MediaWiki vs zk
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?
MediaWiki
The wiki engine that powers Wikipedia
VS
zk
Plain-text note-taking and Zettelkasten assistant
| Feature | MediaWiki | zk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,135 | ★ 2,748 |
| First released | 2002 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose zk if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is MediaWiki or zk better?
Neither is universally better. MediaWiki has the larger community, while zk is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are MediaWiki and zk free and open-source?
Yes. MediaWiki is licensed under GPL-2.0 and zk under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MediaWiki and zk with Docker?
MediaWiki: yes. zk: check the project docs for container support.