Gollum vs XWiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
XWiki
Advanced enterprise wiki and application platform
| Feature | Gollum | XWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | Ruby | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,330 | ★ 1,313 |
| First released | 2010 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence, Notion |
What are Gollum and XWiki?
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
XWiki
XWiki is an open-source enterprise wiki and structured collaboration platform written in Java. It goes beyond simple wikis with scripting, custom applications, and structured data within pages.
- Structured data in pages
- App building within the wiki
- Extension marketplace
- LDAP and SSO support
Gollum vs XWiki: key differences
Gollum is written in Ruby, while XWiki is built with Java. Licensing differs — MIT for Gollum versus LGPL-2.1 for XWiki. Gollum is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for XWiki. XWiki is the more established project (first released 2004), while Gollum arrived in 2010. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 1,313.
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 XWiki if…
- Powerful structured content
- Strong enterprise features
Watch out for
- High memory requirements
- Complex to administer
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or XWiki 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 XWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and XWiki under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and XWiki with Docker?
Gollum: yes. XWiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gollum or XWiki?
Gollum has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for XWiki. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.