Antora vs Gollum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Antora
Multi-repository documentation site generator
VS
Gollum
A simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API
| Feature | Antora | Gollum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 800 | ★ 14,329 |
| First released | 2017 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Confluence, GitBook | Confluence, Notion |
What are Antora and Gollum?
Antora
Antora is an open-source documentation site generator built for technical content authored in AsciiDoc. It assembles documentation from multiple versioned Git repositories into a single coherent site.
- AsciiDoc-based documentation
- Multi-repository aggregation
- Built-in versioning
- Static output
Gollum
Gollum is an open-source wiki system built on top of Git, where every page is a file in a Git repository. It powers the wikis found on GitHub and supports many markup languages.
- Git-backed page storage
- Multiple markup languages
- Powers GitHub wikis
- Full history via Git
Antora vs Gollum: key differences
Antora is written in JavaScript, while Gollum is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Antora versus MIT for Gollum. Gollum is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Antora. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Antora arrived in 2017. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,329 GitHub stars versus 800. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; Antora does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Antora if…
- Great for large multi-repo docs
- Strong versioning support
Watch out for
- AsciiDoc learning curve
- No web-based editing
Choose Gollum if…
- Pages are plain files in Git
- Easy version control
Watch out for
- No fine-grained ACLs
- Ruby toolchain required
Frequently asked questions
Is Antora or Gollum better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Antora and Gollum free and open-source?
Yes. Antora is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Gollum under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Antora and Gollum with Docker?
Antora: check the project docs for container support. Gollum: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Antora or Gollum?
Gollum has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Antora. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.