PhpWiki vs. ProWiki vs. PmWiki vs. Foswiki vs. ikiwiki

General Features PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Version
phpwiki-1.3.14
2.0.045
2.7.3
2.1.11
2.67
Last Release Date
2007-07-01 (19 years ago)
2006-10-14 (19 years ago)
2026-07-26 (1 day ago)
2026-03-15 (4 months ago)
2008-10-17 (17 years ago)
Last Update here
2009-04-03 (17 years ago)
2009-11-28 (16 years ago)
2026-07-26 (1 day ago)
2026-03-15 (4 months ago)
2008-10-28 (17 years ago)
Author
Steve Wainstead, Jeff Dairiki, Reini Urban, Carsten Klapp, Marc-Etienne Vargenau
Helmut Leitner
Petko Yotov (Original author: Patrick R. Michaud)
Foswiki Community
Joey Hess and the ikiwiki community
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
GPL
GPL
GPL2+
GPL
GPL
Programming Language
PHP
Perl
PHP
Perl
Perl
Data Storage
Database, Files, RCS
Files
Files
Files, RCS
Files, RCS
License Cost/ Fee
0
0
0
$0
0
Development status
Mature
Mature
Mature
Mature
Mature
Intended Audience
Any
individual Wiki projects, everybody who needs more than a single wiki for a single purpose
All
Enterprise, Corporate, Business, Intranets, Personal use, Community building, Educational, Intranet, Extranet
Anyone
System Requirements PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Operating System
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X, probably others
Unix / Linux
Linux, UNIX, Windows, MacOS X, probably others
Linux, Windows, OS-X and others
Any
Root Access
No
No
No
No
No
Webserver
Apache, IIS, anything with PHP support
Apache (probably anything supporting CGI)
Apache, IIS, anything with PHP support. Can also be run with PHP's built-in webserver.
Apache, Lighttpd, Nginx, or any other supporting (F)CGI
Any, or none
Other Requirements
various opt. helpers
none
none
RCS (optional), cron/scheduler, fgrep, egrep; Plugins may have additional dependencies
Datastorage PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Text Files
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
MySQL
Yes
No
Plugin
No
No
PostgreSQL
Yes
No
No
No
No
Oracle
Yes
No
No
No
No
SQLite
Yes
No
Plugin
No
No
BerkeleyDB
Yes
No
No
No
No
RCS
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Other
gdbm, cvs, MSSQL, ... (ADODB, PearDB)
Compressed, XML and/or ephemeral files (modules). Can provide custom data backends.
caching of content into database using plugins
Security/Anti-Spam PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Page Permissions
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACL
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Authentication Backends
db, session, pop, imap, ldap, file, webserver
Internal: per page, per group, per user, per user group. External: .htpasswd, LDAP, Active Directory. Plugins: Mailman, forums w/MySQL, oAuth, custom possible.
Internal authentication; anything Apache supports such as LDAP, NIS, AD, Kerberos
Built-in, HTTP auth, OpenID; extensible via plugins
Host Blocking
No
Yes
Optional
Plugin
Yes
Mail Encryption
No
No
Optional
Yes
Yes
nofollow
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Blacklist
Yes
Yes
Optional
Plugin
Yes
CAPTCHA
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Delayed Indexing
No
No
Optional
Plugin
No
Development/Support PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Code Repository
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
#phpwiki
Stars on GitHub
N/A
N/A
N/A
118 ⭐
N/A
Common Features PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Preview
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Minor Changes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Change Summary
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page History
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page Revisions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Revision Diffs
Between all
Between all
Between all
Between all
Between all
Sitemap
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin System
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Unicode Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Right-to-Left Support
No
No
Optional
No
Yes
Interface Languages
9
German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Chinese Traditional
8
German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Russian
38
Arabic, Bulgarian, Breton, Catalan, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Esperanto, Spanish, Persian, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Lettish, Macedonian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Albanian, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Chinese Traditional
22
Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Chinese Traditional
1
English
Email notification
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Comments
Plugin
No
Discussion Pages
Plugin
Discussion Pages
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Namespaces
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Conflict Handling
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution
Page Locking
Conflict Resolution
Concurrent Editing
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Structured Data
Patch
No
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Links PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
CamelCase
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Plugin
Freelinks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Backlinks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
InterWiki
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
SisterWiki
No
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Image Links
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Windows Shares
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Page Redirects
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Unknown
Syntax Features PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
HTML Tags
Some
Some
Plugin
All
Optional
Math formulas
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Tables
simple + complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
CREOLE support
No
No
Optional
Plugin
No
Markdown Support
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Textile Support
No
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
BBCode Support
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Emoticon Images
No
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Syntax Highlighting
Plugin
No
Optional
Plugin
Plugin
Footnotes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
No
Quoting
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
Internal Comments
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Custom styles
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
FAQ Tags
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Scripting
plugins, templates, PHP
MarkupExpressions (core, many add-ons). PageLists with templates (core structured data scripting). WikiSh (plugin), Data forms (optional)
JavaScript; Topic Markup Language
safe subset of HTML::Template supported via template plugin
Content Includes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Feed Aggregation
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Usability PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Section Editing
No
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
No
Page Templates
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Double-Click Edit
Optional
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Toolbar
Yes
No
Optional
Plugin
No
WYSIWYG Editing
Patch
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Access Keys
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Auto Signature
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Statistics PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Recent Changes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Wanted Pages
Yes
Yes
Optional
No
Plugin
Orphaned Pages
Yes
Yes
Optional
Plugin
Plugin
Most/Least Popular
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Recent Visitors
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Analysis
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Yes
No
Output PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Printer Friendly
Print CSS
Print View
Print View
Print View
Print CSS
Mobile Friendly
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Themes & Skins
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Yes
RSS Feeds
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Plugin
ATOM Feeds
No
No
Optional
Yes
Plugin
Abbreviations
No
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
No
Auto-TOC
Yes
No
Optional
Yes
Plugin
Raw Export
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
HTML Export
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Yes
Yes
XML export
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
PDF Export
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Office Export
Unknown
Unknown
Plugin
Plugin
Unknown
Media and Files PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
File Attachments
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Yes
Media Revisions
Yes
No
Optional
Yes
Yes
Embedded Flash
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Optional
Embedded Video
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Optional
Image Editing
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
SVG Editing
No
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
No
MindMap Editing
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
No
Media Search
No
No
Filenames only
Contents
Filenames only
Extras PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Calendar
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Image Galleries
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
Plugin
Presentations
Unknown
Unknown
Plugin
Plugin
Unknown
Forums
Yes
No
Plugin
Plugin
Unknown
Blogs
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Ticket System
No
No
Plugin
Plugin
Yes
Chat
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Unknown
Syntax Examples PhpWiki ProWiki PmWiki Foswiki ikiwiki
Internal Link
WikiWord or [somelink]
[ desc | pagename ]
CamelCase
Wordlinking
{{free link}}
[page labelforlink]
[[page name]]
[[page name | link text]]
[[link text -> page name]]
[[#anchor]]
[[#anchor|link to anchor]]
[[page name #anchor]]
WikiWord autolink
Otherweb.WikiWord
[[Spaced text]]
[[WikiWord][label]]
[[internal]]
External Link
http://someserver/someurl
[ desc | exturl ]
http://example.org
InterWiki:page
[some:link labelforlink]
http://....
[[http://... | link text]]
[[link text -> http://...]]
External Link
http://foswiki.org/ autolink
[[http://foswiki.org/][label]]
[link text](http://example.org)
Headlines
!!!Headline1
!!Headline2
!Headline3
= Headline 1 =
== Headline 2 =
=== Headline 3 =
==== Headline 4 =
===== Headline 5 =
====== Headline 6 =
! Level 1
!!#anchor Level 2
!!! Level 3
---+ 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* or
<strong>bold</strong>
'''bold'''
'''bold'''
*bold*
**bold**
__bold__
Italics Format
_italics_ or 
or
<em>italics</em>
''italic''
''italic''
_italic_
*emphasized*
_emphasized_
Underline Format
<u>underlined</u>
<u>underlined</u>
{+underlined+}
<u>underline</u>
via HTML: <u>underlined</u>
Monospace Format
<tt>monospace</tt>
<code>code</code>
<pre>preformatted</pre>
<verbatim>
unparsed text</verbatim>


<tt>monospace</tt>
@@monospace@@
=monospaced text= and
<verbatim>
multi line text
</verbatim>
`inline monospace`

indented block of
monospaced text

tab-indented
block
Strikethrough Format
<strike>striked through</strike>
[[strike]strikethrough text]
{-strikethrough-}
<strike>strikethrough</strike>
via HTML: <del>deleted</del>
Superscript Format
<sup>above</sup>
<sup>text</sup>
'^superscript^'
<sup>superscript</sup>
via HTML: x<sup>2</sup>
Subscript Format
<sub>below</sub>
<sub>text</sub>
'_subscript_'
<sub>subscript</sub>
via HTML: a<sub>1</sub>
Images
[ http://foo.org/1.jpg size=30%] 
external image
[Upload:view.jpg align=right size=50x40] 
view uploaded image
[Upload:view.jpg | http://server/external-linkjpg ] 
view and link to another image
http://example.org/file.jpg
Upload:file.gif
[[Image]...options...]
https://foo.bar/foo.jpg
Attach:foo.jpg
Attach:foo.jpg"alt/title text" | Caption
%ATTACHURL%/image.png
http://any.domain/image.png
%IMAGE{"image.png"}%
![alt text](internal/image)
![alt text](http://example.org/external/image)
Aligning Text
<?plugin RawHtml <span align="right"> ?>right<?plugin RawHtml </span> ?>
or <div align="right"> right </div>

only as part of tables or citations
[align:left|center|right]
%center% centered text
%right% right aligned
%lfloat% left floating text
%rfloat% right floating text
%rframe% right floating frame
%lframe% left floating frame
| left |   center   |   right |
or HTML
or CSS
Text Indentation
;: left indent
;;: more left indent

or 
paragraph
and another level 
: indented line
:: indented line
-> indented text
--> more indentation
-< hanging text
--< more indentation
<blockquote>
multi line text
</blockquote>
Bulleted Lists
* list
or
- list
* bulleted list
** bulleted list
* Item 1
** Item 1.1
* Item 2
alternatively, indented:
* item 1
* item 1.1
* item 2
* Item 1
* Item 1.1
* Item 2
* item 1
* item 2
* item 2.1
* item 2.2
Numbered Lists
# list
# numbered list
## numbered list
# Item 1
## Item 1.1
# Item 2
alternatively, indented:
# Item 1
# Item 1.1
# Item 2
1. Item 1
a. Item 1.a
1. 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:<def>
def
; term: definition
: term : definition
$ Term: Definition
via HTML:
<dl>
<dt>term</dt>
<dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
Horizontal Rule
----
----
----
---
---
***
___
------------------
Any number > 3
- - - - - - - - - -
spaces don't matter
remove PhpWiki remove ProWiki remove PmWiki remove Foswiki remove ikiwiki