When XWiki Standard is enough and when XWiki Pro pays for itself
For a team replacing Confluence or running an internal wiki on its own servers, XWiki Standard is enough when your own engineers can install, upgrade, back up and troubleshoot the platform, and when the extensions you need are already in the open-source distribution. XWiki Pro becomes worth evaluating when you need a vendor to answer for uptime and fix problems on a defined schedule, when you want the Pro apps and connectors without building that integration work yourself, or when you need a supported Confluence migration rather than a self-run one. The Pro apps most teams ask about, such as Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC), Office365, OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors, are included at no additional cost with any XWiki Pro or support subscription from the Pro Basic level, according to XWiki's pricing page. Check each one against your identity provider and office suite before assuming it fills a gap.
The trade-off is plain: XWiki Standard carries no vendor guarantees, so operating risk stays with your team or with the implementation partner you hire. That includes patching the Tomcat-based runtime, choosing between the stable line and the LTS lines, testing upgrades against your extensions, and restoring from backup when something breaks. XWiki Pro moves part of that risk to XWiki SAS through SLA-based support, but support hours are set at 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all tiers, so a US-based or 24-hour operations team has to plan around that window. Before you sign, ask XWiki which response times apply to your tier, what the Business and Enterprise escalation paths look like, and whether the Confluence Migration Toolkit is included in the plan you are quoting. Also confirm that Pro licensing covers your user count, since Starter stops at 25 users and is limited to XWiki Cloud.
Which capabilities sit in Standard and which in Pro
This table maps the capabilities that matter for an XWiki decision to the edition or tier that includes them. Use it as a checklist: if a capability you need appears in the Pro column, confirm the exact tier with XWiki SAS before you plan around it.
| Capability | XWiki Standard (free, open source) | XWiki Pro (subscription) |
|---|---|---|
| Software licence | LGPL 2.1, free to download and self-host | Same XWiki platform, with Pro apps and connectors added on top under a subscription |
| Support model | Community support with no guarantees | SLA-based support plans; Starter and Basic use the support portal, Business adds email, Enterprise adds a dedicated account manager |
| Support hours | Community channels, no fixed hours | 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all Pro tiers |
| Bundled Pro apps (Diagram, Pro Macros, Task Manager, File Manager, Calendar, Meetings, Polls, Ideas, Antivirus) | No | Included at no additional cost from the Pro Basic tier, per XWiki pricing |
| Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC) apps | No | Included from the Pro Basic tier; confirm the protocol setup for your directory |
| Office365, OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors | No | Included from the Pro Basic tier; confirm versions with XWiki SAS |
| Hosting | Self-hosted in your own infrastructure | Self-hosted or XWiki Cloud; Starter is XWiki Cloud only |
| Confluence Migration Toolkit | Not included | Free in Business and Enterprise plans; confirm whether Basic includes it |
Which Pro tier fits a team of a given size
Starter covers teams of up to 25 users and is available only on XWiki Cloud, so it is the tier to consider when you do not plan to run XWiki on your own servers. XWiki SAS describes Pro as the standard open-source product with SLA-based support plans, hosting and access to professional extensions, and most Pro Apps are included from the Pro Basic level, not from Starter. Support at every tier runs from 09:00 to 17:00 CET and, at Starter, is delivered through the support portal.
- User cap: Up to 25 users, so headcount growth beyond that requires a move to Basic or higher.
- Hosting: XWiki Cloud only, which rules out self-hosting under this tier.
- Support channel: The support portal, with no email channel and no named account manager.
- Migration access: The Confluence Migration Toolkit is not included at this tier, since it is bundled only with Business and Enterprise plans.
- Pro Apps: Confirm with XWiki SAS which Pro Apps your Starter subscription includes, because the included-at-no-extra-cost list starts at Basic.
Before choosing Starter, confirm the cloud hosting terms, data location and upgrade policy in writing with XWiki SAS.
Basic covers teams of up to 1,000 users and is the first tier where XWiki SAS states that most Pro Apps are included at no additional cost. That makes it the tier to examine if you need Diagram, Pro Macros, Task Manager, Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC), File Manager, Calendar, Polls or the OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors. Basic adds self-hosting as a choice, since XWiki SAS states that cloud and on-premises pricing is the same.
- Included apps: Most Pro Apps at no extra cost, including the directory and SSO applications and several connectors.
- Support channel: The support portal, with no email channel and no dedicated account manager.
- Migration access: No Confluence Migration Toolkit, which is limited to Business and Enterprise plans.
- Deployment: Cloud or on-premises, at the same stated price.
- Support hours: Standard 09:00 to 17:00 CET coverage, so plan for overnight or weekend incidents in your own on-call process.
Verify the exact list of included apps for your subscription with XWiki SAS, since the inclusions are written from the Basic level upward.
Business covers teams of up to 10,000 users and is the first tier that includes the Confluence Migration Toolkit at no charge. If you are moving off Confluence, this tier and Enterprise are the ones to price, because the toolkit is a real cost driver at other tiers. Business also adds email support to the portal channel, which matters when incidents need a written trail.
- Migration access: The Confluence Migration Toolkit is included free in the Business plan.
- Support channel: Adds email to the support portal, within the 09:00 to 17:00 CET window.
- Included apps: Same Pro Apps inclusions as Basic, since the list is written from Basic upward.
- Account management: No dedicated account manager, which is reserved for Enterprise.
- Enterprise features: Kubernetes, Windows and Oracle supported installations are not part of this tier.
Confirm with XWiki SAS whether the free toolkit covers your full migration scope, and whether migration services or the separate Confluence Migrator Pro extension are needed for attachment history or other items.
Enterprise covers teams with no fixed user cap, so it suits organizations whose user count will not stay within the Business limit or that need the strongest support arrangement. It is the only tier that adds a dedicated account manager and supported installations on Kubernetes, Windows and Oracle. Pricing for this tier is set by the written quote, and the support hours remain 09:00 to 17:00 CET.
- User cap: Unlimited users, so growth does not trigger a tier change.
- Account management: A dedicated account manager in addition to the email and portal channels.
- Platform support: Supported installations on Kubernetes, Windows and Oracle, which Business does not include.
- Migration access: The Confluence Migration Toolkit is included free.
- Support hours: Still 09:00 to 17:00 CET, so ask how urgent incidents outside those hours are handled.
Ask XWiki SAS for the Enterprise quote in writing, and confirm which platforms and database variants the supported installation covers for your architecture.
How licensing, support and updates differ between the two editions
The license, the free option and the paid tiers differ in what the vendor commits to, and that difference decides who fixes problems and how quickly. Read these four cards together before costing a Standard deployment against a Pro subscription, because the answer depends on support hours, response channels and what your written terms promise.
LGPL 2.1 platform and images
XWiki and its official Docker images are licensed under the LGPL 2.1, which permits you to run, modify and redistribute the platform under open-source terms without a license fee. The license governs the code, while support is sold separately, so a Standard deployment and a Pro deployment run the same core software. Ask your legal team how your modifications and any custom extensions must be licensed before you build on top of the platform.
Community option without guarantees
The free Community option comes with community support and no guarantees. Fixes depend on community attention, so no vendor is committed to a response time or a patch date. Teams running Standard need an internal owner who tracks the 18.8.0 stable line or the 17.10.14 LTS line, applies updates and tests them before production. Ask whether your staff can sustain that upgrade cadence for the life of the wiki.
What Pro adds
XWiki Pro adds SLA-based support plans, hosting and access to professional extensions. From the Pro Basic level, most Pro Apps are included at no additional cost, among them Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC), File Manager, Diagram and the Office365, OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors. If your identity provider, office suite or project tool appears on that list, integration work you would otherwise maintain yourself may come with the subscription. Confirm the exact app list for your tier before you commit.
Support hours and channels by tier
Support covers 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all tiers. Starter and Basic use the support portal, Business adds email, and Enterprise adds a dedicated account manager. Teams outside Central European hours should plan how urgent incidents are handled outside that window and confirm how they are triaged. Confirm the update and patch commitments for your tier in the written subscription terms, since the public pricing summary does not set them out in full.
What the bundled Pro apps replace in your own build
Most XWiki Pro apps carry no separate charge with any Pro or support subscription from the Pro Basic level, so the purchasing question is about the subscription tier and user count, not a price per app. On a Standard build, the equivalent work is not free. Your team would source, test, patch and upgrade each extension itself, and every XWiki release line you run would need those extensions checked for compatibility. The apps that carry the most weight are the Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC) single sign-on, the Office365 and OnlyOffice connectors, and the Calendar, Polls and Meetings apps, because each one touches identity, documents or user workflows that your security and collaboration owners will test.
Start by listing which of these functions your users need on day one. For sign-in, check whether your identity provider and the XWiki version you plan to run are supported by the route you choose. The xwiki-contrib OIDC project on GitHub is an open option for OIDC sign-in on Standard. Treat it as a project you must evaluate, not a supported product: confirm which OIDC flows, group mappings and provider settings work in your environment, who will review its code and fixes, and who answers when sign-in breaks after an upgrade. Ask XWiki SAS directly which functions the Pro Entra ID app covers, and compare that list with your own requirements before you decide.
Plan the work as a recurring cost, not a one-time setup. Each extension you own adds a test case to every upgrade, and an authentication component that fails after an XWiki patch is a production incident, not a cosmetic bug. Ask your implementation partner to document each extension, its version, its owner and its rollback path in the handover. When you compare routes, include the internal hours or partner scope needed to maintain those pieces each year, and confirm with XWiki SAS which support tier covers which app before you assume it is included.
What XWiki Pro costs and what the Standard route costs in staff time
This table sets the published XWiki Pro price points beside the cost drivers of running XWiki Standard yourself. Read the Pro rows for vendor-quoted figures and the Standard rows for the staff and upkeep you must budget and confirm in your own scope.
| Cost component | XWiki Pro (XWiki SAS) | XWiki Standard (self-run) |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription tiers | Starter (up to 25 users, cloud only), Basic (up to 1,000), Business (up to 10,000), Enterprise (unlimited), per XWiki pricing | No license fee; the LGPL 2.1 code is free to use |
| Billing pattern | Recurring subscription; 3-year terms save 20% per XWiki pricing | No vendor subscription; infrastructure and staff recur |
| Support plan | Required for consulting; Business or Enterprise tier for email support or account manager | Community support only, with no guarantees per XWiki SAS |
| Consulting | 1200 EUR per day, requires a Business or Enterprise support plan (XWiki pricing) | Internal or partner time; confirm day rates in writing |
| Training | 1500 EUR per day (XWiki pricing) | Internal enablement time for admins and editors |
| Confluence migration | Confluence Migrator Pro priced from 2000 EUR, trial limited to 30 pages per migration (XWiki Store); Confluence Migration Toolkit free in Business and Enterprise plans | Migration tooling and effort are yours to source and staff; ask for the scope of any extract, transform and load work |
| Hosting and upgrades | Cloud or on-premises pricing is identical per XWiki SAS; hosting and upgrade work sit inside the subscription scope | Your servers, backups, patching and version moves on the 18.x, 17.x or 16.x lines, all staffed by you or a partner |
| Extension upkeep | Most Pro Apps included from Pro Basic level, which removes separate licensing per app | Each extension you adopt needs compatibility checks at each upgrade; budget that time |
How to move from XWiki Standard to a Pro subscription and back
This sequence moves an existing XWiki Standard installation onto a Pro subscription, tests the Pro apps before cutover, and sets out the reverse path if the subscription ends. Each step closes with a written output, so the team can confirm the exact steps with XWiki SAS or its implementation partner before any change reaches production.
Confirm the tier and user count
Count named users and compare them with the Starter tier at 25 users (XWiki Cloud only), Basic at 1,000, Business at 10,000 and Enterprise with unlimited users. Confirm whether the deployment will run in XWiki Cloud or on your own servers, since XWiki SAS states that cloud and on-premises pricing is the same. The platform owner and procurement own this decision. It is done when a written note records the tier, the user count, the hosting model and the subscription term, with the XWiki pricing page as the reference.
Inventory the Pro apps in use
List every macro, extension, SSO setting and connector your wiki depends on today. Map each one against the Pro apps that XWiki SAS says are included at no extra cost from the Pro Basic level, such as Diagram, Pro Macros, Task Manager, Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC), File Manager, Calendar, Meetings, Polls, Ideas, Antivirus and the Office365, OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors. Flag anything outside that list for a fit check with XWiki SAS. The wiki administrator leads this work, and the output is a table that marks each item as included, to confirm, or needing a replacement.
Plan the license and hosting change
Decide how the Pro subscription will apply to the existing installation and which XWiki release line will run it. XWiki publishes a stable line, a long term support line and an intermediate LTS line, and at the time of research its official Docker image tags were 18.8.0 for stable, 17.10.14 for LTS and 18.4.7 for the intermediate LTS. Choose the database variant (MySQL, PostgreSQL or MariaDB) that matches your current stack. The infrastructure owner writes the plan and confirms with XWiki SAS whether the change needs a new package, a configuration change or a new deployment. It is done when the plan names the target version, database, host and approver.
Test Pro apps in a non-production copy
Restore a recent backup of the wiki into a separate environment that matches production as closely as practical, including the database, attachments and identity provider settings for a test configuration. Install and configure the Pro apps from the inventory, then check single sign-on, group mapping, page and space rights at wiki, page and hierarchy level, and each connector against live workflows. The application owner and a tester run the checks. It is done when every item has a recorded pass or fail, each failure has an owner, and page history on sample pages matches the source.
Cut over with a verified backup
Agree a change window with the business, announce an edit freeze and take a full backup of the database and attachments, then confirm that the backup restores. Apply the subscription, deploy the target version, switch SSO to the tested configuration and run the smoke tests from the test plan on production. The change lead signs the cutover log. It is done when the log records the backup identifier, the restore test result, the post-cutover checks and the rollback point, and sample page histories show every earlier change still in place.
Hand support to the subscription channels
Set up the support path that the subscription provides. XWiki SAS states that Pro support covers 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all tiers. Starter and Basic use the support portal, Business adds email, and Enterprise adds a dedicated account manager. Name an internal owner who triages issues before they reach the vendor and records which items belong to XWiki SAS and which stay with your team. It is done when the support matrix lists contacts, hours, escalation routes and the internal owner for each application.
Run the reverse path when the subscription ends
Decide before renewal whether the wiki will stay on Pro, move back to XWiki Standard, or move to another platform. Standard is the free, LGPL-licensed open-source version, and the Community option comes with community support and no guarantees, so support responsibility moves to your team or your implementation partner. Check which Pro apps your pages depend on, then either replace them with open-source options or confirm with XWiki SAS what remains available after the subscription ends. Reuse the test and cutover steps in reverse. It is done when the exit plan lists each affected app, the support owner and the rollback point.
Confirm version control history after each move
XWiki markets its structured wiki as keeping every page change under version control, so verify that behavior in your own environment after each move in either direction. Compare page histories, attachments and rights on a sample of spaces before and after the change, and keep an export of the history under your own retention rules. Ask XWiki SAS or your implementation partner to confirm the exact export and migration steps for your version and database. It is done when the sample comparison shows matching history and the confirmed steps are filed with the cutover log.
What 09:00 to 17:00 CET support means for a team in another time zone
The published XWiki Pro support window runs from 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all tiers, so an outage that starts at 18:00 in Central European time, or at any hour a team in the Americas or Asia-Pacific considers normal working time, may not reach a XWiki SAS engineer until the next European business morning. Before you compare tiers, map that window against your own follow-the-sun coverage. A Starter or Basic subscription routes requests through the support portal, Business adds email, and Enterprise adds a dedicated account manager. None of these channels changes the hours. Confirm in your subscription terms whether any response targets apply outside the window and what counts as a priority incident, since the public pricing pages do not state response times.
Outside those hours, the people who answer an outage are the ones you have already staffed. An internal on-call rota, which the team covers with its own administrators, is usually the first responder for a self-hosted XWiki, because a Pro subscription supports the installation but does not restart a stopped Tomcat container or restore a database at 2 a.m. local time. Define the runbook for the first hour: who checks the Tomcat and database health, who decides whether to fail over, and who opens a ticket with XWiki SAS when the window opens. A partner retainer can extend that coverage contractually, but its hours, escalation path and response commitments must come from the signed scope, not from this page. Treat any cover beyond the 09:00 to 17:00 CET window as something you buy or staff, and ask the vendor which parts of an outage they will work on remotely versus only during the window.
When you request a quote, ask for the support hours and channels in writing for the exact tier, the response targets (if any) for each severity, and whether a Business or Enterprise plan changes who picks up the ticket and how fast an account manager is involved. Ask how the self-hosted and cloud options differ on incident handling, because the XWiki Cloud hosting model moves infrastructure responsibility to XWiki SAS while on-premises operation keeps it with your team. For the Business and Enterprise tiers, confirm whether email support carries the same hours as the portal. Keep a written record of which decisions your rota owns and which the vendor owns, and test that split with a tabletop exercise before the first real incident.
Questions buyers ask before choosing an XWiki edition
What does XWiki Pro cost, and what drives the price?
XWiki Pro is priced by subscription tier, and the tier is set mainly by user count. XWiki SAS lists Starter for up to 25 users (XWiki Cloud only), Basic for up to 1,000 users, Business for up to 10,000 users and Enterprise for unlimited users. Three-year subscriptions save 20 percent. Cost rises with user count and with the support level you need, and it falls if you commit for three years. XWiki SAS states that cloud and on-premises pricing is the same. Consulting is listed at 1200 EUR per day and training at 1500 EUR per day, per the XWiki SAS pricing page. Ask for a quote that separates the subscription, any consulting days, training and migration work, so you can see which parts recur each year and which are one-time.
Can we run XWiki Standard without outside help?
Yes, the software is free and LGPL-2.1 licensed, and the official Docker images give you a documented starting point. The real question is who carries the work. Without a support subscription, you rely on community support, which XWiki SAS describes as coming with no guarantees. Your team then owns installation, database choice, Tomcat configuration, upgrades, backups, extension testing and security patching. Teams with strong Java and Linux operations skills often manage this in house. Teams without that depth should weigh a Pro support plan or a fixed-scope implementation partner. Confirm internally how many people can own the platform and who covers on-call issues.
How long does a Confluence migration take, and what does it depend on?
The duration depends on the size and shape of your Confluence estate, not on a fixed figure. The main drivers are the number of spaces, pages, users, groups and permissions, the volume of attachments, how much page history you need to keep, and how much cleanup of stale content you do before the move. Confluence Migrator Pro migrates spaces, pages, users, groups, permissions, attachments and metadata, and it keeps page history but not attachment history. Its trial is limited to 30 pages per migration, so a dry run on a sample set is the practical first step. Ask any vendor for a written scope that lists the content types, the volume and the validation steps before agreeing a timeline.
Is the Confluence migration toolkit included at each XWiki tier?
Not at every tier. XWiki SAS includes the Confluence Migration Toolkit for free in Business and Enterprise plans. Starter and Basic are not listed as including it. Confluence Migrator Pro is also sold separately from XWiki SAS, with pricing from 2000 EUR according to the XWiki Store, which is a separate line item from the subscription. Confirm the current inclusion terms for your tier in writing before you plan a migration budget, because the included toolkit and the standalone Migrator Pro may differ in scope and support.
Do XWiki cloud and on-premises pricing differ?
According to XWiki SAS, no. The company states that cloud and on-premises pricing is the same for Pro and support subscriptions. The differences lie elsewhere: XWiki Cloud is hosted by XWiki SAS, and Starter is available only on XWiki Cloud. Hosting, patching and backups are handled by the vendor in the cloud model, while in the self-hosted model your team or a partner owns them. Your total cost therefore depends on the internal effort you avoid or add, not on the subscription line. Compare the two options against your data residency rules, your infrastructure team's capacity and your need for direct access to the server.
What does a self-hosted XWiki need from the internal team?
Plan for skills in Java application servers, relational databases and Linux. XWiki runs on Tomcat, and the official Docker images come in MySQL, PostgreSQL and MariaDB variants for amd64 and arm64v8. Your team needs to choose the database, manage the container or server lifecycle, configure authentication, and set up backups and monitoring. Someone must also review extensions, since the Pro apps and third-party extensions each add dependencies. Map these tasks to named owners before you commit, and decide whether a partner will cover installation, hardening or ongoing operations under a written scope.
Can our team handle XWiki upgrades ourselves?
Often yes, but only with a plan. XWiki publishes a stable line, a long term support line and an intermediate LTS line, and several branches are maintained in parallel. Choosing a line sets how often you must upgrade. Stable moves faster, while LTS lines suit teams that want fewer major changes. Before each upgrade, test extensions, custom macros and authentication settings in a staging copy, and take a verified backup. Confirm which line you will follow and how long each line receives fixes, using the release information on the XWiki project pages. If you lack staging capacity or an upgrade checklist, budget for a support plan or a partner for the work.
When are the XWiki Pro apps worth paying for?
The Pro apps are worth evaluating when you need features that the free platform does not cover for your team. From the Pro Basic tier, most Pro apps are included at no additional cost with a Pro or support subscription. These include Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (OIDC), Diagram, Pro Macros, Task Manager, File Manager, Calendar, Meetings, Polls, Ideas, Antivirus and the Office365, OnlyOffice and OpenProject connectors. Weigh them against the directory integration you must have, the editing and collaboration features your users will use daily, and the support hours you need. XWiki Pro support runs 09:00 to 17:00 CET on all tiers, so teams in other time zones should plan for that window. Verify each app's compatibility with your XWiki line before relying on it.
How DeployOpen scopes and supports either XWiki edition
DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure. For XWiki, that work starts by deciding which edition fits the content, identity and support needs, then turning that decision into a written scope before any build begins.
How we scope
- Engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.
- The written scope states whether the target is XWiki Standard or a Pro subscription, and which Pro apps and connectors are in play.
- Scope records the user count, tier and support channel needed, so the quote follows from a defined edition choice.
How we build
- Installation runs in your cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks, on the database variant your standards require.
- Identity integration is scoped against your directory, such as Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID, and tested before cutover.
- Any Confluence content migration is planned as a separate workstream, with page history, attachments and permissions checked against the agreed scope.
How we hand over
- Handover documentation covers the installed version, configuration, rights model, backup and restore steps, and the upgrade path.
- Rights and space structures are documented so your administrators can maintain permissions without rebuilding them.
- Compliance-relevant evidence, such as access settings and change records, is prepared for your independent assessor, who issues any audit report.
How we support
- Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers after handover.
- Upgrade planning follows the release line you select, whether stable or an LTS branch, and is agreed in writing.
- Confirm with XWiki SAS which support channel and hours apply to your chosen Pro tier, and how they combine with a DeployOpen retainer.
