BookStack
Free, self-hosted wiki software that organizes content into books, chapters and pages.
Our verdict
What it does well
- MIT-licensed and free to download and install
- WYSIWYG editor, optional Markdown editor and built-in diagrams.net
- Sign-in with OIDC, SAML2 or LDAP, plus roles and permissions
Where it falls short
- You host it yourself; the official site lists no hosted service
- Needs PHP 8.2 or later and MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.6+
- Content follows a fixed books, chapters and pages structure
BookStack is self-hosted wiki software for organizing and storing information. Content is arranged into books, chapters and pages. Pages can be edited in a WYSIWYG editor or an optional Markdown editor with live preview, and diagrams.net drawing is built in. Search works within a book or across all content, and you can link to any paragraph.
It supports email and password sign-in by default, plus OIDC, SAML2 and LDAP, multi-factor authentication, roles and permissions, page revisions and several interface languages. It is built with PHP on the Laravel framework and needs PHP 8.2 or later and MySQL 8.0 or later (or MariaDB 10.6 or later).
BookStack is free and released under the MIT licence. The project offers Support Plans and accepts donations and sponsorships; the site does not state prices for them and does not mention official paid hosting.
BookStack compared
Alternatives to BookStack
Atlassian's workspace for team documentation and knowledge, with a free plan for up to 10 users.
- Freemium
Last updated 16 October 2026. Facts checked against the official site on 16 October 2026. How we make money