SHSelfHostIndex

DokuWiki vs SiYuan

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
DO DokuWiki Simple, file-based wiki without a database VS SI SiYuan Privacy-first personal knowledge management system
FeatureDokuWikiSiYuan
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 4,694★ 45,670
First released20042020
ReplacesConfluenceNotion, Evernote

Why pick each one

Choose DokuWiki if…

  • Trivial to back up
  • Very stable and mature
  • Low resource needs
DokuWiki details

Choose SiYuan if…

  • Powerful block-based model
  • Works offline and self-hosted
SiYuan details

Frequently asked questions

Is DokuWiki or SiYuan better?

Neither is universally better. SiYuan has the larger community, while DokuWiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are DokuWiki and SiYuan free and open-source?

Yes. DokuWiki is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run DokuWiki and SiYuan with Docker?

DokuWiki: yes. SiYuan: yes.

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