# BookStack

> Free self-hosted wiki organized into books, chapters and pages

BookStack is a free, MIT-licensed wiki that you install on your own server. Content is organized into books, chapters and pages and written in a WYSIWYG editor or an optional Markdown editor, with full search, page revisions and a role and permission system. The project runs no hosted service and has no paid edition; optional annual support plans are sold through its creator's company.

- **Category:** Docs & Wikis
- **Made by:** Dan Brown (since 2015)
- **Website:** https://www.bookstackapp.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 5, 2026

## Pricing

BookStack has a free plan. Paid plans start at £450 per year for an optional support plan; the software itself is free.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **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.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://www.bookstackapp.com/support/ on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with BookStack before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## Works with

diagrams.net

**Tags:** Wiki, Markdown, Diagrams, Templates, Open source, Self-hostable, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Wiki.js](https://toolgpa.com/tools/wiki-js): Open-source wiki software built on Node.js with Git sync. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bookstack-vs-wiki-js)
- [DokuWiki](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dokuwiki): Open-source wiki software that needs no database. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bookstack-vs-dokuwiki)
- [MediaWiki](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mediawiki): The free wiki software that powers Wikipedia. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bookstack-vs-mediawiki)
- [Outline](https://toolgpa.com/tools/outline): Fast team knowledge base and wiki, cloud-hosted or self-hosted. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bookstack-vs-outline)
- [Docmost](https://toolgpa.com/tools/docmost): Open-source collaborative wiki you deploy on your own servers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bookstack-vs-docmost)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026:

- https://www.bookstackapp.com/support/
- https://www.bookstackapp.com/
- https://www.bookstackapp.com/about/project-faq/
- https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/installation/
- https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/
- https://demo.bookstackapp.com/api/docs

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/bookstack
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).