BookStack vs CompassDocs
BookStack
bookstackapp.com
CompassDocs
compassdocs.ioSide by side
| Figure | BookStack | CompassDocs |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | £37.50/mo | $8/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · HR Knowledge Base Software | 9.0 (#2) | 9.3 (#1) |
| Editor | The page editor provides a WYSIWYG interface, with an optional Markdown editor that includes live preview. | Documents can be edited in rich text or Markdown, with AI proofreading and support for diagrams, tables, checklists, and embeds. |
| Security | BookStack supports CSP headers to increase protection against malicious content and stores MFA secrets encrypted in the database. | The feature page states that credentials and backups are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, session tokens are hashed, and login throttling and security headers are included. |
| Support | Official paid support services are provided by HTTP Functions Ltd., while community support is available through discussions, Codeberg, Reddit, documentation and YouTube. | The Community plan includes GitHub community support, while Enterprise offers optional dedicated support with a 48-hour response commitment for $3,000 per year. |
Plans
BookStack
- BookStack self-hostedFree
- Community SupportFree
- Professional Support Plan£450 a year
- Enterprise Support Plan£4,500 a year
CompassDocs
- CommunityFree
- Cloud$8 a month
- Enterprise$599 a year
- Enterprise dedicated support add-on$3,000 a year
In their own words
BookStack
BookStack is a free, open-source platform for organizing and storing information on a self-hosted instance. It organizes content into Books, Chapters and Pages, with a WYSIWYG editor and an optional Markdown editor with live preview. Search works within a book or across books, chapters and pages, and users can link directly to paragraphs. The editor includes diagrams.net drawing capability. Authentication supports OIDC, SAML2 and LDAP, as well as social-based secondary authentication options. Built-in multi-factor authentication can be enforced by role and uses TOTP and static backup codes. Content exports include contained HTML, PDF, plain text, Markdown and Portable ZIP. The project describes a growing REST API for automation and importing content. The MIT-licensed software has no cost to download and install. Setup requires PHP 8.2 or newer, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or newer, Git, Composer 2.2 or newer and a PHP-compatible web server. BookStack does not currently support shared PHP hosting. Community support is free but does not assure a response, support or resolution; paid support plans are also listed.
CompassDocs
CompassDocs is a self-hosted team knowledge base for writing, organizing, and searching SOPs, technical documentation, policies, and internal reference material. Staff can ask plain-English questions about documents and receive answers with inline citations; without an AI key, the product instead uses keyword search. Documents can be edited in rich text or Markdown, with AI proofreading and support for diagrams, tables, checklists, and embeds. Viewer, Editor, Approver, and Admin roles, custom roles, private spaces, and an optional review queue govern access and publishing. Integrations include a Claude connector, Microsoft 365 and Entra sync, Google Workspace directory sync, and notifications through Webex, Teams, Slack, email, or webhooks. Teams can run it with Docker or install Node.js and PostgreSQL manually. Self-hosted backups can be scheduled, restored, and mirrored to off-site storage. Community is free and self-hosted; Enterprise is $599 a year. A Cloud plan at $8 a month per user is listed as coming soon, not yet launched.