Dendron vs PmWiki
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
PmWiki
Wiki-based system for collaborative creation and maintenance of
| Feature | Dendron | PmWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,458 | — |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence | — |
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
Choose PmWiki if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendron or PmWiki 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 PmWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Dendron is licensed under GPL-3.0 and PmWiki under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendron and PmWiki with Docker?
Dendron: check the project docs for container support. PmWiki: check the project docs for container support.