Instiki vs. CanvasWiki vs. ikiwiki

General Features Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Version
0.30.0
1.2.101
2.67
Last Release Date
2019-03-01 (7 years ago)
2006-06-15 (20 years ago)
2008-10-17 (17 years ago)
Last Update here
2019-03-04 (7 years ago)
2008-09-01 (17 years ago)
2008-10-28 (17 years ago)
Author
David Heinemeier Hansson, Jacques Distler, Matthias Tarasiewicz
Raymond Camden
Joey Hess and the ikiwiki community
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
Ruby's
Apache
GPL
Programming Language
Ruby on Rails
ColdFusion
Perl
Data Storage
Database
Database
Files, RCS
License Cost/ Fee
0
0
0
Development status
Mature
Mature
Mature
Intended Audience
general, education
Mildly technical
Anyone
System Requirements Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Operating System
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X
Windows, Linux, Solaris
Any
Root Access
No
No
No
Webserver
Thin (included), or Apache/NGinx (via Passenger)
Apache, IIS
Any, or none
Other Requirements
Ruby 2.0-2.6
ColdFusion MX
Datastorage Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Text Files
No
Unknown
Yes
MySQL
Yes
Yes
No
PostgreSQL
Yes
Unknown
No
Oracle
Plugin
Unknown
No
SQLite
Yes
Unknown
No
BerkeleyDB
No
Unknown
No
RCS
No
Unknown
Yes
Other
Any Rails-compatible back-end datastore can be used.
Access, SQL Server
Security/Anti-Spam Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Page Permissions
Yes
No
Yes
ACL
No
No
Yes
Authentication Backends
Built-in, HTTP auth, OpenID; extensible via plugins
Host Blocking
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Mail Encryption
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
nofollow
Unknown
Unknown
No
Blacklist
Yes
Unknown
Yes
CAPTCHA
Unknown
Unknown
No
Delayed Indexing
Unknown
Unknown
No
Development/Support Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
No
No
No
Code Repository
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
Stars on GitHub
508 ⭐
N/A
N/A
Common Features Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Preview
No
Unknown
Yes
Minor Changes
Yes
Unknown
No
Change Summary
No
Yes
Yes
Page History
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page Revisions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Revision Diffs
Between all
Between all
Sitemap
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin System
No
No
Yes
Special Features Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Unicode Support
Yes
No
Yes
Right-to-Left Support
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Interface Languages
1
English
0
1
English
Email notification
No
Unknown
Yes
Comments
No
Discussion Pages
Categories
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Namespaces
No
Unknown
Yes
Conflict Handling
Page Locking
Conflict Resolution
Concurrent Editing
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Structured Data
No
Unknown
Unknown
Links Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
CamelCase
Optional
Yes
Plugin
Freelinks
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Backlinks
Yes
Unknown
Yes
InterWiki
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
SisterWiki
No
Unknown
Plugin
Image Links
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Windows Shares
No
Unknown
Yes
Page Redirects
Yes
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Features Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
HTML Tags
All
Optional
Math formulas
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Tables
simple + complex
simple + complex
CREOLE support
No
Unknown
No
Markdown Support
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Textile Support
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
BBCode Support
No
Unknown
No
Emoticon Images
No
Unknown
Plugin
Syntax Highlighting
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Footnotes
Yes
Unknown
No
Quoting
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Internal Comments
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Custom styles
Yes
Unknown
Yes
FAQ Tags
No
Unknown
Yes
Scripting
None
safe subset of HTML::Template supported via template plugin
Content Includes
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Feed Aggregation
No
Unknown
Plugin
Usability Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Section Editing
No
Unknown
No
Page Templates
No
No
Yes
Double-Click Edit
No
Unknown
No
Toolbar
No
Unknown
No
WYSIWYG Editing
No
Unknown
No
Access Keys
Yes
Unknown
No
Auto Signature
Yes
Unknown
No
Statistics Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Recent Changes
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Wanted Pages
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Orphaned Pages
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Most/Least Popular
No
Unknown
No
Recent Visitors
No
Unknown
No
Analysis
No
Unknown
No
Output Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Printer Friendly
Print View
Print CSS
Mobile Friendly
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Themes & Skins
No
Unknown
Yes
RSS Feeds
No
Unknown
Plugin
ATOM Feeds
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Abbreviations
Yes
Unknown
No
Auto-TOC
Yes
Unknown
Plugin
Raw Export
Yes
Unknown
Yes
HTML Export
Yes
Unknown
Yes
XML export
No
Unknown
No
PDF Export
No
Unknown
No
Office Export
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Media and Files Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
File Attachments
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Media Revisions
No
Unknown
Yes
Embedded Flash
No
Unknown
Optional
Embedded Video
Yes
Unknown
Optional
Image Editing
No
Unknown
No
SVG Editing
Yes
Unknown
No
MindMap Editing
No
Unknown
No
Media Search
No
Filenames only
Extras Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Calendar
No
Unknown
Plugin
Image Galleries
No
Unknown
Plugin
Presentations
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Forums
No
Unknown
Unknown
Blogs
No
Unknown
Yes
Ticket System
No
Unknown
Yes
Chat
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Examples Instiki CanvasWiki ikiwiki
Internal Link
[[Some Page]]
[[Some Page|anchor text]]
[[Some Page#anchor]]
[[Some Page#anchor|anchor text]]
[[internal]]
External Link
[another site](http://example.com)
[link text](http://example.org)
Headlines
#Level 1#
##Level 2##
###Level 3###
####Level 4####
#####Level 5#####
######Level 6######
Two syntaxes:

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

heading 1
=========

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

indented block of
monospaced text

tab-indented
block
Strikethrough Format
<del>strikethrough</del>
strikethrough
{: style='text-decoration:line-through'}
via HTML: <del>deleted</del>
Superscript Format
<sup>superscript</sup>
via HTML: x<sup>2</sup>
Subscript Format
<sub>subscript</sub>
via HTML: a<sub>1</sub>
Images
![alt text](http://ex.com/image.jpg),
[[image.jpg|alt text:pic]]
![alt text](internal/image)
![alt text](http://example.org/external/image)
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 1.1
* Item 2
* item 1
* item 2
* item 2.1
* item 2.2
Numbered Lists
1. Item 1
1. Item 1.1
2. Item 2
1. item 1
2. item 2
1. item 1.1
42. the value doesn't matter
1. any value works
Definition Lists
term
: definition
via HTML:
<dl>
<dt>term</dt>
<dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
Horizontal Rule
***
---
***
___
------------------
Any number > 3
- - - - - - - - - -
spaces don't matter
remove Instiki remove CanvasWiki remove ikiwiki