Gollum vs MoinMoin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gollum | MoinMoin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 73 · Good |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,330 | ★ 373 |
| First released | 2010 | 2000 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence |
What are Gollum and MoinMoin?
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
MoinMoin
MoinMoin is an open-source wiki engine written in Python with a focus on being easy to use yet extensible. It stores pages as files and supports access control, themes, and a plugin macro system.
- File-based page storage
- Access control lists
- Macro and plugin system
- Theming support
Gollum vs MoinMoin: key differences
Gollum is written in Ruby, while MoinMoin is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Gollum versus GPL-2.0 for MoinMoin. MoinMoin is the more established project (first released 2000), while Gollum arrived in 2010. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 373. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; MoinMoin 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 MoinMoin if…
- No database to manage
- Long-running, stable project
Watch out for
- Smaller modern community
- Dated interface in older versions
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or MoinMoin better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gollum and MoinMoin free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and MoinMoin under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and MoinMoin with Docker?
Gollum: yes. MoinMoin: check the project docs for container support.