head to head · open source
wiki vs liam
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars, 3,335 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped yesterday. liam has 5,158 stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. wiki leads on adoption by 465% (29,128 vs 5,158 stars). wiki is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. wiki has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, liam 5%. wiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (documentation, nodejs), 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
| wiki | liam | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 242 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick wiki if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick liam if
- You want the liam feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and liam fits your workflow better
About wiki
A modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app built on NodeJS Official Website Documentation Requirements Installation Demo Changelog Feature Requests Chat with us on Discord Translations (We need your help!) Special Thanks Contribute Follow our Twitter feed to learn about upcoming updates and new releases! Donate Wiki.js is an open source project that has been made possible due to the generous contributions by community backers. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider becoming a sponsor, becoming a patron, donating to our OpenCollective, via Paypal or via Ethereum (
About liam
Automatically generates beautiful and easy to read ER diagrams from your database. Website • Documentation • Roadmap What's Liam ERD? Liam ERD generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from your database. Whether you're working on public or private repositories, Liam ERD helps you visualize complex schemas with ease. Beautiful UI & Interactive : A clean design and intuitive features (like panning, zooming, and filtering) make it easy to understand even the most complex databases. Simple Reverse Engineering : Seamlessly turn your existing database schemas into clear, readable diagrams. Effortless Setup : Get…
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Frequently asked questions
Is wiki or liam more popular?
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars and liam has 5,158. wiki has the larger community by that measure.
Are wiki and liam free?
Both are open source. wiki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and liam under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between wiki and liam?
wiki is written in TypeScript and liam in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, wiki or liam?
Choose wiki if you want the larger community (29,128 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose liam if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.