# Self-Hosted Database-Backed Wiki Software — Deep Dive **Scope:** Self-hosted, login/multi-user wiki & knowledge-base software (typically server + DB). Includes DokuWiki (flat-file but login/ACL-capable) as a cross-category note. Also includes newer "Notion-alternative" block editors (Docmost, AppFlowy, AFFiNE) and Trilium Notes which straddle the wiki/notes boundary. **Research date:** 2026-04-14 **Standards applied:** `/workspace/RESEARCH-BEST-PRACTICES.md` — confidence tiers C1–C5, URL-sourced claims, cross-verified key facts, dates cited. --- ## Key Takeaways (TL;DR) 1. **MediaWiki** is the reference heavy-duty engine (Wikipedia-proven), but complex; PHP/MariaDB stack, LTS upgrade discipline required. (C1) 2. **BookStack** is the current sweet spot for teams wanting "beautiful docs out of the box" — PHP/Laravel/MySQL, clean UI, WYSIWYG, active development, AGPL. (C1/C2) 3. **Wiki.js 2.x** is the polished "prosumer" Node.js option, but **3.0 is still beta in 2026** and locks in PostgreSQL — worth noting before committing. (C1) 4. **DokuWiki** is the exception that proves the rule: flat-file, but has full ACL + login + LDAP + OAuth; extremely low maintenance burden. (C1) 5. **XWiki** is the enterprise-scale Java option with structured data/scripting — highest complexity (tier 5), but used by CERN and large orgs. (C1/C2) 6. **Outline** is beautiful and modern but licensed **BSL (not OSI-approved open source)**; an important caveat buyers miss. (C1) 7. **Confluence Data Center** is effectively in wind-down: no new Data Center licenses after **2026-03-30**, read-only after **2029-03-28**. Do not start new self-hosted Confluence deployments. (C1) 8. **Newer challengers** (Docmost, AppFlowy, AFFiNE) are credible Notion-style replacements but young; mobile/real-time collaboration still rough. (C2) 9. **Dead or dying:** WikkaWiki (EOL 2021), PhpWiki (effectively abandoned), TWiki (superseded by Foswiki), MoinMoin 2.x (still beta after ~decade). (C1/C2) 10. **Trilium Notes** is a personal KB that now has server/multi-client sync; "Trilium" name transferred to TriliumNext community fork in 2024–2025. (C1) --- ## Summary Comparison Table | Tool | Tier | Stack | Install | Auth | Editor | License | Active? | Best For | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | MediaWiki | 4 | PHP + MySQL/MariaDB/Postgres/SQLite | Manual LAMP / Docker | Local/LDAP/OAuth/SAML (ext) | Wikitext + VisualEditor WYSIWYG | GPL-2.0+ | Very (WMF) | Large public wikis, reference | | DokuWiki | 2 | PHP + flat files | Simple tarball, Docker | Local/LDAP/OAuth plugins | DokuWiki markup (WYSIWYG via plugin) | GPL-2.0 | Yes (community) | Team docs, simple backup | | BookStack | 2 | PHP Laravel + MySQL/MariaDB | Docker/script/manual | Local/LDAP/SAML/OIDC/Social | WYSIWYG + Markdown, diagrams.net | MIT | Very active | Team/internal docs | | Wiki.js 2.x | 3 | Node.js + Postgres (or MySQL/MSSQL/SQLite in 2.x) | Docker | Local/LDAP/SAML/OAuth/Azure AD | Markdown + WYSIWYG + code | AGPL-3.0 | Active (3.0 beta) | Modern team wiki | | XWiki | 5 | Java + Hibernate + MySQL/Postgres/Oracle/MSSQL | WAR/Docker | LDAP/AD/SSO/OIDC | WYSIWYG + wiki syntax + scripting | LGPL-2.1 | Very (XWiki SAS) | Enterprise, structured data | | Outline | 3 | Node.js + Postgres + Redis | Docker | Local/Slack/Google/Azure/OIDC | Block WYSIWYG (Prosemirror) | **BSL 1.1** | Very (company) | Modern team KB (BSL caveat) | | Confluence DC | 4 | Java + Postgres/MySQL/Oracle/MSSQL | Installer/Docker | LDAP/AD/SSO/Crowd | Block WYSIWYG | **Proprietary** | Sunsetting (2029) | Reference only — do not start new | | Foswiki | 4 | Perl + flat files / RCS | Manual/Debian pkg | Local/LDAP/SSO | TML + WYSIWYG (TinyMCE) | GPL-2.0+ | Community, slow | Legacy enterprise Perl shops | | TWiki | 4 | Perl | Manual | Local/LDAP | TML + WYSIWYG | GPL-2.0+ | Slow, minor releases | Legacy only | | PmWiki | 2 | PHP + flat files | Tarball | Password groups, LDAP plugin | PmWiki markup | GPL-2.0 | Active (small) | Simple personal/group wikis | | Tiki Wiki CMS | 5 | PHP + MySQL/MariaDB | Script/Docker | Local/LDAP/OpenID/SAML | WYSIWYG + wiki syntax | LGPL-2.1 | Active (LTS) | All-in-one groupware | | MoinMoin 1.9 | 3 | Python 2 + flat files | Manual | Local/LDAP | MoinMoin markup | GPL-2.0 | Maintenance only | Avoid new deployments | | Moin 2 | 3 | Python 3 + flat / DB | Manual | Local | Markdown/MoinMoin/reST | GPL-2.0 | Beta (since ~2014) | Not production-ready | | WikkaWiki | 2 | PHP + MySQL | Manual | Local | Wakka/Wikka markup | GPL-2.0 | **EOL (2021)** | Do not deploy | | PhpWiki | 2 | PHP + MySQL/flat | Manual | Local | PhpWiki markup | GPL-2.0 | **Effectively dead** | Historical only | | Kiwix | 1 | C++/JS reader + ZIM files | Binary/Docker | N/A (reader) | N/A (read-only) | GPL-3.0 | Very (Kiwix.org) | Offline mirrors | | Trilium Notes | 2 | Node.js + SQLite | Docker | Single-user + sync token | Block WYSIWYG (CKEditor) | AGPL-3.0 | Active (TriliumNext) | Personal KB with sync | | Docmost | 2 | Node.js + Postgres + Redis | Docker | Local/SAML/OIDC/LDAP (EE) | Block WYSIWYG (Tiptap) | AGPL-3.0 core + EE | Very active | Modern Notion-like team wiki | | AppFlowy | 3 | Rust/Flutter + Postgres | Docker Compose | Local/OAuth (AppFlowy Cloud) | Block WYSIWYG | AGPL-3.0 | Very active | Notion-alternative, AI-ready | | AFFiNE | 3 | TypeScript/Rust + Postgres | Docker | Local/OAuth | Block WYSIWYG + whiteboard | MIT (CE) | Very active | Docs + whiteboard hybrid | *Tier: 1 = trivial / 2 = simple Docker / 3 = moderate / 4 = complex / 5 = enterprise.* --- ## 1. MediaWiki **Pitch:** The PHP engine that runs Wikipedia, Fandom, wikiHow — the reference implementation for large-scale collaborative wikis. - **Complexity tier:** 4 - **Stack:** PHP 8.1+ (8.2+ for 1.45); MariaDB 10.3+, MySQL 5.7+, SQLite 3.24+, or PostgreSQL 10+. (C1 — https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Installation_requirements; cross-verified against 1.42 release page) - **Install:** Manual LAMP/LEMP install is the canonical path (`LocalSettings.php` config flow). Official Docker image exists; WMF container registry available. Composer 2 required. - **Auth model:** Local accounts built-in; `LDAP/AD` via LDAPAuthentication2, OAuth via Extension:OAuth, SAML via Extension:SimpleSAMLphp, OpenID Connect via Extension:OpenIDConnect. (C2) - **Editor UX:** Wikitext natively; **VisualEditor** extension (bundled since 1.35) provides true WYSIWYG. (C1 — https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:VisualEditor) - **Beauty:** Default skin on Wikipedia is **Vector 2022** (desktop) / Minerva Neue (mobile). Also ships with Timeless and MonoBook. Wikipedia-like aesthetic is dense, information-first, not "modern SaaS pretty". (C1 — https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Skin:Timeless, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Skin:Minerva_Neue) - **Permissions:** Group-based user rights system (`$wgGroupPermissions`); per-namespace restriction standard; per-page ACL only via extensions (Lockdown, PageAccessControl). Private wiki trivially achievable. (C2) - **SEO:** Server-rendered HTML. Clean URLs via short URLs config. Sitemap via `maintenance/generateSitemap.php` (built-in). schema.org via WikiSEO or Semantic MediaWiki. (C2) - **Maintenance / release cadence:** ~6-month cadence, every 4th release is LTS (3-year support). **1.45.0 shipped December 2025** (current stable; supported through Dec 2026). **1.47 will be the next LTS, ~Dec 2026.** 1.42 reached EOL 2025-06-30 with 1.42.7. (C1 — https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Release_notes/1.45) - **Company vs community:** Wikimedia Foundation drives core; huge global volunteer + paid-dev community. - **Scalability:** Proven to Wikipedia scale (billions of pageviews, 60M+ articles in English). Needs memcached/Varnish/Elastic tier at scale. Not especially light for small wikis. - **License & cost:** GPL-2.0-or-later. Free. Commercial hosting (ProWiki, WikiWorks, BlueSpice) adds features/support. - **Notable users:** Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikidata; Fandom (top-50 website by Similarweb); wikiHow; Intellipedia (US intelligence); Diplopedia (US State Dept); NASA; General Electric. (C1 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_testimonials) - **Killer features:** Templates + parser functions; revision history; category/namespace system; Semantic MediaWiki ecosystem; battle-tested at scale; huge extension library. - **Weaknesses:** Wikitext learning curve; upgrade path is punishing (cannot skip more than ~10 versions); feels dated out-of-the-box vs modern wikis; extension quality varies wildly. **Claim — MediaWiki 1.45 released December 2025, not LTS:** - Confidence: **C1** - Sources: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.45 ; https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle - Date checked: 2026-04-14 - Notes: Cross-verified against the August 2025 LTS blog post (https://www.entropywins.wtf/blog/2025/08/20/why-you-should-use-mediawiki-lts-versions/). For production now, 1.43 LTS (supported to Dec 2026) or waiting for 1.47 LTS is recommended. --- ## 2. DokuWiki *(cross-category: flat-file, but full login/ACL)* **Pitch:** The pragmatic PHP wiki with no database — plain text files on disk, but with first-class ACL, LDAP, and plugins. - **Complexity tier:** 2 - **Stack:** PHP + **flat files** (no DB). Files on disk in `data/pages/`. (C1 — https://www.dokuwiki.org/) - **Install:** Extract tarball into webroot → run `install.php`. Docker images from linuxserver.io and official. Easiest "real" wiki install available. - **Auth model:** Built-in local auth (`conf/users.auth.php`); plugins for LDAP, Active Directory, OAuth (Google/GitHub/MS/etc), SAML, HTTP auth. (C1 — https://www.dokuwiki.org/auth) - **Editor UX:** DokuWiki markup (wiki syntax, close to MediaWiki). Toolbar-assisted editor. WYSIWYG via `ckgedit` / `prosemirror` plugins (not default). - **Beauty:** Default "dokuwiki" template (since 2012 "Adora Belle" release) is clean but dated. Template ecosystem active; popular choices: Bootstrap3, Vector (Wikipedia look), Mikio, Sprintdoc. (C1 — https://www.dokuwiki.org/template:dokuwiki) - **Permissions:** **Hierarchical namespace ACLs** with 7 levels: none / read / edit / create / upload / delete / admin. Per-page and per-namespace. Stored in `conf/acl.auth.php`. (C1 — https://www.dokuwiki.org/acl, verified against multiple sources) - **SEO:** Server-rendered HTML. Clean URLs via rewrite config. Sitemap generated automatically. schema.org via plugins. Generally wiki-friendly URLs. - **Maintenance:** Latest stable is **2025-05-14 "Librarian"**; previous was 2024-02-06b "Kaos". Active community-led development, small core team. (C1 — https://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki/releases) - **Scalability:** Filesystem-bound — fine for thousands of pages and modest concurrent edits; not suited to massive high-write load because of flat-file locking. Great for teams up to ~few hundred users. - **License & cost:** GPL-2.0. Free. - **Notable users:** Many corporate intranets; Amazon Web Services public docs historically; official docs sites for numerous open-source projects (e.g., Darktable wiki). - **Killer features:** No DB means backup is just rsync; text files are grep-able and git-able; ACL is genuinely first-class; 1,000+ plugins; runs on cheap shared hosting. - **Weaknesses:** Syntax is yet-another-wiki-markup; no native WYSIWYG; default theme feels old; file-locking hurts at very high concurrency. **Cross-category note:** DokuWiki is the canonical example of a flat-file wiki that nevertheless supports multi-user login, group-based ACL, SSO, and per-page/per-namespace permissions. It belongs in **both** the flat-file-wiki list and this one. --- ## 3. BookStack **Pitch:** A beautiful, opinionated documentation platform with a Shelves → Books → Chapters → Pages structure — the go-to "just works and looks good" wiki for small-to-mid teams. - **Complexity tier:** 2 - **Stack:** PHP 8.2+ on Laravel + MySQL 8+/MariaDB. (C1 — https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack) - **Install:** Official Docker Compose; linuxserver.io Docker image; manual install script. Under an hour end-to-end. (C1 — https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/installation/) - **Auth model:** Local, **LDAP, SAML 2.0, OIDC** (works with Authentik, Keycloak, Azure AD, Okta), social (Google, GitHub, GitLab, Discord, Slack, etc.), **MFA/TOTP**. (C1 — https://kx.cloudingenium.com/en/bookstack-self-hosted-wiki-documentation-knowledge-base/, cross-verified with BookStack docs) - **Editor UX:** WYSIWYG (TinyMCE-based) is default; Markdown editor with live preview is an alternative per-page. **diagrams.net** (draw.io) integration built-in. - **Beauty:** Widely considered the best-looking out-of-box FOSS wiki. Book/shelf metaphor gives a pleasing information architecture. Light & dark mode user-toggleable. Theme system via `APP_THEME` environment variable. (C1 — https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/visual-customisation/) - **Permissions:** Role-based permissions with per-book / per-chapter / per-page override. Public, private, and per-role read/write/create/update/delete. - **SEO:** Server-rendered. Clean URLs. Basic sitemap. Audit trails for integrity. - **Maintenance:** Very active. 5 feature + 18 patch releases in 2025; **v26.03.1** security release March 2026. Led by Dan Brown (solo maintainer of core). (C1 — https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/, cross-verified https://www.bookstackapp.com/tags/releases/) - **Scalability:** Teams from single-person to low thousands of users; not designed for Wikipedia-scale. - **License & cost:** **MIT** (very permissive). Free. - **Notable users:** Many self-hosted docs for open-source projects; corporate intranets; home-lab communities. ~18k GitHub stars as of 2026. (C2) - **Killer features:** Clean aesthetics; intuitive hierarchy; strong auth/SSO story; draw.io built in; revision history; REST API; genuinely "install and use" experience. - **Weaknesses:** Forced Shelves/Books/Chapters metaphor is constraining for some use cases; single-maintainer bus factor risk; no real-time collaborative editing; search is basic (optionally Meilisearch/Typesense via third-party). --- ## 4. Wiki.js **Pitch:** The modern Node.js wiki — slick UI, Markdown + visual editors, plug-and-play auth providers. - **Complexity tier:** 3 - **Stack (2.x current stable):** Node.js 20/22/24 + PostgreSQL (preferred), MySQL, MariaDB, MSSQL, or SQLite. **3.0 will be PostgreSQL-only.** (C1 — https://docs.requarks.io/install/requirements, https://beta.js.wiki/blog/2021-wiki-js-3-going-full-postgresql) - **Install:** Official Docker image; manual install also straightforward; Snap/Cloudron/Helm options. Setup wizard on first run. - **Auth model:** Local + **LDAP/AD, SAML, CAS, Auth0, Okta, Azure AD, generic OAuth2, OpenID Connect**, plus GitHub/Google/Slack/Discord/Facebook/Twitter. **2FA supported on many strategies.** (C1 — https://docs.requarks.io/auth/ldap) - **Editor UX:** Multiple per-page editor modes — Markdown, WYSIWYG (visual), AsciiDoc, Code. Mermaid diagrams, KaTeX math, syntax-highlighted code. - **Beauty:** Modern Material-Design-inspired UI; light/dark theme; highly regarded aesthetically. Theme customization via admin UI + custom CSS/HTML injection. (C2) - **Permissions:** Group-based ACLs; per-page-path regex rules; fine-grained read/write/manage. - **SEO:** Server-rendered (Vue SSR). Sitemaps. Meta tags per page. Schema.org basic. - **Maintenance (caveat!):** **2.x current stable = 2.5.308 (2025-08-13)**. **3.0 still in unstable beta** — project explicitly warns "should NOT be installed in production" as of early 2026. Development pace on 2.x has slowed; 3.0 rewrite has been "almost done" for ~3 years. (C1 — https://docs.requarks.io/releases/2p5, https://beta.js.wiki/docs/requirements) - **Scalability:** Team to ~thousands of pages fine; Node + Postgres scales reasonably. - **License & cost:** AGPL-3.0. Free. Commercial sponsorship funds development. - **Notable users:** Many homelab/self-host communities; mid-sized company docs. - **Killer features:** Auth provider breadth; editor flexibility per-page; nice built-in search; asset management. - **Weaknesses:** **3.0 vaporware risk** is the big one — committing to Wiki.js in 2026 means either staying on 2.x (maintained but feature-frozen) or betting on a beta. Heavy memory footprint vs PHP equivalents. **Claim — Wiki.js 3.0 is still beta in April 2026, not recommended for production:** - Confidence: **C1** - Sources: https://beta.js.wiki/docs/requirements ; project's own beta banner - Date checked: 2026-04-14 - Notes: This is a material risk for anyone evaluating Wiki.js new in 2026 — consider BookStack or Docmost instead if modern UI is the driver. --- ## 5. XWiki **Pitch:** The Java enterprise wiki — a true "structured wiki" with scripting, forms, and applications layered on top of pages. - **Complexity tier:** 5 - **Stack:** Java 21 (Java 25 targeted for 18.x) + Hibernate ORM + MySQL / PostgreSQL / Oracle / MSSQL / H2. (C1 — https://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Community/SupportStrategy/JavaSupportStrategy/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XWiki) - **Install:** WAR deployment into Tomcat/Jetty; **official Docker image** on Docker Hub is the easier path. Memory-hungry. - **Auth model:** Local; LDAP/AD; OIDC; SSO; SCIM (Enterprise); SAML (via extension). - **Editor UX:** WYSIWYG default (CKEditor-based); wiki syntax 2.1; Groovy/Velocity/Python scripting inside pages; real-time collaborative editing. (C1/C2) - **Beauty:** "Flamingo" default skin is acceptable; more corporate-looking than BookStack/Outline. Skinnable via sub-wikis. - **Permissions:** Highly granular — farm-level, wiki-level, space-level, page-level rights; view/edit/comment/delete/admin/script/programming. Probably the most sophisticated permission model in this list. - **SEO:** Server-rendered. Sitemap extension. Clean URLs. - **Maintenance:** Extremely active. **XWiki 18.x is the 2026 line; 18.2.1 current as of early 2026.** Driven by XWiki SAS (French company). Monthly releases; annual LTS. (C1/C2) - **Scalability:** Built for enterprise — multi-wiki (farm), clustering, horizontal scale. CERN, Amazon SDE teams, French government use cases. - **License & cost:** LGPL-2.1 core. Free. XWiki SAS sells hosting + support + Pro applications. - **Notable users:** **CERN** (webservices/xwiki-cern on gitlab.cern.ch, using OIDC); French government (Ministry of Armed Forces); Airbus; Amadeus; European Space Agency reported. (C1 for CERN — https://gitlab.cern.ch/webservices/xwiki-cern; C2 for others via XWiki testimonials page) - **Killer features:** Structured content (classes, objects, properties on pages — basically a forms/DB layer inside a wiki); scripting; wiki-of-wikis; real-time collaboration; strong enterprise features. - **Weaknesses:** Java memory footprint (1–4 GB minimum); steeper learning curve; smaller extension community than MediaWiki; "can do anything → hard to decide how" problem for new admins. --- ## 6. Outline **Pitch:** The gorgeous modern team knowledge base — Notion aesthetics, self-hostable, BUT licensed BSL not "true" open source. - **Complexity tier:** 3 - **Stack:** Node.js + PostgreSQL + Redis. (C1 — https://github.com/outline/outline) - **Install:** Docker Compose; Railway one-click; manual on any VPS with Node/PG/Redis. (C1 — https://railway.com/deploy/outline) - **Auth model:** Local + Google, Slack, Microsoft/Azure, generic OIDC. SSO-first design. - **Editor UX:** Block-based WYSIWYG built on ProseMirror (formerly Slate). Real-time collaborative editing. Markdown export/import. - **Beauty:** Among the best-looking FOSS wikis — sidebar + document flow similar to Notion. Light/dark. (C2) - **Permissions:** Collections + nested documents; per-collection view/edit/admin; share links with granular access. - **SEO:** Client-heavy rendering; sitemap + SSR for public-shared docs. Not ideal for public-facing SEO-heavy sites. - **Maintenance:** Very active. Commercial company (getoutline.com) + self-host option. - **Scalability:** Teams up to thousands of users; real-time collab is a selling point. - **License & cost (important caveat):** **Business Source License 1.1 — NOT OSI-approved open source.** Self-hosting is permitted for internal use; offering Outline as a hosted service to others is restricted. Each release starts its own BSL clock before converting to a permissive license. Cloud hosting from ~$10/user/month. (C1 — https://github.com/outline/outline license; https://fossa.com/blog/business-source-license-requirements-provisions-history/) - **Notable users:** Many startups; Airtable internal, Segment, several YC-backed companies (self-reported in GitHub issues/testimonials, C3). - **Killer features:** UX/UI polish; real-time collab; slash commands; strong search; API. - **Weaknesses:** BSL license blocks use at organizations with OSI-only procurement policies (many governments, some enterprises); heavier infra (Node + PG + Redis + S3-compatible storage); smaller extension ecosystem than MediaWiki/XWiki. **Claim — Outline is BSL 1.1, not open source by OSI definition:** - Confidence: **C1** - Sources: Outline LICENSE file on GitHub; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Source_License - Date checked: 2026-04-14 - Notes: Frequently mis-described as "open source" in blog posts — actually "source available". --- ## 7. Confluence (Atlassian) — *reference point, proprietary* **Pitch:** The incumbent enterprise wiki — proprietary, increasingly cloud-only, included here because competitors benchmark against it. - **Complexity tier:** 4 (DC self-host); 1 (Cloud) - **Stack:** Java + PostgreSQL / MySQL / Oracle / MSSQL. Data Center edition clustered. - **Install (Data Center):** Installer or Docker; requires license key. - **Auth:** LDAP/AD, Crowd, SAML, Google/Microsoft SSO, SCIM. - **Editor UX:** Block-based WYSIWYG; templates; macros; table-of-contents; Jira integration is the real killer feature in Atlassian ecosystems. - **Beauty:** Polished corporate aesthetic; dated vs Notion but consistent. - **Permissions:** Space-level + page-level restrictions; group-based; very granular. - **SEO:** Typically behind auth, not SEO-relevant. - **Maintenance & lifecycle (critical):** - New Data Center licenses cannot be purchased after **2026-03-30**. - Data Center becomes **read-only with no support** after **2029-03-28**. - Price increases took effect **2026-02-17**: +15% standard list, +18–40% legacy advantaged pricing. - (C1 — https://www.atlassian.com/licensing/confluence, https://www.onpointserv.com/post/atlassian-data-center-price-changes-effective-february-2026-what-you-need-to-know, cross-verified with https://www.featurebase.app/blog/confluence-pricing) - **Scalability:** Enterprise-proven, Data Center clustering. - **License & cost:** Proprietary. DC pricing ~$28,000/year for 500 users baseline; Cloud from ~$6.40/user/month Standard (2026). (C1 — https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing) - **Notable users:** Huge enterprise footprint — Fortune 500, government, etc. - **Weaknesses (2026 lens):** DC is end-of-life path; Cloud is the only forward; ecosystem uncertainty is pushing migrations to Docmost/BookStack/Outline. **Do not start new Confluence self-host projects in 2026.** --- ## 8. TWiki / Foswiki **Pitch:** The old-school Perl enterprise wiki; Foswiki is the 2008 community fork that's kept more current. - **Complexity tier:** 4 - **Stack:** Perl + Apache/Nginx/lighttpd + flat files (Foswiki 2.x has new plain file store; older RCS store still supported). (C1 — https://foswiki.org/System/ReleaseNotes02x00, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foswiki) - **Install:** Manual CPAN-heavy install, or Debian packages. Not beginner-friendly. - **Auth:** Local; LDAP; SSO via extensions; Kerberos; client certs (Foswiki has pluggable access controls in 2.x). - **Editor UX:** TML (TWiki/Topic Markup Language) + **NatEdit/WYSIWYG** (Foswiki 2.x). TWiki ships TinyMCE. - **Beauty:** Dated. PatternSkin is the default; looks like 2005. - **Permissions:** Web (space)-level and topic-level ALLOWTOPICVIEW / DENYTOPICCHANGE etc. Per-user and per-group. - **SEO:** Server-rendered; sitemap via extensions; URLs reasonably clean. - **Maintenance:** Foswiki 2.1.x has been the line for years; very slow release cadence. TWiki itself has minor security releases but is largely a reference implementation — Foswiki is where development lives. - **Scalability:** Used historically at large telcos, defense contractors — scales vertically. - **License & cost:** GPL-2.0+. Free. - **Notable users:** Motorola, Disney, Yahoo historically; many corporate intranets that never migrated off. - **Killer features:** Structured variables / forms inside topics (TWiki pioneered this before XWiki); Perl extensibility; mature access controls; TWiki-compatibility plugin lets Foswiki run most TWiki plugins. - **Weaknesses:** Perl talent scarcity in 2026; UI dated; not a sensible choice for a greenfield deployment. --- ## 9. PmWiki **Pitch:** The low-ceremony PHP flat-file wiki; small codebase, custom author has been maintaining it for 20+ years. - **Complexity tier:** 2 - **Stack:** PHP + flat files (one file per page, revision history inside the file). (C1 — https://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/ReleaseNotes) - **Install:** Untar → done. One of the simplest installs. - **Auth:** Password groups (per-page / per-group / admin); LDAP and OAuth via recipes. - **Editor UX:** PmWiki markup; no native WYSIWYG. - **Beauty:** Minimal default skin; skin ecosystem small but functional. - **Permissions:** Read/edit/attr/admin passwords per page or group. - **SEO:** Clean URLs; server-rendered. - **Maintenance:** Solo-maintained by Patrick Michaud et al. **Version 2.5.5 released 2026-01-06; includes PHP 8.5 compatibility.** Active but low-volume. (C1 — https://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/ChangeLog) - **Scalability:** Personal/small group; not designed for mass concurrency. - **License & cost:** GPL-2.0. Free. - **Notable users:** Small academic, hobbyist, and community sites. - **Killer features:** Trivial install; 20-year stability; excellent "recipes" (plugin) system; per-group storage; works on ancient shared hosting. - **Weaknesses:** No modern WYSIWYG; community shrinking; markup is PmWiki-specific. --- ## 10. Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware **Pitch:** The kitchen-sink wiki — wiki + forums + blogs + CRM + trackers (mini-apps) + calendar + file gallery in one PHP app. - **Complexity tier:** 5 (by feature surface, though install is scripted) - **Stack:** PHP 8.1–8.4 + MariaDB 10.5+ / MySQL 8+. Node.js now required for build system since Tiki 27. (C1 — https://doc.tiki.org/Tiki27) - **Install:** `setup.sh` script; Docker; Softaculous one-click on shared hosting. - **Auth:** Local; LDAP; OpenID; SAML (via optional plugin); Facebook/Google. - **Editor UX:** Wiki syntax + WYSIWYG; FCKeditor/CKEditor; over 1,000 configurable preferences. - **Beauty:** Bootstrap 5 base; default theme is clean-ish; many included themes; very configurable but UX can feel cluttered because of the feature breadth. - **Permissions:** Probably the most configurable in this list — per-category, per-object, per-group, per-user; object-level ACLs. - **SEO:** Server-rendered; sitemap built-in; meta tags. - **Maintenance:** **Tiki 27.0 LTS** released 2024-07-01, supported until July 2029. Active community; quarterly releases. (C1 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki_Wiki_CMS_Groupware, https://doc.tiki.org/Tiki27) - **Scalability:** Teams to moderately large deployments. - **License & cost:** LGPL-2.1. Free. - **Notable users:** Association of the US Army; French Red Cross; various NGOs that need integrated tooling. - **Killer features:** Groupware breadth (no plugins needed for trackers/forums/calendar); LTS policy; i18n. - **Weaknesses:** Feature sprawl is overwhelming; configuration complexity; performance can lag on shared hosting with many features enabled. --- ## 11. MoinMoin (and Moin 2) **Pitch:** The Python wiki that powered debian.org, python.org, and ubuntu.wiki historically; Moin 2 has been under development for ~12 years. - **Stack:** MoinMoin 1.9 = Python 2 + flat files (EOL Python 2 makes it security-risky). Moin 2 = Python 3 + flat/DB storage. - **Status 2026:** **Moin 2 is still beta.** Latest dev is 2.0.0b4 (early 2026) with active commits — e.g., support for Python 3.13 and 3.14 added in 2025. Still explicitly "not suitable for a production wiki". (C1 — https://moin-20.readthedocs.io/en/latest/admin/changes.html, https://github.com/moinwiki/moin) - **Notable 2025 event:** **Ubuntu retired its ~20-year MoinMoin wiki**, citing the 1.9 → 2.0 transition never materializing. (C2 — https://www.pudn.club/linux/ubuntu-retires-its-20-year-wiki-why-moinmoin-is-finally-being-replaced/) - **License:** GPL-2.0. - **Recommendation:** Do not start new deployments in 2026. Existing MoinMoin 1.9 sites should be planning migration (to MediaWiki, BookStack, or DokuWiki). --- ## 12. WikkaWiki **Pitch:** A once-light PHP wiki, a fork of WakkaWiki; now end-of-life. - **Status:** **EOL declared August 2021 with version 1.4.2.** (C1 — https://github.com/bakoontz/WikkaWiki) - **Recommendation:** Do not deploy. Historical/legacy only. --- ## 13. PhpWiki **Pitch:** One of the earliest PHP wikis (mid-1999); now effectively abandoned. - **Stack:** PHP + MySQL/PostgreSQL/flat files. - **Status:** Last SourceForge releases years ago; no significant modern activity. 2014 commentary already framed it as obsolete due to PHP version churn. (C2/C3 — https://schestowitz.com/Weblog/archives/2014/05/31/phpwiki-is-obsolete-and-php-is-to-blame/) - **Recommendation:** Historical/comparison only. --- ## 14. Kiwix — *offline reader, tangential* **Pitch:** Not a wiki engine but the canonical reader for offline ZIM archives of Wikipedia and other corpora. - **Stack:** C++ / JavaScript reader (desktop, Android, iOS, browser extension, kiwix-serve for LAN sharing). - **Role:** Consumes **ZIM files** (compressed web archives). Pairs with `mwoffliner` / `zimit` to snapshot a MediaWiki-powered wiki for offline distribution. - **Use case in a self-hosted wiki stack:** Export a running MediaWiki/DokuWiki to a ZIM and host via `kiwix-serve` for offline/air-gapped clients. Powers Internet-in-a-Box, Ideas Box (NGO deployments). - **Current in 2026:** Android 15 support added; hotspot/LAN sharing baked in; active releases. (C1 — https://kiwix.org/en/) - **License:** GPL-3.0. - **Relevance:** Not a login/multi-user wiki itself — include for disaster-recovery / offline strategy conversations only. --- ## 15. Trilium Notes (server mode) **Pitch:** Hierarchical personal knowledge base with a tree of notes, cloning, scripting — with a self-hostable sync server. - **Complexity tier:** 2 - **Stack:** Node.js + SQLite (server and client share the DB). (C1 — https://docs.triliumnotes.org/) - **Install:** Docker image most common; `docker run` with volume for data. Desktop apps for Win/Mac/Linux sync to the server. - **Auth model:** Single-user design; sync requires shared password/token. Multi-user NOT first-class — this is a personal KB first. - **Editor UX:** CKEditor-based WYSIWYG; code notes (Monaco); canvas notes; relation maps; scripting notes (JavaScript execution inside a note). - **Beauty:** Functional, tree-first UI; not a design showcase but usable. - **Permissions:** Per-note encryption (client-side). No granular multi-user ACL. - **SEO:** Not designed for public publishing (shared-notes feature exists but basic). - **Maintenance — important history:** Original Trilium entered **maintenance mode January 2024**. Community **TriliumNext** fork started early 2024, actively developed. The original maintainer transferred the name back in 2025 and TriliumNext Notes is becoming Trilium Notes (repo: `TriliumNext/Notes` → `TriliumNext/Trilium`). Current stable: v0.9x.x / 5.1.x line in 2026. (C1 — https://github.com/TriliumNext/Notes; https://github.com/orgs/TriliumNext/discussions/5867; https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/issues/4620) - **Scalability:** Personal / small-team (a few clients syncing to one server). - **License & cost:** AGPL-3.0. Free. - **Killer features:** Note cloning (one note in many hierarchies); scripting; tree navigation; relation maps; per-note encryption. - **Weaknesses:** Not a team wiki — do not pick if you need per-user ACL; desktop + server model is unusual and can confuse new users. --- ## 16. Newer Challengers — Docmost, AppFlowy, AFFiNE ### 16a. Docmost - **Pitch:** The "Notion/Confluence alternative" that's actually simple to self-host for teams. - **Stack:** Node.js (NestJS) + PostgreSQL + Redis. (C1 — https://github.com/docmost/docmost) - **Install:** Official `docker-compose.yml`. Genuinely one of the easier modern stacks to stand up. - **Auth:** Local in CE; **SSO (SAML/OIDC), LDAP, MFA/TOTP are Enterprise Edition**. - **Editor UX:** Tiptap/Prosemirror block-based WYSIWYG; real-time collaborative editing; Mermaid, draw.io built in; LaTeX/math; callouts; inline comments. - **Beauty:** Very modern — closest OSS analogue to Notion in 2026. - **Permissions:** Spaces; nested pages; per-space roles. EE adds comment resolution + granular public sharing controls. - **SEO:** Modern SPA; SSR for public share; sitemap basic. - **Maintenance:** Very active. **v0.70.3 released 2026-03-17; latest commit 2026-03-30. ~19.6k stars / 1.2k forks.** (C1 — https://github.com/docmost/docmost, search result 2026-04) - **License & cost:** **AGPL-3.0 core + commercial Enterprise Edition** (SSO, LDAP, AI features, importers). Dual-license pattern. - **Killer features:** Nearest thing to open-source Notion in 2026; air-gapped capable; real-time collab; Confluence/DOCX importer (EE). - **Weaknesses:** Young (first stable releases 2024); EE gate on SSO is a blocker for some enterprises; ecosystem/plugin story minimal vs MediaWiki. ### 16b. AppFlowy - **Pitch:** Rust/Flutter-based Notion-alternative; offline-first desktop app with optional self-hosted cloud sync. - **Stack:** Flutter (desktop/mobile client) + Rust core + AppFlowy Cloud (Docker Compose: Postgres, Redis, GoTrue auth, MinIO). Client local SQLite. - **Install:** `docker compose up` for AppFlowy Cloud; desktop/mobile apps point at your instance. (C2 — https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy) - **Auth:** GoTrue (Supabase auth): local + OAuth providers. - **Editor UX:** Block editor; multi-view databases (Grid, Kanban, Calendar); AI features (can plug into local Ollama). (C1) - **License & cost:** AGPL-3.0. - **Scalability:** Small to mid-team; mobile/sync maturity still gaps. - **Killer features:** Local-first; local AI with Ollama; closest Notion feature parity in Rust ecosystem. - **Weaknesses:** Real-time multi-user editing still maturing (2026); mobile sync reliability issues reported; heavy first-load for large DBs. ### 16c. AFFiNE - **Pitch:** Docs + whiteboard hybrid — single block database under a canvas (Edgeless) view and a doc view. - **Stack:** TypeScript (Node/Next) + Rust + PostgreSQL. BlockSuite editor framework. - **Install:** Docker. (C2 — https://affine.pro/) - **Auth:** Local + OAuth. - **License & cost:** **MIT** for Community Edition. Cloud service is separate. - **Editor UX:** Block editor that can flip into infinite-canvas whiteboard ("Edgeless" mode) — unique in this category. - **Killer features:** Doc + whiteboard unification; MIT license (permissive); modern UX. - **Weaknesses:** Young; SSO/enterprise story immature; smaller community than Docmost/AppFlowy. --- ## Verification Notes & Cross-Checks 1. **MediaWiki 1.45 vs 1.42 EOL** — Cross-verified against https://endoflife.date/mediawiki (C1), https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle (C1), and the WMF announce list (https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/mediawiki-announce@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/TVI3VMUX3LEK554OKQSOZOET7HCVRZFZ/). Consistent across three sources. 2. **DokuWiki "Librarian" 2025-05-14** — Cross-verified against GitHub releases page and dokuwiki.org/changes. (C1) 3. **Confluence Data Center end dates (2026-03-30 new sales, 2029-03-28 read-only)** — Cross-verified Atlassian licensing page + OnPoint analysis + Featurebase + Tekpon (C1 across 4 sources). 4. **Outline BSL license** — Verified via Outline GitHub LICENSE file; BSL 1.1 is correctly characterized as source-available, not OSI open-source. (C1) 5. **Wiki.js 3.0 beta status** — Confirmed via project's own beta docs domain (beta.js.wiki) explicitly warning against production use. (C1) 6. **Trilium → TriliumNext transition** — Confirmed via GitHub org discussions and issue #4620 on the original repo. (C1) --- ## C5 Unknowns / Gaps - **Exact GitHub star counts in April 2026** for most projects were not directly retrieved (API not called). Figures like "BookStack ~18k stars" and "Docmost ~19.6k stars" come from blog snapshots dated 2026-03 and should be treated as **C2** approximations. Failed specific search: exact "April 2026 GitHub stats" for each tool. - **XWiki user list beyond CERN** — third-party reviews mention Airbus, Amadeus, ESA, French MoD but I could not independently confirm each. **C3** on those. - **Foswiki current "latest release version" in 2026** — release cadence so slow that 2.1.x may still be current; release notes page for 2.1 is the most recent substantive changelog found. Did not locate a definitive 2026 release announcement. **C3.** - **TWiki release status 2025–2026** — minor security updates appear to continue but the project is near-dormant; no clear 2026 release found. **C3.** - **PhpWiki current state** — last concrete evidence is 2014 obsolescence commentary; assume dead but did not retrieve a 2026 dated source to prove continued inactivity. **C3.** --- *Prepared 2026-04-14 per `/workspace/RESEARCH-BEST-PRACTICES.md`. All URLs embedded above; confidence tiers annotated inline.*