Template:Free MediaWiki wiki farms
These are MediaWiki-based wiki farms that offer permanently free wiki hosting; see parent category for more.
The table below contains direct links to the free MediaWiki wiki farms, along with Special:Version links to see what versions of the MediaWiki software and extensions are currently being used. Special:Export can be used by anybody to download the wikitext for multiple pages. Paste in a list of the page names, or put in just a category name and have it export the wikitext for all the pages in that category. Admins on a wiki can use Special:Import to create multiple pages on a wiki from those exports. Database dumps for a whole wiki are usually linked at the bottom of Special:Statistics, although you may have to be logged-in to see it. Most free wiki farms use some form of on-wiki advertising for long-term funding. See also the opt-in advertising sections of Wikipedia:Funding Wikipedia through advertisements.
- EditThis.info: — this MediaWiki host is 100% free. However, it appears to have been abandoned by their system administrators (the feature requests page has little to no responses, and the village pump has been blanked and protected). Also, this host is running an ancient version of MediaWiki, and thus is significantly lacking the latest features.
- Miraheze: — users should be aware that despite what is advertised, Miraheze developers do not allow wiki founders to fully manage the configuration settings. Some of the extensions are similar to that of the Wikimedia Foundation, but many of them are strictly off-limits. Miraheze staff have also been known to interfere with local community operations.
- Referata: — this host specialises in Semantic wikis. Users should be aware that the site appears to have become a dormant wiki hosting provider, as the feature requests page has been abandoned for some time, and the recent changes is usually filed with account creations.
- ShoutWiki: — social tools are one of ShoutWiki's fields of expertise, though before one is allowed to create a wiki site on ShoutWiki, you need to be logged in and be e-mail confirmed. A charge of $5.50 is required to remove adverts, which the site unfortunately relies on for funding. Some highly technical features are available to staff only. ShoutWiki staff consists of experienced MediaWiki developers and editors.
- Wiki.Wiki: — as of December 2016, the ability to create wikis has been removed. Attempting to request a wiki returns a message saying "we are evaluating the wiki.wiki program right now and are not creating new wikis for a while". This message has been present for over three months, and filing a request returns absolutely nothing.
- Wikia: — this host is prolifically advert-spammed, with no paid removal option available, and the staff is not very open to founder configuration control. There are many features that are available to staff-only.
- External links
- Release notes for versions and their point releases — at MediaWiki.org
- MediaWiki version history — at English Wikipedia
- Version lifecycle — at MediaWiki.org
- Generators - MediaWiki release timeline, and utilisation by branch — at WikiApiary
- Hosting services - including a sortable table of wiki farms and hosting services — at MediaWiki.org
- Comparison of wiki hosting services — including MediaWiki and other wiki engines, at English Wikipedia