head to head · open source
wiki vs mapnik
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars, 3,335 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mapnik has 3,973 stars, 839 forks, 730 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wiki leads on adoption by 633% (29,128 vs 3,973 stars). wiki is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; mapnik is written in C++ under LGPL-2.1. wiki has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, mapnik 21%. mapnik 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 | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 839 |
| 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 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
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 mapnik
Mapnik is an open source toolkit for developing mapping applications. At the core is a C++ shared library providing algorithms and patterns for spatial data access and visualization. Mapnik is basically a collection of geographic objects like maps, layers, datasources, features, and geometries. The library doesn't rely on any OS specific "windowing systems" and it can be deployed to any server environment. It is intended to play fair in a multi threaded environment and is aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at web based development. For further information see and also our wiki documentation. Installation See…
read the full mapnik overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is wiki or mapnik more popular?
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars and mapnik has 3,973. 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 TypeScript 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 (29,128 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.