SHSelfHostIndex

MkDocs vs Wiki.js

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
MK MkDocs Documentation site generator for technical teams VS WI Wiki.js Modern and powerful open-source wiki
FeatureMkDocsWiki.js
CategoryWikis & DocumentationNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseBSD-2-ClauseAGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonVue
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 22,317★ 28,727
First released20142017
ReplacesConfluence, GitBookConfluence, Notion

Why pick each one

Choose MkDocs if…

  • Very easy to get started
  • Material theme is excellent
MkDocs details

Choose Wiki.js if…

  • Flexible and full-featured
  • Many auth options
  • Good content management
Wiki.js details

Frequently asked questions

Is MkDocs or Wiki.js better?

Neither is universally better. Wiki.js has the larger community, while MkDocs is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are MkDocs and Wiki.js free and open-source?

Yes. MkDocs is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Wiki.js under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run MkDocs and Wiki.js with Docker?

MkDocs: check the project docs for container support. Wiki.js: yes.

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