Encyclopaedia Britannica vs Wikipedia
Encyclopaedia Britannica
britannica.com
Wikipedia
wikipedia.orgSide by side
| Figure | Encyclopaedia Britannica | Wikipedia |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Spec score · Online Encyclopedias | 8.8 (#2) | 8.3 (#6) |
| Company founding | LinkedIn states that Encyclopaedia Britannica was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. | The Wikimedia Foundation says it was founded in 2003. |
| Company headquarters and size | LinkedIn lists Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. as privately held, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with 201–500 employees. | Crunchbase lists San Francisco, California headquarters and an employee range of 501–1,000. |
| Founded | 1768 | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, United States | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Support | Customer support is available by phone, Monday through Friday, with listed hours varying by support inquiry. | The Android app listing provides the support email [email protected]. |
| System requirements | Britannica recommends current Chrome 52+, Firefox 45+, Edge 25+ or Safari 9.1+; some multimedia requires Windows Media Player 12 and Adobe Acrobat Reader 11.0.12 or newer. | A MediaWiki installation requires a web server, PHP and a database server; command-line access is needed for maintenance scripts. |
| What it does | Britannica provides digital encyclopedias, education products, curriculum resources, language-learning tools and reference content for students, educators, libraries and lifelong learners. | Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia created and maintained through volunteer collaboration using MediaWiki. |
Plans
Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Free accessFree
- Free accessFree
- Britannica Education institutional subscriptionPriced on request
- Britannica PremiumPriced on request
- Encyclopaedia Britannica PremiumPriced on request
In their own words
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica is a web-based encyclopedia and reference service, with limited digital content available to visitors without a premium membership. Premium membership unlocks unlimited, ad-free access to more than 130,000 fact-checked articles, along with more than 60,000 images and videos, maps, infographics, and illustrations. Learning materials include biographies, quizzes, games, topic roundups, and homework help. Members also receive limited-run newsletters, e-books, and digital access to content from Britannica’s first edition. Britannica lists citation tools, educator resources, institutional access, and multimedia and interactive formats. Kids content requires a premium membership. A free access plan is listed at free. Premium pricing is available on request; Britannica also offers monthly memberships and academic and corporate subscriptions. Monthly members can cancel at any time. Customer support is available by phone on weekdays, with hours varying by inquiry. Founded in 1768, Britannica is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia available on the web and through mobile apps, with editions in hundreds of languages, including editions with over one million articles. Volunteer editors create and revise content, check facts, cite sources, discuss entries, and moderate the encyclopedia. The Wikimedia Foundation hosts and protects Wikipedia, while editorial decisions are made by volunteers. The Foundation says the service is available without advertising or paywalls and is funded mainly by donations, not advertising, subscriptions, or sales of users’ personal data. The official Android app supports searching articles, changing languages, saving reading lists for offline use, and adjusting themes and text size. Its listing says the app has no ads, does not track or collect data, and encrypts data in transit. MediaWiki provides a REST API for interacting with installations including Wikipedia. The Foundation publishes a privacy policy, says it prioritizes speed, reliability, and availability during traffic spikes, and publishes transparency reports twice a year. Its financial statements are independently audited annually. Wikipedia is free at free.