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Docs and wikis

Free and open-source Confluence alternatives

Confluence (Team wiki and documentation workspace by Atlassian) is a commercial product. These 3 tools do the same job and are free to use or to self-host.
Short answer: the best free alternatives to Confluence are BookStack, Wiki.js and Outline. Self-hosting is free; you pay only for the server (a small VPS is about $4–6/mo). Licenses and prices checked 2026-10-01.
  1. 1
    BookStack

    Self-hosted wiki platform for organizing documentation

    Simple self-hosted wiki organized in books, chapters and pages.

    Open source (MIT) ·★ 19k GitHub stars · last commit 2026-10-07 · details

  2. 2
    Wiki.js

    Powerful open-source wiki software on Node.js

    Modern Node.js wiki with Markdown and Git sync.

    Open source (AGPL-3.0) ·★ 29k GitHub stars · last commit 2026-10-06 · details

  3. 3
    Outline

    Fast team knowledge base and wiki

    Team knowledge base; free to self-host, but not for a competing document service.

    Source-available (BSL-1.1) ·★ 41k GitHub stars · last commit 2026-10-07 · details

Want paid options too? See all Confluence alternatives or the full free alternatives list. Beyond developer tools, OSS Software lists more open-source Confluence alternatives.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to Confluence?+

Yes. BookStack, Wiki.js and Outline do the same job for free; BookStack and Wiki.js are open source.

What is the best open-source alternative to Confluence?+

Wiki.js is the most starred on GitHub (29k stars). Modern Node.js wiki with Markdown and Git sync.

Are these Confluence alternatives open source?+

BookStack and Wiki.js are under OSI-approved licenses. Outline (BSL-1.1) is source-available: free to self-host, with limits in the license.

Open source: OSI-approved license. Free to self-host: the code is public and free to run yourself, with limits in the license.