Confluence vs Dokuwiki
DokuWiki is the narrower choice: a GPL-2.0, self-hostable PHP wiki for teams primarily maintaining straightforward knowledge pages. Choose it when operating an open-source wiki on your own infrastructure matters more than Confluence’s broader workspace. Choose Confluence when live documents, whiteboards, databases, AI assistance, content transformation, work tracking, or its connected-app ecosystem are required.
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Dokuwiki if
- Teams seeking a self-hosted, open-source wiki for internal documentation
- Organizations able to deploy and maintain a PHP application
- Workflows centered on durable knowledge pages rather than multiple collaborative content types
Stay with Confluence if
- Live-document collaboration is required; the supplied DokuWiki material does not document it
- Whiteboards or structured databases are required; no DokuWiki coverage is supplied
- AI drafting, summaries, or connected-source answers are required; no DokuWiki coverage is supplied hands-on or otherwise in the evidence provided by sources or repository facts alone beyond its wiki engine classification
Deployment and operations
DokuWiki is self-hostable, written primarily in PHP, and licensed under GPL-2.0. Its README directs administrators to external installation instructions. The supplied facts do not document Docker or Kubernetes support, and the excerpts provide no concrete upgrade or maintenance procedure.
Feature fit
What Dokuwiki covers
- Wiki-style knowledge publishing
- Team documentation
What’s different or missing
- No documented live documents
- No documented AI drafting or summaries
- No documented whiteboards
- No documented structured databases
- No documented content-to-slide or chart transformation
- No documented work tracking or named integrations
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 4,699
- Contributors
- 1,261
- Language
- PHP
- Last commit
- Aug 11, 2026
- Latest release
- Aug 11, 2026
Categories: Document Collaboration, Knowledge Management, Digital Whiteboards
Sources and editorial review6 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
The DokuWiki Open Source Wiki Engine
repository description · github.comFor Installation Instructions see https://www.dokuwiki.org/install
readme · github.comDokuWiki - 2004-2026 (c) Andreas Gohr and the DokuWiki Community
readme · github.comThe DokuWiki Open Source Wiki Engine
verdict · github.comFor Installation Instructions see https://www.dokuwiki.org/install
deployment · github.comThe DokuWiki Open Source Wiki Engine
shared feature · github.com
