head to head · open source
devdocs vs dokuwiki
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. dokuwiki has 4,720 stars, 921 forks, 483 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 736% (39,461 vs 4,720 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; dokuwiki is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, dokuwiki 20%. dokuwiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| devdocs | dokuwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 921 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick devdocs if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dokuwiki if
- You want the dokuwiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and dokuwiki fits your workflow better
About devdocs
DevDocs is an API documentation browser that combines multiple developer documentations into a single, clean and organized web UI with instant search, offline support, a mobile version, a dark theme and keyboard shortcuts, and it is aimed at developers who need to read and search API and reference documentation quickly.
read the full devdocs overview →
About dokuwiki
DokuWiki is an open source wiki engine written in PHP and described as The DokuWiki Open Source Wiki Engine. It lives in the content and publishing and documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is distributed under the GPL 2.0 license. The project has a public repository that has existed for 17 years, with a last push recorded on 2026 09 09T18:24:17Z. It has 4717 stars, 921 forks, and 483 open issues.
read the full dokuwiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or dokuwiki more popular?
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars and dokuwiki has 4,720. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and dokuwiki free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and dokuwiki under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and dokuwiki?
devdocs is written in Ruby and dokuwiki 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, devdocs or dokuwiki?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,461 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose dokuwiki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.