Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Shelf

Wiki.js is a modern, lightweight wiki application designed for internal documentation, knowledge bases, and team collaboration. It focuses on modular extensibility, strong access controls, and flexible deployment options.

Key Features

• Markdown-based content editing with rich formatting and media support
• Modular architecture with many optional integrations (auth, search, storage, logging, rendering)
• Extensive administration interface for managing content, users, and settings
• Flexible access control for public, private, or mixed wikis
• Multiple authentication options including local auth and enterprise integrations (LDAP, SAML, OAuth2/OIDC)
• Two-factor authentication support for compatible authentication modules
• Compatible with multiple SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite)

Use Cases

• Team knowledge base for processes, runbooks, and internal documentation
• Product and engineering documentation portal with structured pages
• Company intranet wiki with SSO-backed access control

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced capabilities depend on enabling and configuring specific modules and external services
• Database and authentication feature availability can vary depending on the selected backend and provider

Wiki.js is a solid choice for organizations that want a fast, customizable wiki with strong administration and authentication flexibility. Its modular design makes it suitable for both small private wikis and larger documentation hubs.

Documize is an open source documentation and knowledge management platform positioned as a modern alternative to Confluence. It helps teams create, organize, and publish internal and customer-facing documentation with a structured, searchable wiki-style experience.

Key Features

• Spaces and categories for organizing documentation
• Label-based organization and discoverability
• Full-text search backed by the selected database engine
• Supports internal and external documentation use cases
• Single-binary server distribution for straightforward deployment
• Multiple authentication options including LDAP/Active Directory and Keycloak integration
• Multi-language UI support (with several translations included)

Use Cases

• Team knowledge base for engineering, IT, and operations runbooks
• Customer-facing product documentation and help content
• Centralized repository for policies, procedures, and internal documentation

Documize fits organizations that want a self-managed documentation system with enterprise-oriented features and database-backed search. Its Go-based backend and Ember.js frontend make it suitable for both small teams and larger deployments that need structured documentation and flexible authentication.

django-wiki is an extensible wiki application for Django that provides a full-featured knowledge base you can integrate into an existing Django project. It focuses on a strong, familiar web UI while keeping customization and extension within standard Django patterns.

Key Features

• Markdown-based content editing with a built-in web interface
• Built-in revision system for page history and rollback
• Hierarchical page structure for organizing content
• Permissions and access control suitable for teams and organizations
• Pluggable architecture for extending functionality without forking
• Template and theming customization via Django templates and SCSS

Use Cases

• Internal team documentation and engineering knowledge bases
• Product or project documentation embedded into a Django site
• Community or organization wikis with structured permissions

Limitations and Considerations

• Customization typically requires Django knowledge (templates, URLs, plugins)
• Markdown rendering is a core part of the system and is not intended to be swapped out

django-wiki is a solid choice when you want a wiki tightly integrated with Django’s models, authentication, and admin ecosystem. Its extension points and stable APIs make it well-suited for long-lived documentation deployments within Django projects.

WackoWiki is a compact, open-source wiki engine designed for collaborative content creation and knowledge management. It focuses on simplicity, multilingual support, and per-page access control while providing a traditional wiki feature set suitable for teams, projects, and communities.

Key Features

• WYSIWYG and plain-text editing with section editing support
• Per-page access control lists (ACLs) for fine-grained permissions
• Full revision control with diffs between revisions and page history
• Multilingual and full UTF-8 support with configurable localization
• Supports PHP 8.x and works with MariaDB, MySQL or SQLite backends
• Template engine (Smarty-based) and theming/skins for custom designs
• File uploads, thumbnail generation and media handling per page
• Page watching with email notifications on changes and comments
• Actions/highlighters to embed dynamic or extended markup functionality
• Multiple cache levels and a lightweight architecture for modest deployments

Use Cases

• Internal knowledge base and company wiki with per-page access controls
• Project documentation and collaborative editing for open-source teams
• Educational or community portals requiring multilingual content and revision history

Limitations and Considerations

• Smaller ecosystem and fewer third-party extensions compared to larger wiki platforms, which may limit available integrations
• Very large deployments may require careful tuning of database, PHP runtime, and caching layers for performance

WackoWiki is a pragmatic choice when you need a straightforward, extensible wiki with strong per-page permission controls and multilingual support. It favors a lightweight footprint and easy installation over a large plugin ecosystem.