DokuWiki icon

DokuWiki

DokuWiki is a popular open-source wiki software designed for simplicity, versatility, and scalability. It focuses on plain text files for data storage, eliminating the need for a database and offering a lightweight, portable, and easy-to-maintain solution for documentation, knowledge sharing, and collaborative content creation.

License: Open Source
Available for:
Self-Hosted Cloudron

About DokuWiki

DokuWiki stands out as a powerful yet exceptionally simple wiki engine. Unlike many alternatives that rely on complex database backends, DokuWiki stores all of its content and configuration in plain text files. This fundamental design choice offers significant advantages:

  • Ease of Installation and Maintenance: Setting up DokuWiki is remarkably simple, often just requiring uploading files to a web server. Updates are also straightforward, making it ideal for users or organizations without extensive technical expertise.
  • Portability and Backup: Because all data is in text files, migrating a DokuWiki instance is as simple as copying files. Backups are equally effortless, providing peace of mind.
  • Version Control: DokuWiki includes robust built-in revision control. Every change to a page is stored, allowing users to easily revert to previous versions and track the history of content modifications.
  • Powerful Syntax: While using plain text, DokuWiki employs a rich markup syntax that is easy to learn but powerful enough to create complex page layouts, tables, lists, and include multimedia.
  • Extensibility: A vast repository of plugins and templates allows users to extend DokuWiki's functionality and customize its appearance. This makes it adaptable to a wide range of use cases, from personal notes to large corporate intranets.
  • User Management and Access Control: DokuWiki offers flexible user management, allowing for group-based permissions and access control lists (ACLs) to manage who can read, edit, and create content on different parts of the wiki.
  • Search Functionality: A fast and efficient built-in search engine makes it easy to find information within the wiki, even in large installations.

DokuWiki is a versatile tool suitable for various applications, including creating corporate documentation, building knowledge bases, managing project notes, collaborative brainstorming, and even as a simple personal wiki.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Easy to install and maintain due to plain text storage.
  • No database required, reducing complexity.
  • Excellent revision control features.
  • Highly extensible through plugins and templates.
  • Strong community support and comprehensive documentation.
  • Efficient built-in search functionality.

Cons

  • Plain text editing may require a learning curve for some users.
  • Interface is functional but less visually modern than some alternatives.
  • Does not include advanced integrated collaboration tools found in some platforms.

What Makes DokuWiki Stand Out

No Database Required

Simplifies installation, backup, and maintenance by storing all data in plain text files.

Exceptional Simplicity

Designed with ease of use in mind for both administrators and end-users.

Highly Versatile

Adaptable to a wide range of use cases through its extensive plugin and templating system.

What can DokuWiki do?

Review

DokuWiki Review

DokuWiki is a compelling wiki engine that distinguishes itself with its elegant simplicity and reliance on plain text files. This fundamental design choice offers a refreshing alternative to database-driven wiki solutions, presenting several key advantages for users seeking a straightforward yet robust platform for documentation and collaboration.

Installation and Setup

One of DokuWiki's most significant strengths is its ease of installation. Unlike wikis that require configuring and managing a separate database, DokuWiki can often be up and running by simply uploading the distribution files to a web server with PHP support. This low barrier to entry makes it an excellent choice for individuals or small organizations without dedicated IT resources. The setup process is typically guided and intuitive, requiring minimal technical expertise.

User Interface and Usability

The user interface of DokuWiki is clean and functional. It prioritizes usability and avoids unnecessary clutter. Editing pages is done using a lightweight plain text editor with a straightforward markup syntax. While this might initially seem less visually appealing than WYSIWYG editors, the DokuWiki syntax is easy to learn and provides surprising flexibility for formatting text, creating lists, tables, and embedding media. The emphasis on plain text editing also encourages a focus on content rather than complex formatting.

Navigation within DokuWiki is logical, and the built-in search functionality is efficient, making it easy to find specific information within the wiki, even as it grows in size. The hierarchical structure based on namespaces helps organize large amounts of content effectively.

Features and Functionality

Despite its simplicity, DokuWiki is packed with essential wiki features:

  • Plain Text Storage: This is the cornerstone of DokuWiki, simplifying management and enhancing portability.
  • Revision Control: Every edit is tracked, allowing for easy comparison of versions and rollbacks, which is crucial for collaborative environments.
  • Access Control Lists (ACL): Robust permissions management allows administrators to define granular access levels for users and groups, ensuring controlled content creation and viewing.
  • Extensibility: The plugin and template ecosystem is vibrant, offering a wide array of extensions for everything from embedding videos to integrating with external services. This extensibility allows users to tailor DokuWiki to their specific needs.
  • Internationalization: Excellent support for multiple languages makes DokuWiki suitable for diverse user bases.
  • Caching: DokuWiki employs caching mechanisms to improve performance, ensuring a responsive experience even with larger wikis.

While DokuWiki's feature set is comprehensive for a wiki, it's important to note that its focus remains on being a wiki engine. It doesn't include integrated project management tools or complex collaboration features found in some all-in-one platforms. However, this focused approach contributes to its stability and ease of use.

Performance

Due to its plain text storage and efficient caching, DokuWiki generally performs well, even on modest server hardware. Page load times are typically fast, and the search functionality is responsive.

Community and Support

DokuWiki has a strong and active open-source community. The official documentation is comprehensive, and there are forums and mailing lists where users can seek help and share knowledge. The active community also contributes to the development of plugins and templates, further enhancing DokuWiki's capabilities.

Conclusion

DokuWiki is an excellent choice for anyone seeking a reliable, easy-to-manage, and versatile wiki software. Its plain text storage simplifies deployment and maintenance, while its robust feature set, including revision control and access control, makes it suitable for a variety of use cases, from personal knowledge bases to corporate documentation portals. The strong community and extensive plugin ecosystem further enhance its appeal. While it may not have the visual flair or integrated features of some enterprise-level collaboration suites, its focus on core wiki functionality and its inherent simplicity make it a highly recommended option for those who value ease of use and maintainability.

Similar Software

BookStack
BookStack

BookStack a platform to create documentation/wiki content built with PHP & Laravel.

CherryTree
CherryTree

CherryTree is an hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.

Confluence
Confluence

Confluence is a team collaboration software. Written in Java and mainly used in corporate environments.

Lessons Learned Server
Lessons Learned Server

Lessons Learned Server is a light-weight knowledge-base web application that allows storing textual information, documents and media hierarchically.

MediaWiki
MediaWiki

MediaWiki is free and open-source wiki software.

Nuclino
Nuclino

Nuclino is a cloud-based team collaboration software which allows teams to collaborate and share information in real-time.

Pmwiki
Pmwiki

Pmwiki is a wiki-based content management system (CMS).

TiddlyWiki
TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is an open-source single page application wiki in the form of a single HTML file that includes CSS, JavaScript, and the content.

Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware
Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware

Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware or simply Tiki, originally known as TikiWiki, is a free and open source Wiki-based content management system and online office suite written primarily in PH...

XWiki
XWiki

XWiki is a free wiki software platform written in Java with a design emphasis on extensibility.

Zim
Zim

Zim is a graphical text editor used to maintain a collection of wiki pages.

Screenshots

Help others by voting if you like this software.

Compare with Similar Apps

Select any similar app below to compare it with DokuWiki side by side.

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare

Compare features, pricing, and reviews between these alternatives.

Compare