Dendron vs Helpy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Dendron
Hierarchical note-taking and personal knowledge wiki
VS
Helpy
Open-source helpdesk and knowledge base platform
| Feature | Dendron | Helpy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,458 | ★ 2,481 |
| First released | 2020 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence | Zendesk, Help Scout |
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendron or Helpy better?
Neither is universally better. Dendron has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Dendron and Helpy free and open-source?
Yes. Dendron is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Helpy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendron and Helpy with Docker?
Dendron: check the project docs for container support. Helpy: yes.