Confluence pricing scales per user, Atlassian retired the self-hosted Server edition, and Data Center starts at enterprise prices - so teams that want a wiki on their own infrastructure are exactly who the open source alternatives below serve. They cover the core Confluence workflow: spaces, permissions, real-time collaborative editing, and search that works.
Self-hosting is first-class across this list, with Docker-based installs and standard databases underneath. Imports take some planning - Confluence exports are messy - but once moved, your documentation lives in software you can audit, on hardware you control, at a cost that does not grow with every new hire.
Plane is an open-source project management tool for teams that need to track issues, run cycles, plan product work, and keep projects organized. It is built to handle tasks, docs, and triage without forcing teams into a proprietary workflow.
Outline is a fast, collaborative knowledge base and wiki for teams, built with React and Node.js. It gives a team one organized home for documentation instead of scattered docs, with a blazing-fast editor that loads documents and runs search in milliseconds.
Wiki.js is a modern wiki app built on Node.js for keeping documentation in one place. It is designed for teams that need a web-based wiki with rich editing, search, and access control instead of scattered notes or static files.
Docmost is open-source collaborative wiki and documentation software for teams that need a shared place for knowledge bases and internal docs. It replaces Confluence and Notion with a secure on-premise wiki you can run yourself, and a managed cloud version is also available.
BookStack is a self-hosted platform for storing and organizing information and documentation. It is built for teams that want a simple place to create and structure knowledge without a complex setup.
Gollum is a simple wiki system built on top of Git. Each wiki is a Git repository of human-editable text or markup files, so pages can be organized in directories, edited in a local editor or through the web interface, and kept with images, PDFs, and headers or footers.
TiddlyWiki is a non-linear personal web notebook for people who want a wiki they can keep forever, independently of any corporation. It is a complete interactive wiki in JavaScript that solves note taking and linked writing in a self-contained format.
MediaWiki is free and open source wiki software written in PHP. It is the collaboration and documentation platform that runs Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, used by hundreds of millions of people each month to collect and organize knowledge.
DokuWiki is an open source wiki engine for building documentation sites, team knowledge bases, and other shared reference pages. It stores content as plain text, which makes the wiki easy to maintain and keeps page data outside any database.
Twake is a secure open source collaboration platform built to improve how organizations work together. It brings team chat, file storage, a shared team calendar, task management, video calls, and real-time document collaboration into a single digital workplace.
Otter Wiki is a Python-based wiki for collaborative content management. It stores page content in a Git repository so changes are tracked over time, and it uses Markdown for markup. The interface is minimal, with a dark mode option, and the system includes user authentication and page attachments.
XWiki is an open source enterprise and application wiki. It is a generic platform that offers runtime services for applications built on top of it, so a team gets a shared knowledge base and a foundation for custom wiki-based applications in one system.
Wraft is an open-source document lifecycle management and content authoring platform for structured business content, from official letters to contracts. It aims to give teams control over their most important documents across drafting, collaboration, and distribution.
The reason teams land here is structural: Atlassian ended the self-hosted Server edition and steered everyone toward per-seat cloud or enterprise-priced Data Center. If keeping documentation on your own infrastructure matters - for cost, compliance, or control - that is the box to check first, and self-hosting is first-class across these alternatives rather than an afterthought.
Confirm the wiki features your team actually leans on have real parity. The ones worth testing are spaces with granular permissions, simultaneous editing of a page, page history, and search that returns useful results across a large knowledge base. These exist in the stronger options here, but the depth varies, so try them against a realistic chunk of your own content rather than a toy example.
Plan the migration as its own task, because Confluence exports are notoriously awkward. Decide whether you are moving everything or only the living pages, expect to clean up macros and complex layouts that do not have a direct equivalent, and verify how attachments and internal links are rewritten. Running the destination on Docker over a standard database keeps the install itself simple, which lets you spend your effort on the content move instead of the setup.
Yes - self-hosting is the central appeal of the options here, which is precisely the gap Atlassian left when it retired the Server edition. They typically install as a container over a standard database, so a small team can run a private, fully owned wiki without enterprise licensing.
Migration is possible but it is the part to budget time for, since Confluence exports are messy. The realistic plan is to move the content that is still in use, accept cleanup on macros and intricate layouts that lack a direct equivalent, and check how internal links and attachments are rewritten in the destination.
The stronger alternatives here cover the core Confluence model - separate spaces, granular permissions, page history, and collaborative editing. Depth differs between projects, so if your team relies on fine-grained access control, test it against a realistic sample of your own structure before committing.
Most install as a Docker container backed by a standard database, which keeps the technical setup straightforward for anyone comfortable running a server. The ongoing responsibilities are the usual self-hosting ones: backups, updates, and availability. In return you get documentation on hardware you control, at a cost that does not rise with every new hire.
