MediaWiki vs Miraheze

MediaWiki is free, server-based wiki software for collecting, organizing, and sharing knowledge. Contributors edit pages in wikitext without needing HTML or CSS, and previous page versions remain available for reverting. Administrators can customize appearance and behavior with extensions; caching supports large, high-traffic wikis. Its REST API provides HTTP access to wiki content and functions such as search, page transformations, and history, with JSON or HTML output and extension-specific endpoints. MediaWiki is self-hosted under GNU GPL version 2 or later and is provided without warranty to the extent permitted by law. The latest stable version requires PHP 8.3.0 or later, a web server, and MariaDB 10.3.0+, MySQL 5.7.0+, PostgreSQL 10.0+, or SQLite 3.31.0+. Each release receives security updates for one year, and developers recommend subscribing to the low-traffic mediawiki-announce list. Third-party extensions may be unmaintained, vulnerable, incompatible with some versions, or unreliable together. Documentation, FAQs, community channels, and a support desk are available through the MediaWiki site.

Miraheze provides free wiki hosting on the web using MediaWiki. Hosted wikis do not feature ads, and administrators can configure almost every aspect through a self-service interface. Users can choose and configure more than 300 extensions and skins, add a custom domain at no charge, and use VisualEditor without a separate fee. Miraheze offers help from a team of MediaWiki experts. Its stated use cases include technology, games, entertainment, science, and education wikis. The service supports role permissions, revision history, media uploads, and API access. Miraheze describes its code as open source and links to its GitHub organization, whose profile identifies the WikiTide Foundation as operator. The Free wiki hosting plan costs nothing and includes hosting, 300+ extensions and skins, custom domains, and VisualEditor. Its privacy policy says registration and usage details may be collected.