Daux.io vs Gollum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Daux.io | Gollum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 81 · Excellent | 51 · Fair |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 829 | ★ 14,330 |
| First released | 2014 | 2010 |
| Replaces | GitBook, Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
What are Daux.io and Gollum?
Daux.io
Daux.io is an open-source documentation generator that turns a folder of Markdown files into a navigable documentation website. It needs no database and supports both dynamic serving and static export.
- Markdown folder to docs site
- No database required
- Built-in themes
- Static export option
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
Daux.io vs Gollum: key differences
Daux.io is written in PHP, while Gollum is built with Ruby. Daux.io is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Gollum. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Daux.io arrived in 2014. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 829.
Why pick each one
Choose Daux.io if…
- Very easy to set up
- Content stays in plain files
Watch out for
- Documentation-only focus
- 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 Daux.io or Gollum better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while Daux.io is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Daux.io and Gollum free and open-source?
Yes. Daux.io is licensed under MIT and Gollum under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Daux.io and Gollum with Docker?
Daux.io: yes. Gollum: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Daux.io or Gollum?
Daux.io has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Gollum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.