When comparing DokuWiki vs Zim, the Slant community recommends DokuWiki for most people. In the question“What is the best single-user wiki?” DokuWiki is ranked 1st while Zim is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose DokuWiki is:
To install you need a webserver running PHP 5.2 or later where you unpack the downloaded archive and navigate to install.php in your browser, fill out the necessary information required for the one-page installer and you are done.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to set up and mantain
To install you need a webserver running PHP 5.2 or later where you unpack the downloaded archive and navigate to install.php in your browser, fill out the necessary information required for the one-page installer and you are done.
Pro Local and open source
Local...
Pro Plain-text file storage
Dokuwiki does not require a database, it stores everything in plain-text.
Pro Version control
Dokuwik offers unlimited page revisions.
Pro Access control
DokuWiki has built-in ACL support.
Pro Runs on any PHP server
It requires a webserver running PHP 5.2 or later of any kind.
Pro A dedicated page for recent changes
A dedicated page to quickly note what has changed recently can be set up.
Pro Search functionality
DokuWiki allows searching through pages.
Pro Very last, consuming very few Local
Local....
Pro Good selection of plugins
DokuWiki offers over a thousand plugins to extend its functionality.
Pro Good selection of themes
DokuWiki offers over a hundred templates to change the visual appearance of the site.
Pro Allows for organized, wiki-style navigation
Notes can contain links to other notes, allowing you to reference important information when needed. This way the user can connect and reference many different pages in the app, keeping things clean and structured, unlike Evernote, which makes this a good Evernote alternative.
Pro Plain text data format rather than proprietary
If/when the app is no longer developed (or if the user simply decides to no longer use the application or view/edit it on a non-supported platform), this can still be done with any plain-text editor.
Pro Automatically manages files and folders
Zim will automatically create a folder structure that fits your page hierarchy and adds/removes files such as images to/from appropriate folders.
Pro Good export options
Zim supports HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, and RST. This allows ones documents to be easily used in a wide selection of other apps.
Pro Support for multiple platforms
Windows, Linux, and BSD are supported with their own clients. This is nice for those that use multiple operating systems but still want to use the same app on each.
Cons
Con Lots of plugins to manage
DokuWiki is highly modular. Even thing like WYSIWYG editors and categories have to be added separately as plugins. This can quickly lead to managing lots of plugins.
Con No mobile app support
This is a desktop app and there are no mobile versions available. This can make it more difficult to use on-the-go if using cloud storage to store files from the app, as there is no mobile app version to access those files.
Con No native sync support
Zim notes don't automatically synchronize with other devices or offer built-in cloud sync support. Of course the user can add the files to Dropbox, or something similar, to then open them on another device with the app installed. But this is more of a work-around than a built-in solution.
Con Looks ancient
Zim has a very plain and outdated interface.