Template:Free MediaWiki wiki farms

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Revision as of 18:21, 8 August 2019 by Ohnoitsjamie (talk | contribs) (Update dead farms)
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These are wiki farms (current and former) that are powered by the now ubiquitous MediaWiki (MW) software, and importantly, offer permanently free wiki hosting to users. It should be noted that the services listed below might not offer hosting on solely a free basis; they might also choose to offer additional 'enhanced' wiki hosting options on a paid-for or commercial basis. Please see the parent category at category:MediaWiki wiki farms for other services who offer MW hosting on a non-free paid-for option.

The table below contains direct links to known free MediaWiki wiki farms. They also include the Special:Version link to see which version of the MediaWiki software is being used, along with any additional extensions. The Special:Export can be used by anybody to download the wikitext database 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. Administrators on a wiki are able to 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.

table of free MediaWiki wiki farms (view / edit)
⇓ wiki
⇓ farm		 main
URL(s)		 MediaWiki
version		 mobile-
view
enabled		 number
of
wikis		 list of
wikis,
API info		 wiki backup;
Special:Export
and database dumps		 on-wiki
help		 bug
reporting,
suggestions		 create
a new wiki		 funding
method		 dormant
wiki
abandon
policy
EditThis.info EditThis.info 1.15.1
(obsolete) 		no Categories,
Wikis by size 		export Help report a bug,
feature requests 		create a wiki donate none
Miraheze meta.Miraheze.org 1.31.0
(current) 		yes 2,923 gazetteer,
WikiDiscover (API) 		backups help center forum request a wiki donate adopt or delete
ShoutWiki ShoutWiki.com 1.29.0
(legacy) 		no 10,510 list of wikis
(API),
Category:Wikis 		export, and
database
download 		Help bug & issue tracker,
forums, IRC 		create a wiki adverts delete or adopt
Wikia
(aka
Fandom) 		www.Wikia.com
Fandom.Wikia.com 		1.19.24
(obsolete) 		yes, and
apps 		385,000 Category:Hubs export, and
database download 		Help forums create new wiki prolific
animated
adverts 		keep and adoption

For all MediaWiki sites, a list of all wikis should also be available via the MediaWiki API (mw:API:Main page) database access facility at /w/api.php?action=query&list=listwikis (or /wiki/api.php?action=query&list=listwikis), and / or the WikiDiscover module at /w/api.php?action=wikidiscover, though some sites do not enable the required API modules or allow anonymous API read access.

  • 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.
  • 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 one stream of funding. Some highly technical features are available to staff only. ShoutWiki staff consists of highly experienced MediaWiki developers and editors.
  • Wikia: — this commercial behemoth of a host is prolifically advert-spammed, with no paid removal option available, and the staff are not very open to founder configuration control. Relying on a unique and heavily customised yet outdated version of MediaWiki, there are many features that are available to staff-only.

Former farms

  • Referata: — this service specialized in Semantic wikis. The site had been dormant for many years, and was compromised by a malicious party in the spring of 2019. Service was partially restored briefly but ultimately went down again shortly thereafter.
  • Wiki.Wiki: — in December 2016, the ability to create wikis was removed, and attempting to request a wiki returned a message saying "we are evaluating the wiki.wiki program right now and are not creating new wikis for a while". This message was present for over three months. Wiki.Wiki subsequently ceased to offer wiki hosting, notice was given to all existing editors.
External links
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