MkDocs
Wikis & DocumentationDocumentation site generator for technical teams
Replaces Confluence, GitBook
Best Lightweight Wikis & Documentation for self-hosting
The 16 best Lightweight wikis & documentation you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Gollum
Wikis & DocumentationA simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API
Replaces Confluence, Notion
MDwiki
Wikis & DocumentationCMS-free wiki that renders Markdown in the browser
Replaces Confluence
Raneto
Wikis & DocumentationFree, open, simple Markdown-powered knowledge base
Replaces Confluence, Zendesk Guide
Otter Wiki
Wikis & DocumentationLightweight Git-backed documentation wiki
Replaces Confluence, Notion
LeafWiki
Wikis & DocumentationLightweight self-hosted wiki with Markdown stored on disk
Replaces DokuWiki, Confluence
Kiwix
Wikis & DocumentationOffline reader for Wikipedia and other knowledge
Replaces Wikipedia online
Feather Wiki
Wikis & DocumentationTiny single-file personal wiki for note taking
Replaces Notion, TiddlyWiki
Daux.io
Wikis & DocumentationFlat-file documentation generator rendered from Markdown
Replaces GitBook, Confluence
Realms Wiki
Wikis & DocumentationGit-backed wiki that stores pages as Markdown
Replaces Confluence
Doctave
Wikis & DocumentationMarkdown documentation site generator with search
Replaces Confluence, GitBook
Wikmd
Wikis & DocumentationFile-based wiki using Markdown and Git
Replaces Confluence, Notion
Pepperminty Wiki
Wikis & DocumentationComplete wiki engine contained in a single PHP file
Replaces DokuWiki, MediaWiki
YesWiki
Wikis & DocumentationEasy-to-use wiki for collaborative websites
Replaces Confluence, Notion
WackoWiki
Wikis & DocumentationLightweight and easy-to-install multilingual wiki
Replaces Confluence, Notion
PhpWiki
Wikis & DocumentationClassic PHP wiki engine, the first wiki in PHP
Replaces Confluence
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MkDocs | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 128 MB | BSD-2-Clause | 22,497 |
| Gollum | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 14,333 |
| MDwiki | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 64 MB | GPL-3.0 | 3,192 |
| Raneto | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 256 MB | MIT | 2,903 |
| Otter Wiki | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | MIT | 1,559 |
| LeafWiki | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 1,183 |
| Kiwix | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 963 |
| Feather Wiki | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 32 MB | MIT | 900 |
| Daux.io | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | MIT | 830 |
| Realms Wiki | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | GPL-2.0 | 825 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: MkDocs (22,497 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Feather Wiki (from 32 MB RAM, against 256 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 8 of 16 use MIT; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the wikis & documentation category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.