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Productivitydocker-ready1-click-deployOpen-Core🔴 Full · ~2GB

Docmost: Open-Core alternative to Confluence in 2026

Docmost is an open source collaborative wiki and documentation tool with spaces, permissions and real-time editing, born as a modern, self-hostable alternative to Confluence.

Core is open source, but advanced features or enterprise support may be behind a paid tier — check the license.

Alternative to ConfluenceAlternative to Notion
License AGPL-3.022k starsWebsite GitHub Repository

Audit Snapshot

View notes →

  • License — Matches GitHub

  • GitHub — Active

  • Latest release — v0.96.0 · 1 month ago

  • Docker Compose — Partial

  • Production — Not production-tested by AltFreeStack

Docmost vs. Confluence

Pros

  • Very fast-growing community and feature set

Things to consider

  • Still a young project compared to Confluence

Quick Docker installation guide

Copy this docker-compose.yml, adjust the example passwords and run docker compose up -d on your server. See the full step-by-step guide →

💡 Official SaaS or self-hosted with AltFreeStack?

  • On the official cloud: a recurring monthly fee and usage limits on Confluence.
  • On your own VPS: the core is free to self-host on your own server — no more monthly SaaS fee, though some advanced features stay behind a paid plan.
docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
  docmost:
    image: docmost/docmost:0.96
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - APP_SECRET=change-me-super-secret
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://docmost:change-me-postgres-password@docmost-db:5432/docmost # password must match the canonical db password below
      - REDIS_URL=redis://docmost-redis:6379
    depends_on:
      - docmost-db
      - docmost-redis
  docmost-db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=docmost
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-me-postgres-password # REQUIRED: generate a random secret before first run
      - POSTGRES_DB=docmost
    volumes:
      - docmost_pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  docmost-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  docmost_pg_data:

🚀 Deploy in 1 command

Recommended for beginners

Copy this single command and paste it into your freshly created VPS's console (Vultr, DigitalOcean...). It downloads the script, prints it to your screen so you can see exactly what it's about to do (never a blind direct pipe), and only then installs Docker if needed, writes the files with secrets already generated, and starts everything — no nano, no pasting code blocks.

curl -sSL ".../api/deploy?stack=docmost" -o deploy.sh && cat deploy.sh && bash deploy.sh
See what this script does →

This docker-compose corresponds to an actively maintained project — last commit today.

This docker-compose not working for you? Report it on GitHub →

Technical profile

License
AGPL-3.0
Category
Productivity
Replaces
Confluence, Notion
Tech stack
NestJSReactPostgreSQL

Under the hood

Database

PostgreSQL

Language

TypeScript (NestJS)

Platforms

Web

Key features

  • Spaces and team permissions
  • Real-time collaborative editing
  • Comments and page versioning

Preview

Docmost interface preview

Public image provided by Docmost on its own website.

💾 Backups in 3 steps (Day 2)

As long as the ./data folder (the "volume" mapped into the container) exists on your server, your data survives any restart or container update — that's the only thing you need to back up.

1. Create a compressed backup on the server

tar -czvf backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz ./data

2. Download it to your computer

From your computer's terminal (not your server's):

scp root@YOUR_IP:~/app/backup-*.tar.gz ./

3. Restore in case of emergency

tar -xzvf backup-file.tar.gz
🌐 Connect your domain with free SSL

Step 1 — Set up the DNS

In your domain registrar's dashboard (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy...), create a record:

Type
A
Name/Host
@ (root domain) or a subdomain, e.g. app
Content/Value
Your server's public IP

Wait 5 to 15 minutes for the record to propagate across the internet.

Step 2 — Automatic reverse proxy with Caddy

One single file, no Nginx config or manual certificates — Caddy issues and renews Let's Encrypt HTTPS on its own.

Create a file called Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Start Caddy with this command (pulls the image and runs it in the background):

docker run -d -p 80:80 -p 443:443 --name caddy --restart always -v $PWD/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile -v caddy_data:/data caddy