BookStack
BookStack is a simple, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organising and storing information. Built on PHP with the Laravel framework and licensed under MIT, BookStack takes a uniquely intuitive approach to wiki content by organising it into three real-world concepts: Books, Chapters, and Pages. This hierarchy makes documentation feel natural and discoverable, unlike traditional wikis with complex namespace structures.
With 18,000+ stars on GitHub and a thriving community, BookStack has become a go-to documentation platform for teams that value simplicity. Its clean WYSIWYG editor and optional Markdown support make it accessible to both technical and non-technical users.
Key Features
- Simple three-tier hierarchy — Content organised as Books → Chapters → Pages for intuitive navigation and discoverability.
- WYSIWYG page editor — Rich visual editor with optional Markdown mode and live preview for flexible authoring.
- Built-in diagrams.net drawing — Create and edit diagrams directly within the page editor without external tools.
- Full-text search — Search at book level or across all content with instant results and paragraph-level linking.
- Role-based permissions — Granular access control at book, chapter, and page level with custom roles and user groups.
- Multi-factor authentication — TOTP-based MFA (Google/Microsoft Authenticator, Authy) with per-role enforcement.
- Multi-language — Full interface localisation with 50+ languages including EN, FR, DE, ES, IT, JA, NL, PL, RU.
- Light and dark themes — User-configurable light and dark mode for comfortable reading in any environment.
- Integrated authentication — Supports OIDC, SAML2, LDAP, and social login providers alongside standard email/password.
Why Use BookStack?
BookStack’s defining philosophy is simplicity. Where other wikis throw complex namespace hierarchies and syntax at you, BookStack’s book-shelf metaphor just makes sense. Content is organised the same way you’d organise physical books on a shelf. The built-in diagrams.net integration means you never need to switch tools for architecture diagrams or flowcharts. It runs on modest hardware (a £2.50 VPS is plenty), making it one of the most accessible self-hosted documentation platforms available.
Use Cases
- Team documentation — Internal knowledge bases, process documentation, and technical manuals
- IT documentation — System architecture, configuration guides, and operations runbooks
- Educational resources — Course materials, tutorials, and collaborative learning spaces
- Personal knowledge base — Personal wiki with clean, structured organisation
Platform
Linux · macOS · Windows · Docker
Licence
MIT License