ThoughtFarmer vs. BrainKeeper vs. PhpWiki vs. PBwiki vs. ikiwiki

General Features ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Version
6.0
N/A
phpwiki-1.3.14
N/A
2.67
Last Release Date
2013-01-22 (13 years ago)
N/A
2007-07-01 (18 years ago)
N/A
2008-10-17 (17 years ago)
Last Update here
2013-01-22 (13 years ago)
2008-01-12 (18 years ago)
2009-04-03 (17 years ago)
2010-08-16 (15 years ago)
2008-10-28 (17 years ago)
Author
OpenRoad Communications Ltd
BrainKeeper, Inc.
Steve Wainstead, Jeff Dairiki, Reini Urban, Carsten Klapp, Marc-Etienne Vargenau
PBworks
Joey Hess and the ikiwiki community
URL
Free and Open Source
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
License
Commercial
N/A
GPL
N/A
GPL
Programming Language
ASP.NET C#
N/A
PHP
N/A
Perl
Data Storage
Database
N/A
Database, Files, RCS
N/A
Files, RCS
License Cost/ Fee
$119/user (hosted), $10/user (cloud)
from $35 for 9 logins, scaled pricing from there
0
Determined by Solution Needs
0
Development status
Mature
N/A
Mature
N/A
Mature
Intended Audience
Intranet, Corporate, Private
Enterprise, Corporations, and Business Teams
Any
Business Enterprises
Anyone
Hosting Features ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Storage Quota
N/A
Unlimited
N/A
No limit
N/A
Bandwidth Quota
N/A
Unlimited
N/A
No limit
N/A
Other Limits
N/A
None
N/A
None
N/A
Topic Restrictions
N/A
No Restrictions
N/A
None
N/A
Corporate Branding
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
N/A
Own Domain
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
N/A
Ads allowed
N/A
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
System Requirements ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Operating System
Windows Server 2008, 2012
N/A
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X, probably others
N/A
Any
Root Access
No
N/A
No
N/A
No
Webserver
IIS
N/A
Apache, IIS, anything with PHP support
N/A
Any, or none
Other Requirements
N/A
various opt. helpers
N/A
Datastorage ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Text Files
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
MySQL
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
No
PostgreSQL
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
No
Oracle
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
No
SQLite
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
No
BerkeleyDB
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
No
RCS
No
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
Other
Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 2010
N/A
gdbm, cvs, MSSQL, ... (ADODB, PearDB)
N/A
Security/Anti-Spam ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Page Permissions
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ACL
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Authentication Backends
Active Directory, Open Directory, or Custom Modules
N/A
db, session, pop, imap, ldap, file, webserver
N/A
Built-in, HTTP auth, OpenID; extensible via plugins
Host Blocking
Patch
Unknown
No
Optional
Yes
Mail Encryption
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
Yes
nofollow
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No
No
Blacklist
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Optional
Yes
CAPTCHA
Unknown
Yes
Yes
No
No
Delayed Indexing
Unknown
No
No
No
No
Development/Support ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
Yes
N/A
No
N/A
No
Code Repository
N/A
N/A
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
#phpwiki
Stars on GitHub
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Common Features ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Preview
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Minor Changes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Change Summary
No
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
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special Features ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Unicode Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Right-to-Left Support
No
Unknown
No
Yes
Yes
Interface Languages
11
German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Turkish, Chinese, Chinese Traditional
1
English
9
German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Chinese Traditional
1
English
1
English
Email notification
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Comments
Flat
Flat
Plugin
Threaded
Discussion Pages
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Namespaces
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Conflict Handling
Page Locking
Page Locking
Conflict Resolution
Page Locking
Conflict Resolution
Concurrent Editing
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Unknown
N/A
Yes
N/A
Yes
Structured Data
Yes
Unknown
Patch
Plugin
Unknown
Links ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
CamelCase
No
No
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Freelinks
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Backlinks
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
InterWiki
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
SisterWiki
No
No
No
Yes
Plugin
Image Links
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Windows Shares
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Yes
Page Redirects
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Features ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
HTML Tags
All
Some
Some
All
Optional
Math formulas
Yes
No
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Tables
complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
simple + complex
CREOLE support
No
Unknown
No
No
No
Markdown Support
No
Unknown
No
No
Yes
Textile Support
No
Unknown
No
No
Plugin
BBCode Support
No
Unknown
No
No
No
Emoticon Images
Yes
No
No
Yes
Plugin
Syntax Highlighting
No
Unknown
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Footnotes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Quoting
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Internal Comments
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Yes
Custom styles
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
FAQ Tags
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Scripting
javascript (optional)
plugins, templates, PHP
Javascript
safe subset of HTML::Template supported via template plugin
Content Includes
No
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Plugin
Feed Aggregation
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Usability ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Section Editing
No
Yes
No
Plugin
No
Page Templates
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Double-Click Edit
No
No
Optional
No
No
Toolbar
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
WYSIWYG Editing
Yes
Yes
Patch
Yes
No
Access Keys
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Auto Signature
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Statistics ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Recent Changes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Wanted Pages
No
No
Yes
Optional
Plugin
Orphaned Pages
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No
Plugin
Most/Least Popular
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Recent Visitors
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Analysis
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Optional
No
Output ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Printer Friendly
Print CSS
Print CSS
Print CSS
Print CSS
Print CSS
Mobile Friendly
Yes
Unknown
No
Yes
Yes
Themes & Skins
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
RSS Feeds
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
ATOM Feeds
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plugin
Abbreviations
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Auto-TOC
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Raw Export
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
HTML Export
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
XML export
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
PDF Export
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Office Export
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Media and Files ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
File Attachments
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Media Revisions
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Embedded Flash
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Embedded Video
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Optional
Image Editing
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
SVG Editing
No
Unknown
No
Yes
No
MindMap Editing
No
No
No
Yes
No
Media Search
Contents
Contents
No
Contents
Filenames only
Extras ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Calendar
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Image Galleries
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Presentations
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Forums
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Plugin
Unknown
Blogs
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Optional
Yes
Ticket System
No
Unknown
No
Plugin
Yes
Chat
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Examples ThoughtFarmer BrainKeeper PhpWiki PBwiki ikiwiki
Internal Link
wysiwyg rich text editor
WikiWord or [somelink]
[ desc | pagename ]
CamelCaseLink or [Free Link]
[[internal]]
External Link
wysiwyg rich text editor
http://someserver/someurl
[ desc | exturl ]
[http://www.externallink.com]
[link text](http://example.org)
Headlines
wysiwyg rich text editor
!!!Headline1
!!Headline2
!Headline3
! 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
wysiwyg rich text editor
*bold* or
<strong>bold</strong>
**bold**
**bold**
__bold__
Italics Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
_italics_ or 
or
<em>italics</em>
''italics''
*emphasized*
_emphasized_
Underline Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
<u>underlined</u>
__underline__
via HTML: <u>underlined</u>
Monospace Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
<tt>monospace</tt>
<code>code</code>
<pre>preformatted</pre>
<verbatim>
unparsed text</verbatim>


<code>monospace</code>
`inline monospace`

indented block of
monospaced text

tab-indented
block
Strikethrough Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
<strike>striked through</strike>
-strikethrough-
via HTML: <del>deleted</del>
Superscript Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
<sup>above</sup>
<sup>superscript</sup>
via HTML: x<sup>2</sup>
Subscript Format
wysiwyg rich text editor
<sub>below</sub>
<sub>subscript</sub>
via HTML: a<sub>1</sub>
Images
wysiwyg rich text editor
[ 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://www.imagelocation.com/image.jpg
![alt text](internal/image)
![alt text](http://example.org/external/image)
Aligning Text
wysiwyg rich text editor
<?plugin RawHtml <span align="right"> ?>right<?plugin RawHtml </span> ?>
or <div align="right"> right </div>

<left>, <center>, <right>
Text Indentation
wysiwyg rich text editor
;: left indent
;;: more left indent

or 
paragraph
and another level 
Indented block
Bulleted Lists
wysiwyg rich text editor
* list
or
- list
* Bullet #1
* Bullet #2
** SubBullet #1
* item 1
* item 2
* item 2.1
* item 2.2
Numbered Lists
wysiwyg rich text editor
# list
# Number #1
# Number #2
1. item 1
2. item 2
1. item 1.1
42. the value doesn't matter
1. any value works
Definition Lists
wysiwyg rich text editor
Term:<def>
def
<dl>
</dl>
via HTML:
<dl>
<dt>term</dt>
<dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
Horizontal Rule
wysiwyg rich text editor
----
---
---
***
___
------------------
Any number > 3
- - - - - - - - - -
spaces don't matter
remove ThoughtFarmer remove BrainKeeper remove PhpWiki remove PBwiki remove ikiwiki