MediaWiki vs XWiki

MediaWiki

• Large public wikis and encyclopedia-style reference sites
• Organizations with a server administrator to install and update it
• Communities that already know how to edit Wikipedia

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

MediaWiki

• The manual says MediaWiki is often not suitable when access to part of a wiki must be restricted, because it was designed for open content.
• You host it yourself: it needs PHP 8.3 or later, web server software and a database such as MariaDB or MySQL, and ongoing security upgrades.
• It is optimized for very high-traffic sites and may not suit small sites where disk space or memory is the tighter limit.
• Hosting comes only from third parties: the site lists hosting services that the Wikimedia Foundation neither guarantees nor endorses.

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.

MediaWiki

Wikitext and VisualEditor

Pages use MediaWiki's wikitext format, which needs no knowledge of HTML or CSS. The VisualEditor extension, bundled since version 1.35, allows editing pages as rich content instead.

Full revision history

Every edit is written to the database without deleting earlier versions of the page, so vandalism, spam or mistakes can be reverted easily.

Extensions

Administrators add functions by installing extensions. Some are bundled with the software; third-party ones may be unmaintained or incompatible with each other.

Action API

A web service at the api.php endpoint lets programs log in, read data and post changes over HTTP, covering features such as page operations and search.

Built for high traffic

The software was designed to serve sites that get millions of hits a day. It supports caching and can be coupled with proxy server software.

Image and media files

MediaWiki also manages images and multimedia files, which are stored in the server's file system rather than in the database.

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.

MediaWiki

• MediaWiki$0

  The full software, downloaded and installed on your own server, with help from the community support desk.

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.

MediaWiki

No public discounts listed.

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.