Free wikis split by who may edit: Confluence (10 users, no card) and Slab (10 users) give a real team wiki free; Notion is unlimited for one person and block-capped for a team; GitBook is free for one user publishing public docs; Nuclino stops at 50 items. The open-source options — Wiki.js (AGPL), BookStack (MIT), Docmost (AGPL), XWiki (LGPL), MediaWiki and DokuWiki (GPL) — have no caps if you host them. Slite and Tettra are trials now, Outline’s cloud is a 30-day trial and its code is BSL rather than open source, and Coda has become Superhuman Docs. Prices are USD and were checked on 24 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free wiki that fits
- A team wiki for up to ten people, hosted, no card: Confluence Free — ten users; or Slab Free, ten users with unlimited posts, 90-day history and SSO.
- Solo notes that may become a public page: Notion Free — unlimited for one person, one notion.site domain, 10 guests.
- Public product docs from one maintainer: GitBook Free — one user, public docs with uncapped traffic, no custom domain.
- A wiki you own, with Notion’s feel: Docmost (AGPL) or BookStack (MIT), self-hosted with no limits.
- Local-first personal knowledge: Obsidian — free without limits, no sign-up; Sync and Publish are paid.
Which knowledge base & wiki tools tools have a free plan in 2026?
Every tool below holds a knowledge base at no monthly cost with no end date. The hosted free tiers cap users (Confluence and Slab 10, GitBook 1, Notion effectively 1 for unlimited blocks), items (Nuclino 50) or features (Notion’s 7-day history, GitBook’s missing custom domain). The open-source tools cap nothing and ask for a server; their licences range from MIT (BookStack) through LGPL (XWiki) and GPL (MediaWiki, DokuWiki) to AGPL (Wiki.js, Docmost, Logseq).
Three hub-card names did not survive verification as free: Slite’s page shows a 14-day trial, Tettra a 30-day one, and Outline’s cloud is free for 30 days then read-only, with its code under the Business Source Licence rather than an open-source one; Outline’s self-hosted Community edition is listed as what it is. Confluence’s storage cap and Standard price come from a dated third-party article. Document360 and Guru quote only; HelpDocs is a trial.
The table shows the user or item cap, publishing and the Free Score. Open a row for storage, licence, the upgrade trigger and the page we checked.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C |
Free forever | 10 users · 2 GB (third-party) · no card | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| S |
Free forever | 10 users · unlimited posts · 90-day history · SSO | No | 82 | Scorecard ↓ |
| D |
Open source | Self-hosted · AGPL · unlimited spaces | No | 76 | Scorecard ↓ |
| N |
Free forever | Unlimited solo · team block cap · 10 guests · publish | No | 76 | Scorecard ↓ |
| B |
Open source | Self-hosted · MIT · books, chapters, pages | No | 74 | Scorecard ↓ |
| W |
Open source | Self-hosted · AGPL · Node.js | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Free forever | 1 user · public docs · no custom domain | No | 70 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Free forever | Free without limits · local · Sync & Publish paid | No | 68 | Scorecard ↓ |
| X |
Open source | Self-hosted · LGPL-2.1 · structured wiki | No | 68 | Scorecard ↓ |
| M |
Open source | Self-hosted · GPL-2 · Wikipedia’s engine | No | 62 | Scorecard ↓ |
| D |
Open source | Self-hosted · GPL-2 · no database | No | 60 | Scorecard ↓ |
| N |
Free forever | 50 items · 3 canvases · 2 GB | No | 58 | Scorecard ↓ |
| L |
Open source | Local-first outliner · AGPL | No | 56 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Startup program | On-prem $0, limited · cloud 30-day trial · BSL 1.1 | No | 44 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 24 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free wiki plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1C
Confluence FreeAustralia/US · free for up to ten users with no card; the storage cap and the Standard price come from a third partyFree forever10 users · 2 GB (third-party) · no cardNo card84⌄
- What’s free
- Free for up to 10 users, no credit card needed
- Hard limits
- 10 users · 2 GB file storage (third-party)
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No. ‘No credit card needed’ is stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- An eleventh user, more storage or support
- Cheapest paid step
- Standard from $6.40 per user a month (third-party; basis not stated)
- Best free for
- A small team, especially one already on Jira
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · atlassian.com/software/confluence/free; storage and Standard price from eesel.ai, 18 Jan 2026
2S
SlabUS · up to ten users plus guests with unlimited posts and topics, 10 MB attachments, 90-day version history, ten integrations and SSO, freeFree forever10 users · unlimited posts · 90-day history · SSONo card82⌄
- What’s free
- Free: up to 10 users plus guests, unlimited posts and topics, 10 MB attachments, 90-day version history, 30-day analytics, 10 standard integrations, SSO
- Hard limits
- 10 users · no private topics, AI or audit logs
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- An eleventh user or private topics
- Cheapest paid step
- Startup $6.67/user/month billed annually
- Best free for
- A small team that wants a polished internal wiki with real version history
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · slab.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. More stated features free than Confluence — history, SSO, analytics — from a vendor whose page actually says so; smaller ecosystem.
3D
DocmostCommunity · a self-managed Notion and Confluence alternative, free with unlimited spaces under AGPL-3.0; Business is $6 a seat with a ten-seat minimum and no cloud planOpen sourceSelf-hosted · AGPL · unlimited spacesNo card76⌄
- What’s free
- Community: free, self-managed, unlimited spaces
- Hard limits
- Self-hosted only — Docmost offers no cloud · enterprise features are separately licensed
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Enterprise features
- Cheapest paid step
- Business $6/seat/month, 10-seat minimum
- Best free for
- A team that wants Notion-style pages on its own server
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · docmost.com/pricing and GitHub (AGPL-3.0 core, separate enterprise licence for ee/ directories)
Why it ranks here. Modern, unlimited and self-hosted by design; friction is the server and the absence of any hosted option.
4N
NotionUS · unlimited pages and blocks for one person, limited for workspaces of two or more; publish to the web on a notion.site domain, 10 guests, 5 MB uploads, 7-day historyFree foreverUnlimited solo · team block cap · 10 guests · publishNo card76⌄
- What’s free
- $0 per member: pages and blocks unlimited for individuals, limited for 2+ members; publish pages to the web; 1 notion.site domain; a Notion AI trial
- Hard limits
- 10 external guests · 5 MB uploads · 7-day page history · a block limit for team workspaces whose number is not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- A team hitting the block limit, longer history, a custom domain or AI
- Cheapest paid step
- Plus $10/member/month (yearly saves up to 20%); custom domain add-on $8/month annual
- Best free for
- A founder’s wiki that becomes a small public site
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · notion.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. The most-used knowledge tool and a free tier that is unlimited for one person and quietly capped for two; 7-day history is the operational weakness.
5B
BookStackUK · fully free and open under MIT, with WYSIWYG and markdown editors and a full role and permission system; no official hosted versionOpen sourceSelf-hosted · MIT · books, chapters, pagesNo card74⌄
- What’s free
- Fully free and open; no cost to download and install; WYSIWYG and markdown editors; full role and permission system
- Hard limits
- None · no official hosted version · paid support plans exist
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None official
- Best free for
- Simple internal documentation in a book, chapter and page structure
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · bookstackapp.com (MIT)
Why it ranks here. The most permissive licence on the list and the simplest install; less flexible than Docmost or Wiki.js for free-form knowledge.
6W
Wiki.jsCanada · a modern Node.js wiki, fully free self-hosted under AGPL-3.0, with many authentication providersOpen sourceSelf-hosted · AGPL · Node.jsNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- The full self-hosted application: a modern, lightweight wiki on Node.js
- Hard limits
- None · version not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None; donations
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- A technical team that wants Git-backed pages and SSO
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · github.com/requarks/wiki (AGPL-3.0)
Why it ranks here. Powerful and developer-oriented; the Node stack is the friction for a non-technical team.
7G
GitBookFrance · free for one user publishing public documentation with uncapped traffic, site variants and custom logo, fonts and colours; a custom domain and collaborators are paidFree forever1 user · public docs · no custom domainNo card70⌄
- What’s free
- Free for individuals: 1 user, public docs with uncapped traffic, site variants, advanced customisation
- Hard limits
- 1 user · no custom domain · no private share links or authenticated access
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- A collaborator or a custom domain
- Cheapest paid step
- Essential $65 per site/month billed annually, plus $12 per extra user
- Best free for
- A solo maintainer publishing product or API docs
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · gitbook.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. The best free public-docs publisher for one person; the $65 step is the steepest here and GitBook itself is not open source.
8O
ObsidianCanada · free without limits and without sign-up, including commercial use; Sync is $4 a user and Publish $8 a siteFree foreverFree without limits · local · Sync & Publish paidNo card68⌄
- What’s free
- Free without limits, no sign-up required; a commercial licence is optional (‘you are not required to pay’)
- Hard limits
- None in the app · Sync and Publish are paid · not open source
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Sync across devices or publishing
- Cheapest paid step
- Sync $4/user/month annual; Publish $8/site/month annual; Commercial $50/user/year optional
- Best free for
- Personal, local-first notes that a team shares through a Git repo or a shared drive
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · obsidian.md/pricing
Why it ranks here. Unlimited and free for a person; a team wiki only with effort, since sharing is the paid part.
9X
XWikiFrance · an enterprise-grade structured wiki, free to download under LGPL-2.1; cloud Starter is per user with a 25-user cap and a price that could not be confirmedOpen sourceSelf-hosted · LGPL-2.1 · structured wikiNo card68⌄
- What’s free
- Community edition to set up yourself; free cloud hosting at Starter level plus Pro apps for open-source projects
- Hard limits
- None self-hosted · cloud Starter capped at 25 users with a blank price
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Cloud or support
- Cheapest paid step
- Cloud Starter per user billed yearly — amount blank on the page
- Best free for
- A company that wants structured data inside wiki pages
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · xwiki.com/en/pricing and GitHub (LGPL-2.1)
Why it ranks here. Deep and extensible; heavier to run and learn than BookStack or Docmost.
10M
MediaWikiUS (Wikimedia) · the engine behind Wikipedia, free under GPL version 2; the download page’s PHP requirement text looks legacy and should be checkedOpen sourceSelf-hosted · GPL-2 · Wikipedia’s engineNo card62⌄
- What’s free
- Free software under version 2 of the GNU General Public License
- Hard limits
- None · version and current requirements not clearly stated on the vendor page
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- A large public wiki with many contributors
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · mediawiki.org/wiki/Download (GPL v2)
Why it ranks here. Unmatched at scale and the wrong shape for a company handbook; markup and administration are heavy.
11D
DokuWikiGermany · a lightweight file-based wiki engine under GPL-2.0 that needs no database; details from its GitHub repositoryOpen sourceSelf-hosted · GPL-2 · no databaseNo card60⌄
- What’s free
- Open-source wiki engine
- Hard limits
- None
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- A small wiki on the cheapest possible hosting
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · github.com/dokuwiki
Why it ranks here. Runs anywhere PHP does, with an editing experience from another decade.
12N
NuclinoGermany · a fast, linked wiki with 50 items, three canvases and 2 GB free; the paid price could not be confirmedFree forever50 items · 3 canvases · 2 GBNo card58⌄
- What’s free
- Free: up to 50 items, up to 3 canvases, 2 GB storage, basic email support
- Hard limits
- 50 items · 3 canvases · 2 GB · user cap not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- The 51st item
- Cheapest paid step
- Starter per user/month — price not confirmed; yearly saves up to 25%
- Best free for
- A tiny team that values speed and linking over volume
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · nuclino.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Fifty items is a handbook, not a knowledge base.
13L
LogseqCommunity · a privacy-first open-source outliner for personal knowledge under AGPL-3.0; sync pricing not statedOpen sourceLocal-first outliner · AGPLNo card56⌄
- What’s free
- A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management
- Hard limits
- None · sync pricing not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None stated
- Cheapest paid step
- Not stated
- Best free for
- Personal, graph-style notes
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · github.com/logseq (AGPL-3.0)
Why it ranks here. A personal tool; scored at zero on the team job.
14O
Outline CommunityUS · the self-hosted Community edition is $0 with limited features and no support; the cloud is free for 30 days then read-only; the code is under BSL 1.1, not an open-source licenceStartup programOn-prem $0, limited · cloud 30-day trial · BSL 1.1No card44⌄
- What’s free
- On-prem Community edition at $0 with limited features and no support; cloud free for the first 30 days
- Hard limits
- Community features not itemised · cloud becomes read-only after 30 days without payment · Business Source Licence 1.1
- Time limit
- 30 days for cloud
- Card required
- Not required to start the cloud trial; required after.
- Upgrade trigger
- The cloud trial’s end
- Cheapest paid step
- Cloud $10/month for 1–10 members; on-prem Business $4/user/month annual, 10-user minimum
- Best free for
- Self-hosters who accept a source-available licence and unspecified limits
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · getoutline.com/pricing and GitHub (BSL 1.1)
Why it ranks here. Excellent product, misdescribed as open source almost everywhere; listed to correct that.
Which free wiki has no credit-card requirement?
Confluence states no card; Obsidian needs no sign-up; the open-source tools need nothing. Slab, Notion, GitBook, Nuclino and XWiki do not state it. Outline’s cloud asks for a card after 30 days; Tettra’s trial, excluded, needs one to continue. Nothing here auto-converts except Outline’s cloud, which goes read-only rather than charging.
The licence is the condition for the self-hosted tools: AGPL (Wiki.js, Docmost, Logseq) obliges you to share modifications of a hosted service, GPL (MediaWiki, DokuWiki) covers distribution, MIT (BookStack) and LGPL (XWiki) are light, and BSL (Outline) is not open source at all.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free wiki fits your situation?
Team of ten on Jira
Confluence Free.
Team of ten, wants history and SSO
Slab Free.
Founder, may publish pages
Notion Free.
Public docs, one maintainer
GitBook Free.
Own server, Notion-like
Docmost.
Own server, simplest
BookStack.
Personal notes
Obsidian.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, keeping a team’s documentation in one searchable place that several people can edit, and optionally publishing some of it. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 24 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections to the Kurums editorial team.
How did we verify these free tiers?
We opened each vendor’s pricing or product page and, for open-source projects, the repository, and recorded user, item and storage caps, publishing, version history, licence and the paid step. Confluence’s storage cap and Standard price are cited from a January 2026 third-party article; Nuclino’s and XWiki’s paid prices could not be confirmed; DokuWiki’s details come from its repository; Coda redirects to Superhuman Docs and its limits are third-party, so it is not scored as a row. Slite and Tettra were excluded as trial-only; Document360 and Guru as quote-only; HelpDocs as a trial.
Prices are USD.
Frequently asked questions
Which wiki is free for a team?
Confluence (10 users, no card) and Slab (10 users, unlimited posts, 90-day history) are the hosted options. Docmost, BookStack, Wiki.js and XWiki have no user cap if you self-host.
Is Notion free for a team?
Notion is free with unlimited blocks for one person; workspaces of two or more have a block limit the page does not quantify, 10 guests and 7-day page history.
Is Outline open source?
No. Outline’s repository uses the Business Source Licence 1.1, which is source-available. Its self-hosted Community edition is $0 with limited features; its cloud is free for 30 days.
Is Slite free?
Slite’s pricing page shows a 14-day trial of Basic and Pro with no card and no permanent free plan; Basic is $10 a user a month billed yearly.
Which open-source wiki is easiest to run?
BookStack (MIT) installs on ordinary PHP hosting with no database tricks; DokuWiki needs no database at all; Docmost and Wiki.js want Docker or Node.
Can I publish public docs free?
Yes — GitBook (one user, uncapped traffic, no custom domain) and Notion (one notion.site domain) publish free; a self-hosted BookStack or Docmost publishes on your own domain.
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