Gollum vs MDwiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gollum | MDwiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 19 · At risk |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,330 | ★ 3,187 |
| First released | 2010 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence |
What are Gollum and MDwiki?
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
MDwiki
MDwiki is a completely client-side wiki engine that renders a set of Markdown files into a navigable site without any server-side processing or database. Pages are loaded and rendered on demand directly in the browser.
- Pure client-side rendering
- No server logic
- Markdown content
- Themeable layout
Gollum vs MDwiki: key differences
Gollum is written in Ruby, while MDwiki is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Gollum versus GPL-3.0 for MDwiki. MDwiki is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Gollum. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while MDwiki arrived in 2013. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 3,187. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; MDwiki does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Gollum if…
- Pages are plain files in Git
- Easy version control
Watch out for
- No fine-grained ACLs
- Ruby toolchain required
Choose MDwiki if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or MDwiki better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while MDwiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gollum and MDwiki free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and MDwiki under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and MDwiki with Docker?
Gollum: yes. MDwiki: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Gollum or MDwiki?
MDwiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Gollum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.