head to head · open source
wiki vs WikiDocs
wiki has 28,938 GitHub stars, 3,314 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped today. WikiDocs has 520 stars, 63 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. wiki leads on adoption by 5,465% (28,938 vs 520 stars). wiki is written in Vue under AGPL-3.0; WikiDocs is written in TypeScript under MIT. wiki has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, WikiDocs 12%. wiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, 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 | WikiDocs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 520 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Vue | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 63 |
| 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 WikiDocs if
- You want the WikiDocs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and WikiDocs 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 WikiDocs
Wiki Docs Just a databaseless markdown flat file wiki Wiki Docs is a privacy friendly wiki for people who want to own their knowledge base. Run it entirely on your computer with the standalone desktop app , or host it yourself with Docker. Your content remains portable Markdown files , rather than data locked into a database or cloud service. Project homepage: Please consider supporting this project by making a donation via PayPal . What's new in Wiki Docs Wiki Docs 2 is a complete rewrite in TypeScript across the entire stack: the NestJS backend, Angular web client, and Electron desktop application. The new arch…
read the full WikiDocs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is wiki or WikiDocs more popular?
wiki has 28,938 GitHub stars and WikiDocs has 520. wiki has the larger community by that measure.
Are wiki and WikiDocs free?
Both are open source. wiki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WikiDocs under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between wiki and WikiDocs?
wiki is written in Vue and WikiDocs 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 WikiDocs?
Choose wiki if you want the larger community (28,938 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose WikiDocs if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.