I have been using Google Docs to hold ideas, documentation, and random thoughts on projects. It works okay, allows searching of content, and is available everywhere on everything. But, I’ve been wanting to reduce my dependence on Big Internet companies and like the idea of self-hosting the services I use. So I looked for a personal wiki I could install in my hosting account. My wishlist:
- Stores pages as plain text files, no database
- Can use Markdown (even though I’m not fluent at this point, it seems to be everywhere)
- WYSIWYG editor or easy preview
- Nice looking template/theme – most Wikis are stuck in the past design-wise
- Plugins to add functionality as I develop a need for it
- Cheap or free (both ways)
- Actively maintained
I browsed https://www.wikimatrix.org for suggestions. Also checked out the Awesome Self-hosted list. Some standard Wiki choices are:
- BookStack – Looks nice, uses MySQL database, support for diagrams.net; shared hosting not officially supported
- Instructions for Laraval and Composer install on NameCheap – most of the work for BookStack
- DokuWiki – Text files, plugin for Markdown, one nice looking theme, WYSIWYG editors don’t work?
- FOSWiki – Perl, forked from TWiki, good WYSIWYG editor, “structured” but flat file
- MediaWiki – Complex, uses database, can have nice themes
- MoinMoin – written in Python (good) 2.x (bad), install is complex and needs root and apache
- PhpWiki – pages in a database, didn’t see themes
- PmWiki – text files, skins looked old-fashioned but some are okay, no good WYSIWYG
- TiddlyWiki – Works with a single local file rather than server
- TWiki – Written in Perl, pretty complex system and setup – “Structured” wiki
- Wiki.js – No themes, uses Node.js and database (despite what WikiMatrix says)
- WikkaWiki – One-click Softaculous installer at my webhost but project has shut down
PmWiki and DokuWiki fit the wishlist but I gave a slight edge to DokuWiki. NameCheap.com had a one-click installer for it so it was easy to get started. Seems okay even though I would like to tweak the theme to make it denser and rearrange the menu elements a bit.
Other Options
If I am willing to relax some of my constraints there are other options:
- OneNote – Uses OneDrive, webpage clipping, pen support, on PC and mobile, sync is slow and buggy
- EverNote – Free version only syncs two devices
- Zoho Wiki – Free version 3 users but only 50MB so no images
- Obsidian – PC and mobile app, uses local .md files but can sync with Google Drive/Dropbox etc.
- Need a Google Drive sync app to make mobile work
- YouNeedAWiki – Organizes Google Drive files as wiki, must unblock in Privacy Badger, no text search in free
- Linking to other wiki pages and editing flow is a bit awkward