WackoWiki vs. Instiki vs. CanvasWiki

General Features WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Version
6.2.0
0.30.0
1.2.101
Last Release Date
2025-12-14 (1 month ago)
2019-03-01 (6 years ago)
2006-06-15 (19 years ago)
Last Update here
2025-12-13 (1 month ago)
2019-03-04 (6 years ago)
2008-09-01 (17 years ago)
Author
WackoWiki Team
David Heinemeier Hansson, Jacques Distler, Matthias Tarasiewicz
Raymond Camden
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
BSD
Ruby's
Apache
Programming Language
PHP
Ruby on Rails
ColdFusion
Data Storage
Database
Database
Database
License Cost/ Fee
0
0
0
Development status
Mature
Mature
Mature
Intended Audience
Advanced End Users, Developers, End Users/Desktop
general, education
Mildly technical
System Requirements WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Operating System
OS Independent
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X
Windows, Linux, Solaris
Root Access
No
No
No
Webserver
run with the appserver/webserver of your choice
Thin (included), or Apache/NGinx (via Passenger)
Apache, IIS
Other Requirements
mod_rewrite (optional)
Ruby 2.0-2.6
ColdFusion MX
Datastorage WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Text Files
No
No
Unknown
MySQL
Yes
Yes
Yes
PostgreSQL
No
Yes
Unknown
Oracle
No
Plugin
Unknown
SQLite
Yes
Yes
Unknown
BerkeleyDB
No
No
Unknown
RCS
No
No
Unknown
Other
MariaDB
Any Rails-compatible back-end datastore can be used.
Access, SQL Server
Security/Anti-Spam WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Page Permissions
Yes
Yes
No
ACL
Yes
No
No
Authentication Backends
LDAP (patch), ActiveDirectory
Host Blocking
Optional
Yes
Unknown
Mail Encryption
Optional
Unknown
Unknown
nofollow
Optional
Unknown
Unknown
Blacklist
Yes
Yes
Unknown
CAPTCHA
Yes
Unknown
Unknown
Delayed Indexing
No
Unknown
Unknown
Development/Support WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
Yes
No
No
Code Repository
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
Stars on GitHub
54 ⭐
510 ⭐
N/A
Common Features WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Preview
Yes
No
Unknown
Minor Changes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Change Summary
Yes
No
Yes
Page History
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page Revisions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Revision Diffs
Between all
Between all
Sitemap
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin System
Yes
No
No
Special Features WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Unicode Support
Yes
Yes
No
Right-to-Left Support
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Interface Languages
30
Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Persian, Finnish, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Tamil, Ukrainian, Chinese, Chinese Traditional
1
English
0
Email notification
Yes
No
Unknown
Comments
Flat
No
Categories
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Namespaces
Yes
No
Unknown
Conflict Handling
Page Locking
Page Locking
Concurrent Editing
No
Unknown
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Patch
Yes
Unknown
Structured Data
Plugin
No
Unknown
Links WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
CamelCase
Optional
Optional
Yes
Freelinks
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Backlinks
Yes
Yes
Unknown
InterWiki
Yes
Yes
Unknown
SisterWiki
No
No
Unknown
Image Links
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Windows Shares
Yes
No
Unknown
Page Redirects
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Syntax Features WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
HTML Tags
All
All
Math formulas
Plugin
Yes
Unknown
Tables
simple
simple + complex
CREOLE support
No
No
Unknown
Markdown Support
No
Yes
Unknown
Textile Support
No
Yes
Unknown
BBCode Support
Patch
No
Unknown
Emoticon Images
Yes
No
Unknown
Syntax Highlighting
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Footnotes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Quoting
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Internal Comments
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Custom styles
Yes
Yes
Unknown
FAQ Tags
No
No
Unknown
Scripting
actions (PHP)
None
Content Includes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Feed Aggregation
Yes
No
Unknown
Usability WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Section Editing
Yes
No
Unknown
Page Templates
Yes
No
No
Double-Click Edit
Yes
No
Unknown
Toolbar
Yes
No
Unknown
WYSIWYG Editing
Plugin
No
Unknown
Access Keys
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Auto Signature
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Statistics WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Recent Changes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Wanted Pages
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Orphaned Pages
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Most/Least Popular
Yes
No
Unknown
Recent Visitors
Yes
No
Unknown
Analysis
Plugin
No
Unknown
Output WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Printer Friendly
Print View
Print View
Mobile Friendly
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Themes & Skins
Yes
No
Unknown
RSS Feeds
Yes
No
Unknown
ATOM Feeds
No
Yes
Unknown
Abbreviations
Patch
Yes
Unknown
Auto-TOC
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Raw Export
Yes
Yes
Unknown
HTML Export
Yes
Yes
Unknown
XML export
Yes
No
Unknown
PDF Export
Patch
No
Unknown
Office Export
Patch
Unknown
Unknown
Media and Files WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
File Attachments
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Media Revisions
No
No
Unknown
Embedded Flash
Yes
No
Unknown
Embedded Video
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Image Editing
No
No
Unknown
SVG Editing
No
Yes
Unknown
MindMap Editing
Plugin
No
Unknown
Media Search
Contents
No
Extras WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Calendar
Plugin
No
Unknown
Image Galleries
Plugin
No
Unknown
Presentations
Plugin
Unknown
Unknown
Forums
Optional
No
Unknown
Blogs
Optional
No
Unknown
Ticket System
No
No
Unknown
Chat
Patch
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Examples WackoWiki Instiki CanvasWiki
Internal Link
[[InternalLink]] 
((InternalLink))
[[InternalLink alternate text]]
CamelCase
[[Some Page]]
[[Some Page|anchor text]]
[[Some Page#anchor]]
[[Some Page#anchor|anchor text]]
External Link
https://wackowiki.org
[[https://wackowiki.org WackoWiki]]
[[Wikipedia:WackoWiki]]
[another site](http://example.com)
Headlines
== Level 1 ==
=== Level 2 ===
==== Level 3 ====
===== Level 4 =====
====== Level 5 ======
#Level 1#
##Level 2##
###Level 3###
####Level 4####
#####Level 5#####
######Level 6######
Bold Format
**bold**
**bold**
Italics Format
//italics//
_italic_, *italic*
Underline Format
__underline__
underlined
{: style='text-decoration:underlined'}
Monospace Format
##monospace##
`monospace`
Strikethrough Format
--strikethrough--
<del>strikethrough</del>
strikethrough
{: style='text-decoration:line-through'}
Superscript Format
^^superscript^^
<sup>superscript</sup>
Subscript Format
vvsubscriptvv
<sub>subscript</sub>
Images
((image.png))
file:image.png
https://example.com/image.png
![alt text](http://ex.com/image.jpg),
[[image.jpg|alt text:pic]]
Aligning Text
{html}<div align="right">{html}

%%(wacko wrapper="text" wrapper_align="center")
content%%
p{: style='text-align:left'}
p{: style='text-align:right'}
p{: style='text-align:center'}
p{: style='text-align:justify'}
Text Indentation
one
two
p
{: style='margin-left:3em'}

> blockquote
Bulleted Lists
*one
**One-two
*two
*three
* Item 1
** Item 1.1
* Item 2
Numbered Lists
1. numbered List
1. numbered List-2
2.#8 numbered List, with break


1. Item 1
1. Item 1.1
2. Item 2
Definition Lists
{html}<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>{html}
term
: definition
Horizontal Rule
----
***
remove WackoWiki remove Instiki remove CanvasWiki