head to head · open source
wiki vs mapnik
wiki has 28,937 GitHub stars, 3,314 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mapnik has 3,960 stars, 841 forks, 730 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. wiki leads on adoption by 631% (28,937 vs 3,960 stars). wiki is written in Vue under AGPL-3.0; mapnik is written in C++ under LGPL-2.1. wiki has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, mapnik 21%. wiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (wiki), 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 | mapnik | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | Vue | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 841 |
| 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 Vue
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mapnik if
- You want the mapnik feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and mapnik fits your workflow better
About wiki
Wiki.js is a modern, lightweight wiki application built on NodeJS and distributed as open source under the AGPL 3.0 licence, aimed at teams and organisations that want to publish and maintain their own documentation and knowledge base rather than renting a hosted one.
About mapnik
Mapnik is an open source toolkit for developing mapping applications. It lives in the C++ and Python open source GIS, cartography, and map rendering ecosystem. At the core is a C++ shared library that provides algorithms and patterns for spatial data access and visualization. The project describes itself as a collection of geographic objects such as maps, layers, datasources, features, and geometries.
read the full mapnik overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is wiki or mapnik more popular?
wiki has 28,937 GitHub stars and mapnik has 3,960. wiki has the larger community by that measure.
Are wiki and mapnik free?
Both are open source. wiki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and mapnik under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between wiki and mapnik?
wiki is written in Vue and mapnik in C++. 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 mapnik?
Choose wiki if you want the larger community (28,937 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mapnik if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.