LeafWiki vs MoinMoin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted wikis & documentation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
LeafWiki
Lightweight self-hosted wiki with Markdown stored on disk
VS
MoinMoin
Easy-to-use, full-featured wiki engine in Python
| Feature | LeafWiki | MoinMoin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 73 · Good |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,149 | ★ 373 |
| First released | 2024 | 2000 |
| Replaces | DokuWiki, Confluence | Confluence |
What are LeafWiki and MoinMoin?
LeafWiki
LeafWiki is a lightweight self-hosted wiki for long-lived documentation that stores Markdown pages on disk in a tree structure. It ships as a single Go binary with SQLite and supports tables, task lists, footnotes, and Mermaid diagrams.
- Single Go binary deployment
- Markdown pages stored on disk
- Tree-based page organization
- Mermaid diagram support
MoinMoin
MoinMoin is an open-source wiki engine written in Python with a focus on being easy to use yet extensible. It stores pages as files and supports access control, themes, and a plugin macro system.
- File-based page storage
- Access control lists
- Macro and plugin system
- Theming support
LeafWiki vs MoinMoin: key differences
LeafWiki is written in Go, while MoinMoin is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for LeafWiki versus GPL-2.0 for MoinMoin. LeafWiki is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for MoinMoin. MoinMoin is the more established project (first released 2000), while LeafWiki arrived in 2024. LeafWiki has the considerably larger community, at 1,149 GitHub stars versus 373. LeafWiki lists first-class Docker deployment; MoinMoin does not.
Why pick each one
Choose LeafWiki if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
Choose MoinMoin if…
- No database to manage
- Long-running, stable project
Watch out for
- Smaller modern community
- Dated interface in older versions
Frequently asked questions
Is LeafWiki or MoinMoin better?
LeafWiki is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider MoinMoin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are LeafWiki and MoinMoin free and open-source?
Yes. LeafWiki is licensed under MIT and MoinMoin under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LeafWiki and MoinMoin with Docker?
LeafWiki: yes. MoinMoin: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, LeafWiki or MoinMoin?
LeafWiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for MoinMoin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.