LeafWiki vs XWiki
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
XWiki
Advanced enterprise wiki and application platform
| Feature | LeafWiki | XWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,149 | ★ 1,313 |
| First released | 2024 | 2004 |
| Replaces | DokuWiki, Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
What are LeafWiki and XWiki?
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
XWiki
XWiki is an open-source enterprise wiki and structured collaboration platform written in Java. It goes beyond simple wikis with scripting, custom applications, and structured data within pages.
- Structured data in pages
- App building within the wiki
- Extension marketplace
- LDAP and SSO support
LeafWiki vs XWiki: key differences
LeafWiki is written in Go, while XWiki is built with Java. Licensing differs — MIT for LeafWiki versus LGPL-2.1 for XWiki. LeafWiki is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for XWiki. XWiki is the more established project (first released 2004), while LeafWiki arrived in 2024.
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 XWiki if…
- Powerful structured content
- Strong enterprise features
Watch out for
- High memory requirements
- Complex to administer
Frequently asked questions
Is LeafWiki or XWiki better?
Neither is universally better. XWiki has the larger community, while LeafWiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are LeafWiki and XWiki free and open-source?
Yes. LeafWiki is licensed under MIT and XWiki under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LeafWiki and XWiki with Docker?
LeafWiki: yes. XWiki: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LeafWiki or XWiki?
LeafWiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for XWiki. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.