head to head · open source
docsify vs dokuwiki
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars, 5,789 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dokuwiki has 4,720 stars, 921 forks, 483 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. docsify leads on adoption by 568% (31,513 vs 4,720 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 20%. 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.
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Side by side
| docsify | dokuwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 921 |
| 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
Docsify is a client side documentation site generator that turns one or more Markdown files into a website with no build process, aimed at developers and maintainers who want to publish documentation from a static host such as GitHub Pages.
read the full docsify 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 docsify or dokuwiki more popular?
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars and dokuwiki has 4,720. 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 (31,513 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dokuwiki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.