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7 self-hosted options

Open-source alternatives to Confluence

The best open-source alternatives to Confluence are Outline, Wiki.js and docmost Community Edition.

About Confluence: Atlassian's team wiki and documentation workspace.

Every option below is free to self-host and ranked by GitHub stars, so you can move off Confluence without giving up the features you rely on.

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Outline

    outline/outline

    Extensible wiki for your team.

    Wikis & Knowledge BasesTypeScriptDocker
  2. Rank 2:

    Wiki.js

    requarks/wiki

    Modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app using Git and Markdown.

    Wikis & Knowledge BasesVueDocker
  3. Rank 3:

    docmost Community Edition

    docmost/docmost

    Collaborative wiki and documentation software (alternative to Confluence, Notion).

    Wikis & Knowledge BasesTypeScriptDocker

Why switch

Why teams move off Confluence

Self-hosting is not only about saving money. These are the reasons people make the switch.

  • Own your data

    Your data lives on a server you control, not on Confluence's infrastructure. No surprise policy changes and no lock-in.

  • No per-seat pricing

    Open-source alternatives to Confluence are free to run for as many users as your server can handle. A small VPS often costs less than a single subscription.

  • Customize and extend

    Read the code, add plugins, connect it to your own tools and automate it through open APIs. When you need a feature, you can build it or fund it.

Full ranking

All 7 Confluence alternatives

Ranked by GitHub stars. Open any app for live stats, license details and a deploy option.

  1. 1

    Outline

    Extensible wiki for your team.

  2. 2

    Wiki.js

    Modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app using Git and Markdown.

  3. 3

    docmost Community Edition

    Collaborative wiki and documentation software (alternative to Confluence, Notion).

  4. 4

    XWiki

    Second generation wiki that allows the user to extend its functionalities with a powerful extension-based architecture.

  5. 5

    BookStack

    Simple, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organising and storing information.

  6. 6

    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.

  7. 7

    Otter Wiki

    Simple, easy to use wiki software using markdown.

FAQ

Confluence alternatives: FAQ

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open-source alternative to Confluence?

Outline is the most popular open-source alternative to Confluence, with 40,818 GitHub stars. Wiki.js and docmost Community Edition are also strong choices. Compare features, license and recent activity to find the best fit for your team.

Is there a free alternative to Confluence?

Yes. All 7 apps on this page are open source and free to self-host, so you can run a Confluence replacement without per-user fees. You only pay for the server, and a small VPS is usually enough for personal use or a small team.

Can I self-host an alternative to Confluence?

Yes. Outline, Wiki.js and docmost Community Edition ship a Docker image, so you can run them on a home server or VPS with Docker Compose in a few minutes. Your data then stays on hardware you control.

How do I migrate from Confluence?

Start by exporting your data from Confluence, then check the import options of the app you pick, since many projects ship importers for popular formats. Run both side by side for a week before you switch so nothing is lost.