# BookStack: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 17 judge labels across 1 category by 11 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/bookstack

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Knowledge base and self-service](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/customer/knowledge-base-and-self-service/index.md) | 7% | 5 | 18% | 17 |

## What the models said for it

- "For most small teams with limited budgets, BookStack (self‑hosted) or Notion (Free Plan) are the top choices." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Knowledge base)
- "with BookStack being the only completely free option if you're comfortable with self-hosting" (Mistral Small, Knowledge base)
- "Notion's free tier or BookStack (if you can self-host) provide the best value" (Kimi K2, Knowledge base)
- "Best on a very limited budget: BookStack—if someone on your team can manage hosting." (GPT-6 Luna, Knowledge base)

## And against it

- "BookStack, DokuWiki, and similar options may offer control, but your team becomes responsible for updates, backups, security, and recovery." (Perplexity Sonar, Knowledge base)
- "Bad search is the #1 reason knowledge bases fail. Basic keyword matching only finds exact terms" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, Knowledge base)
- "“BookStack, basic tools” – Only finds exact terms. Users must know the right keywords." (Muse Glimmer 30B, Knowledge base)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named BookStack, from 38 of the 43 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- productlift.dev: 25
- capterra.com: 17
- ones.com: 16
- softwareadvice.com: 16
- selecthub.com: 14
- helpdocs.io: 9
- affine.pro: 8
- knowledgeowl.com: 8
- blog.screensteps.com: 7
- document360.com: 7

### Pages cited

- https://productlift.dev/best-knowledge-base-software: 25
- https://selecthub.com/c/knowledge-base-software: 14
- https://softwareadvice.com/crm/knowledge-base-comparison: 11
- https://capterra.com/resources/knowledge-base-software-pricing-models: 9
- https://bolddesk.com/blogs/best-knowledge-base-software: 6
- https://helpdocs.io/best-knowledge-base-software: 6
- https://softwareadvice.com/crm/knowledge-base-comparison/small-business: 6
- https://capterra.com/knowledge-base-software: 5

## The company

BookStack; https://www.bookstackapp.com; founded 2015. From Wikidata, fetched 2026-09-14.

## In its own words

What BookStack's own pages state, read 2026-10-05. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: A simple, open-source, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organising and storing information. (https://bookstackapp.com/)
- For: self-hosted & enterprise environments (https://bookstackapp.com/)
- Price stated: There is no cost to downloading and installing your own instance of BookStack. (https://bookstackapp.com/)
- Free plan or trial: There is no cost to downloading and installing your own instance of BookStack. (https://bookstackapp.com/)

## What it publishes

Every page bookstackapp.com exposes, read 2026-10-05: 241 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 149 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- comparison: 3 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.