Doctave vs MediaWiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Doctave | MediaWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 12 · At risk | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 670 | ★ 5,174 |
| First released | 2021 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Confluence, GitBook | Confluence, Notion |
What are Doctave and MediaWiki?
Doctave
Doctave is an opinionated documentation site generator that builds fast static documentation sites from Markdown files. It includes built-in search, Mermaid diagram support, and live preview without requiring complex configuration.
- Markdown documentation
- Built-in search
- Mermaid diagrams
- Live preview server
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is the free, open-source wiki software developed for and used by Wikipedia. It is built to handle large collaborative knowledge bases with powerful templating, extensions, and revision history.
- Powers Wikipedia at scale
- Powerful template system
- Vast extension library
- Full revision history
Doctave vs MediaWiki: key differences
Doctave is written in Rust, while MediaWiki is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Doctave versus GPL-2.0 for MediaWiki. Doctave is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for MediaWiki. MediaWiki is the more established project (first released 2002), while Doctave arrived in 2021. MediaWiki has the considerably larger community, at 5,174 GitHub stars versus 670. MediaWiki lists first-class Docker deployment; Doctave does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Doctave if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Static output only
- Limited theming
Choose MediaWiki if…
- Battle-tested at massive scale
- Huge extension ecosystem
Watch out for
- Wikitext has a learning curve
- Setup can be involved
Frequently asked questions
Is Doctave or MediaWiki better?
Neither is universally better. MediaWiki has the larger community, while Doctave is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Doctave and MediaWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Doctave is licensed under MIT and MediaWiki under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Doctave and MediaWiki with Docker?
Doctave: check the project docs for container support. MediaWiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Doctave or MediaWiki?
Doctave has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for MediaWiki. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.