# Static / Flat-File Wiki Software — Deep Dive **Research date:** 2026-04-14 **Scope:** File-based / static / no-database wiki and documentation tools that can be hosted on static hosts (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, S3) without a server-side runtime, OR that run entirely client-side / single-file. **Methodology:** Quote-first, URL-cited, confidence-tagged per `/workspace/RESEARCH-BEST-PRACTICES.md`. Data primarily from upstream GitHub repos and project homepages as of 2026-04-14. --- ## TL;DR — Key Takeaways - **Best default for a docs-style wiki in 2026:** Material for MkDocs (maturity, ecosystem, low complexity) or Astro Starlight (modern, accessible, fast growth). Both are C1-confirmed actively maintained. - **Best for a personal knowledge garden / Obsidian vault publishing:** Quartz v4. Graph view, backlinks, wikilinks built in. - **Most unusual — genuinely deserves a look:** TiddlyWiki, the only serious "entire wiki in one HTML file" system, still actively developed after 20+ years. - **Blurs the static line:** Docsify (renders at runtime in the browser — no build step, but requires JS at read-time). Gollum is a *server* app but emits git-backed content that other tools can render statically. - **Dead/dying:** Dendron (maintainer moved to OpenAI, community-confirmed dormant), Simiki (last release 2019), original Hugo Learn theme (superseded by Relearn), VuePress (superseded by VitePress per Vue team). - **MkDocs Material is transitioning** — squidfunk announced Zensical as successor; Material for MkDocs will receive only critical fixes through Nov 2026 per their blog. Worth flagging for adopters. --- ## Summary Comparison Table | Tool | Tier (1-5) | Storage | Host | Edit UX | SEO | Last Release (as of 2026-04) | Stars | License | Verdict | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | **MkDocs + Material** | 2 | MD files | Any static | File edit + rebuild; "Edit this page" link | SSG, sitemap, meta, OG | 9.7.6 (2026-03-19) | ~26.5k | MIT | Mature, broad adoption, winding-down notice | | **Docusaurus** | 3 | MDX files | Any static (Node build) | File edit + rebuild; versioned docs | SSG, sitemap, meta, schema.org | 3.10.0 (2026-04-07) | ~64.6k | MIT | Heavyweight but powerful; v4 in planning | | **VitePress** | 2 | MD + Vue | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG, sitemap, meta | 2.0.0-alpha.17 (2026-03-19) | ~17.5k | MIT | Fast, modern, successor to VuePress | | **VuePress** | 2 | MD + Vue | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG | Stable but maintenance-only | — | MIT | Superseded — use VitePress instead | | **Hugo + docsy/book/relearn** | 3 | MD + TOML/YAML | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG, sitemap, meta | Hugo 0.160.1 (2026-04-08) | ~87.6k | Apache-2.0 | Fastest builds, steeper learning curve | | **Jekyll + Just the Docs** | 2 | MD files | GitHub Pages native | File edit + rebuild; GH Pages auto-build | SSG, sitemap | JtD 0.12.0 (2026-01-23); Jekyll 50k+ | Jekyll ~50k, JtD ~9k | MIT | Zero-cost GH Pages story; Ruby-based | | **mdBook** | 1 | MD files | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG, basic meta | 0.5.2 (2025-12-11) | ~21.5k | MPL-2.0 | Trivial setup, linear book model | | **Docsify** | 1 | MD files | Any static | File edit, no rebuild (!) | **Poor — runtime rendered** | 4.13.1 (2023-06); v5 RC | ~31.1k | MIT | Easiest setup; SEO-crippled | | **Zola** | 2 | MD + TOML | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG | 0.22.1 (2026-01-22) | ~16.9k | EUPL-1.2/MIT | Single binary, Rust, fast | | **Astro Starlight** | 2 | MD/MDX files | Any static (Node build) | File edit + rebuild | SSG, sitemap, OG, canonical | 0.38.3 (2026-04-07) | ~8.3k | MIT | Accessibility-first, actively hot | | **Nextra** | 3 | MD/MDX files | Vercel/Node build | File edit + rebuild | SSG/SSR | nextra-theme-docs@4.6.1 (2025-12-04) | ~13.7k | MIT | Next.js-bound; Nextra 4 app-router only | | **Eleventy / 11ty** | 3 | MD/Nunjucks/etc. | Any static | File edit + rebuild | SSG, full control | 3.1.5 (2026-03-18); rebranding "Build Awesome" | ~19.6k | MIT | Flexible, no wiki theme by default | | **Quartz v4** | 2 | MD (Obsidian-compat) | Any static | Obsidian-edit + rebuild; wikilinks | SSG, OG, RSS | v4 line, 2023-08 tagged; main branch active | ~11.8k | MIT | Best for digital gardens | | **TiddlyWiki** | 4 | **Single HTML file** OR Node.js tiddlers | Any static; even `file://` | **In-browser WYSIWYG** | Low (SPA) | 5.3.8; 5.4.0 planned 2026-04-20 | ~8.6k | BSD-3-Clause | Utterly unique; excellent for personal | | **Gollum** | 4 | Git repo + MD | Requires Ruby runtime for editor | Browser editor (runtime); or git PR | N/A (server app) | 6.1.0 (2024-12-23) | ~14.3k | MIT | NOT static at read-time; git backend | | **Foam (VSCode)** | 3 | MD + wikilinks | Any static (publish via Jekyll/Next/etc.) | VSCode + git | Depends on publisher | Active (template updated 2026-04-04) | ~16k+ | MIT | Toolkit, not publisher — needs SSG | | **Dendron** | 4 | MD hierarchical | Any static (Dendron CLI → html) | VSCode | SSG via publish | **Dormant — maintainer at OpenAI** | ~7k | GPL-3.0 (VSCode) | Avoid for new projects | | **Simiki** | 2 | MD + categories | Any static | File edit + rebuild | Basic SSG | 1.6.2.3 (2019-05-11) | ~1.1k | MIT | Abandoned but simple | Confidence on the above table: C1 for version numbers sourced directly from upstream GitHub pages; C2 for star/fork counts (they fluctuate; rounded). --- ## 1. MkDocs + Material for MkDocs **One-line pitch:** Python-based static docs generator with the most polished off-the-shelf theme in the ecosystem — Material. **Tier:** 2 (trivial-to-moderate). `pip install mkdocs-material` → `mkdocs new` → `mkdocs build`. **Storage:** Markdown files + `mkdocs.yml`. Nav tree declared in YAML or inferred from the filesystem. **Setup & hosting:** Needs Python at build time. Output is pure static HTML/CSS/JS — serves from GitHub Pages, Netlify, S3, Cloudflare Pages. `mkdocs gh-deploy` is a built-in GitHub Pages deployer. **Theming/beauty:** - Default Material theme is widely considered the best-looking defaults in the docs space (C2). - Color palettes, light/dark toggle, font selection, header/nav customization via `mkdocs.yml`. - Showcase: https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/ (the docs themselves). - Notable users include "ArXiv, Atlassian, AWS, Bloomberg, CERN, Datadog, Google, Harvard, Hewlett Packard, HSBC, ING, Intel, JetBrains, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, OpenAI, Red Hat, Roboflow, Salesforce, SIEMENS, Slack, Square, Uber, and Zalando" (C2, repeated in secondary sources). **Editing:** File + rebuild. "Edit this page" link out-of-box → GitHub PR workflow. No in-browser editor. **SEO:** Full SSG, sitemap.xml, meta tags, Open Graph, built-in site search via lunr.js (offline). Structured data available via plugins. **Maintenance (C1, checked 2026-04-14):** - Latest release: **9.7.6 on 2026-03-19** (https://github.com/squidfunk/mkdocs-material) - Stars: ~26.5k - License: MIT (copyright 2016–2025 Martin Donath) - **Important caveat:** The maintainer (squidfunk) announced a shift to a successor project called Zensical. Per web-search summary of his blog, Material for MkDocs will receive critical bug fixes and security updates only through November 2026 (C2 — sourced from search summary of https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/blog/archive/2026/; worth verifying directly before adopting for new long-lived projects). **Killer features:** Instant navigation (no reload), content tabs, admonitions, annotations, code copy, versioning plugin, social cards generator, mathjax/mermaid integration, offline search. **Weaknesses:** Python dependency. Top features (Insiders) behind a sponsorware paywall. The impending Zensical migration creates near-term uncertainty. **Real-world:** Material for MkDocs docs; Hummingbot Foundation (hummingbot.org); vLLM docs. **License:** MIT. --- ## 2. Docusaurus (Meta) **One-line pitch:** React-based docs/wiki framework with versioning, i18n, MDX, and Algolia search, maintained by Meta. **Tier:** 3 (moderate). Heavier than MkDocs; produces SPA-ish output with React hydration. **Storage:** MDX (Markdown + JSX). Sidebar declared in `sidebars.js` or auto-generated. **Setup & hosting:** `npx create-docusaurus@latest`. Requires Node 18+ (Node 24+ for v4). Outputs static HTML with React hydration — deploys anywhere static. **Theming/beauty:** - Default theme is clean, generic; heavy customization via React swizzling. - Theme ecosystem: classic theme, bootstrap theme, community themes. - Showcase: https://docusaurus.io/showcase (official showcase) - Real-world users: Supabase, Algolia, Hasura, React Native, Redux, Jest (C2). **Editing:** File + rebuild; "Edit this page" link; versioned docs snapshot on release. **SEO:** SSG with React hydration, sitemap plugin, meta tags, canonical URLs, structured data plugin, JSON-LD via front-matter. Generally strong. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest stable: **3.10.0 on 2026-04-07** (https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus) - Stars: ~64.6k - 3.9 (Oct 2025) introduced Algolia DocSearch v4 "Ask AI" feature (C2: https://www.infoq.com/news/2025/10/docusaurus-3-9-ai-search/) - **v4 planned** (umbrella issue opened 2026-02-06, https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus/issues/11719) — targets Node 24+, React 19.2+, Rspack v2, React Router v7 - License: MIT (code), CC-BY-4.0 (docs) **Killer features:** First-class versioning, i18n with Crowdin, MDX components, plugin system, blog included, React-swizzling for deep custom. **Weaknesses:** Build output is larger than peer SSGs; React bundle shipped to client. Not ideal if you want ~zero JS. Major-version upgrades (2→3, 3→4) have been disruptive in practice. **Real-world:** React Native docs (https://reactnative.dev), Supabase docs (https://supabase.com/docs — though Supabase appears to have a custom Next.js stack, C3 uncertainty), Jest, Algolia. **License:** MIT. --- ## 3. VitePress / VuePress **One-line pitch:** Vue + Vite SSG aimed at docs; VitePress is the modern successor to VuePress. **Tier:** 2. **Storage:** Markdown files, optional Vue components inline. **Setup & hosting:** `npm add -D vitepress` → `vitepress init`. Node build; static output. **Theming/beauty:** - Polished default theme. The Vue, Vite, Pinia, Vitest docs all use it — serves as de-facto showcase. - Customization via `.vitepress/theme` with Vue components. - Showcase via projects listed at https://vitepress.dev/ and the Vue ecosystem broadly. **Editing:** File + rebuild. Edit-on-GitHub link supported. **SEO:** SSG with hydration (similar model to Docusaurus but lighter). Sitemap, meta, OG tags. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **2.0.0-alpha.17 on 2026-03-19** (https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress). Stable 1.x line also active. - Stars: ~17.5k - License: MIT (Yuxi Evan You) **VuePress status:** "The Vue team has decided to focus on VitePress as the main recommended SSG in the long run" — per VitePress docs (C1: https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/blob/main/docs/en/guide/what-is-vitepress.md). VuePress 1 (Vue 2 + webpack) is effectively legacy; VuePress 2 (Vue 3 + Vite) continues but community momentum is on VitePress. **Killer features:** Extremely fast HMR (Vite), minimal JS payload at runtime (especially vs Docusaurus), clean default theme. **Weaknesses:** 2.0 still alpha; thinner plugin ecosystem than Docusaurus; English-only theme defaults. **Real-world:** vuejs.org, vite.dev, pinia.vuejs.org, vitest.dev. **License:** MIT. --- ## 4. Hugo (with Docsy / Book / Relearn themes) **One-line pitch:** Go-based single-binary SSG; fastest build times in the field; three solid docs themes. **Tier:** 3 (Hugo's templating is powerful but idiosyncratic; docs themes mitigate). **Storage:** Markdown + TOML/YAML front-matter. **Setup:** Single binary install (`brew install hugo`). No runtime dependency at build. Blazing builds (thousands of pages/sec). **Theming (showcase):** - **Docsy** (Google): https://github.com/google/docsy — v0.14.3 (2026-02-18), ~2.9k stars, Apache-2.0. Feature-rich: multi-version, i18n, feedback widgets. Used by Kubernetes-adjacent docs. - **hugo-book** (alex-shpak): https://github.com/alex-shpak/hugo-book — v13 (2025-10-19), ~4k stars, MIT. Minimal book-like layout, flexsearch search, multilingual, service-worker offline caching. - **Relearn** (supersedes original "Learn" theme): https://github.com/McShelby/hugo-theme-relearn — last updated 2026-03-10 (C2 per gohugothemes.com). The original https://github.com/matcornic/hugo-theme-learn README now recommends migrating to Relearn (C1). **Editing:** File + rebuild. "Edit this page" link common in docs themes. **SEO:** Pure SSG, sitemap, meta, OG, structured data via templates. Excellent. **Maintenance (C1, Hugo core):** - Latest: **0.160.1 on 2026-04-08** (https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo) - Stars: ~87.6k - License: Apache-2.0 **Killer features:** Build speed, single binary, asset pipeline (Sass, PostCSS, JS bundling) built in, image processing, strong shortcodes, Hugo Modules for theme composition. **Weaknesses:** Go templates have a learning curve. Themes vary in quality and maintenance. Docsy setup is heavier than peers. **Real-world:** Kubernetes-adjacent projects (Docsy), many personal dev blogs. **License:** Hugo core Apache-2.0; themes vary (all three above are MIT or Apache). --- ## 5. Jekyll + wiki themes (Just the Docs) **One-line pitch:** The grandparent of SSGs; first-class GitHub Pages citizen; Just the Docs is the go-to wiki/docs theme. **Tier:** 2. **Storage:** Markdown + YAML front-matter + Liquid templates. **Setup:** Ruby-based. GitHub Pages builds Jekyll automatically for free — push markdown, site deploys. Alternatively `bundle exec jekyll serve` locally. **Theming:** - **Just the Docs:** https://github.com/just-the-docs/just-the-docs — v0.12.0 (2026-01-23), ~9k stars, MIT. "A modern, high customizable, responsive Jekyll theme for documentation with built-in search" (C1: GitHub README). Primary maintainer: Matt Wang (C2). - Other docs themes: Minimal Mistakes (popular general theme with docs support), docsy-jekyll. - Showcase/demo: https://just-the-docs.com **Editing:** GitHub Pages workflow makes this wiki-friendly — edit markdown directly in GH UI, commit, site rebuilds. No login required for reading; editing requires GH account. **SEO:** SSG; jekyll-seo-tag plugin adds full meta/OG/structured data; sitemap plugin; feed plugin. **Maintenance (C1/C2):** - Jekyll: "over 50,000 GitHub stars and native GitHub Pages integration" (C2 from search) - Just the Docs: active, v0.12.0 2026-01-23 - License: MIT **Killer features:** Native GitHub Pages integration is unmatched (free hosting + zero-config build for standard themes). Mature ecosystem, huge theme catalog. **Weaknesses:** Ruby toolchain can be painful on Windows. Liquid templating is limiting vs React/Vue. GitHub Pages restricts to an allowlisted set of plugins if using auto-build. **Real-world:** Innumerable GitHub Pages sites; Bootstrap docs (historically), Pi-hole docs. **License:** Jekyll MIT; Just the Docs MIT. --- ## 6. mdBook (Rust) **One-line pitch:** The Rust project's in-house book/docs tool — minimal, linear, ultra-simple. **Tier:** 1 (trivial). **Storage:** Markdown files in `src/`, `SUMMARY.md` defines the table of contents. **Setup:** `cargo install mdbook` or download a pre-built binary. `mdbook init` → `mdbook build`. **Theming:** Very limited by design. Default theme is sparse and book-like. CSS customization possible, but no rich theme ecosystem. **Editing:** File + rebuild. No browser editor. **SEO:** SSG, basic meta tags. Not particularly strong for SEO vs MkDocs/Docusaurus (no sitemap out of box, no OG tags by default). C3 — based on documentation review. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest release: **0.5.2 on 2025-12-11** (https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook) - Stars: ~21.5k - License: MPL-2.0 - Actively maintained by the Rust project team. **Killer features:** Used by "The Rust Programming Language" book itself — battle-tested for long-form technical content. Print-friendly. Excellent for linear books; includes built-in search. Preprocessor/backend plugin architecture. **Weaknesses:** Linear book model, not a true wiki. Theming is spartan. No versioning. No blog. No native i18n. **Real-world:** "The Rust Programming Language" (https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/), Cargo Book, Rust Reference, Rustonomicon. **License:** MPL-2.0. --- ## 7. Docsify (runtime-rendered — blurs the static line) **One-line pitch:** "Zero build" docs tool — ships markdown + one HTML loader; renders in the browser. **Tier:** 1 (trivially easy to start; *not* a true SSG). **Storage:** Plain markdown files + `index.html` + `_sidebar.md`. **Setup:** Drop an `index.html` that loads docsify.js from CDN into a folder of markdown. No build step. Serve the folder from any static host. **Theming:** A handful of built-in themes; community CSS themes. Default look is clean but dated. **Editing:** Edit markdown → it's live on next page load. No rebuild. This is Docsify's main selling point. **SEO: POOR.** Because content is fetched via JS at runtime, search engines that don't execute JS will index only the loader HTML. Googlebot executes JS but indexing is weaker than true SSG. No built-in sitemap generation. **This is the key reason to not choose Docsify for a public-facing wiki where SEO matters** (C1 — confirmed in docsify docs and GitHub issue #617). **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest stable release: **4.13.1 on 2023-06-24** (https://github.com/docsifyjs/docsify) - Stars: ~31.1k - v5 RC exists but not yet stable — breaking changes flagged - Snyk classifies docsify as **"Inactive"** based on release cadence (C2: https://security.snyk.io/package/npm/docsify), though GitHub develop branch shows activity - License: MIT **Killer features:** Genuinely zero build. Edit-on-github works instantly. Good for private/internal wikis where SEO irrelevant. **Weaknesses:** SEO. Slower perceived first-paint. Depends on JS at read-time (hostile to users with JS disabled). Release cadence has slowed dramatically. **Real-world:** Many small OSS README-as-site projects; various internal docs. **License:** MIT. --- ## 8. Zola **One-line pitch:** Rust single-binary SSG inspired by Hugo; batteries-included (Sass, syntax highlighting, search, link checker). **Tier:** 2. **Storage:** Markdown + TOML front-matter. Tera templating. **Setup:** Single binary. `zola init` → `zola build`. Trivial install. **Theming:** Smaller ecosystem than Hugo. Several community docs themes (e.g., adidoks, juice-kb). Theme catalog at https://www.getzola.org/themes/. **Editing:** File + rebuild. **SEO:** SSG, meta, OG via templates. Built-in sitemap generation. Built-in RSS. Internal link checker catches rot. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **0.22.1 on 2026-01-22** (https://github.com/getzola/zola) - Stars: ~16.9k - License: dual EUPL-1.2 / MIT (code from v0.22+ is EUPL-1.2; earlier MIT) - 53 releases; 2,442 commits; active development **Killer features:** "A fast static site generator in a single binary with everything built-in" (C1: repo description). Built-in search (Elasticlunr-based, no external service), built-in link checker, built-in Sass, Syntaxhighlighting using Sublime-compatible syntaxes. **Weaknesses:** Smaller community than Hugo/Jekyll/Docusaurus. Fewer docs-focused themes off the shelf. **Real-world:** Various personal/small-team sites; some Rust-adjacent projects. **License:** EUPL-1.2 / MIT dual. --- ## 9. Astro Starlight **One-line pitch:** Astro's official documentation framework; accessibility-first, minimal JS, beautiful defaults. **Tier:** 2. **Storage:** MD/MDX in `src/content/docs/`; sidebar configured in `astro.config.mjs`. **Setup:** `npm create astro@latest -- --template starlight`. Node build. **Theming:** Default is crisp and modern. Active community themes: - **starlight-theme-obsidian** (Obsidian Publish look): https://github.com/Fevol/starlight-theme-obsidian - **starlight-theme-vintage** (legacy Astro docs look): https://github.com/HiDeoo/starlight-theme-vintage - Six.StarlightTheme: https://github.com/six-tech/Six.StarlightTheme - "Awesome Starlight" list: https://github.com/trueberryless-org/awesome-starlight (auto-updated weekly) **Editing:** File + rebuild. Edit links supported. **SEO:** SSG, sitemap plugin, canonical URLs, Open Graph, meta descriptions, hreflang for i18n. Astro's "islands architecture" means near-zero JS by default → fast Core Web Vitals → SEO-friendly. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **0.38.3 on 2026-04-07** (https://github.com/withastro/starlight) - Stars: ~8.3k (fastest-growing in this list) - License: MIT - Astro itself joined Cloudflare per 2026-02 announcement (C2: https://blog.cloudflare.com/astro-joins-cloudflare/) — organizational change, project remains open-source **Killer features:** Accessibility-first defaults, built-in search (Pagefind), i18n, multi-version docs, full MDX with Astro components, extremely fast client-side performance (islands architecture). **Weaknesses:** Younger than peers (first released 2023). Theme ecosystem still growing. MDX/Astro-component learning curve if you want to customize deeply. **Real-world:** Astro docs themselves (https://docs.astro.build), Biome (https://biomejs.dev), many Cloudflare-adjacent projects post-acquisition. **License:** MIT. --- ## 10. Nextra **One-line pitch:** Next.js-based docs framework with MDX and a polished default theme. **Tier:** 3. **Storage:** MDX in `pages/` or `content/` (Nextra 4 uses app-router layout). **Setup:** Next.js project + `nextra` + `nextra-theme-docs` npm packages. **Theming:** Built-in "docs" and "blog" themes, plus a "blank" base. Default docs theme is minimal and clean, similar to Vercel's own docs aesthetic. **Editing:** File + rebuild. **SEO:** Next.js SSG or ISR; sitemap, meta, OG. Strong. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **nextra-theme-docs@4.6.1 on 2025-12-04** (https://github.com/shuding/nextra) - Stars: ~13.7k - License: MIT - **Nextra 4 is app-router only**: "Nextra 4 only works with the app router, while only Nextra 1/2/3 supports the pages router" (C1: search result from nextra.site) - Migration guide: https://the-guild.dev/blog/nextra-4 **Killer features:** Full Next.js — any React component, any data-fetch, runs as ISR on Vercel. Best when you want docs + marketing pages in one codebase. **Weaknesses:** Coupled tightly to Next.js — you inherit its upgrade treadmill. Heaviest build output among this list alongside Docusaurus. Edge between "static site" and "application" — deploys well to Vercel, less ideal for pure object-storage hosting. **Real-world:** SWR docs, Turborepo docs (historically), Reflex, The Guild's various product docs. **License:** MIT. --- ## 11. Eleventy / 11ty **One-line pitch:** Minimal, JS-based SSG; no opinion about wikis — you bring the structure. **Tier:** 3 for wiki use (flexible but you wire it up). **Storage:** MD, Nunjucks, Liquid, Handlebars, JavaScript, 11ty.js, Pug — your pick. **Setup:** `npx @11ty/eleventy`. Node required. **Theming:** No canonical docs theme. Starter kits exist (eleventy-base-blog, eleventy-high-performance-blog) but for a wiki you typically assemble it yourself from the community starters list at https://www.11ty.dev/docs/starter/. **Editing:** File + rebuild. **SEO:** Full SSG; sitemap, meta, OG via plugins or manual includes. Output is as lean as you want. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **3.1.5 on 2026-03-18** (https://github.com/11ty/eleventy) - 4.0-alpha pre-releases since July 2025 - Stars: ~19.6k - License: MIT - **Rebranding**: "In March 2026, Eleventy announced it will be rebranding as 'Build Awesome,' with version 4.0 becoming Build Awesome v4" (C2: https://www.11ty.dev/blog/build-awesome/). Full ecosystem compat promised. - 2025 stats: "177 releases across the full 11ty suite… npm downloads for core are up by 51%" per https://www.11ty.dev/blog/review-2025/ **Killer features:** Radical flexibility. Can consume any template engine. Minimal output — no mandatory JS runtime. Excellent Core Web Vitals achievable. **Weaknesses:** No batteries for wikis. Every feature you want (sidebar nav, search, versioning) you wire yourself or pull a plugin. **Real-world:** https://web.dev (historically), https://www.11ty.dev itself, many personal dev blogs. **License:** MIT. --- ## 12. Quartz (Obsidian publishing / digital gardens) **One-line pitch:** "A fast, batteries-included static-site generator that transforms Markdown content into fully functional websites" — purpose-built for publishing Obsidian vaults and digital gardens. **Tier:** 2. **Storage:** Markdown (Obsidian-flavored). Supports "Obsidian, OxHugo, and Roam Research" markdown formats (C1: GitHub README). **Setup:** Clone the Quartz v4 repo → drop markdown in `content/` → `npx quartz build`. Node-based. Output is static. **Theming:** Clean default; simple CSS-var-based customization. Community themes on the Discord. **Editing:** Edit in Obsidian on your machine → git push → CI rebuild. Publish workflow. **SEO:** Full SSG, OG tags, RSS, canonical links. **Maintenance (C1):** - Last tagged release: **v4.0.8 (2023-08-21)** (https://github.com/jackyzha0/quartz); BUT the v4 branch is actively developed — "1,625 commits on the v4 branch" as of check, 243 open issues, ongoing PRs. This is normal for Quartz: they ship via the main branch rather than SemVer tags. - Stars: ~11.8k - License: MIT **Killer features (C1):** "Obsidian compatibility, full-text search, graph view, wikilinks, transclusions, backlinks, Latex, syntax highlighting, popover previews, Docker Support, internationalization, comments" — from the repo README. The graph view, backlinks, and popover previews together are what makes it the go-to digital garden publisher. **Weaknesses:** Still a relatively small team (primarily Jacky Zhao). Config surface is idiosyncratic. Pre-v4 Quartz (Hugo-based) is a different product — some web results conflate the two. **Real-world:** Quartz docs themselves (https://quartz.jzhao.xyz); thousands of personal digital gardens — there's no central showcase but search for "quartz.jzhao.xyz" in referrers finds many. **License:** MIT. --- ## 13. TiddlyWiki (single-file — genuinely unusual) **One-line pitch:** An entire wiki — content, UI, code — in a single HTML file you can open from `file://` and still edit. **Tier:** 4 to master (conceptually novel — "tiddlers", WikiText), 2 to use casually. **Storage:** **One HTML file.** All content, styles, scripts embedded. Alternatively, Node.js mode stores one file per "tiddler". **Setup:** Download `empty.html`, open in browser. That's it. For Node mode: `npm install -g tiddlywiki`. **Theming:** Multiple themes bundled ("Vanilla", "Snow White", "Readable"); whole UI is editable WikiText so you can mutate anything. Plugin library at https://tiddlywiki.com/library.html. **Editing:** **In-browser WYSIWYG-ish wiki editor.** This is the unique selling point — click to edit, save back to the same HTML file (via browser extension, desktop save, or server endpoint). Node mode serves a full edit UI on localhost. **SEO:** Weak for public publishing — it's a SPA with runtime-rendered tiddlers. Static publishing ("rendering") produces HTML pages but loses the live-edit story. C3. **Maintenance (C1):** - Current: **5.3.8** (https://tiddlywiki.com/) - **5.4.0 announced for 2026-04-20** (C2: https://talk.tiddlywiki.org/t/tiddlywiki-v5-4-0-will-be-released-on-20th-april-2026/15162) — 6 days after this research date - Stars: ~8.6k - License: BSD-3-Clause - 20+ year continuous development (original TiddlyWiki from 2004; TW5 rewrite from 2011) - Active ecosystem: https://talk.tiddlywiki.org forum, Discord, GitHub Discussions **Killer features:** - Single-file portability — literally USB-stick, email-attachment, offline-first. - Non-linear "tiddler" model: content is composable fragments, not pages; wiki-wide transclusion. - Hackable UI in WikiText — no rebuild needed. - Hosting variants: Tiddlyhost (SaaS), Node.js self-host, GitHub-saved, browser extension save. **Weaknesses:** Conceptually alien to markdown-first users. Public multi-user editing requires server (Node mode or Bob plugin). SEO for public wikis is poor by default. Learning curve for power use. **Real-world:** Many personal knowledge bases. Public examples: https://tiddlywiki.com itself (docs); https://braintool.org; numerous single-researcher wikis. **License:** BSD-3-Clause. --- ## 14. Gollum (git wiki — NOT static at read-time) **One-line pitch:** A Ruby web app that turns any git repo full of markup files into a browsable, in-browser editable wiki. **Tier:** 4 (for self-host) — and importantly: **this is NOT a static/SSG tool**. **Storage:** Git repo of Markdown/Textile/MediaWiki/Org-mode/RDoc/AsciiDoc/etc. files. Content is static; the **reader** is a Ruby server. **Setup:** `gem install gollum`. Needs Ruby runtime. GitHub Wikis historically were powered by a Gollum fork (C2 — GitHub docs previously stated this explicitly). **Theming:** Single default look, very plain. Limited theming — this is a utility, not a design-forward tool. **Editing:** In-browser editor in the running Gollum server (no login by default; auth via reverse proxy). OR edit markdown files directly in git and push. **SEO:** N/A — it's a runtime server, not a publisher. If you want static output from a Gollum repo, use the separate project https://github.com/dreverri/gollum-site (Liquid-based, long-unmaintained — C2). **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **6.1.0 on 2024-12-23** (https://github.com/gollum/gollum) - Stars: ~14.3k - License: MIT - "2,576 Commits… 18 open PRs, 72 open issues" — actively engaged in 2025-2026 but release cadence is slow. **Killer features:** Git as single source of truth. Works offline (clone, edit, push). Supports many markup formats. Local frontend for offline browsing. **Weaknesses:** Ruby runtime requirement. Not a static site. Primary UI hasn't been substantially redesigned in years. gollum-site (static export) is essentially dead. **Real-world:** Historically the engine behind GitHub Wikis (now unclear whether still used internally); many self-hosted team wikis. **License:** MIT. **Why included despite not being static:** requested in scope; and because Gollum's file-per-page + git backend model is the spiritual ancestor of most "edit-on-GitHub-then-rebuild" flows in this list. --- ## 15. Foam (VSCode) — published output **One-line pitch:** A VSCode-based personal knowledge management system that publishes to the web via Jekyll/GH Pages (or any SSG). **Tier:** 3. **Storage:** Markdown with `[[wikilinks]]` and `#tags`, any folder structure. **Setup:** Install the "Foam" VSCode extension → use the official foam-template repo (which ships with a Jekyll-based GitHub Pages publish flow pre-wired). **Theming:** Depends on the publisher you pick. The template's default publisher is Jekyll + a built-in graph/backlinks render. **Editing:** VSCode (which becomes essentially an Obsidian-equivalent for markdown). Commit + push. **SEO:** Inherits from Jekyll/SSG output — fine. **Maintenance (C1/C2):** - Repo: https://github.com/foambubble/foam - foam-template updated **2026-04-04** (C2: search result) - Still actively maintained, though lower-profile than Obsidian - License: MIT **Killer features:** VSCode-native (Git, PRs, extensions ecosystem). Wikilinks, section links, tag explorer, orphan/placeholder health panel, graph view. **Weaknesses:** Smaller community than Obsidian. The "publish" story is an assembly job (Jekyll config, GitHub Actions) — not as turnkey as Quartz. **Real-world:** Many researcher wikis. https://foambubble.github.io/foam/ itself. **License:** MIT. --- ## 15b. Dendron published output — AVOID for new projects **One-line pitch:** Hierarchical-note VSCode tool that could publish to static HTML — but essentially dormant. **Storage:** Markdown with hierarchical dot-notation filenames (e.g., `pkm.git.basics.md`). **Publish:** Dendron CLI → HTML. Output deployable to GitHub Pages. **Maintenance status (C1):** - "Development stopped?" GitHub Discussion #3890 and Issue #3956 ("Is Dendron Project Still Active?") confirm community concerns (C1: https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron/discussions/3890, https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron/issues/3956) - Founder Kevin Lin: "wound down due to some family issues… currently works at OpenAI" (C2: search summary of nesslabs.com interview and kevinslin.com) - No meaningful commits from core maintainer in 2024-2025 - **Recommendation: do not start new projects on Dendron.** **License:** GPL-3.0 (core VSCode extension). --- ## 16. Simiki / lesser-known static wikis ### Simiki **One-line pitch:** Lightweight Python static wiki generator — Markdown + category tree → HTML. **Tier:** 2. **Maintenance (C1):** - Latest: **1.6.2.3 on 2019-05-11** (https://github.com/tankywoo/simiki) - Stars: ~1.1k - License: MIT - **Abandoned.** 20 open issues, last release 2019. Python 2.7 era. **Verdict:** Don't use for new projects. Listed for historical completeness. ### StaticWiki (LittleCodingFox) - Repo: https://github.com/LittleCodingFox/StaticWiki (C2 — surfaced in Simiki-adjacent searches) - Basic markdown → static HTML. Very low stars, minimal activity. C4 — not verified in detail. ### Other niches worth flagging - **DokuWiki** (C1): PHP-based, file-backed (no DB). NOT static — requires PHP at read-time. Explicitly excluded from this research's "static" scope but often recommended in the "no database" category. "Unlike MediaWiki, which requires a database to be installed, DokuWiki stores all data in files" (C1 per search summary). - **VimWiki → HTML export**: Text-first PKM; exports a static site. Niche. - **Org-roam → ox-hugo / Org Publish**: Emacs-native. Niche but devoted following. - **Zim-wiki**: Desktop app, can export static HTML. File-backed, offline-first. - **Wiki.js** (C1): Node/DB-backed. Sometimes erroneously listed in "static wiki" roundups. Excluded here. - **BookStack** (C1): PHP+MySQL. Excluded. - **Outline, Notion, Confluence**: all DB-backed / SaaS. Excluded. --- ## Cross-cutting observations ### Which tools have real "in-browser, no-login" edit? Only **TiddlyWiki** (via file-save or Node mode) and **Docsify** (no, actually — Docsify is read-only in browser by default) satisfy this. **Gollum** has an in-browser editor but requires a running Ruby server. For every other tool in this list, "edit in browser" really means "GitHub's markdown editor on the source repo." ### Which deploy to pure-static / object-storage with no Node runtime? All do, *at read time*. The axis that matters is the *build* runtime: - **No build runtime (pre-built binary):** Hugo, Zola, mdBook. - **Python build:** MkDocs + Material, Simiki. - **Ruby build:** Jekyll, Gollum. - **Node build:** Docusaurus, VitePress, Starlight, Nextra, Eleventy, Quartz. - **No build at all (runtime-rendered):** Docsify, TiddlyWiki. ### SEO hierarchy (roughly, best to worst) 1. Hugo + docsy/relearn, Eleventy, Zola, mdBook, MkDocs Material, Astro Starlight, Jekyll + JtD — pure SSG with sitemap, meta, OG. 2. Docusaurus, VitePress, Nextra, Quartz — SSG with React/Vue hydration; still good; larger JS bundles. 3. TiddlyWiki (public) — SPA; rendering plugin available but rarely used. 4. Docsify — runtime-rendered; worst for SEO of a public wiki. ### Winding-down / dormant watchlist - **Material for MkDocs**: Zensical successor announced; maintenance window ends ~Nov 2026. C2 — verify directly on squidfunk's blog before committing to new 3-year projects. - **Docsify**: Snyk "Inactive"; last stable release June 2023; v5 RC only. - **Dendron**: Dormant. - **Simiki**: Abandoned since 2019. - **VuePress**: Maintenance mode; Vue team recommends VitePress. - **Hugo Learn (matcornic)**: Author-recommended migration to Relearn. - **gollum-site**: Essentially dead. ### Hottest / rising - **Astro Starlight** — fastest-growing in this set; Cloudflare acquisition of Astro (Feb 2026) adds institutional weight. - **Docusaurus v4 (in planning)** — React 19, Rspack v2, app-router-era. - **Eleventy → Build Awesome v4** — strong 2025 (177 releases, +51% downloads), rebrand in progress. - **TiddlyWiki 5.4.0** — major release imminent (2026-04-20). --- ## C5 unknowns — explicit list Items I could not verify or that varied across sources: - Exact current star counts fluctuate daily; numbers above are as of 2026-04-14 fetches from GitHub repo pages and should be treated as ±5%. - **Material for MkDocs maintenance-window end date** (reported as Nov 2026 via search summary of squidfunk's 2026 blog archive — I did not independently fetch the blog post). Verify at https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/blog/ before acting on it. - **Foam star count** — I cited ~16k+ from a general search (not directly fetched); the exact number is unverified. C4. - **Dendron star count** (~7k in the summary table) — approximated from recall, not directly fetched. C4. - **Supabase docs engine** — listed as a Docusaurus testimonial source, but Supabase's public docs at https://supabase.com/docs may be a custom Next.js build. C3. - **gollum-site** last release date — not directly fetched; described as "essentially dead" based on summary signals. C3. - Failed/weak searches: "Wikiss" returned nothing useful — this tool either does not exist or is too obscure to surface. If the user meant something specific by "Wikiss" it should be re-queried with more context. --- ## Sources (primary GitHub/project pages consulted) - MkDocs Material: https://github.com/squidfunk/mkdocs-material ; https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/ - Docusaurus: https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus ; https://docusaurus.io ; https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus/issues/11719 - VitePress: https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress ; https://vitepress.dev - Hugo: https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo ; https://gohugo.io - Docsy: https://github.com/google/docsy - hugo-book: https://github.com/alex-shpak/hugo-book - Relearn: https://github.com/McShelby/hugo-theme-relearn - Jekyll / Just the Docs: https://github.com/just-the-docs/just-the-docs ; https://jekyllrb.com - mdBook: https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook ; https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/ - Docsify: https://github.com/docsifyjs/docsify ; https://docsify.js.org ; https://security.snyk.io/package/npm/docsify - Zola: https://github.com/getzola/zola ; https://www.getzola.org - Astro Starlight: https://github.com/withastro/starlight ; https://starlight.astro.build ; https://github.com/trueberryless-org/awesome-starlight ; https://blog.cloudflare.com/astro-joins-cloudflare/ - Nextra: https://github.com/shuding/nextra ; https://nextra.site ; https://the-guild.dev/blog/nextra-4 - Eleventy: https://github.com/11ty/eleventy ; https://www.11ty.dev/blog/build-awesome/ ; https://www.11ty.dev/blog/review-2025/ - Quartz: https://github.com/jackyzha0/quartz ; https://quartz.jzhao.xyz - TiddlyWiki: https://github.com/TiddlyWiki/TiddlyWiki5 ; https://tiddlywiki.com ; https://talk.tiddlywiki.org/t/tiddlywiki-v5-4-0-will-be-released-on-20th-april-2026/15162 - Gollum: https://github.com/gollum/gollum ; https://github.com/dreverri/gollum-site - Foam: https://github.com/foambubble/foam ; https://foambubble.github.io/foam/ - Dendron: https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron ; https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron/issues/3956 - Simiki: https://github.com/tankywoo/simiki ; http://simiki.org - Secondary: https://www.infoq.com/news/2025/10/docusaurus-3-9-ai-search/