# TiddlyWiki

19 Hacker News commenters recommended TiddlyWiki and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for long-lasting reliability, open-source code and single-file use. Caveat: many find it overwhelming and convoluted.

## Why people recommend it

- Works reliably for decades (3 comments): "I've been using TiddlyWiki for more than 20 years and it always Just Works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48854194)) "Open source, so you can be confident it'll remain usable indefinitely." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47908792)) "I know it will be there for the next 20+ years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47931114))
- Packs into one HTML file (3 comments): "It's amazing the amount of functionality it has, even if you use it in "one html file" mode." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181022)) "It's easy to box, if you're doing ITAR-sort of things." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47935695)) "at the end of the day it's just HTML" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934228))
- Editable pages that allow collaboration (2 comments): "The neat thing about TiddlyWiki was that you could edit the page" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49853167)) "the likes of TiddlyWiki can allow for collaboration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608970))
- Many features and plugins (2 comments): "It's amazing the amount of functionality it has, even if you use it in "one html file" mode." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181022)) "I love tiddlywiki. It even has plugins for AES encryption." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49853292))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Confluence](https://hackerapproved.com/p/confluence.md): 38 recommend
- [MediaWiki](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mediawiki.md): 15 recommend
- [Outline](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outline.md): 10 recommend
- [OzBrain](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ozbrain.md): 8 recommend
- [DokuWiki](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dokuwiki.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "TiddlyWiki", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiddlywiki/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).