Feather Wiki vs Gollum
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Feather Wiki | Gollum |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 900 | ★ 14,330 |
| First released | 2021 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Notion, TiddlyWiki | Confluence, Notion |
What are Feather Wiki and Gollum?
Feather Wiki
Feather Wiki is an extremely small single-file personal wiki and note-taking application that runs entirely in the browser. The whole wiki, including content and code, lives in one tiny HTML file that is easy to back up and host anywhere.
- Single HTML file
- Tiny footprint
- Works offline
- Page linking
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
Feather Wiki vs Gollum: key differences
Feather Wiki is written in JavaScript, while Gollum is built with Ruby. Feather Wiki is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Gollum. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Feather Wiki arrived in 2021. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 900. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; Feather Wiki does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Feather Wiki if…
- Trivial to host
- Highly portable
Watch out for
- No multi-user editing
- Limited at large scale
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 Feather Wiki or Gollum better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while Feather Wiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Feather Wiki and Gollum free and open-source?
Yes. Feather Wiki is licensed under MIT and Gollum under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Feather Wiki and Gollum with Docker?
Feather Wiki: check the project docs for container support. Gollum: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Feather Wiki or Gollum?
Feather Wiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Gollum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.