LeafWiki vs YesWiki
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
YesWiki
Easy-to-use wiki for collaborative websites
| Feature | LeafWiki | YesWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 73 · Good |
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,149 | ★ 138 |
| First released | 2024 | 2010 |
| Replaces | DokuWiki, Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
What are LeafWiki and YesWiki?
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
YesWiki
YesWiki is a free wiki engine focused on simplicity and collaboration, allowing groups to build databases of structured information through form-based content. It is widely used by associations and community networks.
- Form-based databases
- Bazar content system
- Simple page editing
- Theme customization
LeafWiki vs YesWiki: key differences
LeafWiki is written in Go, while YesWiki is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for LeafWiki versus AGPL-3.0 for YesWiki. LeafWiki is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for YesWiki. YesWiki is the more established project (first released 2010), while LeafWiki arrived in 2024. LeafWiki has the considerably larger community, at 1,149 GitHub stars versus 138. LeafWiki lists first-class Docker deployment; YesWiki 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 YesWiki if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is LeafWiki or YesWiki better?
Neither is universally better. LeafWiki has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are LeafWiki and YesWiki free and open-source?
Yes. LeafWiki is licensed under MIT and YesWiki under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LeafWiki and YesWiki with Docker?
LeafWiki: yes. YesWiki: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, LeafWiki or YesWiki?
LeafWiki has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for YesWiki. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.