Pepperminty Wiki 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?
Pepperminty Wiki
Complete wiki engine contained in a single PHP file
VS
zk
Plain-text note-taking and Zettelkasten assistant
| Feature | Pepperminty Wiki | zk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 206 | ★ 2,748 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | DokuWiki, MediaWiki | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose Pepperminty Wiki if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
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 Pepperminty Wiki or zk better?
Neither is universally better. zk has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pepperminty Wiki and zk free and open-source?
Yes. Pepperminty Wiki is licensed under MPL-2.0 and zk under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pepperminty Wiki and zk with Docker?
Pepperminty Wiki: yes. zk: check the project docs for container support.