MediaWiki vs. WikkaWiki
Feature comparison table | Reviews & user feedback
Feature comparison table
The aim of the table below is to compare the most prominent features of WikkaWiki and MediaWiki (only the features of the engine released with the packages are listed - any extension/code contribution not included in the official packages is omitted). This list is far from exhaustive: the best way to understand what wiki engine fits your needs is to install it and give it a try.
| Feature | MediaWiki | WikkaWiki |
|---|---|---|
| General information | ||
| Latest stable release | 1.24.1 | 1.3.6 |
| Platform | Platform-independent | Platform-independent |
| Language | PHP 5.1+ | PHP 4.1+ |
| Dependencies | External (non-packaged) library required for PHP<4.31 | none |
| Data storage | MySQL 4.0+, PostgreSQL 8.1+, SQLite 3+ | MySQL 3.23+ |
| Standards | XHTML 1.0 Transitional / CSS | XHTML 1.0 Transitional / CSS |
| License | GPL | GPL |
| Package size (.tar.gz) | 11,262Kb | 1,280Kb |
| Text formatting | ||
Headings | yes (3 levels) | yes (5 levels) |
| Bold | yes ('''bold''' / <b>bold</b>2) | yes (**bold**) |
| Italics | yes (''italics'' / <i>italics</i>2) | yes (//italics//) |
| Bold Italics | yes (''''bold italics'''') | yes (**//bold italics//**) |
| Underline | yes (<u>underline</u>2) | yes (__underline__) |
| Monospace | yes ( <tt>monospace</tt>2) | yes (##monospace##) |
yes ( <strike>strikethrough</strike>2) | yes (++strikehrough++) | |
| Highlighted notes | no | yes (''note'') |
| Colored text | yes2 | yes ({{color}} action) |
| Small | yes ( <small>small</small>2) | yes3 |
| Superscript | yes2 | yes3 |
| Subscript | yes2 | yes3 |
| Key | no | yes (#%key#%) |
| Center | yes2 | yes (@@center@@) |
Greek characters (α β γ δ) | yes2 | yes3 |
Math characters (∑ √ ± ∞) | yes2 | yes3 |
| Horizontal rules | yes (----) | yes (----) |
| Indentation | yes (: indented text) | yes (~indented text) |
| Newlines | yes2 | yes (---) |
| Anchors | yes2 | yes3 |
| Lists | ||
| yes (* list item) | yes (~- list item) |
| yes (# list item) | yes (~1) list item) |
| no | yes (~I) list item) |
| no | yes (~i) list item) |
| no | yes (~A) list item) |
| no | yes (~a) list item) |
| no | yes (~& comment) |
| Definition lists | yes (;item :definition) | no |
| Nested lists | yes | yes (limited) |
| Advanced formatting features | ||
| Tables | yes | yes |
| Advanced math markup | yes (TeX to MathML/HTML/PNG5) | limited3 |
| Tables of Content (TOC) | yes | yes |
| Syntax highlighting | no | yes4 |
| Links | ||
| Auto CamelCase links | no | yes |
| Auto URL links | no | yes |
| Free links | yes | no |
| Forced links | yes | yes |
| Interwiki links | yes | yes |
| Link labels | yes | yes |
| Word-extension links | yes | no |
| Footnotes | yes | no |
| Fragment links | yes | no |
| Image links | yes | yes |
| Broken links (missing pages) | yes | yes |
| Embedded objects | ||
| Images | yes | inline/ {{image}} action |
| Flash | no | yes ({{flash}} action) |
| SVG | no | no |
| Embedded RSS | no | yes ({{rss}} action) |
| Mindmaps | no | yes (FreeMind6) |
| HTML | limited2 | full/safe3 |
| Editing | ||
| Preview-pane | yes | yes |
| Double-click edit | yes (optional) | yes (optional) |
| Section editing | yes | no |
| Edit note | yes | yes |
| Minor edit flag | yes | no |
| GUI | yes | yes |
| Editing-conflict control | yes (automatic merge) | yes (lock) |
| Tracking changes | ||
| Recent changes | yes | yes (recently changed pages) |
| Recent changes RSS | yes | yes (RSS 0.92) |
| Recent changes MindMap | no | yes |
| Recent changes broadcasting | no | yes7 |
| Recent comments | yes | yes (recent comments and recently commented pages) |
| Recent comments RSS | no | no |
| Page history | yes | yes |
| Page revision differences | yes (all) | yes (all) |
| Page revisions RSS | no | yes (RSS 2.0) |
| New pages | yes | no |
| New pages RSS | yes | no |
| Page watch | yes | no |
| User contributions | yes | yes |
| Page-related features | ||
| Access control | page locks | ACL lists (default/per page)8 |
| Comments | yes (discussion pages) | yes (with ACL) |
| Categories | yes | yes |
| Namespaces | yes | no |
| Subpages | yes | no |
| Backlinks | yes | yes |
| Search-engine friendly titles | yes | yes9 |
| Page cloning | no | yes |
| Page deletion | yes | yes (admin only) |
| Page redirection | yes | no |
| Page inclusion | no | yes |
| Page renaming | yes | no |
| Page source export | yes (XML) | yes (raw text) |
| Site-related features | ||
| Recently viewed pages | no | no |
| Most popular pages | yes | no |
| Orphaned pages | yes | yes |
| Wanted pages | yes | yes |
| Page index | yes | yes |
| Search engine | yes | yes |
| Layout | ||
| User customizable interface | yes (templates/themes) | yes (stylesheets) |
Print CSS (media="print") | yes | yes |
| User-related features | ||
| User privileges | yes (anonymous/registered/sysop/bureaucrat/admin) | yes (anonymous/registered/admin)8 |
| User registration | yes | yes |
| Password retrieval | yes | yes |
| User preferences | yes | yes |
| Auto-signature | yes | no |
| I18n & l10n | ||
| Localized interface | yes | no |
| Unicode support | full | limited |
| Extras | ||
| Calendar | no | yes |
| Feedback forms | no | yes ({{feedback}} action) |
| File uploads | yes | yes ({{files}} action) |
| Image uploads | yes | no |
| Image gallery | yes | no |
| Image resizing | yes10 | no |
| Site administration | ||
| Referrer management/antispam | no | yes |
| Site statistics | extensive | basic |
| User list | yes | yes |
| User banning/blacklisting | yes | no |
| Installer | web-based wizard | web-based wizard |
| Upgrader | limited (most recent versions only) | web-based wizard (from any previous versions and from WakkaWiki) |
| URL rewriting | yes (optional) | yes (optional) |
| Database lock | yes | no |
| Complete logs | yes | no |
| Development | ||
| Extensibility | yes | yes |
| CVS repository | yes | no |
| IRC channel | #mediawiki | #wikka |
| Mailing lists | yes | yes |
Notes:
[1] PHP_Compat library from PEAR is required. This library doesn't need the PEAR core.
[2] A limited set of HTML tags can be directly used in the source.
[3] HTML can be safely embedded through SafeHTML in double-doublequotes, e.g. ""<sub>subscript</sub>"".
[4] Advanced syntax highlighting in different languages through GeSHi.
[5] PNG rendering of TeX formulas requires several external libraries to be installed on the server.
[6] FreeMind mindmaps can be either embedded or inline.
[7] Changes can be broadcast to an external server through the WikiPing XML-RPC protocol.
[8] Access Control Lists can be set on a per-page basis to allow [admins|single users|no users|registered users|anonymous users] to [read|write|comment] page content.
[9] The SmartTitle function allows HTML titles different from the pagename.
[10] ImageMagick or libgd must be installed on the server
Reviews & user feedback
- Hashdef - Choosing a lightweight wiki
[2005-11-08]
I wanted a wiki for my site, as I find wiki a wonderful tool for collaborative development of ideas. I needed to make a choice, so I googled for wiki comparision tables, and reviews. I found several of them, and at first I chose MediaWiki as the most well known wiki out there. Well, after I have downloaded it and have taken a quick look around, it ticked me that it was way too big than what I imagined it would be. After careful investigation of the same comparison tables I put my finger on WikkaWiki that, compared to lots of other lightweight wiki tools is still being developed.
Installation was a breeze, quick and easy. I put a full copy of the distribution in a separate directory, and linked to it from where I wanted my wiki to be. I wanted several of them in different places and separate, and that way I was able to make that happen with ease. Everything happens on a single installation page, and after you have filled it with all necessary data, it creates the database tables for you, and initializes your wiki. The configuration file is put in the local directory, and you are free to modify it if needed.
- Left on the web - WikkaWiki
[2005-08-04]
For a while, I've been looking at several implementations of Wiki software. MediaWiki is nice, but very heavy on the server. Not weird, considering the software is loaded with features. Of course, a lot of those features are hardly needed, so I chose to stay away from MediaWiki.
After trying various other Wiki implementations, I came by WikkaWiki. It has all the usual features of a wiki, but isn't too loaded with features that I don't need. I just need some wiki functionality. Looking at the code, it was quite easy to customize. And fully XHTML and CSS-based, which is also a big plus.
After trying various other Wiki implementations, I came by WikkaWiki. It has all the usual features of a wiki, but isn't too loaded with features that I don't need. I just need some wiki functionality. Looking at the code, it was quite easy to customize. And fully XHTML and CSS-based, which is also a big plus.
I was recently looking around at wiki scripts to run my own wiki-based projects. Naturally, the first script I looked at was the MediaWiki script used by Wikipedia. In fact, at the time, I already had in mind to use that script. It had not occurred to me that there might be any other script to use. After opening up the script to poke around, however, I realized that it was so horrible that not only was I dissuaded from using it without looking for other scripts, I was resolved that it would probably be better to write my own wiki script than to use the MediaWiki script (luckily, I didn’t have to, because Wikka is pretty good). The script is incredibly complex without needing to be so. There is no easy way to create plugins for the script, because they all require a full understanding of hundreds of lines of tangled code. But even this would be excuseable, since with script is designed for only one project and therefore doesn’t need to be easily modifiable for others to use. The greater problem comes from the fact that the code is so incredibly bloated. I feel sorry for the processor that has to run that code. And I’m not one to empathize with chunks of silicon and metal.
- TextPattern Support Forum
[2005-06-01]
I think WikkaWiki has some strong points, even compared to MediaWiki. To me, it’s a good balance between features and lightness. (davidm)
David, I fully agree I installed WikkaWiki locally today and I have played with it some and it’s just what I was looking for. It has all the features that I wanted without feeling like it is bloated like MediaWiki can be at times (Niloc)
David, I fully agree I installed WikkaWiki locally today and I have played with it some and it’s just what I was looking for. It has all the features that I wanted without feeling like it is bloated like MediaWiki can be at times (Niloc)
- The Site5 Community Forum
[2005-05-22]
[M]y first wiki was MediaWiki, and I just decided it was.. 'too much'. I wanted something that was easier, cleaner interface, and where new users with something to say would be more likely to add content and ended up with WikkaWiki (Jason Rahaim)
- New Wikka user, since march 2005. Have been customizing it a bit, and like the performance and flexibility a lot! [...] Thanks for WikkaWiki, It's a great program and can run circles around MediaWiki anytime :)
(LukaV)
- WikkaWiki is also much faster than MediaWiki. I tried that for a little while, and found that it was too slow. Anyway, I like how there's so much development going into WikkaWiki.
Thanks for the good work.
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CategoryComparison CategoryWikka
