Someone in the r/selfhosted comments last week put it better than I would have:
“Trilium hits a wall on multi-user since storage assumes one author per node. Wiki.js gets you there but the Postgres + Node stack is overkill for a team of 5. LeafWiki splitting the difference — markdown on disk + SQLite + single Go binary — is the combo I’ve wanted for years.”
What that comment does not say is where DokuWiki fits. It should, because DokuWiki is the obvious first answer when someone says “I want a self-hosted wiki backed by files, no database.”
It has been that answer for twenty years.
The honest comparison
DokuWiki stores content as plain text files. So does LeafWiki. Neither uses Postgres. Neither requires Redis. Both run on a single server. Both need a reverse proxy in front for TLS termination if you are exposing them to the internet — that part is the same.
So what actually differs?
The markup. DokuWiki uses its own wiki syntax. It is not Markdown. There is a Markdown plugin, and it works, but it is a plugin — not the default, not what the documentation assumes, and not what the internal link format, table syntax, or export tools are built around. If you paste content from GitHub, a README, or your notes app, you are converting. With LeafWiki the content is standard .md files. Nothing special about them.
The stack. DokuWiki is PHP. That is not a problem if you already run PHP somewhere. But if you do not, you are setting up PHP, configuring a web server to serve it, and keeping both updated. LeafWiki is a single Go binary. You run it directly or via Docker. That is the whole setup.
The editor. DokuWiki’s editor is functional. LeafWiki has a live split-view preview, Ctrl+V image paste, search and replace, and a table of contents. The image paste specifically — if you write a lot of documentation and want to attach screenshots, not having to open a file dialog every time changes the rhythm of writing in a way that is hard to describe until you have used it.
The maturity gap. DokuWiki has been in production for twenty years. It has a large plugin ecosystem, a well-understood permission model with granular ACLs, and a long tail of edge cases already handled. LeafWiki is pre-1.0. It is not the right choice if you need that depth yet.
Who should pick what
The honest answer: it depends almost entirely on whether you are migrating or starting fresh.
If you have a DokuWiki with years of content and a team that knows the syntax, the switching cost is real. The plugin ecosystem, the granular ACLs, the maturity — those things exist and they matter. Migration is doable, but it is not free.
If you are starting from scratch in 2026, the calculus looks different. Standard Markdown means your content is not locked into a format you have to explain to new team members. A single binary means setup is a Docker run command, not a PHP stack. And an editor with live preview and Ctrl+V image paste means the tool gets out of the way when you are actually writing.
DokuWiki solved a real problem, and it solved it well for a long time. LeafWiki is the version of that idea built with what we have now.
Same instinct. Different era.
Try the LeafWiki demo or check the GitHub repo.
If you find LeafWiki useful, consider sponsoring the project — it helps keep development going.