Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

BookStack VS Hosted.MD

Compare BookStack VS Hosted.MD and see what are their differences

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BookStack logo BookStack

An open source knowledge management application that's focused on ease of use.

Hosted.MD logo Hosted.MD

With hosted.md, you can publish Markdown online without setting up servers, configuring a CMS, or dealing with complicated tools.
  • BookStack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-31
Not present

hosted.md is a simple, fast, and flexible static site hosting platform built around Markdown. It allows writers, bloggers, and small teams to turn plain Markdown files into beautiful, SEO-friendly websites with no coding required.

Users can write content using their favorite Markdown editor or through our web interface, then publish instantly. The platform handles everything from static site generation and theming to hosting and custom domains. Itโ€™s designed to remove the complexity of traditional CMSs and the technical barrier of static site generators.

Whether you're creating a personal blog, a long-form writing project, or lightweight documentation, hosted.md gives you full control over your content and structure. Every site is served from a global CDN for speed and reliability, with clean URLs and optimized performance by default.

Our goal is to make independent publishing easier for everyone by combining the clarity of Markdown with a hosting experience that just works. With hosted.md, publishing on the web is no longer a technical hurdle-itโ€™s as easy as writing.

Hosted.MD

Website
hosted.md
$ Details
freemium $15.0 / Monthly (Custom domain, removed hosted.md branding)
Release Date
2025 April
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
City
Sheffield
Founder(s)
Mike Barlow
Employees
1 - 9

BookStack features and specs

  • Open Source
    BookStack is an open-source platform, meaning it is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and contribute to. This ensures a large community support and continuous updates.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The software has a clean and intuitive interface that makes it easy for users of all skill levels to create and manage documentation.
  • Integrated WYSIWYG Editor
    The application includes a built-in 'What You See Is What You Get' editor, making it simple to format text and add multimedia without HTML knowledge.
  • Permission Management
    BookStack offers granular permission settings, which allow administrators to control access on a per-page, book, or shelf level.
  • Customizable
    With open-source software, the level of customization available is high, allowing organizations to tailor the software to their specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of BookStack

  • Hosting and Maintenance
    As an open-source product, users need to handle their own hosting and maintenance, which could be challenging for those without technical expertise.
  • Limited Integrations
    BookStack does not natively integrate with as many third-party applications compared to some proprietary knowledge management systems.
  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is user-friendly, setting up and customizing the platform may require a learning curve, especially for those unfamiliar with open-source software.
  • Performance
    In some instances, performance issues have been reported, especially when handling a large volume of data or concurrent users.
  • Feature Limitations
    Some advanced features found in proprietary knowledge management systems, such as advanced analytics or AI-driven search, may be lacking.

Hosted.MD features and specs

  • HIPAA-Compliant Cloud Hosting
    Hosted.MD specializes in HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting, making it a purpose-built solution for healthcare organizations that need to meet strict regulatory requirements for protecting patient data.
  • Managed Services
    Hosted.MD offers fully managed hosting services, meaning they handle server management, maintenance, updates, and security, allowing healthcare organizations to focus on their core operations rather than IT infrastructure.
  • Healthcare Industry Focus
    Unlike general-purpose hosting providers, Hosted.MD is specifically tailored to the healthcare sector, which means their infrastructure, policies, and support are designed around the unique needs and compliance demands of medical practices and health IT companies.
  • Business Associate Agreement (BAA) Included
    Hosted.MD provides a Business Associate Agreement as part of their service, which is a critical requirement under HIPAA for any third-party that handles protected health information (PHI) on behalf of a covered entity.
  • Security and Data Protection
    The platform emphasizes robust security measures including data encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection, regular backups, and disaster recovery planning, which are essential for safeguarding sensitive healthcare data.

Analysis of BookStack

Overall verdict

  • BookStack is a good choice for individuals and teams looking for a straightforward, open-source documentation tool. It's ideal for those who prefer a self-hosted solution without incurring additional costs or dealing with the complexities of some enterprise-level systems.

Why this product is good

  • BookStack is an open-source, self-hosted platform designed to make documentation and knowledge sharing easy. It's praised for its user-friendly interface, which resembles a digital version of a traditional book with chapters and pages, making it intuitive for users to navigate and organize content. The platform supports Markdown editing, which allows for easy formatting and media embedding. In addition, it has built-in support for authentication methods and role-based access control, providing flexibility and security for teams. The active community and frequent updates also contribute to its reliability and ongoing improvement.

Recommended for

    Small to medium-sized teams, open-source enthusiasts, educational institutions, and projects that require a user-friendly documentation system with the flexibility of self-hosting.

Analysis of Hosted.MD

Overall verdict

  • Hosted.MD appears to be a niche healthcare IT hosting/practice-management service, but there is limited independent, verifiable information available about its current features, pricing, or customer satisfaction. Based on general industry positioning, it seems targeted at small-to-mid-size medical practices needing hosted EHR/practice management infrastructure rather than a widely-reviewed consumer product.

Why this product is good

  • Positions itself as a specialized hosting provider for medical/healthcare practice software, which can simplify IT management for clinics
  • Likely offers HIPAA-compliant hosting environments, which is a key requirement for healthcare data
  • May bundle EHR, billing, and practice management tools into a single hosted solution, reducing the need for multiple vendors
  • Outsourcing hosting can reduce the burden on in-house IT staff for small practices

Recommended for

  • Small to mid-size medical or dental practices looking for outsourced, HIPAA-compliant IT hosting
  • Practices already using compatible EHR/practice management software that integrates with Hosted.MD's infrastructure
  • Healthcare administrators who prefer a managed hosting solution over maintaining their own servers
  • Organizations that want to minimize internal IT overhead for compliance-sensitive systems

BookStack videos

BookStack Review- 7 Brief Lessons in Physics

More videos:

  • Review - Bookstack, a free, open source, self hosted documentation wiki with style.
  • Review - Bookstack - Meine favorisierte Wiki Software

Hosted.MD videos

No Hosted.MD videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to BookStack and Hosted.MD)
WiKis
100 100%
0% 0
Static Site Generators
0 0%
100% 100
Knowledge Base
100 100%
0% 0
Website Builder
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare BookStack and Hosted.MD

BookStack Reviews

Best Gitbook Alternatives You Need to Try in 2023
Bookstack is a simple, self-hosted platform for organizing and storing information, focusing on creating a knowledge base. It is similar to Gitbook in its functionality but differs in how it is organized and presented. It allows you to collect information in a hierarchical structure, similar to a book, with chapters and sections. This can make it easier to navigate large...
Source: www.archbee.com
The 10 Best Self-hosted Wiki Software for Linux System
Another powerful self-hosted Wiki software for Linux is BookStack. One of the most attractive features of BookStack is its cross-book sorting capability. It can sort all books based on tags such as title, author name, publisher, and genre. Users can even use it to search for particular titles based on a keyword. Other features of this open-source software include image...
Best 11 Open-source Free Wiki Engines for teams and enterprise in 2022
The BookStack App is not just a Wiki Engine, but it works the same. It aims for creating books by easing collaboration among writers and editors, we run it for us and some clients as a Wiki Engine, where they use books as projects.
Source: medevel.com

Hosted.MD Reviews

We have no reviews of Hosted.MD yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, BookStack should be more popular than Hosted.MD. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

BookStack mentions (4)

  • Ask HN: Best self-hosted wiki solution in 2025? Mediawiki or something else?
    Check out https://bookstackapp.com (PHP/Laravel). - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Customize the theme a bit?
    That said, is it possible to customize the theme a bit? Specifically, how can I set the code-block background to dark-grey? Also, how can I make the horizontal line a bit taller than 1px? I saw the Customizing Visuals page on bookstackapp.com (specifically the "Changing Code Block Themes" topic) but was a little lost on exactly how to make the changes. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Looking to move internal docs from share Onenote to.. ?
    Maybe look at BookStack to see if it fits your needs. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Self hosting WordPress website
    If youโ€™re looking for a books-styled documentation platform, look into https://bookstackapp.com. Source: over 3 years ago

Hosted.MD mentions (1)

  • Build a Beautiful Markdown Website in Minutes with hosted.md
    We're currently in a closed beta to ensure everything is perfect. Join our waitlist for early access and be one of the first to launch your site with hosted.md! - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing BookStack and Hosted.MD, you can also consider the following products

DokuWiki - DokuWiki is a simple to use and highly versatile Open Source wiki software that doesn't require a database.

Forestry - Business Tools, Support, Sales, and Marketing, and Self-Hosted Blogging / CMS

TiddlyWiki - a non-linear personal web notebook

Stackbit - Build Modern JAMstack Websites in Minutes. Combine any Theme, Site Generator and CMS without complicated integrations.

MediaWiki - MediaWiki is a free software wiki package written in PHP, originally for use on Wikipedia.

Docpress - Painless Markdown publishing Documentation website generator.