BookStack vs Documize
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
Documize
Self-hosted knowledge base with approvals and analytics
Where they differ
- BookStack starts at £450 per year for an optional support plan; the software itself is free. Documize starts at $900 per year for up to 100 users.
- BookStack also covers Markdown and diagrams.
- Documize also covers documents and reports.
At a glance
| BookStack | Documize | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | £450 per year for an optional support plan; the software itself is free | $900 per year for up to 100 users |
| 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. | The first 5 users are free with no feature restrictions, using a free activation key that the vendor emails on request. No credit card is required. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Dan Brown | Documize Inc. |
| Price read from | bookstackapp.com | documize.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 9, 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
Documize
- Organizations that must keep documentation on their own or air-gapped servers
- Teams that want a flat annual price instead of a per-seat fee
- Controlled documents that need review and approval before they are published
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.
Documize
- It is self-hosted only: the customer installs it and runs their own database, and the site offers no vendor-hosted version.
- Only the first 5 users are free; larger teams pay $900 a year for up to 100 users or $1,800 a year for unlimited users.
- Billing is annual, with a 90-day refund policy; no monthly option is listed.
- The vendor calls its Community edition open source but does not say on its pricing page how it differs from the paid plans.
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.
Documize
- Single self-hosted binary
- The server ships as one binary with no runtime dependencies for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD. License validation works offline, so it can run on an air-gapped network.
- Spaces, labels and documents
- Content is organized into spaces that hold related documents, with labels grouping similar spaces, in place of deeply nested folders.
- Templates and content blocks
- Documents are assembled from reusable templates and pre-defined content blocks so teams start from a shared standard.
- Approvals and versions
- A draft, review, approve and publish lifecycle with contribution requests is built in, and documents can be baselined and kept in several live versions.
- Analytics and audit logs
- Reports show which content is read, which is stale and what people search for, alongside activity streams and audit logs. They are included in both plans.
- Permissions and sign-in
- Permissions are set on spaces, documents and actions, and users can authenticate through LDAP, Active Directory, Keycloak or CAS.
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.
Documize
Free (5 users)$0
The first 5 users at no cost with no feature restrictions, activated with a free key.
Essential$900
per year for up to 100 users
Self-hosted with unlimited content and storage, LDAP, AD, Keycloak and CAS sign-in, approvals, analytics, audit logs and product support.
Enterprise$1,800
per year for unlimited users
The same feature set as Essential with no limit on the number of users.
Ways to pay less
BookStack
No public discounts listed.
Documize
- Education
30% off for academic institutions
The pricing FAQ offers qualifying academic institutions a 30% discount on request.
