Dendron 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 | Dendron | Gollum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 55 · Fair | 51 · Fair |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,470 | ★ 14,330 |
| First released | 2020 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
What are Dendron and Gollum?
Dendron
Dendron is an open-source, local-first note-taking tool that works as a hierarchical personal knowledge wiki on top of VS Code. It uses a structured naming scheme to organize thousands of Markdown notes and can publish them as a static site.
- Hierarchical note schema
- Local Markdown storage
- Static site publishing
- VS Code integration
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
Dendron vs Gollum: key differences
Dendron is written in TypeScript, while Gollum is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Dendron versus MIT for Gollum. Gollum is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Dendron. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Dendron arrived in 2020. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; Dendron does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Dendron if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 7.5k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Tied to VS Code
- Learning curve for hierarchy
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 Dendron 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 Dendron and Gollum free and open-source?
Yes. Dendron is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Gollum under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendron and Gollum with Docker?
Dendron: check the project docs for container support. Gollum: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Dendron or Gollum?
Gollum has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Dendron. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.