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Ask HN: Which Wiki to use?

9 points by eisokant ↗ HN
I am looking to setup a Wiki for my startup´s API similar to: http://apiwiki.twitter.com/. However PBWiki is far out of our price range (4$-8$ per user) which free opensource (preferably PHP) or other lowcost solution would you recommend?

21 comments

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yan
php? MediaWiki.
bjclark
MediaWiki is a ghetto, FYI.

Once you go MediaWiki, you will never be able to leave. Why? As far as I know, no one has ever been able to duplicate the parser in any other language.

cabalamat
I use MediaWiki because I'm familiar with it and it's feature-rich. Really, you should use one that you know, understand, and like.
dawie
Jotspot, now Google Wiki http://sites.google.com/?hl=en&tab=w3&pli=1
abl
I second Google Sites, because it is very easy to use and has a good WYSIWYG. However, it has its limitations and google tech support is not very good through their forums. The premium version is costly and does not appear to provide any significant benefits on top of the free version.

Anyone know of any google sites worth looking at for their design?

izak30
If you're a startup (2 people or less) Fogbugz is free and comes with wiki software. If there's more than two of you, then if PBwiki is expensive..fogbugz is much more so.
eisokant
Thank you - we want to let the users be allowed to edit the Wiki - hence we're looking for no limit on users. MediaWiki is starting to look more and more attractive but it's just so visually cluttered for my liking.
anand
We just recently looked at a few options and pbwiki beats them all. WYSIWYG and elegant.

It seems ultra expensive but you can negotiate a pretty dope rate. We got $100/year for unlimited users and stuff. Call that 1-888 number and work that magic!

http://bumptop.pbwiki.com/ is ours

eisokant
Thank you! I am going to do that!
bluelu
Twiki looks really nice. I could however not get it to work with the beta of lighttpd (script hang at setup screen).
jwilliams
There are lots of options.

If you want to get going quickly, get a Virtual Machine (Virtual Appliance) that is already configured for the Wiki. There are good TWiki and MediaWiki images available that will get you going in no time flat. http://www.vmware.com/appliances/ - http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/53 - http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/839 - etc - etc

Long term - only advice I can give is to stick with the technology set you know. I've seen MediaWiki go into lots of corporates and fail as it's impossible (for them) to integrate and maintain. Confluence (Java+Oracle) is usually a better option in that case... For you it would seem MediaWiki is the best shot.

lowkey
Simple, easy, fun, open-source, php, double-click to edit Try Wikka Wiki
kenton
OS X Server's wiki is fairly impressive with no recurring costs
dweekly
Note that for publicly editable wikis (like BarCamp, for instance), PBwiki does not charge for folks outside your organization. (Otherwise BarCamp would owe us tens of thousands of dollars a month they don't have!) You'll only have to pay for as many people are using the wiki at your startup.