Gollum vs Zim
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
Zim
A desktop wiki and personal knowledge base
| Feature | Gollum | Zim |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,308 | ★ 2,194 |
| First released | 2010 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | OneNote, Notion |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Gollum or Zim better?
Neither is universally better. Gollum has the larger community, while Zim is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Gollum and Zim free and open-source?
Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Zim under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gollum and Zim with Docker?
Gollum: yes. Zim: check the project docs for container support.