Dendron vs Realms Wiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Dendron | Realms Wiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 55 · Fair | 16 · At risk |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,470 | ★ 824 |
| First released | 2020 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence | Confluence |
What are Dendron and Realms Wiki?
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
Realms Wiki
Realms Wiki is a lightweight, self-hosted wiki that stores all pages as Markdown files in a Git repository. This gives full version history and lets pages be edited either through the web UI or directly in Git.
- Git-backed pages
- Markdown editing
- Full version history
- Simple web UI
Dendron vs Realms Wiki: key differences
Dendron is written in TypeScript, while Realms Wiki is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Dendron versus GPL-2.0 for Realms Wiki. Realms Wiki is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Dendron. Realms Wiki is the more established project (first released 2014), while Dendron arrived in 2020. Dendron has the considerably larger community, at 7,470 GitHub stars versus 824. Realms Wiki 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 Realms Wiki if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Maintenance has slowed
- Basic feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Dendron or Realms Wiki 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 Realms Wiki free and open-source?
Yes. Dendron is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Realms Wiki under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dendron and Realms Wiki with Docker?
Dendron: check the project docs for container support. Realms Wiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Dendron or Realms Wiki?
Realms Wiki 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.