Gollum vs YesWiki
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gollum | YesWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 73 · Good |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,330 | ★ 138 |
| First released | 2010 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Confluence, Notion |
What are Gollum and YesWiki?
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
YesWiki
YesWiki is a free wiki engine focused on simplicity and collaboration, allowing groups to build databases of structured information through form-based content. It is widely used by associations and community networks.
- Form-based databases
- Bazar content system
- Simple page editing
- Theme customization
Gollum vs YesWiki: key differences
Gollum is written in Ruby, while YesWiki is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Gollum versus AGPL-3.0 for YesWiki. Gollum has the considerably larger community, at 14,330 GitHub stars versus 138. Gollum lists first-class Docker deployment; YesWiki 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 YesWiki if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or YesWiki better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while YesWiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gollum and YesWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and YesWiki under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and YesWiki with Docker?
Gollum: yes. YesWiki: check the project docs for container support.