SHSelfHostIndex

MDwiki vs Otter Wiki

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?
MD MDwiki CMS-free wiki that renders Markdown in the browser VS OT Otter Wiki Lightweight Git-backed documentation wiki
FeatureMDwikiOtter Wiki
CategoryWikis & DocumentationWikis & Documentation
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageJavaScriptPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM64 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,191★ 1,494
First released20132021
ReplacesConfluenceConfluence, Notion

Why pick each one

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

Choose Otter Wiki if…

  • Easy to host and back up
  • Clean, simple UI
Otter Wiki details

Frequently asked questions

Is MDwiki or Otter Wiki 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 MDwiki and Otter Wiki free and open-source?

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

Can I run MDwiki and Otter Wiki with Docker?

MDwiki: check the project docs for container support. Otter Wiki: yes.

Related comparisons