Open Source Self-Hosted GitBook Alternatives

GitBook is not available as a self-hosted solution but there are plenty of alternatives for power users and business that want to host a solution on-premise. The best open source Self-Hosted alternative is Foam. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to GitBook and many of them are open source and available as a self-hosted solution so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Self-Hosted alternatives to GitBook are BookStack, DokuWiki, Docusaurus and Wiki.js.

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GitBook alternatives are mainly Documentation Generators but may also be Static Site Generators or Wiki Engines. Other popular filters include Self-Hosted + Open Source. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of GitBook.
GitBook iconGitBook
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GitBook is a tool for building beautiful books using Git and Markdown. It can generate your book into multiple formats:

More about GitBook
GitBook alternatives page was last updated Sep 29, 2023
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Alternatives
  1. Foam icon
     46 likes
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    Foam is a personal knowledge management and sharing system inspired by Roam Research, built on Visual Studio Code and GitHub.

    240 Foam alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Visual Studio Code

    Foam Features

    1.  Knowledge base
    2.  VSCode
    3.  Knowledge Management
    4.  Write files in markdown
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  Works Offline
    7.  Support for MarkDown
    8.  Graph view

    Foam VS GitBook

     
    • Foam is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to GitBook.

    • Foam is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to GitBook.

    • Foam is Free and Open SourceGitBook is Freemium and Proprietary
  2. BookStack icon
     121 likes
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    BookStack is a free and open source knowledge management platform built on PHP. The system has been built around simplicity to ensure that adding information to it is not a chore. The content structure is built on the metaphors of Books, Chapters & Pages.

    78 BookStack alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • Cloudron

    BookStack Features

    1.  Wiki
    2.  WYSIWYG Support
    3.  Knowledge base
    4.  Web-Based
    5.  Support for MarkDown
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  No Tracking
    8.  Dark Mode

    BookStack VS GitBook

     
    Comments about BookStack as an Alternative to GitBook
    BonZho
    Negative Aug 17, 2021
    5

    is not like gitbook,is more another php site generate for a online book if you're a writter.

    Alexandre ZANNI
    Negative Jul 19, 2023
    1

    BookStack is a knowledge base, it's dynamic. Gitbook is a static website generator for books and documentation.

    GitBook Icon
    BookStack icon
    • Some users think BookStack is a great GitBook alternative, some don't.

    • BookStack is the most popular Web-based & Linux alternative to GitBook.

    • BookStack is Free and Open SourceGitBook is Freemium and Proprietary
  3. DokuWiki icon
     188 likes
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    DokuWiki is a standards compliant, simple to use Wiki, mainly aimed at creating documentation of any kind. It is targeted at developer teams, workgroups and small companies. It has a simple but powerful syntax which makes sure the datafiles remain readable outside the Wiki and...

    91 DokuWiki alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron

    DokuWiki Features

    1.  Plain text file
    2.  Wiki
    3.  No database needed
    4.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    5.  Multiple languages
    6.  Access Control
    7.  Support for Multiple Users
    8.  Drag and Drop

    DokuWiki VS GitBook

     
  4. Docusaurus icon
     18 likes
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    Docusaurus is a project for easily building, deploying, and maintaining open source project websites.

    45 Docusaurus alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Support for MarkDown
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  React
    4.  WYSIWYG Support
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  Works Offline
    7.  No Coding Required
    8.  Node.js hosting

    Docusaurus VS GitBook

     
    Comments about Docusaurus as an Alternative to GitBook
    BonZho
    Positive Aug 17, 2021
    0

    its Open Source and not Freemium like gitbook with pay plans and limitations, is mainteined for Facebook inc, Opensource projects.

    GitBook Icon
    Docusaurus icon
    • Docusaurus is Free and Open SourceGitBook is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Docusaurus is LightweightGitBook is not according to our users
  5. Wiki.js icon
     47 likes
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    Write your content in the widely used and simple Markdown format, using the built-in visual editor. Unlike other wiki software that save content in a database with a difficult to extract format, Wiki.js saves all your content directly into Markdown (.

    75 Wiki.js alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CA flagCanada

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron

    Wiki.js Features

    1.  Support for MarkDown
    2.  Built-in authentication
    3.  Wiki
    4.  Built-in search engine
    5.  Knowledge base
    6. Git icon  Git Support
    7.  WYSIWYG Support
    8.  Real time collaboration
    9.  Access Control

    Wiki.js VS GitBook

     
  6. MkDocs icon
     20 likes
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    MkDocs is static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file.

    63 MkDocs alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Python

    Properties

    1.  Support for Themes
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Support for MarkDown
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Ad-free

    MkDocs VS GitBook

     
  7. Archivy icon
     10 likes
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    A self-hosted knowledge repository that allows you to safely preserve useful content that contributes to your own personal, searchable and extensible wiki.

    57 Archivy alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Python
    • Nix Package Manager
    • Docker

    Archivy Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Support for MarkDown
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Knowledge base
    5. Node.js icon  Support for Node.js
    6.  LaTeX Math
    7.  Knowledge Management
    8.  Wiki

    Archivy VS GitBook

     
  8. VitePress icon
     6 likes
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    Simple, powerful, and fast. Meet the modern SSG framework you've always wanted.

    53 VitePress alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Node.JS
    • npm

    VitePress VS GitBook

     
  9. Blogdown icon
     3 likes
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    The goal of the blogdown package is to provide a powerful and customizable website output format for R Markdown. Use dynamic R Markdown documents to build webpages featuring:

    5 Blogdown alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted

    Blogdown VS GitBook

     
  10. Sphinx icon
     26 likes
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    Sphinx is a tool that makes it easy to create intelligent and beautiful documentation, written by Georg Brandl and licensed under the BSD license.

    46 Sphinx alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Python
    • Self-Hosted

    Sphinx VS GitBook

     
  11. Docsify.js icon
     15 likes
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    docsify generates your documentation website on the fly. Unlike GitBook, it does not generate static html files. Instead, it smartly loads and parses your Markdown files and displays them as website. All you need to do is create an index.

    47 Docsify.js alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted

    Docsify.js Features

    1.  Support for MarkDown
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  Client-side

    Docsify.js VS GitBook

     
    Comments about Docsify.js as an Alternative to GitBook
    Guest
    Positive Sep 23, 2019
    0

    Almost the same as GitBook

    GitBook Icon
    Docsify.js icon
    • Almost everyone thinks Docsify.js is a great GitBook alternative.

    • Docsify.js is Free and Open SourceGitBook is Freemium and Proprietary
  12. Bookdown icon
     4 likes
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    The bookdown package is a free and open-source R package built on top of R Markdown to make it really easy to write books and long-form articles/reports.

    11 Bookdown alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Java Mobile
    • Self-Hosted

    Bookdown Features

    1. LaTeX icon  Support for LaTeX
    2.  Support for MarkDown
    3.  Publishing

    Bookdown VS GitBook

     
12 of 30 GitBook alternatives