SHSelfHostIndex

Kiwix vs MDwiki

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?
KI Kiwix Offline reader for Wikipedia and other knowledge VS MD MDwiki CMS-free wiki that renders Markdown in the browser
FeatureKiwixMDwiki
CategoryWikis & DocumentationWikis & Documentation
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageC++JavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metalbare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 913★ 3,191
First released20072013
ReplacesWikipedia onlineConfluence

Why pick each one

Choose Kiwix if…

  • Knowledge access without internet
  • Great for schools and remote areas
Kiwix details

Choose MDwiki if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
MDwiki details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kiwix or MDwiki better?

Neither is universally better. MDwiki has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Kiwix and MDwiki free and open-source?

Yes. Kiwix is licensed under GPL-3.0 and MDwiki under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kiwix and MDwiki with Docker?

Kiwix: yes. MDwiki: check the project docs for container support.

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