Gollum vs Otter Wiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gollum | Otter Wiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,330 | ★ 1,544 |
| First released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence, Notion |
What are Gollum and Otter Wiki?
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
Otter Wiki
Otter Wiki is a minimalistic open-source wiki that stores its pages as Markdown in a Git repository. It offers a simple web interface with editing, history, and search for small teams.
- Git-backed Markdown pages
- Built-in history and diffs
- Full-text search
- Minimalist interface
Gollum vs Otter Wiki: key differences
Gollum is written in Ruby, while Otter Wiki is built with Python. Otter Wiki is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Gollum. Gollum is the more established project (first released 2010), while Otter Wiki arrived in 2021. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 1,544.
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 Otter Wiki if…
- Easy to host and back up
- Clean, simple UI
Watch out for
- Basic feature set
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or Otter Wiki better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while Otter Wiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gollum and Otter Wiki free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Otter Wiki under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and Otter Wiki with Docker?
Gollum: yes. Otter Wiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gollum or Otter Wiki?
Otter Wiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Gollum. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.