head to head · open source
docsify vs leafwiki
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. leafwiki has 1,213 stars, 102 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docsify leads on adoption by 2,503% (31,575 vs 1,213 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; leafwiki is written in Go under MIT. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, leafwiki 8%. leafwiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (documentation, markdown), 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
| docsify | leafwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 102 |
| 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 leafwiki if
- You want the leafwiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and leafwiki 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 leafwiki
🌿 LeafWiki Self hosted wiki. Single Go binary. SQLite + Markdown stored on disk. For engineers and self hosters who want structured, long lived documentation. No Node.js, no Redis, no Postgres — just a binary and a data directory. If you've looked at Wiki.js or Outline and thought "this is too much to operate for what I need" — this could fit for you. → Try it without installing: demo.leafwiki.com · Ctrl+E edit · Ctrl+S save · resets hourly → If it fits, a star helps others find it. → All install options (Docker Compose, Linux installer, binary) Table of Contents Features Good fit / not a fit Install Docker…
read the full leafwiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or leafwiki more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and leafwiki has 1,213. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and leafwiki free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and leafwiki under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and leafwiki?
docsify is written in JavaScript and leafwiki in Go. 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 leafwiki?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose leafwiki if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.