Kiwix vs MediaWiki
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?
Kiwix
Offline reader for Wikipedia and other knowledge
VS
MediaWiki
The wiki engine that powers Wikipedia
| Feature | Kiwix | MediaWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 913 | ★ 5,135 |
| First released | 2007 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Wikipedia online | Confluence, Notion |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Kiwix or MediaWiki better?
Neither is universally better. MediaWiki has the larger community, while Kiwix is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kiwix and MediaWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Kiwix is licensed under GPL-3.0 and MediaWiki under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kiwix and MediaWiki with Docker?
Kiwix: yes. MediaWiki: yes.