head to head · open source
docusaurus vs BookStack
docusaurus has 66,641 GitHub stars, 10,125 forks, 430 open issues and last shipped yesterday. BookStack has 19,122 stars, 2,433 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docusaurus leads on adoption by 249% (66,641 vs 19,122 stars). docusaurus is written in TypeScript under MIT; BookStack is written in PHP under MIT. docusaurus has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, BookStack 13%. BookStack was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (documentation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| docusaurus | BookStack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docusaurus if
- You weight community size — 67K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick BookStack if
- You want the BookStack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and BookStack fits your workflow better
About docusaurus
Docusaurus Introduction Docusaurus is a project for building, deploying, and maintaining open source project websites easily. Short on time? Check out our 5 minute tutorial ⏱️! Tip : use docusaurus.new to test Docusaurus immediately in a playground. Simple to Start Docusaurus is built in a way so that it can get running in as little time as possible. We've built Docusaurus to handle the website build process so you can focus on your project. Localizable Docusaurus ships with localization support via CrowdIn. Empower and grow your international community by translating your documentation. Customizable While…
read the full docusaurus overview →
About BookStack
BookStack A platform for storing and organising information and documentation. Details for BookStack can be found on the official website at Installation Instructions Documentation Demo Instance Screenshots BookStack Blog Issue List Community Discussions Support Options 📚 Project Definition BookStack is an opinionated documentation platform that provides a pleasant and simple out of the box experience. New users to an instance should find the experience intuitive and only basic word processing skills should be required to get involved in creating content on BookStack. The platform should provide advanced power…
read the full BookStack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docusaurus or BookStack more popular?
docusaurus has 66,641 GitHub stars and BookStack has 19,122. docusaurus has the larger community by that measure.
Are docusaurus and BookStack free?
Both are open source. docusaurus is licensed under MIT and BookStack under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docusaurus and BookStack?
docusaurus is written in TypeScript and BookStack in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, docusaurus or BookStack?
Choose docusaurus if you want the larger community (66,641 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose BookStack if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.