TiddlyWiki
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 9 wiki software by recommenders
Recommended for long-lasting reliability, open-source code and single-file use. Caveat: many find it overwhelming and convoluted.
Recommended for long-lasting reliability, open-source code and single-file use. Caveat: many find it overwhelming and convoluted.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 19 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works reliably for decades
“I've been using TiddlyWiki for more than 20 years and it always Just Works.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public” “Open source, so you can be confident it'll remain usable indefinitely.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: A Karpathy-style LLM wiki your agents maintain (Markdown and Git)” “I know it will be there for the next 20+ years.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “TiddlyWiki v5.4.0” Packs into one HTML file
“It's amazing the amount of functionality it has, even if you use it in "one html file" mode.”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Show HN: Files.md – open-source alternative to Obsidian” “It's easy to box, if you're doing ITAR-sort of things.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “TiddlyWiki v5.4.0” “at the end of the day it's just HTML”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “TiddlyWiki v5.4.0” Editable pages that allow collaboration
“The neat thing about TiddlyWiki was that you could edit the page”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “TiddlyInstall: A universal, reusable, install system” “the likes of TiddlyWiki can allow for collaboration”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Iran's 120h internet shutdown,Phones back. How to stay resilient?” Many features and plugins
“It's amazing the amount of functionality it has, even if you use it in "one html file" mode.”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Show HN: Files.md – open-source alternative to Obsidian” “I love tiddlywiki. It even has plugins for AES encryption.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “TiddlyInstall: A universal, reusable, install system”
Other wiki software people recommend
The four most recommended other wiki software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confluence | 38 | 80 | 32% | 11 | 12 yrs3 owners | — |
| TiddlyWikiThis page | 19 | 1 | 95% | 7 | — | Approved |
| MediaWiki | 15 | 9 | 63% | 8 | 6 yrs3 owners | — |
| Outline | 10 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| OzBrain | 8 | 4 | 67% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
18 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I love tiddlywiki. It even has plugins for AES encryption.”
“The neat thing about TiddlyWiki was that you could edit the page”
“overwhelmed with tiddlywiki”
“I've always been fond of, but they never took for me.”
“Tiddlywiki is a living example of this.”
“I've been using TiddlyWiki for more than 20 years and it always Just Works.”
“It's amazing the amount of functionality it has, even if you use it in "one html file" mode.”
“it is a whole different concept of taking and making notes that often is a bit more cumbersome”
“It has some of the most convoluted javascript written before javascript ever actually got all the features that made javascript convoluted.”
“Tried Tiddlywiki too and liked it.”
“I could see why that'd be handy”
“It's easy to box, if you're doing ITAR-sort of things.”
“I no longer recommend it in most cases.”
“at the end of the day it's just HTML”
“I know it will be there for the next 20+ years.”
“Open source, so you can be confident it'll remain usable indefinitely.”
“it sounds like tiddlywiki was made specifically with you in mind”
“the likes of TiddlyWiki can allow for collaboration”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.