BookStack vs Docmost
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BookStack
Free self-hosted wiki organized into books, chapters and pages
Docmost
Open-source collaborative wiki you deploy on your own servers
Where they differ
- BookStack starts at £450 per year for an optional support plan; the software itself is free. Docmost starts at $6 per seat / month, billed annually (Business, 10-seat minimum).
- BookStack also covers Markdown and templates.
- Docmost also covers AI search and databases.
At a glance
| BookStack | Docmost | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | £450 per year for an optional support plan; the software itself is free | $6 per seat / month, billed annually (Business, 10-seat minimum) |
| Free plan | The whole application is free and MIT licensed, with no cost to download and install your own instance. Community support carries no assurance of a response. | Open Source edition (AGPL-3.0): the editor, real-time collaboration, unlimited spaces, groups, page history, comments, diagrams, public sharing and full-text search. |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial license key for the Business and Enterprise editions, generated in the customer portal |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Dan Brown | Docmost, Inc. |
| Price read from | bookstackapp.com | docmost.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
BookStack
- Teams that want a free wiki running on their own server
- Mixed technical and non-technical staff writing documentation
- Organizations that need LDAP, SAML2 or OIDC sign-in at no cost
Docmost
- Organizations that must keep documentation on their own servers
- Teams moving from Confluence or Notion to a self-hosted wiki
- Regulated or air-gapped environments
Worth knowing
BookStack
- There is no official hosted version: you install and maintain it yourself, which takes some knowledge of hosting a PHP application and database.
- It needs PHP 8.2 or later with MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or later, and shared PHP hosting is not supported.
- Paid support is priced in pounds, at £450 or £4,500 a year before VAT; free community support has no assured response.
Docmost
- The pricing page covers self-managed editions only: you deploy and run Docmost on your own infrastructure.
- The Business edition has a 10-seat minimum and is priced on annual billing; no monthly price is shown.
- SSO, MFA, AI, Bases, Kanban, templates and page-level permissions are not in the free Open Source edition.
- SCIM, audit logs, SIEM and the page verification workflow are limited to Enterprise, which has custom pricing.
Key features
BookStack
- Books, chapters and pages
- All content sits in a three-level structure of books, chapters and pages, and pages can be re-sorted across books.
- WYSIWYG and Markdown editors
- Pages are written in a simple WYSIWYG editor by default. An optional Markdown editor shows a live preview as you write.
- Search and paragraph links
- Search works within a single book or across every book, chapter and page, and any paragraph can be linked to directly.
- Built-in diagrams
- The page editor has diagrams.net drawing built in, so diagrams can be created without leaving the documentation.
- Roles, permissions and sign-in
- A role and permission system locks down content and actions. Sign-in supports OIDC, SAML2 and LDAP besides email and password, and multi-factor authentication can be enforced per role.
- Revisions and API
- Page revisions and image management are built in, and each instance documents an API covering pages, chapters, books, shelves and attachments.
Docmost
- Real-time collaborative editor
- Several people edit the same page at once with live cursors. The editor has a slash menu, @ mentions, tables, code blocks, math equations and Markdown shortcuts.
- Spaces and permissions
- Unlimited spaces separate content by team, project or department, each with its own permissions and groups. Page-level permissions need the Business edition.
- Built-in diagrams
- Draw.io, Excalidraw and Mermaid diagrams are created inside a page, and all three are included in the free Open Source edition.
- AI search, chat and MCP
- Business and Enterprise add AI answers grounded in your pages with source citations, running on a self-hosted or cloud LLM, and can expose the wiki as an MCP server.
- Bases and Kanban
- Bases organize content as structured databases with properties, filters, sorts and formulas, in table and Kanban views. They are part of the Business edition.
- Import and export
- Pages import from Markdown, HTML and Notion and export to Markdown and HTML on every edition. Confluence, DOCX and PDF import need Business.
Plans
BookStack
BookStack (self-hosted)Free
The full application on your own server, with community support through the project's discussions, Codeberg and Reddit.
Professional Support Plan£450
per year, VAT not included
Email and help-desk support covering installation and updating issues, with high-priority handling of bug and issue reports.
Enterprise Support Plan£4,500
per year, VAT not included
Everything in Professional, plus highest-priority handling, help with API integrations and up to 10 hours of video support a year.
Docmost
Community$0
Open-source edition: editor, real-time collaboration, unlimited spaces, page history, diagrams, public sharing, full-text search and Notion import.
Business$6
per seat / month, billed annually; minimum 10 seats
Adds Bases and Kanban, SSO, page-level permissions, AI and MCP, Confluence import, attachment search, MFA, API keys and email support.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Business, plus SCIM, audit logs, SIEM, retention controls, a page verification workflow and priority support.
Ways to pay less
BookStack
No public discounts listed.
Docmost
- Nonprofit
Special pricing for non-profits
The pricing FAQ says Docmost offers special pricing for non-profit organizations through its sales team. No amount is stated.
- Education
Special pricing for educational institutions
The same FAQ extends special pricing to educational institutions that contact the sales team. No amount is stated.
