ThoughtFarmer integrates with Microsoft 365, including SharePoint, so your documents can stay right where they are. Universal search and the AI Assistant both search SharePoint files, so employees find documents without leaving the intranet.