Feather Wiki 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 | Feather Wiki | MediaWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 900 | ★ 5,174 |
| First released | 2021 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Notion, TiddlyWiki | Confluence, Notion |
What are Feather Wiki and MediaWiki?
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
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
Feather Wiki vs MediaWiki: key differences
Feather Wiki is written in JavaScript, while MediaWiki is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Feather Wiki versus GPL-2.0 for MediaWiki. Feather Wiki is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 512 MB for MediaWiki. MediaWiki is the more established project (first released 2002), while Feather Wiki arrived in 2021. MediaWiki has the considerably larger community, at 5,174 GitHub stars versus 900. MediaWiki 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 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 Feather Wiki or MediaWiki better?
Neither is universally better. MediaWiki 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 MediaWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Feather Wiki is licensed under MIT and MediaWiki under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Feather Wiki and MediaWiki with Docker?
Feather Wiki: check the project docs for container support. MediaWiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Feather Wiki or MediaWiki?
Feather Wiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for MediaWiki. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.