Docusaurus vs Gollum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Docusaurus
Documentation website generator built with React
VS
Gollum
A simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API
| Feature | Docusaurus | Gollum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 51 · Fair |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 66,326 | ★ 14,330 |
| First released | 2017 | 2010 |
| Replaces | GitBook, Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
What are Docusaurus and Gollum?
Docusaurus
Docusaurus is an open-source static site generator focused on building documentation websites quickly. It is built with React, supports versioning, internationalization, and Markdown-based content.
- React-powered docs sites
- Built-in versioning
- Internationalization support
- Plugin ecosystem
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
Docusaurus vs Gollum: key differences
Docusaurus is written in TypeScript, while Gollum is built with Ruby. Gollum is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Docusaurus. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Docusaurus arrived in 2017. Docusaurus has the considerably larger community, at 66,326 GitHub stars versus 14,330. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; Docusaurus does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Docusaurus if…
- Great for versioned docs
- Strong community and themes
Watch out for
- No web-based editing
- Requires Node tooling
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 Docusaurus or Gollum better?
Neither is universally better. Docusaurus has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Docusaurus and Gollum free and open-source?
Yes. Docusaurus is licensed under MIT and Gollum under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Docusaurus and Gollum with Docker?
Docusaurus: check the project docs for container support. Gollum: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Docusaurus or Gollum?
Gollum has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Docusaurus. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.