CanvasWiki vs. ikiwiki vs. Instiki

General Features CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Version
1.2.101
2.67
0.30.0
Last Release Date
2006-06-15 (19 years ago)
2008-10-17 (17 years ago)
2019-03-01 (7 years ago)
Last Update here
2008-09-01 (17 years ago)
2008-10-28 (17 years ago)
2019-03-04 (7 years ago)
Author
Raymond Camden
Joey Hess and the ikiwiki community
David Heinemeier Hansson, Jacques Distler, Matthias Tarasiewicz
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
Apache
GPL
Ruby's
Programming Language
ColdFusion
Perl
Ruby on Rails
Data Storage
Database
Files, RCS
Database
License Cost/ Fee
0
0
0
Development status
Mature
Mature
Mature
Intended Audience
Mildly technical
Anyone
general, education
System Requirements CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Operating System
Windows, Linux, Solaris
Any
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X
Root Access
No
No
No
Webserver
Apache, IIS
Any, or none
Thin (included), or Apache/NGinx (via Passenger)
Other Requirements
ColdFusion MX
Ruby 2.0-2.6
Datastorage CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Text Files
Unknown
Yes
No
MySQL
Yes
No
Yes
PostgreSQL
Unknown
No
Yes
Oracle
Unknown
No
Plugin
SQLite
Unknown
No
Yes
BerkeleyDB
Unknown
No
No
RCS
Unknown
Yes
No
Other
Access, SQL Server
Any Rails-compatible back-end datastore can be used.
Security/Anti-Spam CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Page Permissions
No
Yes
Yes
ACL
No
Yes
No
Authentication Backends
Built-in, HTTP auth, OpenID; extensible via plugins
Host Blocking
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Mail Encryption
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
nofollow
Unknown
No
Unknown
Blacklist
Unknown
Yes
Yes
CAPTCHA
Unknown
No
Unknown
Delayed Indexing
Unknown
No
Unknown
Development/Support CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
No
No
No
Code Repository
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
Stars on GitHub
N/A
N/A
506 ⭐
Common Features CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Preview
Unknown
Yes
No
Minor Changes
Unknown
No
Yes
Change Summary
Yes
Yes
No
Page History
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page Revisions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Revision Diffs
Between all
Between all
Sitemap
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Plugin System
No
Yes
No
Special Features CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Unicode Support
No
Yes
Yes
Right-to-Left Support
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Interface Languages
0
1
English
1
English
Email notification
Unknown
Yes
No
Comments
Discussion Pages
No
Categories
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Namespaces
Unknown
Yes
No
Conflict Handling
Conflict Resolution
Page Locking
Concurrent Editing
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Structured Data
Unknown
Unknown
No
Links CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
CamelCase
Yes
Plugin
Optional
Freelinks
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Backlinks
Unknown
Yes
Yes
InterWiki
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
SisterWiki
Unknown
Plugin
No
Image Links
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Windows Shares
Unknown
Yes
No
Page Redirects
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Syntax Features CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
HTML Tags
Optional
All
Math formulas
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Tables
simple + complex
simple + complex
CREOLE support
Unknown
No
No
Markdown Support
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Textile Support
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
BBCode Support
Unknown
No
No
Emoticon Images
Unknown
Plugin
No
Syntax Highlighting
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Footnotes
Unknown
No
Yes
Quoting
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Internal Comments
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Custom styles
Unknown
Yes
Yes
FAQ Tags
Unknown
Yes
No
Scripting
safe subset of HTML::Template supported via template plugin
None
Content Includes
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Feed Aggregation
Unknown
Plugin
No
Usability CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Section Editing
Unknown
No
No
Page Templates
No
Yes
No
Double-Click Edit
Unknown
No
No
Toolbar
Unknown
No
No
WYSIWYG Editing
Unknown
No
No
Access Keys
Unknown
No
Yes
Auto Signature
Unknown
No
Yes
Statistics CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Recent Changes
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Wanted Pages
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Orphaned Pages
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Most/Least Popular
Unknown
No
No
Recent Visitors
Unknown
No
No
Analysis
Unknown
No
No
Output CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Printer Friendly
Print CSS
Print View
Mobile Friendly
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Themes & Skins
Unknown
Yes
No
RSS Feeds
Unknown
Plugin
No
ATOM Feeds
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Abbreviations
Unknown
No
Yes
Auto-TOC
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Raw Export
Unknown
Yes
Yes
HTML Export
Unknown
Yes
Yes
XML export
Unknown
No
No
PDF Export
Unknown
No
No
Office Export
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Media and Files CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
File Attachments
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Media Revisions
Unknown
Yes
No
Embedded Flash
Unknown
Optional
No
Embedded Video
Unknown
Optional
Yes
Image Editing
Unknown
No
No
SVG Editing
Unknown
No
Yes
MindMap Editing
Unknown
No
No
Media Search
Filenames only
No
Extras CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Calendar
Unknown
Plugin
No
Image Galleries
Unknown
Plugin
No
Presentations
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Forums
Unknown
Unknown
No
Blogs
Unknown
Yes
No
Ticket System
Unknown
Yes
No
Chat
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Examples CanvasWiki ikiwiki Instiki
Internal Link
[[internal]]
[[Some Page]]
[[Some Page|anchor text]]
[[Some Page#anchor]]
[[Some Page#anchor|anchor text]]
External Link
[link text](http://example.org)
[another site](http://example.com)
Headlines
Two syntaxes:

# heading 1
## heading 2
### heading 3

heading 1
=========

heading 2
---------
#Level 1#
##Level 2##
###Level 3###
####Level 4####
#####Level 5#####
######Level 6######
Bold Format
**bold**
__bold__
**bold**
Italics Format
*emphasized*
_emphasized_
_italic_, *italic*
Underline Format
via HTML: <u>underlined</u>
underlined
{: style='text-decoration:underlined'}
Monospace Format
`inline monospace`

indented block of
monospaced text

tab-indented
block
`monospace`
Strikethrough Format
via HTML: <del>deleted</del>
<del>strikethrough</del>
strikethrough
{: style='text-decoration:line-through'}
Superscript Format
via HTML: x<sup>2</sup>
<sup>superscript</sup>
Subscript Format
via HTML: a<sub>1</sub>
<sub>subscript</sub>
Images
![alt text](internal/image)
![alt text](http://example.org/external/image)
![alt text](http://ex.com/image.jpg),
[[image.jpg|alt text:pic]]
Aligning Text
p{: style='text-align:left'}
p{: style='text-align:right'}
p{: style='text-align:center'}
p{: style='text-align:justify'}
Text Indentation
p
{: style='margin-left:3em'}

> blockquote
Bulleted Lists
* item 1
* item 2
* item 2.1
* item 2.2
* Item 1
** Item 1.1
* Item 2
Numbered Lists
1. item 1
2. item 2
1. item 1.1
42. the value doesn't matter
1. any value works
1. Item 1
1. Item 1.1
2. Item 2
Definition Lists
via HTML:
<dl>
<dt>term</dt>
<dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
term
: definition
Horizontal Rule
---
***
___
------------------
Any number > 3
- - - - - - - - - -
spaces don't matter
***
remove CanvasWiki remove ikiwiki remove Instiki