📚 Documentation Systems

Last Updated: 2025-01-19

Guide to documentation tools and practices.

Knowledgebase Tools

Comparison Matrix

Tool	Self-Hosting	Features	UI/UX	Integrations	Price	Overall Score
Outline	8/10	9/10	9/10	8/10	8/10	8.5/10
WikiJS	9/10	8/10	7/10	8/10	9/10	8.2/10
AppFlowy	7/10	7/10	8/10	6/10	10/10	7.6/10

Scoring Categories

Overall scores are calculated using weighted averages across five key dimensions:

• Self-Hosting: 25% - Ease of deployment and self-hosting capabilities
• Features: 25% - Breadth and depth of available features
• UI/UX: 20% - Interface design and user experience
• Integrations: 20% - Available integrations and extensibility
• Price: 10% - Cost-effectiveness and pricing model

Final score = (Self-Hosting × 0.25) + (Features × 0.25) + (UI/UX × 0.20) + (Integrations × 0.20) + (Price × 0.10)

Outline

• GitHub: outline/outline
• Website: outline.com
• Description: Open-source wiki and knowledge base for growing teams
• Hosting Options:
  • Self-hosted (Docker)
  • Cloud version (outline.com)
• Pricing:
  • Cloud Free: Up to 5 users
  • Cloud Team: $10/user/month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing
  • Self-hosted: Free, open source
• Key Features:
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Markdown support
  • Rich text editor
  • Version history
  • Slack integration
  • API access
  • SSO support
  • Document templates
• Pros:
  • Modern, clean interface
  • Strong search capabilities
  • Active development
  • Good API documentation
  • Self-hosting option
  • Rich integrations
• Cons:
  • Complex self-hosting setup
  • Limited free tier
  • Some features enterprise-only
  • Requires JavaScript

WikiJS

• GitHub: Requarks/wiki
• Website: js.wiki
• Description: Modern and powerful wiki software built on Node.js
• Hosting Options:
  • Self-hosted
  • Docker deployment
  • Cloud hosting supported
• Pricing:
  • Open Source: Free
  • Cloud: Starting at $9/month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing
• Key Features:
  • 50+ authentication providers
  • Multi-language support
  • Git synchronization
  • Visual editor
  • Dark/Light themes
  • API access
  • Extensive plugins
  • Custom CSS/JS
• Pros:
  • Feature-rich
  • Easy installation
  • Strong community
  • Regular updates
  • Multiple storage backends
  • Flexible authentication
• Cons:
  • Resource intensive
  • Learning curve for admins
  • Limited cloud options
  • Some scaling challenges

AppFlowy

• GitHub: AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy
• Website: appflowy.io
• Description: Open-source alternative to Notion, built with Flutter and Rust
• Hosting Options:
  • Self-hosted
  • Local-first architecture
  • Cloud sync (coming soon)
• Pricing:
  • Open Source: Free
  • Cloud (upcoming): TBA
• Key Features:
  • Database views
  • Kanban boards
  • Rich text editor
  • Local-first storage
  • Cross-platform
  • Offline support
  • Custom plugins
  • Data privacy focus
• Pros:
  • Privacy-focused
  • Fast performance
  • Native application
  • No vendor lock-in
  • Active development
  • Growing community
• Cons:
  • Early development stage
  • Limited cloud features
  • Fewer integrations
  • Some features WIP