let's search Atlassian comunity for posts about guest account
answer questions from users looking for alternatives to the limited functionality of the guest account in confluence
https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/what-can-guests-see-and-do-on-confluence/
Apps - Guests are restricted from using Confluence’s system apps
Marketplace apps - guest account have free access to all Marketplace apps you’re using on Confluence. Marketplace app developers can block guests from accessing their apps. read more
https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/invite-guests-for-external-collaboration/
Guests are free of charge (up to 5 guests per paid user). Total number of users (paid + guests) can't exceed the current Confluence site user limit.
Important policy information
You may not convert current or former paid users to guests. The purpose behind the guest feature is to invite users outside of your organization.
Atlassian reserves the right to restrict your access to the feature if you’re not using it in compliance with this purpose and the guidelines outlined in Atlassian documentation. Atlassian also reserves the right to change the ratio of guests to paid users.
Guests are not currently supported in Confluence mobile apps. For more information, see https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-76382.
https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Guests-in-Confluence/qaq-p/2572946
We have teammates that are using Confluence only for reading purposes, they dont create or edit Spaces and Pages. That would be great to somehow decrease the billing amount for such kind of users.
Would it be possible to convert those user into the Guests. Or at least new hires, who dont need full access and will just be reading the content in our Confluence, register as Guests and not pay for them.
As per the documentation regarding Guest Users for Confluence, you cannot convert users who have a paid license to Guest users.
https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/invite-guests-for-external-collaboration/
Also note that a Guest user would have access to only one Space in Confluence, and you would have to individually add a Guest user to a space. Access to Spaces for Guest users cannot be managed by setting up user groups of Guests and granting access to Spaces based on the groups.
Note also on the above page that Atlassian has said the intent of the Guest user is to grant access to people who are external to your company.
https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Guest-access-any-restrictions/qaq-p/2558403