# Wiki Software — A Rated 2026 Guide

**Compiled:** 2026-04-14 • **Method:** Five parallel research agents (static / self-hosted DB / PKM-garden / SaaS / cross-cutting) following `/workspace/RESEARCH-BEST-PRACTICES.md`. Each claim carries a confidence tier (C1 primary / C2 secondary / C3 inferred / C4 anecdotal / C5 unknown). Raw research in `research/01…05-*.md`.

> **Two axes structure everything below:**
> - **Complexity** — tier 1 (paste a file, done) → tier 5 (Java cluster, DBAs, DR runbook).
> - **Storage/auth model** — *file-only* (no DB, no login required) → *flat-file with ACL* → *DB-backed multi-user* → *SaaS / managed*.
>
> For each tool: **beauty · edit-ease · SEO · maintenance health · best fit**.

---

## Top-of-document executive picks

| You want... | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Personal digital garden from Obsidian notes, free | **Obsidian + Quartz v4** | SSG output, backlinks, graph, Cloudflare-Pages-free |
| "It just looks good" product docs | **Astro Starlight** (or Material for MkDocs if you accept the maintenance-mode caveat) | Beautiful defaults, fast, SEO-correct |
| Small-team internal wiki, self-hosted | **BookStack** or **Docmost** | WYSIWYG, SSO, modern UI, low ops |
| Modern team wiki, self-host, Notion-feel | **Outline** (noting BSL licence) or **Docmost** | Block editor, PG+Redis, SSO |
| Public community/fan wiki | **MediaWiki + Citizen skin** (self-host or Miraheze/WikiTide) | Wikitext, VisualEditor, scale, SEO-proven |
| Zero-ops, zero-code "drop a file on a server" | **TiddlyWiki** (single HTML file) or **DokuWiki** (flat-file + login) | No DB; TW is one file; Doku is rsync-backupable |
| Product help centre with custom domain + SEO | **GitBook** or **Docusaurus** | Purpose-built, Git-sync, Algolia |
| You will regret it in 2 years | **Confluence Data Center** (sunsetting), **Wiki.js 3.x beta** (vaporware risk), **Dendron** (dead), **Fandom** (ads + lock-in) | See §7 |

---

## 1. Master matrix — rated

**Scale:** ★☆☆☆☆ weak → ★★★★★ best-in-class. Tier column is install/admin complexity.

### Tier 1–2: flat-file / static, no login required

| Tool | Beauty | Edit ease | SEO | Maintenance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **TiddlyWiki** (single HTML file) | ★★☆☆☆ quirky | ★★★★☆ in-browser WYSIWYG | ★★☆☆☆ SPA | ★★★★☆ 20 yr, v5.4.0 planned 2026-04-20 | Literally one file; surreal but powerful |
| **mdBook** | ★★★☆☆ clean/linear | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★☆ SSG | ★★★★☆ Rust, 0.5.2 Dec 2025 | Best for linear books |
| **MkDocs + Material** | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ **maintenance-mode Nov 2025**, critical fixes through Nov 2026, successor Zensical | Gold-standard docs look, but pick Zensical/Starlight for new long-lived projects |
| **Astro Starlight** | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ rising fast; Astro acquired by Cloudflare Feb 2026 | 2026's best pick for new docs/wiki |
| **Docusaurus** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ Meta, v3.10 Apr 2026, v4 planned | Heaviest JS payload; versioning/i18n best-in-class |
| **VitePress** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ Vue team, 2.0 alpha | Fast, lightweight; Vue ecosystem |
| **Hugo + Docsy/Book/Relearn** | ★★★☆☆ theme-dependent | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ 87k stars, v0.160.1 Apr 2026 | Fastest builds in existence |
| **Jekyll + Just the Docs** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ GitHub Pages auto-builds | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | Zero-cost GH Pages story |
| **Zola** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ Rust single binary | Light and pleasant |
| **Nextra** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ file+rebuild | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ Next.js-locked | Only if you want Next.js |
| **Quartz v4** | ★★★★☆ garden aesthetic | ★★★★☆ Obsidian + commit | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ v4 on main (tagged 2023-08 but active) | Best free Obsidian→site pipeline |
| **Docsify** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★★ no build at all | ★★☆☆☆ **runtime-rendered** | ★★☆☆☆ last release 2023-06, "Inactive" on Snyk | Easiest install, SEO-crippled |
| **Foam (VSCode)** | depends on publisher | ★★★☆☆ | depends | ★★★☆☆ | Toolkit not publisher; pair with SSG |
| **Dendron** | — | — | — | ☆☆☆☆☆ **dead; maintainer at OpenAI** | Do not adopt |
| **Simiki** | — | — | — | ☆☆☆☆☆ abandoned since 2019 | Historical only |

### Tier 2: flat-file *with* login/ACL (cross-category)

| Tool | Beauty | Edit ease | SEO | Maintenance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **DokuWiki** | ★★☆☆☆ dated default, better templates exist | ★★★★☆ in-browser wikitext | ★★★★☆ SSR | ★★★★★ "Librarian" May 2025 | The pragmatic choice: no DB, full ACL, LDAP/SSO, rsync-backup |
| **PmWiki** | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ small but alive | Minimalist group wikis |
| **Gollum** | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★☆ browser editor | N/A server app | ★★★☆☆ v6.1.0 Dec 2024 | Git-backed, Ruby server |

### Tier 2–3: modern self-hosted team wikis (DB-backed, login, Notion-ish UI)

| Tool | Beauty | Edit ease | SEO | Maintenance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **BookStack** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ WYSIWYG default | ★★★★☆ SSR | ★★★★☆ v26.03 Mar 2026; **solo maintainer** | Best "install and use" FOSS team wiki |
| **Wiki.js 2.x** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ multi-mode editor | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ **2.x feature-frozen; 3.0 still beta after ~3 yrs** | Solid today, roadmap risk |
| **Outline** | ★★★★★ Notion-grade | ★★★★★ block WYSIWYG | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ company-backed | **BSL 1.1, not OSI-open** — check procurement |
| **Docmost** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ Tiptap block | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ ~19.6k stars, fastest-growing 2026 | Best new entrant; Confluence importer |
| **AppFlowy** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | Notion-style, Flutter+Rust, AI features |
| **AFFiNE** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ + whiteboard | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | Docs + whiteboard hybrid |
| **Trilium (TriliumNext)** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ CKEditor blocks | ★★★☆☆ via `/share` | ★★★★☆ community fork thriving | Personal KB with multi-client sync |

### Tier 4–5: enterprise / classic wiki engines

| Tool | Beauty | Edit ease | SEO | Maintenance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **MediaWiki** | ★★★☆☆ default (★★★★★ with Citizen skin) | ★★★★☆ wikitext + VisualEditor WYSIWYG | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ WMF + global community | The scale/community-wiki champion; 1.43 LTS stable; 1.47 LTS ~Dec 2026 |
| **XWiki** | ★★★☆☆ corporate | ★★★★☆ WYSIWYG + scripting | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ XWiki SAS | Structured content, real-time collab; used by CERN |
| **Foswiki** | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ TML+WYSIWYG | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ slow | Perl; for Perl shops only |
| **Tiki Wiki CMS** | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ LTS cadence | All-in-one groupware; sprawling |
| **Confluence DC** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆☆ **no new licences after 2026-03-30; read-only 2029-03-28** | Do not start new deployments |
| **MoinMoin 1.9 / Moin 2** | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★☆☆☆☆ Moin 2 still beta after ~12 years | Avoid |
| **TWiki / PhpWiki / WikkaWiki** | — | — | — | ☆ dead/EOL | Legacy only |

### Tier 1–3: SaaS / hosted

| Platform | Beauty | Edit ease | Public SEO | Maintenance | Price floor (/user/mo) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Notion** | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ block editor + mobile | ★★☆☆☆ without Super.so etc. | ★★★★★ ~$11B valuation | $10 Plus / $20 Business | Best mobile; lossy MD export |
| **GitBook** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ block + Git Sync | ★★★★★ purpose-built | ★★★★☆ profitable/small | $10 + **$65/site/mo custom domain** | Best public-facing docs SaaS |
| **Confluence Cloud** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★★ | ~$5.16 Standard | Enterprise-default; raise Oct 2025 |
| **Slab** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ **no funding since 2018** | $8 Startup / $15 Business | Pretty, small company risk |
| **Slite** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | N/A internal | ★★★★☆ | $8 Standard | Free tier 50 docs |
| **Nuclino** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | $6 Starter / $12.50 Business | Fast, clean |
| **Guru** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | N/A internal | ★★★★☆ | $25 (10-seat min) | Sales/support enablement |
| **Tettra** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | N/A internal | ★★★☆☆ acquired by GSoft Oct 2023 | $5 Basic (10-seat min) | Slack-native |
| **Coda** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★☆ **acquired by Grammarly Dec 2024** | $10 Pro / $30 Team | Docs-as-apps |
| **ClickUp Docs** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | $7 Unlimited | Only if already on ClickUp |
| **Document360** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ **free tier discontinued Nov 2024, quote-only** | ~$99–299/mo est. | Customer-facing KB |
| **HelpJuice** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | **$120/mo flat (4 users)** | Support KB |
| **Archbee** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | $50/mo base + add-ons | Dev/product docs |
| **Fandom** | ★★☆☆☆ ad-heavy | ★★★★☆ VisualEditor MW | ★★★★★ domain authority | ★★★★☆ (but CEO churn) | Free + ads | **Lock-in high**, communities fleeing since 2022 |
| **wiki.gg** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ MW | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ for-profit (PE-backed) | Free (light ads) | Anti-ghost-wiki stance, gaming-focused |
| **Miraheze / WikiTide** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ MW | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ 501(c)(3) post-2024 merge | Free, donation-funded | Best MW-as-a-service; full XML export |
| **Fextralife** | ★★☆☆☆ ad-heavy | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | Free + ads | Gaming guides; high lock-in |
| **Obsidian Publish** | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ Obsidian app | ★★★☆☆ dynamic | ★★★★★ | $10/mo | Zero-ops Obsidian publishing |

### Personal KB / PKM (local app, optional publish)

| Tool | Beauty | Edit ease | Can publish? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Obsidian** | ★★★★★ with themes | ★★★★★ desktop+mobile | Yes — Publish $10/mo, Quartz free, Digital Garden plugin, Kiln | **Now free incl. commercial use (reported Feb 2026, C2)** |
| **Logseq** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ outliner | Yes — official `logseq/publish`, SPA, Hugo | **Mid file→SQLite pivot; RTC alpha** — adopter risk |
| **Roam Research** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | No native static | Zombie mode; $500 Believer loyalists |
| **Silverbullet.md** | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ Lua-scripted MD | Self-host web app | Active, v2.4 |
| **Heptabase / Tana / Capacities / Reflect / RemNote / Anytype** | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ SaaS | No static publish | Active SaaS, lock-in |
| **Athens Research** | — | — | — | **Defunct 2022** |

---

## 2. Complexity ladder (simple → complex)

### Rung 1 — one file, zero infra
- **TiddlyWiki** — literally one HTML file. Edit in-browser, save back. Host on any web server or even `file://`. Unusually powerful for its tier; transclusion, tags, plugins. Odd paradigm but loved by a niche.
- **Docsify** — drop `index.html` + markdown files; no build. SEO is the trade-off.

### Rung 2 — `npm run build` or `mkdocs build`
- **Astro Starlight / MkDocs Material / VitePress / mdBook / Zola / Jekyll + Just the Docs / Quartz / Hugo (with theme)**. All SSG: write markdown, commit, deploy to GitHub Pages / Cloudflare Pages / Netlify. Edits go through git.
- **DokuWiki** — sits here despite login: no DB, single-tarball install, runs on cheap shared PHP hosting.

### Rung 3 — Docker + single DB
- **BookStack · Wiki.js · Outline · Docmost · AppFlowy · AFFiNE · Trilium**. Docker Compose: app + Postgres/MySQL (+ Redis for Outline/Docmost). 30-minute install.

### Rung 4 — bigger beasts
- **MediaWiki · Docusaurus (heavy build) · Foswiki · Confluence (if you must)**. MediaWiki's complexity isn't the install — it's the upgrade ladder (don't skip more than ~10 versions), the extension zoo, the Varnish/memcached tier at scale.

### Rung 5 — enterprise
- **XWiki · Tiki Wiki · BlueSpice MediaWiki Enterprise**. Java memory footprints, clustering, farm-of-wikis, SSO/SAML/SCIM, paid support contracts.

---

## 3. Flat-file → login-required gradient

| Rank | Storage model | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **One HTML file**, JS edits back into itself | TiddlyWiki |
| 2 | **Markdown files in git**, no auth | MkDocs, Starlight, Docusaurus, Hugo, Jekyll, VitePress, mdBook, Quartz |
| 3 | **Flat files + optional ACL/auth layer** | DokuWiki, PmWiki, Gollum |
| 4 | **SQLite + app** (single-file DB) | Trilium, BookStack (SQLite optional), Silverbullet |
| 5 | **Postgres/MySQL + app, local auth** | BookStack, Wiki.js, Docmost, MediaWiki |
| 6 | **Postgres + Redis + SSO** | Outline, Docmost EE, Wiki.js w/ SAML |
| 7 | **Enterprise Java farm** | XWiki, Confluence DC, BlueSpice |
| 8 | **Fully hosted, no server access** | Notion, GitBook, Confluence Cloud, Obsidian Publish, Fandom |

---

## 4. Beauty — who ships pretty defaults

Aesthetic spectrum (from §2 of `05-selection-criteria.md`):

- **Stripe-docs clean** (whitespace, sans-serif, light grid): Material for MkDocs · Astro Starlight · Docusaurus (post-customization).
- **Wiki-table-dense** (serif, infoboxes, blue links): MediaWiki + Vector 2022 — *classic Wikipedia*.
- **Notion-card-pastel** (rounded, icons, soft colour): Notion · Outline · Docmost.
- **Obsidian-graph aesthetic** (backlinks rail, graph view, calm mono): Quartz · Obsidian Publish · Logseq Publish.
- **Old-school hacker-wiki**: DokuWiki default · classic TWiki/Foswiki.
- **Modern-MediaWiki** (rounded cards, sticky TOC, dark mode): MediaWiki + **Citizen skin** — the modern-feel skin used by minecraft.wiki and starcitizen.tools.

Showcase URLs worth studying: `fastapi.tiangolo.com`, `starlight.astro.build`, `en.wikipedia.org`, `minecraft.wiki`, `quartz.jzhao.xyz`, `publish.obsidian.md/andymatuschak`, `docs.pydantic.dev`, `docusaurus.io`.

---

## 5. Edit-UX tiers (ranked by contributor-friendliness)

1. **Browser block editor with autosave** — Notion, Outline, Docmost, Confluence, Slab, GitBook (WYSIWYG mode). Non-technical contributors thrive.
2. **Browser WYSIWYG + optional markdown** — BookStack, Wiki.js, XWiki. Good for mixed teams.
3. **Browser wikitext + VisualEditor** — MediaWiki (with VisualEditor extension, bundled since 1.35), DokuWiki (markup), PmWiki. Steeper, but the "type a `[[link]]`" model is durable.
4. **In-browser but idiosyncratic** — TiddlyWiki (tiddler model). Intuitive once you get it, confusing before.
5. **Local app then publish** — Obsidian + Quartz/Publish, Logseq Publish. Fine for a solo author, terrible for community edits.
6. **Git PR workflow** — Docusaurus, MkDocs, Starlight, mdBook, Hugo, VitePress. Kills community edit volume; fine for engineer-dense teams.

**Rule of thumb:** the wiki that dies first is the one whose edit UX excludes ~30% of potential contributors. Pick for your *marginal* contributor, not your power user.

---

## 6. SEO — what actually matters for wikis in 2026

(From `05-selection-criteria.md` §1 — C2 unless noted.)

- **Googlebot renders JS** (2-wave crawl) but it's slow and lossy. **AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) do not execute JS at all.** SSR or SSG is effectively mandatory if you want to appear in AI-search citations.
- **Ranking order for wikis:** SSG > SSR-with-cache > hybrid > pure SPA.
- **Fandom's ranking is not MediaWiki magic** — it's accumulated backlinks + per-page internal-link density + content volume + age + platform-level Core Web Vitals. Custom-domain MediaWiki **can** match it (and usually beats it on CWV because no ads), but migration means multi-month recovery (Google treats wiki duplicates harshly).
- **On-page essentials:** unique `<title>`/meta/canonical, JSON-LD `Article`/`TechArticle`, sitemap.xml, dense internal links, CWV ≥ green. MediaWiki needs `Extension:WikiSEO` + `generateSitemap.php`; SSG themes usually ship all of this.
- **No rigorous head-to-head SEO benchmark across wiki engines was found** (C5). Opinionated blogs only.

**SEO rating summary:**

| Tier | Engines |
|---|---|
| ★★★★★ SEO out of the box | Material for MkDocs, Starlight, Docusaurus, Hugo, MediaWiki (with extensions), GitBook, Document360 |
| ★★★★☆ Good with light config | VitePress, mdBook, Zola, DokuWiki, BookStack, Wiki.js (SSR mode), Quartz |
| ★★★☆☆ Adequate | Outline, Confluence, Notion Sites, Miraheze |
| ★★☆☆☆ Weak by default | Notion public pages (raw), TiddlyWiki-as-single-file, Docsify, un-prerendered SPAs |
| ☆ N/A (internal only) | Guru, Tettra, Slite, Slab (partial), Notion private |

---

## 7. 2026 news you need before choosing

**Dead or sunsetting — do not start new deployments:**
- **Confluence Data Center** — no new licences after **2026-03-30**; read-only **2029-03-28**; 15–40% price hikes Feb 2026. (C1)
- **Dendron** — abandoned since ~March 2023; maintainer at OpenAI. (C1)
- **Athens Research** — defunct 2022. (C1)
- **WikkaWiki** (EOL 2021), **PhpWiki**, **TWiki** (use Foswiki instead), **Moin 2** (still beta after ~12 years), **Simiki** (abandoned 2019). (C1/C2)

**In transition (risk flag):**
- **Material for MkDocs** — entered maintenance mode Nov 2025; critical fixes only through Nov 2026. Creator squidfunk shipping successor **Zensical** (GA date unconfirmed, C5). For new 5-year projects, prefer Starlight or wait for Zensical. (C1)
- **Wiki.js 3.0** — still beta in April 2026 ("should NOT be installed in production" banner); 2.x feature-frozen at 2.5.308 (Aug 2025). (C1)
- **Logseq** — mid pivot from markdown files → SQLite DB version; real-time collab alpha. Adopter risk is moderate. (C2)
- **MediaWiki 1.45** (Dec 2025) is stable but **not LTS**. Use 1.43 LTS (supported Dec 2026) or wait for 1.47 LTS (~Dec 2026). (C1)

**Acquisitions / ownership changes:**
- **Astro → Cloudflare** (Feb 2026) — good for Starlight's long-term story.
- **Coda → Grammarly** (Dec 2024).
- **Tettra → GSoft** (Oct 2023).
- **Fandom** — CEO Perkins Miller resigned Oct 2025; Jay Sullivan named CEO Feb 2026; many gaming communities fled 2022–2025 (Minecraft, Fallout, Hollow Knight, South Park, Warframe, Balatro etc.). (C2)
- **Obsidian** — reported free for commercial use as of Feb 2026 (C2, pending primary confirmation).
- **Trilium → TriliumNext** community fork; zadam handed the project to the community with blessing. (C1)
- **Miraheze + WikiTide** merged into one 501(c)(3) **WikiTide Foundation** in March 2024.
- **Document360** — free tier discontinued Nov 2024; now quote-only.

---

## 8. Longevity / bus-factor risk

**Blue-chip (20+ years, institutional backing):** MediaWiki (WMF), DokuWiki (community), TiddlyWiki (Jeremy Ruston–led), Jekyll (GitHub), Hugo (community + company sponsors), XWiki (XWiki SAS).

**Company-backed but vulnerable:** Docusaurus (Meta has killed OSS before), Outline (BSL-licensed startup), Slab (no funding since 2018), GitBook (~35-person company, profitable but small), Docmost (very young).

**Single-maintainer resilient-but-solo:** BookStack (Dan Brown, 10 years, donation-funded), TiddlyWiki (Jeremy Ruston), MkDocs Material (squidfunk, now pivoting).

**Young entrants worth tracking:** Docmost, AppFlowy, AFFiNE, Silverbullet, Starlight, Kiln, Zensical.

---

## 9. Cost models

| Model | Typical cost (2026) | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Fully free self-host | $5–$30/mo VPS | MediaWiki, DokuWiki, BookStack, Wiki.js, Docmost CE, Outline CE |
| Free static hosting | $0 | MkDocs/Starlight/Quartz on GitHub Pages or Cloudflare Pages |
| Paid SaaS | $6–$25/user/mo | Confluence Standard $5.16 · Notion Plus $10 · Notion Business $20 · Confluence Premium $12.30 · Guru $25 |
| Sticker-shock outliers | — | GitBook **$65/site/mo** custom domain · HelpJuice **$120/mo flat (4 users)** · Document360 quote-only |
| Open-core traps | — | Outline BSL 1.1 (no third-party hosting for 4 yrs) · BlueSpice paid tier over MW · Docmost EE over AGPL core |

---

## 10. Decision matrix — by use case

| Use case | Pick | Alternatives | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal notes, publish cheaply | **Obsidian + Quartz v4** (free) or **Obsidian Publish** ($10/mo) | Logseq Publish · TiddlyWiki · Starlight | Local-first editing, SSG output, backlinks preserved |
| Small team internal (≤20) | **BookStack** or **Outline** (CE) | Docmost · Wiki.js 2.x · Confluence Cloud free tier | BookStack = hierarchy-first & dead-simple; Outline = Notion-feel |
| Public community/fan wiki | **MediaWiki + Citizen** on custom domain | Miraheze/WikiTide · wiki.gg · Fandom (last resort) | MW purpose-built; Citizen modernises the reader UX |
| Company product docs | **Astro Starlight** or **Docusaurus** | Material for MkDocs (caveat) · GitBook · Mintlify | Docs-as-code, versioning, PR workflow |
| Solo creator's public garden | **Quartz** | Starlight · MkDocs Material · Jekyll | Backlinks, graph view, Cloudflare Pages free |
| Offline-first personal KB | **Obsidian** or **Logseq** | TiddlyWiki · Trilium | Local markdown, works without net |
| 100k-page encyclopedia | **MediaWiki** | BlueSpice · WikiTeq-hosted MW | Only MW has demonstrated scale |
| Mobile-heavy editing | **Notion** or **Outline** (SaaS) | Confluence · BookStack mobile browser · MediaWiki Minerva | Native apps with editor+offline sync |
| Zero-ops, one-file-on-a-server | **TiddlyWiki** or **DokuWiki** | Docsify | TW = one HTML file; Doku = rsync-able flat files |
| Notion-style self-hosted | **Docmost** or **Outline** | AppFlowy · AFFiNE | Modern block editor + SSO + real-time collab |

### Anti-recommendations
- **Don't** use Docusaurus/MkDocs/Starlight for community-edit wikis unless every contributor is git-literate.
- **Don't** use MediaWiki for a 10-page personal blog.
- **Don't** use Notion for anything you need to rank in Google/AI-search without Super.so / Fruition / equivalent.
- **Don't** pick Material for MkDocs for a *new* 5-year project — pick Starlight or wait for Zensical.
- **Don't** start a new Confluence Data Center deployment in 2026.
- **Don't** bet on Wiki.js 3.0 until it ships stable.
- **Don't** put a community on Fandom if you value ownership, ad-free reading, or CWV.

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## 11. Known unknowns (C5)

- No rigorous head-to-head SEO benchmark across wiki engines exists.
- Zensical GA date unconfirmed.
- Wiki.js v3 stable release date unclear.
- Fandom-migration ranking-recovery timelines are anecdotal (3–12 months).
- TiddlyWiki MultiWikiServer maturity for multi-user production.
- Obsidian's Feb-2026 "free for commercial" report needs primary confirmation.

---

## 12. Source files

Full per-tool deep dives with URLs, confidence tags, and cross-verification:

- `research/01-static-flat-file-wikis.md` — SSGs, TiddlyWiki, Docsify, Quartz, Gollum
- `research/02-selfhosted-db-wikis.md` — MediaWiki, BookStack, Wiki.js, XWiki, Outline, Docmost, DokuWiki, Trilium, AppFlowy, AFFiNE
- `research/03-pkm-digital-gardens.md` — Obsidian, Logseq, Roam, TiddlyWiki-as-PKM, Silverbullet, reference gardens
- `research/04-saas-hosted-wikis.md` — Notion, GitBook, Confluence, Fandom, wiki.gg, Miraheze, Slab, Slite, Guru, Document360
- `research/05-selection-criteria.md` — SEO, aesthetics, edit-UX, longevity, pricing, decision matrix

Every numeric / status claim in this guide traces to one of those files; claims marked C1–C2 there are URL-sourced and dated 2026-04-14.