head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs dokuwiki
mkdocs-material has 27,452 GitHub stars, 4,147 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. dokuwiki has 4,720 stars, 921 forks, 483 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 482% (27,452 vs 4,720 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; dokuwiki is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% 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
| mkdocs-material | dokuwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 921 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- 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 mkdocs-material
Material for MkDocs is a documentation framework built on top of MkDocs, the static site generator for project documentation. It lives in the Python ecosystem and is distributed as a theme plus an accompanying set of plugins, so authors write documentation in Markdown and MkDocs builds it into a static site that the theme renders. The project is licensed under MIT, has existed for eleven years, and is maintained as an open source project with more than 27,000 stars and over 4,000 forks on GitHub.
read the full mkdocs-material 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 mkdocs-material or dokuwiki more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,452 GitHub stars and dokuwiki has 4,720. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and dokuwiki free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and dokuwiki under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and dokuwiki?
mkdocs-material is written in Python 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, mkdocs-material or dokuwiki?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,452 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dokuwiki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.