Self-hosted alternatives to GitBook
Want documentation and knowledge bases without handing your data to GitBook? These 30 self-hosted apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
About GitBook: Documentation and knowledge-base platform.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SiYuan | Active | 47.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Outline | Active | 41.2k | BUSL-1.1 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Wiki.js | Active | 29.2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| docmost Community Edition | Active | 22.2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Docs | Active | 17k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| TiddlyWiki | Active | 8.7k | BSD-3-Clause | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Dokuwiki | Active | 4.7k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| NoteDiscovery | Active | 2.9k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Gitit | Active | 2.3k | GPL-2.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Zim | Active | 2.2k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| django-wiki | Active | 1.9k | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Atomic Server | Active | 1.6k | MIT | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Otter Wiki | Active | 1.6k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| XWiki | Active | 1.3k | LGPL-2.1 | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| LeafWiki | Active | 1.2k | MIT | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Wiki-Go | Active | 625 | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Raneto | Maintained | 2.9k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WikiDocs | Active | 533 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Documize | Maintained | 2.4k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| BookStack | Active | 311 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| AmuseWiki | Active | 221 | GPL-1.0 | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Tiki | Active | 86 | LGPL-2.1 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| LibreKB | Active | 63 | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| W | Active | 57 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WackoWiki | Active | 55 | BSD-3-Clause | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Feather Wiki | Maintained | 96 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Digimindmap | Active | 3 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| memEx | Active | 2 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Mediawiki | Unknown | – | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| PmWiki | Unknown | – | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. SiYuan
Privacy-first personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.
Active Last commit 2026-10-29. Latest release v3.8.10-alpha.5 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
2. Outline
Extensible wiki for your team.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v1.12.0 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Wiki.js
Modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app using Git and Markdown.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release 3.0.2 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. docmost Community Edition
Collaborative wiki and documentation software (alternative to Confluence, Notion).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v0.97.0 (2026-10-25). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Docs
Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v6.0.4 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. TiddlyWiki
Reusable non-linear personal web notebook.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v5.4.1 (2026-07-10). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. Dokuwiki
Easy to use, lightweight, standards-compliant wiki engine with a simple syntax allowing reading the data outside the wiki. All data is stored in plain text files, therefore no database is required.
Active Last commit 2026-09-29. 4 releases in the past year. Latest release release-2026-07-14c (2026-09-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. NoteDiscovery
Markdown note-taking app with plain-file storage, graph view, and MCP integration (alternative to Obsidian, Notion).
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v0.34.0 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. Gitit
Wiki program that stores pages and uploaded files in a git repository, which can then be modified using the VCS command line tools or the wiki's web interface.
Active Last commit 2026-10-25. Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
10. Zim
Graphical text editor used to maintain a collection of wiki pages. Each page can contain links to other pages, simple formatting and images.
Active Last commit 2026-10-24. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. django-wiki
Wiki system with complex functionality for simple integration and a superb interface. Store your knowledge with style: Use django models.
Active Last commit 2026-10-16. 1 release in the past year. Latest release releases/0.13 (2026-07-31). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. Atomic Server
Knowledge graph database with documents (similar to Notion), tables, search, and a powerful linked data API. Lightweight, very fast and no runtime dependencies.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v0.41.0-beta.8 (2026-10-15). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
13. Otter Wiki
Simple, easy to use wiki software using markdown.
Active Last commit 2026-11-01. Latest release v2.26.2 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. XWiki
Second generation wiki that allows the user to extend its functionalities with a powerful extension-based architecture.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release xwiki-platform-18.4.8 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. LeafWiki
Fast wiki for people who think in folders, not feeds. Fast editing. Tree navigation. Markdown on disk.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v0.14.2 (2026-10-22). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
16. Wiki-Go
Modern, feature-rich, databaseless flat-file wiki platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v1.9.2 (2026-09-22). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
17. Raneto
Knowledgebase platform that uses static Markdown files.
Maintained Last commit 2026-03-18. Latest release 0.18.1 (2026-03-11). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. WikiDocs
Databaseless markdown flat-file wiki engine.
Active Last commit 2026-10-25. Latest release 2.0.2 (2026-10-25). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
19. Documize
Modern Docs + Wiki software with built-in workflow, single binary executable, just bring MySQL/Percona.
Maintained Last commit 2026-05-18. Latest release v5.14.0 (2025-09-19). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM incl. mysql. How to run it →
20. BookStack
Organize and store information. Stores documentation in a book like fashion.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. 32 releases in the past year. Latest release v26.09.2 (2026-10-20). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. AmuseWiki
Amusewiki is based on the Emacs Muse markup, remaining mostly compatible with the original implementation. It can work as a read-only site, as a moderated wiki, or as a fully open wiki or even as a private site.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
22. Tiki
Wiki CMS Groupware with the most built-in features.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
23. LibreKB
Web-based knowledge base solution. A simple web app, it runs on pretty much any web server or hosting provider with PHP and MySQL.
Active Last commit 2026-10-30. Latest release v2.3.3 (2026-10-30). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM incl. mysql. How to run it →
24. W
Lightweight, mutli-user, flat-file-database Wiki engine. Create pages quickly and edit them in your Web browser using Mardown/HTML/CSS/JS. The main difference with other wiki is that you are encouraged to customize each page style individually.
Active Last commit 2026-10-26. Latest release v3.19.0 (2026-10-06). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
25. WackoWiki
Light and easy to install multilingual Wiki-engine.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release 6.3.0 (2026-07-18). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
26. Feather Wiki
Lightning fast and infinitely extensible tool for creating personal non-linear notebooks, databases, and wikis that is entirely self-contained, runs in your browser, and is only 58 kilobytes in size.
Maintained Last commit 2026-08-02. 2 releases in the past year. Latest release 1.9.1 (2026-07-20). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
27. Digimindmap
Create simple mindmaps (documentation in French).
Active Last commit 2026-10-15. 10 releases in the past year. Latest release 0.8.3 (2026-10-13). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. memEx
Structured personal knowledge base, inspired by zettlekasten and org-mode.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Mediawiki
Wiki software package that powers Wikipedia and all other Wikimedia projects, serving hundreds of millions of users each month.
Unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. PmWiki
Wiki-based system for collaborative creation and maintenance of websites.
Unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of GitBook?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
GitBook is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.