Foswiki vs zk
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Foswiki
Structured wiki and enterprise collaboration platform
VS
zk
Plain-text note-taking and Zettelkasten assistant
| Feature | Foswiki | zk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Perl | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 118 | ★ 2,748 |
| First released | 2008 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Confluence | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose zk if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Foswiki or zk better?
zk is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Foswiki if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Foswiki and zk free and open-source?
Yes. Foswiki is licensed under GPL-3.0 and zk under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Foswiki and zk with Docker?
Foswiki: yes. zk: check the project docs for container support.