BlueSpice vs XWiki
We give BlueSpice a 3.2 GPA and XWiki a 3.4, out of 4.0. BlueSpice grades higher on ease of use. XWiki grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BlueSpice
Open-source enterprise wiki built on MediaWiki
XWiki
Open-source enterprise wiki with structured data and apps
How we grade them
| 3.2GPABlueSpiceVery good | 3.4GPAXWikiVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPro in the cloud is $1,620 a year for up to 25 users, about $5.40 a user a month if you fill every seat, which is the cheap end of this category. But 25 is the smallest tier, so a team of 10 pays the same. There's a one-time setup fee listed at $450, and single sign-on costs extra in the cloud. | AThe Community version is free. Hosted, Starter is €309 a year for 10 users, far below what this category usually charges. Basic for 100 users is €5,796.84 a year, which is €4.83 a user a month, and the same price covers XWiki Cloud or your own servers. |
| Free plan and trial | BBlueSpice free costs nothing and has every MediaWiki feature plus a visual editor, search and about 100 extensions. But you download and run it yourself with community support only, and approvals, workflows, forms and central authentication are left out. The cloud has a 30-day trial of pro for up to 25 users. | AThe Community version is the open-source software with community extensions, free to run on your own servers for good. You go without XWiki SAS support and the Pro applications. There's a free trial of XWiki Cloud too, though the pricing page doesn't say how long it lasts. |
| Features | AWrite in a visual editor or wiki syntax, then add drafts and approvals, workflows, read confirmations and page assignments on pro. Forms capture structured data, the bookmaker turns pages into manuals, and draw.io and BPMN diagrams sit inside the wiki. Pro ships with about 180 extensions. | AA WYSIWYG editor with full history, comments, annotations and mentions, plus something most wikis lack: you build your own data structures by drag and drop, with forms and filterable tables. More than 700 extensions, and Office import and PDF export are built in. |
| Ease of use | BNo App Store rating on record, so a B is our ceiling. On the paid cloud version the vendor hosts it for you, and the visual editor means nobody has to learn wiki syntax. Go for the free edition and you're running a server yourself. | CNo rating on record. The free version is yours to download and set up on your own servers, with no vendor support. XWiki Cloud takes that job away, but it's the paid route, and support on every paid plan keeps 09:00 to 17:00 CET hours. |
| Platforms and integrations | BIt's a web app, in the vendor's cloud or delivered as Docker containers or a virtual machine for your own servers. It hooks into Microsoft Entra ID, Okta and Keycloak for sign-in, plus draw.io, DeepL, Lucidchart, GitHub and Microsoft Teams. No phone or desktop apps are listed. | BIt's a web app, on XWiki Cloud or your own servers, with no phone or desktop apps listed. It connects to OnlyOffice, Office 365, OpenProject, draw.io and Active Directory, and the extensions stretch it further. |
| Best for | MediaWiki with approvals and vendor support | an open-source wiki you can build small apps in |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: BlueSpice and XWiki. How we grade
Where they differ
- BlueSpice starts at $1,620 per year for up to 25 users, cloud-hosted (about $5.40 per user / month). XWiki starts at 309 € per year for 10 users (Starter, XWiki Cloud only).
- BlueSpice also covers templates, diagrams and forms.
- XWiki also covers databases.
At a glance
| BlueSpice | XWiki | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $1,620 per year for up to 25 users, cloud-hosted (about $5.40 per user / month) | 309 € per year for 10 users (Starter, XWiki Cloud only) |
| Free plan | BlueSpice free is a community edition to download and run yourself: MediaWiki plus a visual editor, search and about 100 extensions. It has community support only and no approvals or workflows. | Community version: the open-source software with community extensions, downloaded and set up on your own servers, without XWiki SAS support or the XWiki Pro applications. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of BlueSpice pro in the cloud, for up to 25 users | Free trial of XWiki Cloud; the pricing page does not state its length |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hallo Welt! GmbH | XWiki SAS |
| Price read from | bluespice.com | xwiki.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
BlueSpice
- Organizations that want an open-source wiki with vendor support
- Quality and compliance teams that need approvals and read confirmations
- Companies that must keep documentation on their own servers or in German data centers
- Teams already familiar with MediaWiki
XWiki
- Organizations that want an open-source alternative to Confluence
- Teams that need structured data and small apps inside a wiki
- Companies that have to host their wiki on their own servers
Worth knowing
BlueSpice
- The free edition is self-hosted only and lacks approvals, workflows, forms, central authentication and professional support.
- Paid editions are yearly subscriptions sold in user tiers: 25 users is the smallest cloud tier and 50 the smallest for farm.
- Cloud hosting adds a one-time setup fee, listed at $450, and single sign-on costs extra in the cloud.
- The vendor's edition page quotes euros, from 4.50 € per user a month; dollar prices come from its price configurator.
XWiki
- Paid plans are priced in euros by a calculator that scales with team size; Starter stops at 25 users and runs on XWiki Cloud only.
- The free Community version comes without vendor support, and the XWiki Pro applications start on the Basic plan.
- OIDC, Entra ID, CAS and SAML sign-in need the Business plan, and SCIM needs Enterprise.
- Support hours on every paid plan are 09:00 to 17:00 CET.
Key features
BlueSpice
- Visual editor on MediaWiki
- Pages are written in a visual editor or in wiki syntax and organized with subpages and hierarchical categories. BlueSpice pro ships with about 180 extensions.
- Approvals and workflows
- The pro edition adds drafts and approvals, workflows, read confirmations, reminders and page assignments for keeping controlled documents current.
- Forms and semantic metadata
- Structured data is captured through forms with semantic metadata support, which the vendor lists among the pro edition's additions.
- Bookmaker and exports
- The bookmaker compiles wiki pages into manuals or training material. Pages export to PDF with custom templates and to XML, CSV and Excel, and Word files can be imported.
- Process diagrams
- Processes and relationships are drawn inside the wiki with the draw.io extension or modelled as BPMN diagrams.
- Cloud or on-premises
- The cloud version is hosted in Germany with a daily backup kept for 7 days and 99.9% stated availability. On premises it is delivered as Docker containers or a virtual machine.
XWiki
- WYSIWYG editing with history
- Pages are edited in a WYSIWYG editor with link and macro editors and in-place editing. A full history of changes is kept, alongside comments, annotations and user mentions.
- Structured data and apps
- AppWithinMinutes builds custom data structures by drag and drop. Entries are edited through forms and browsed in filterable tables that XWiki calls livetables.
- Permissions and sign-in
- User and group management and an advanced permission system are built in. Paid plans add LDAP and Active Directory, then OIDC, Entra ID, CAS and SAML, and SCIM on Enterprise.
- Extensions
- More than 700 extensions are available: about 600 from the community plus 60 recommended and Pro extensions such as diagrams, task management and calendars.
- Office and PDF handling
- Office documents can be imported or previewed, images and other attachments previewed in the page, and pages viewed and exported as PDF.
- Cloud or on-premises
- From the Basic plan up, the same subscription price covers XWiki Cloud or your own servers; Starter is cloud only. One instance can hold several sub-wikis.
Plans
BlueSpice
BlueSpice freeFree
Self-hosted community edition: all MediaWiki features plus a visual editor, search, improved design and security, with community support.
BlueSpice pro$1,620
per year for up to 25 users, cloud-hosted, before tax
About $5.40 per user a month; $3,240 a year for up to 50 users. Adds approvals, workflows, forms and metadata, the bookmaker and professional support.
BlueSpice farm$6,120
per year for up to 50 users, before tax
About $10.20 per user a month. Everything in pro plus multiple wikis, search across them, content transfer and multilingual content.
BlueSpice indigoCustom
Custom offer for non-standard contract and purchasing terms, separate compliance requirements and customer-specific deployments.
XWiki
CommunityFree
The open-source software and community extensions, set up and run on your own servers without vendor support.
Starter309 €
per year for 10 users, the smallest team size
XWiki Cloud only, for up to 25 users and ordered online: early security patches, the antivirus application, one sub-wiki and portal support.
Basic5,796.84 €
per year for 100 users (4.83 € per user / month)
Cloud or on-premises for up to 1,000 users: XWiki Pro applications, LDAP and Active Directory sign-in, a custom domain on XWiki Cloud and 25 sub-wikis.
Business11,216.70 €
per year for 250 users (3.74 € per user / month)
Up to 10,000 users: adds OIDC, Entra ID, CAS and SAML sign-in, IP allowlisting, the Confluence migration toolkit and faster support response times.
Enterprise33,990 €
per year for 500 users (5.67 € per user / month)
Unlimited users: adds SCIM, Kubernetes, Windows and clustered installations, a dedicated account manager, AI integration in beta and 100 sub-wikis.
Ways to pay less
BlueSpice
- Nonprofit
Discount for registered non-profits
The pricing FAQ gives registered non-profit organizations a discount on the software subscription, excluding governmental, academic and commercial bodies. No amount is published.
XWiki
- Other savings
20% off with a 3-year subscription
The pricing calculator offers a 3-year subscription period that saves 20% compared with the yearly price.
- Other savings
5% off for ordering online
The Basic, Business and Enterprise plans list a 5% reduction when the subscription is ordered online rather than manually.
- Nonprofit
50% off for NGOs
The special discounts on the pricing page give NGOs a 50% discount on support, hosting and apps.
- Education
50% off for academic institutions
Academic institutions are listed for a 50% discount on support and hosting.
- Other savings
Free cloud hosting for open source projects
Open source software projects get free cloud hosting at the Starter level and Pro Apps licenses, plus a 50% discount on support.
