Gollum vs Kiwix
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?
Gollum
A simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API
VS
Kiwix
Offline reader for Wikipedia and other knowledge
| Feature | Gollum | Kiwix |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,308 | ★ 913 |
| First released | 2010 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Wikipedia online |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or Kiwix better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while Kiwix is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gollum and Kiwix free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Kiwix under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and Kiwix with Docker?
Gollum: yes. Kiwix: yes.