WackoWiki vs. Instiki vs. PhpWiki vs. CanvasWiki

General Features WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Version
6.2.0
0.30.0
phpwiki-1.3.14
1.2.101
Last Release Date
2025-12-14 (1 month ago)
2019-03-01 (6 years ago)
2007-07-01 (18 years ago)
2006-06-15 (19 years ago)
Last Update here
2025-12-13 (1 month ago)
2019-03-04 (6 years ago)
2009-04-03 (16 years ago)
2008-09-01 (17 years ago)
Author
WackoWiki Team
David Heinemeier Hansson, Jacques Distler, Matthias Tarasiewicz
Steve Wainstead, Jeff Dairiki, Reini Urban, Carsten Klapp, Marc-Etienne Vargenau
Raymond Camden
URL
Free and Open Source
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
BSD
Ruby's
GPL
Apache
Programming Language
PHP
Ruby on Rails
PHP
ColdFusion
Data Storage
Database
Database
Database, Files, RCS
Database
License Cost/ Fee
0
0
0
0
Development status
Mature
Mature
Mature
Mature
Intended Audience
Advanced End Users, Developers, End Users/Desktop
general, education
Any
Mildly technical
System Requirements WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Operating System
OS Independent
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X
UNIX, Windows, MacOS X, probably others
Windows, Linux, Solaris
Root Access
No
No
No
No
Webserver
run with the appserver/webserver of your choice
Thin (included), or Apache/NGinx (via Passenger)
Apache, IIS, anything with PHP support
Apache, IIS
Other Requirements
mod_rewrite (optional)
Ruby 2.0-2.6
various opt. helpers
ColdFusion MX
Datastorage WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Text Files
No
No
Yes
Unknown
MySQL
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
PostgreSQL
No
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Oracle
No
Plugin
Yes
Unknown
SQLite
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
BerkeleyDB
No
No
Yes
Unknown
RCS
No
No
Yes
Unknown
Other
MariaDB
Any Rails-compatible back-end datastore can be used.
gdbm, cvs, MSSQL, ... (ADODB, PearDB)
Access, SQL Server
Security/Anti-Spam WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Page Permissions
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
ACL
Yes
No
Yes
No
Authentication Backends
LDAP (patch), ActiveDirectory
db, session, pop, imap, ldap, file, webserver
Host Blocking
Optional
Yes
No
Unknown
Mail Encryption
Optional
Unknown
No
Unknown
nofollow
Optional
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
Blacklist
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
CAPTCHA
Yes
Unknown
Yes
Unknown
Delayed Indexing
No
Unknown
No
Unknown
Development/Support WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
# of Consultants
Preconfigured Hosting
Yes
No
No
No
Code Repository
Issue Tracker
Mailing List
Support Forum
Chat Channel
#phpwiki
Stars on GitHub
54 ⭐
510 ⭐
N/A
N/A
Common Features WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Preview
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Minor Changes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Change Summary
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Page History
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Page Revisions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Revision Diffs
Between all
Between all
Between all
Sitemap
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plugin System
Yes
No
Yes
No
Special Features WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Unicode Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Right-to-Left Support
Yes
Yes
No
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
9
German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Chinese Traditional
0
Email notification
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Comments
Flat
No
Plugin
Categories
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Namespaces
Yes
No
No
Unknown
Conflict Handling
Page Locking
Page Locking
Conflict Resolution
Concurrent Editing
No
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Search
Full Text
Full Text
Full Text
Wiki Farming
Patch
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Structured Data
Plugin
No
Patch
Unknown
Links WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
CamelCase
Optional
Optional
Yes
Yes
Freelinks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Backlinks
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
InterWiki
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
SisterWiki
No
No
No
Unknown
Image Links
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Windows Shares
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Page Redirects
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Syntax Features WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
HTML Tags
All
All
Some
Math formulas
Plugin
Yes
Plugin
Unknown
Tables
simple
simple + complex
simple + complex
CREOLE support
No
No
No
Unknown
Markdown Support
No
Yes
No
Unknown
Textile Support
No
Yes
No
Unknown
BBCode Support
Patch
No
No
Unknown
Emoticon Images
Yes
No
No
Unknown
Syntax Highlighting
Yes
Yes
Plugin
Unknown
Footnotes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Quoting
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Internal Comments
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Custom styles
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
FAQ Tags
No
No
No
Unknown
Scripting
actions (PHP)
None
plugins, templates, PHP
Content Includes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Feed Aggregation
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Usability WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Section Editing
Yes
No
No
Unknown
Page Templates
Yes
No
Yes
No
Double-Click Edit
Yes
No
Optional
Unknown
Toolbar
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
WYSIWYG Editing
Plugin
No
Patch
Unknown
Access Keys
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Auto Signature
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Statistics WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Recent Changes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Wanted Pages
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Orphaned Pages
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Most/Least Popular
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Recent Visitors
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Analysis
Plugin
No
Plugin
Unknown
Output WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Printer Friendly
Print View
Print View
Print CSS
Mobile Friendly
Yes
Yes
No
Unknown
Themes & Skins
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
RSS Feeds
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
ATOM Feeds
No
Yes
No
Unknown
Abbreviations
Patch
Yes
No
Unknown
Auto-TOC
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Raw Export
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
HTML Export
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
XML export
Yes
No
No
Unknown
PDF Export
Patch
No
Yes
Unknown
Office Export
Patch
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Media and Files WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
File Attachments
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Media Revisions
No
No
Yes
Unknown
Embedded Flash
Yes
No
Yes
Unknown
Embedded Video
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Image Editing
No
No
No
Unknown
SVG Editing
No
Yes
No
Unknown
MindMap Editing
Plugin
No
No
Unknown
Media Search
Contents
No
No
Extras WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Calendar
Plugin
No
Yes
Unknown
Image Galleries
Plugin
No
Yes
Unknown
Presentations
Plugin
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Forums
Optional
No
Yes
Unknown
Blogs
Optional
No
Yes
Unknown
Ticket System
No
No
No
Unknown
Chat
Patch
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Syntax Examples WackoWiki Instiki PhpWiki CanvasWiki
Internal Link
[[InternalLink]] 
((InternalLink))
[[InternalLink alternate text]]
CamelCase
[[Some Page]]
[[Some Page|anchor text]]
[[Some Page#anchor]]
[[Some Page#anchor|anchor text]]
WikiWord or [somelink]
[ desc | pagename ]
External Link
https://wackowiki.org
[[https://wackowiki.org WackoWiki]]
[[Wikipedia:WackoWiki]]
[another site](http://example.com)
http://someserver/someurl
[ desc | exturl ]
Headlines
== Level 1 ==
=== Level 2 ===
==== Level 3 ====
===== Level 4 =====
====== Level 5 ======
#Level 1#
##Level 2##
###Level 3###
####Level 4####
#####Level 5#####
######Level 6######
!!!Headline1
!!Headline2
!Headline3
Bold Format
**bold**
**bold**
*bold* or
<strong>bold</strong>
Italics Format
//italics//
_italic_, *italic*
_italics_ or 
or
<em>italics</em>
Underline Format
__underline__
underlined
{: style='text-decoration:underlined'}
<u>underlined</u>
Monospace Format
##monospace##
`monospace`
<tt>monospace</tt>
<code>code</code>
<pre>preformatted</pre>
<verbatim>
unparsed text</verbatim>


Strikethrough Format
--strikethrough--
<del>strikethrough</del>
strikethrough
{: style='text-decoration:line-through'}
<strike>striked through</strike>
Superscript Format
^^superscript^^
<sup>superscript</sup>
<sup>above</sup>
Subscript Format
vvsubscriptvv
<sub>subscript</sub>
<sub>below</sub>
Images
((image.png))
file:image.png
https://example.com/image.png
![alt text](http://ex.com/image.jpg),
[[image.jpg|alt text:pic]]
[ 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
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'}
<?plugin RawHtml <span align="right"> ?>right<?plugin RawHtml </span> ?>
or <div align="right"> right </div>

Text Indentation
one
two
p
{: style='margin-left:3em'}

> blockquote
;: left indent
;;: more left indent

or 
paragraph
and another level 
Bulleted Lists
*one
**One-two
*two
*three
* Item 1
** Item 1.1
* Item 2
* list
or
- list
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
# list
Definition Lists
{html}<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>{html}
term
: definition
Term:<def>
def
Horizontal Rule
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***
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remove WackoWiki remove Instiki remove PhpWiki remove CanvasWiki