head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs zk
mkdocs-material has 27,594 GitHub stars, 4,153 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. zk has 2,863 stars, 199 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 864% (27,594 vs 2,863 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; zk is written in Go under GPL-3.0. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, zk 7%. zk 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
| mkdocs-material | zk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 199 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zk if
- You want the zk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zk fits your workflow better
About mkdocs-material
A powerful documentation framework on top of MkDocs Write your documentation in Markdown and create a professional static site for your Open Source or commercial project in minutes – searchable, customizable, more than 60 languages, for all devices. Check out the demo – squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs material . Silver sponsors Bronze sponsors <img src=" height="58"
read the full mkdocs-material overview →
About zk
A plain text note taking assistant Description zk is a command line tool helping you to maintain a plain text Zettelkasten or personal wiki. Looking for a quick usage example? Or want to see it in action? Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider . Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Highlights Creating notes from templates Advanced search and filtering capabilities including tags, links and mentions Integration with your favorite editors: Any LSP compatible editor zk emacs for Emacs zk nvim for Neovim 0.8+ zk vscode for Visual…
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 mkdocs-material or zk more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,594 GitHub stars and zk has 2,863. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and zk free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and zk under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and zk?
mkdocs-material is written in Python and zk 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, mkdocs-material or zk?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,594 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zk if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.