Open Source and Source-Available Wikis: 5 Notion and Confluence Alternatives

Notion and Confluence hold what a team knows: how things work, what was decided and why. A wiki you run as your own instance keeps that knowledge in a database you control, with no per-member pricing like Notion's paid plans (as of October 2026). You pay for the resources the instance uses.

Two kinds of tools hide behind the word "wiki". A team wiki has spaces, permissions and several people editing the same page. A personal knowledge base is built for one person and a lot of linked notes. Below are four team wikis and one personal knowledge base from the Nodion one-click catalog. One of them is source-available rather than open source, and we say which.

At a glance

Tool	Best for	License	Runs with
Docmost	Team wiki closest to Confluence and Notion	AGPL-3.0, enterprise parts separate	PostgreSQL, Valkey, volume
Outline	Fast team knowledge base with company sign-in	Business Source License 1.1 (source-available)	PostgreSQL, Valkey, volume
Wiki.js	Documentation in Markdown, with Git sync	AGPL-3.0	PostgreSQL
XWiki	Large organizations, structured pages, extensions	LGPL-2.1	PostgreSQL, volume
Trilium	Personal knowledge base for one person	AGPL-3.0	Volume

How we picked

• Covers the core of Notion or Confluence: pages in a hierarchy, rich editing, history and search.
• Runs as your own instance from a container image.
• Public source code, with the license checked against each project's LICENSE file. If a license is not open source by the OSI definition, we say so.
• Actively maintained with regular releases.

1. Docmost

Docmost is the closest open source match for a Confluence-style team wiki. Pages live in spaces with groups and permissions, and several people can edit the same page in real time. It has comments, page history, full-text search, file attachments, embeds, and diagrams with Draw.io, Excalidraw and Mermaid.

The free Community edition covers that core. SSO, the AI features, granular permissions and the Confluence importer are part of the paid Business edition.

License: AGPL-3.0 for the core. Code in the ee directories uses the Docmost Enterprise license. License file, project site.

On Nodion: one web process with PostgreSQL, Valkey and a 10 GB volume for uploads. On first open, Docmost shows a setup page to create the workspace and the owner account; there is no default password.

Deploy Docmost

2. Outline

Outline is a fast, collaborative knowledge base for teams, built with React and Node.js. The editor supports Markdown, slash commands and interactive embeds, teams edit together in real time with comments and threads, and documents can be shared publicly with a link. Permissions, user groups and guest users keep access under control, and the Slack integration lets people search and share docs from chat.

License: Outline is source-available, not open source. The Business Source License 1.1 lets you use it in production as long as you do not offer it to third parties as a commercial document service. Each release switches to Apache 2.0 at its change date, at the latest four years after it was first published. License file, project site.

On Nodion: one web process with PostgreSQL, Valkey and a 10 GB volume for uploads. Outline has no default password: configure Slack, Google, Microsoft, Discord or an OIDC provider for sign-in before your team can log in.

Deploy Outline

3. Wiki.js

Wiki.js is built for documentation. You write in Markdown with live preview, in a visual editor or in plain HTML, and every change is tracked: compare versions, restore an old one or recover a deleted page. Storage modules can sync content with a Git repository in both directions, so docs can also be edited outside the wiki. Sign-in works with local accounts, social logins, LDAP, SAML and OpenID Connect.

The preset runs the stable 2.x line. Version 3.0 is in beta.

License: AGPL-3.0. License file, project site.

On Nodion: one web process with PostgreSQL. On first open, Wiki.js shows a setup wizard to create the admin account.

Deploy Wiki.js

4. XWiki

XWiki is the enterprise option, built to be extended. Besides a WYSIWYG editor, comments, annotations and full history, it can add structure to pages: with AppWithinMinutes you build forms and filterable tables for recurring data. Users and groups, an advanced permission system, LDAP and Active Directory, single sign-on and office document import fit large organizations, and hundreds of extensions add more.

License: LGPL-2.1. XWiki SAS offers paid Pro apps, cloud hosting and support on top. License file, project site.

On Nodion: one web process (XWiki on Tomcat) with PostgreSQL and a 10 GB volume for XWiki's data. XWiki needs at least 4 GB of memory. On first open, the distribution wizard creates the admin account.

Deploy XWiki

5. Trilium

Trilium Notes is the personal knowledge base in this list. Notes sit in a tree of any depth, and one note can appear in several places. It has a rich text editor, code notes, full-text search, note versions, per-note encryption, relation and mind maps, Excalidraw canvases, scripting and a REST API.

Trilium is designed for a single user: it is your knowledge base, not a team wiki. The desktop app can sync with your server instance, and single notes can be published to the web.

License: AGPL-3.0. License file, project site.

On Nodion: one web process with a 10 GB volume for the notes, no database server needed. On first open, Trilium asks you to set the password.

Deploy Trilium

Also worth a look

• Dexio (AGPL-3.0) is a wiki for people and AI agents: agents read and write the same Markdown pages over MCP, and the web app shows every version and who changed it.
• Apache Answer (Apache 2.0) is a Q&A platform for teams, for knowledge that grows out of questions rather than documents.
• BookStack (MIT) organizes content into books, chapters and pages with a simple WYSIWYG editor and built-in diagrams.net drawings.

How to choose

• You want an open source team wiki that feels like Confluence or Notion docs: Docmost.
• Your team signs in with Slack, Google or Microsoft and the Business Source License fits your use: Outline.
• You write technical docs in Markdown and want them in Git: Wiki.js.
• You need structured data, LDAP and extensions for a large organization: XWiki.
• You want a knowledge base for yourself: Trilium.

Each of them runs on Nodion as your own instance in the region you pick, EU Central (Frankfurt), US East or US West. Database backups are opt-in, so turn them on for each PostgreSQL database (see database docs), and back up attached volumes separately, since database backups do not cover them. Trilium keeps all its data on a volume, so for Trilium the volume is what you back up. Browse all apps in the one-click catalog.