head to head · open source
docsify vs dokuwiki
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dokuwiki has 4,734 stars, 923 forks, 483 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. docsify leads on adoption by 567% (31,575 vs 4,734 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; dokuwiki is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, dokuwiki 19%. docsify 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| docsify | dokuwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 923 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docsify if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- 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 docsify
A magical documentation site generator. Gold Sponsor via Open Collective Docsify turns one or more Markdown files into a Website, with no build process required. Features No statically built HTML files Simple and lightweight Smart full text search plugin Multiple themes Useful plugin API Emoji support Quick Start Get going fast by using a static web server or GitHub Pages with this ready to use Docsify Template, review the quick start tutorial or jump right into a CodeSandbox example site with the button below. Showcase A large collection of showcase projects are included in awesome docsify. Links Documentation…
read the full docsify overview →
About dokuwiki
All documentation for DokuWiki is available online at For Installation Instructions see DokuWiki 2004 2026 (c) Andreas Gohr and the DokuWiki Community See COPYING and file headers for license info
read the full dokuwiki overview →
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 docsify or dokuwiki more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and dokuwiki has 4,734. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and dokuwiki free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and dokuwiki under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and dokuwiki?
docsify is written in JavaScript 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, docsify or dokuwiki?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dokuwiki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.