Gollum vs Realms Wiki
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
Realms Wiki
Git-backed wiki that stores pages as Markdown
| Feature | Gollum | Realms Wiki |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,308 | ★ 824 |
| First released | 2010 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence |
Why pick each one
Choose Realms Wiki if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or Realms Wiki 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 Realms Wiki free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Realms Wiki under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and Realms Wiki with Docker?
Gollum: yes. Realms Wiki: yes.