head to head · open source
BookStack vs liam
BookStack has 19,123 GitHub stars, 2,435 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. liam has 5,161 stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. BookStack leads on adoption by 271% (19,123 vs 5,161 stars). BookStack is written in PHP under MIT; liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. BookStack has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, liam 5%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| BookStack | liam | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 242 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BookStack if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick liam if
- You want the liam feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and liam fits your workflow better
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 →
About liam
Automatically generates beautiful and easy to read ER diagrams from your database. Website • Documentation • Roadmap What's Liam ERD? Liam ERD generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from your database. Whether you're working on public or private repositories, Liam ERD helps you visualize complex schemas with ease. Beautiful UI & Interactive : A clean design and intuitive features (like panning, zooming, and filtering) make it easy to understand even the most complex databases. Simple Reverse Engineering : Seamlessly turn your existing database schemas into clear, readable diagrams. Effortless Setup : Get…
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Documentation & Knowledge Base projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Documentation & Knowledge Base field.
Frequently asked questions
Is BookStack or liam more popular?
BookStack has 19,123 GitHub stars and liam has 5,161. BookStack has the larger community by that measure.
Are BookStack and liam free?
Both are open source. BookStack is licensed under MIT and liam under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between BookStack and liam?
BookStack is written in PHP and liam in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, BookStack or liam?
Choose BookStack if you want the larger community (19,123 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose liam if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.