MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free, open-source wiki software platform maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation that powers Wikipedia and tens of thousands of other websites, serving organizations, individuals, and community knowledge projects with collaborative editing, version control, and multilingual support.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersAkron, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What MediaWiki does
MediaWiki is a free, open-source wiki software platform originally created in 2001 to power Wikipedia and now deployed across tens of thousands of websites and thousands of organizations worldwide. The platform is written primarily in PHP and supports multiple database backends (MariaDB 10.3+, MySQL 5.7+, SQLite 3.31+, and PostgreSQL 10+), requiring PHP 8.3.0 or later. Its architecture is extensible via a hooks system and an extension catalog of more than 1,500 add-ons, and it exposes a web API plus XML/SQL dumps for third-party integration. Core capabilities include collaborative editing with full page history and revision comparison, multilingual content across hundreds of languages, user/permission management, search, media uploads with automatic thumbnail generation, and Lua-based templating. The software is licensed under GNU GPL v2 or later and carries no warranty.
The project is maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit incorporated in Florida and headquartered in San Francisco, alongside a global volunteer community of developers, translators, and supporters. Distribution is exclusively digital and self-serve: users obtain MediaWiki via direct download from mediawiki.org, cloning the official Git repository, installing through Linux distribution package managers (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo), or via third-party one-click installers and managed hosting providers (e.g., Bitnami, Hostinger). Growth is driven by a product-led, community-distributed motion — there is no sales force, no per-seat fee, and no revenue generated from the software itself. The named flagship deployment is Wikipedia, and the primary customer segments are enterprises and organizations needing internal documentation and knowledge bases, individual users and small teams running personal or team wikis, and community-driven open knowledge projects. No funding rounds, acquisitions, executive leadership beyond founder Magnus Manske, partnerships, regulatory actions, or revenue disclosures are recorded for the project itself.
MediaWiki firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- MediaWiki
- Legal name
- MediaWiki
- Website
- https://mediawiki.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- MediaWiki is a free, open-source wiki software platform maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation that powers Wikipedia and tens of thousands of other websites, serving organizations, individuals, and community knowledge projects with collaborative editing, version control, and multilingual support.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
MediaWiki industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Wiki Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Developer & Open-Source Communities (MPACAJAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Content Syndication, Distribution & Rights Management Platforms (BPAMAJAN), OER Authoring, Remixing & Publishing Tools/Platforms (EDAGAJAM)
Keywords
Where MediaWiki is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Akron
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
MediaWiki business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Free Open-Source Distribution: MediaWiki software is provided free of charge under the GNU General Public License v2 or later. The software is maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation and a global volunteer community. There is no revenue generated directly from the software distribution.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Core Software - Free Download |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels4 records
MediaWiki product offering
Product offeringCore offering
MediaWiki develops and distributes free, open-source wiki software written in PHP that enables collaborative content creation, editing, version control, and management of documentation and knowledge bases. The platform powers Wikipedia and tens of thousands of other websites and is offered under the GNU General Public License v2+ at no cost, with an extension ecosystem exceeding 1,500 add-ons and multilingual support across hundreds of languages.
Product overview
MediaWiki is a single, free and open-source wiki software platform that serves as a collaboration and documentation system. The product portfolio consists of the core MediaWiki software platform along with an extensive extension ecosystem. The core platform provides wiki functionality, editing, version control, and user management, while the extension system allows users to add specialized capabilities through thousands of available extensions including the MediaWiki Language Extension Bundle for multilingual support. MediaWiki is licensed under GNU GPL v2+ and is available free of charge with no warranty.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- MediaWiki Free, open-source wiki software used to create collaborative wikis and documentation platforms; powers Wikipedia and thousands of other websites worldwide, distributed under GNU GPL v2+.
- MediaWiki Extensions An ecosystem of thousands of extensions that add functionality to the core MediaWiki platform, including data management, fundraising, audio/video support, and specialized features.
- MediaWiki Language Extension Bundle A bundled collection of extensions that enable multilingual support for MediaWiki wikis, allowing content translation and localization across hundreds of languages.
Quantifiable outcome
- Powers Wikipedia and thousands of other major wiki projects worldwide
Companies that use MediaWiki
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
MediaWiki technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
MediaWiki partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
MediaWiki competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Atlassian Confluence: Atlassian's flagship team collaboration and wiki platform, widely used for enterprise knowledge management. Comparable to MediaWiki as a wiki/documentation solution but commercial, cloud-hosted, and part of a broader SaaS suite.
- WordPress: Largest open-source content management and publishing platform, frequently used alongside or as an alternative to MediaWiki for content-driven sites. Comparable as a free, open-source PHP web publishing platform.
- Notion: Modern collaborative workspace combining documents, wikis, and databases. Competes with MediaWiki for team knowledge management use cases but delivers a polished SaaS experience rather than self-hosted open source.
- Microsoft SharePoint: Enterprise content and collaboration platform with wiki capabilities, deeply integrated into Microsoft 365. Competes with MediaWiki for enterprise intranet and knowledge management use cases at large organizations.
Emerging players
- BookStack: Open-source wiki/documentation platform built on Laravel, focused on simplicity for internal documentation. Competes with MediaWiki in the organizational knowledge base use case with a more modern UX.
- Obsidian: Knowledge management application using local Markdown files with bidirectional linking. Adjacent to MediaWiki for personal and team knowledge organization, particularly popular with researchers and power users.
Direct peers
- Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware: Open-source wiki content management system with collaboration features. Comparable to MediaWiki as a community-driven, GPL-licensed wiki platform with multilingual support and an extension model.
- DokuWiki: Lightweight, open-source wiki engine written in PHP that requires no database. Directly competes with MediaWiki in the self-hosted wiki segment, particularly for smaller documentation projects.
- XWiki: Open-source enterprise wiki and knowledge management platform written in Java. Directly comparable to MediaWiki as a self-hosted, extensible wiki with structured data and application capabilities.
Others
- GitHub Wiki: Built-in wiki functionality on GitHub repositories, commonly used for open-source project documentation. Adjacent competitor to MediaWiki in the developer and open-source documentation segment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
MediaWiki social profiles
Digital presenceMediaWiki financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
MediaWiki leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
MediaWiki funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
MediaWiki M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about MediaWiki
What does MediaWiki do?
MediaWiki develops and distributes free, open-source wiki software written in PHP that enables collaborative content creation, editing, version control, and management of documentation and knowledge bases. The platform powers Wikipedia and tens of thousands of other websites and is offered under the GNU General Public License v2+ at no cost, with an extension ecosystem exceeding 1,500 add-ons and multilingual support across hundreds of languages.
Is MediaWiki a public or private company?
MediaWiki is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was MediaWiki founded?
MediaWiki was founded in 2001. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is MediaWiki based?
MediaWiki is headquartered in Akron, United States, in the North America region.
How does MediaWiki make money?
One revenue line is on record: free Open-Source Distribution.
Who are MediaWiki's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Atlassian Confluence, WordPress, Notion and Microsoft SharePoint. Emerging players are BookStack and Obsidian. Direct peers are Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware, DokuWiki and XWiki. GitHub Wiki is listed as an others.
Does MediaWiki have an API?
Yes. MediaWiki provides a web API available on all MediaWiki wikis that allows developers to access and remix content. The API supports action operations, content retrieval, and Wikidata integration. Additional open data sources include XML and SQL dumps. The platform uses PHP and JavaScript for MediaWiki core and extensions, with Lua for templates, Python for Pywikibot bots, and various other languages for supporting tools. Developer documentation is at www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API.
What industry is MediaWiki in?
MediaWiki's product category is Wiki Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAJAK, Developer & Open-Source Communities, with a secondary code of BPAMAJAN, Content Syndication, Distribution & Rights Management Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.