Choosing the Best Wiki for Your Needs

Wikis are rapidly becoming commonplace as educational tools - and with good reason! Wikis make it easy to collaborate and share information, in a relatively simple format.

But if you’re the one charged with setting up a wiki for your company, school, or classroom, there are several factors to consider - such as ease of set up, user accounts, page versions, syntax, attachments, and a lot more.

Here, I’ll list some of the most popular wiki platforms on the market today, along with some pros and cons, so you can pick the best wiki for your needs.

Compare Them All

First of all, there are several wiki comparison tools available on the web already. Check out:

Wikipedia’s List of Wiki Software
Wikipedia’s Comparison of Wiki Software
WikiMatrix
Cunningham & Cunningham’s list sorted by engine

Oh my! That’s a lot of wikis to sort through! So I’ve done a bit of the grunt work for you.

Easiest to Install / Set Up / Start Using Out of the Box

Want to start using it right away? These are your best bets.

pbWiki [http://pbwiki.com] (hat tip to Wes Fryer, thanks!)

I tried this one - set up took me about 5 minutes total. Wow. Check out mine: [http://edtechhacks.pbwiki.com]

Pros: super-easy setup, hosted, no ads on educational version, page history and multiple user support

Cons: must pay for more features, advertising on non-educational wikis

Wikispaces [http://www.wikispaces.com]

Another one I tried - super-easy as well. Good for a plain, no-frills wiki. See mine: [http://edtechhacks.wikispaces.com]

Pros: very easy to set up, hosted, page history and discussion pages, notification options, WYSIWYG editing

Cons: ad-supported (but less obtrusive than some, can get k-12 ad-free), few customization options

Best Multi-User Support

Using your wiki to collaborate? Keep in mind page revisions and user accounts - and check out these wikis.

MediaWiki [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki]

The wiki engine behind Wikipedia. If you’re an active Wikipedia user, this platform will feel very familiar.

Pros: can view page revisions/history, support for multiple users, well-documented support, open source, free

Cons: requires hosting (Apache or IIS), a bit complicated to set up (PHP and SQL knowledge a plus)

ScribbleWiki [http://www.scribblewiki.com]

Powered by the MediaWiki engine, ScribbleWiki offers a hosted version. Here’s mine: [http://edtechhacks.scribblewiki.com]

Pros: free, can view page revisions/history, support for multiple users, hosted

Cons: ad-supported

DocuWiki [http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki]

Targeted towards software developers and collaborative workgroups, this platform has it all for multi-user support.

Pros: open source, free, section editing, revision history and locking features

Cons: requires hosting, WYSIWYG option as plug-in only (not automatically included)

Simplest Syntax / WYSIWYG Support

Want the easiest possible editing of your pages? Take a look at these.

WetPaint [http://www.wetpaint.com]

Very simple point-and-click editing. Nice array of features too. I made a test of this one too; see it in action here: [http://edtechhacks.wetpaint.com]

Pros: support for multiple users and page history, site analytics, widgets, pre-set themes, easy WYSIWYG editor, hosted

Cons: ad-supported (google text ads all over the place - but can apply for an education wiki if you meet certain criteria), orientation demos are a bit much for experienced wiki users, but great for beginners

StikiPad [http://www.stikipad.com]

Supports formatting in Textile and CamelCase; very simple documentation.

Pros: uses wiki-standard syntax, simple set-up, clean interface, no advertising (except for StikiPad itself)

Cons: limited configuration on free version