Deep, typed worldbuilding
If you enjoy filling out a proper wiki — organisations with members, family trees, calendars, timelines — Kanka’s entity model is broad and satisfying, and the free tier is unusually generous.
Compared
Storywright vs Kanka
Kanka is a generous, open-source worldbuilding wiki with a real free tier and a devoted community. Storywright is a session-first companion. The honest split is the same one that runs through most of these pages: are you here to catalogue a world, or to run the next game in it?
The short answer. Pick Kanka if you love a deep, typed wiki — characters, locations, organisations, calendars, timelines, maps — and the fact that it is open source and self-hostable matters to you. Pick Storywright if your center of gravity is the session: prep panels, recaps drafted from your notes, player journals, and a briefing before each game. Kanka is a worldbuilding wiki you can also run a campaign from; Storywright is a campaign companion with the worldbuilding attached.
| Feature | Kanka | Storywright |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | A typed worldbuilding wiki — characters, locations, organisations, journals, calendars, timelines, and maps, richly cross-linked. | The session loop — prep, run, recap — with the world notebook attached. |
| Learning curve | Moderate. Many entity types and settings reward setup; there is a lot to explore before it feels dialed in. | Minutes. A handful of concepts — NPCs, places, arcs, sessions, journals — all linkable. |
| Session tracking | Journals and campaign entities you structure yourself; no dedicated run-the-session panel. | A dedicated tracker: tonight’s objectives, NPCs in play, locations — and a recap drafted from your notes, published to players. |
| Players | Invite players to a campaign with roles and permissions; what they see depends on how you configure access. | Players get their own journals, private notes, character goals the GM can weave in, and per-session briefings — free on every plan. |
| Open source / self-hosting | Open source and self-hostable — a genuine strength if you want to own your stack. | Hosted only. Not self-hostable, but a JSON account export on every plan keeps your own records portable. |
| Free tier | A real, generous free tier; paid tiers raise entity, image, and campaign limits. | A permanent free tier — one world, real features, no card required — plus 14 days of GM Pro beginning with your first world. |
| Pricing shape | Free plus several subscription tiers billed monthly or annually, scaling limits and perks. | One paid tier: GM Pro at $9/month or $90/year; players free forever. |
Comparison reflects publicly listed features and pricing as of July 2026. Kanka is actively developed and its tiers and limits change; check kanka.io for current details.
Where Kanka shines
Open source and self-hosting
Kanka’s code is public and self-hostable. If owning your data on your own server is a hard requirement, that is a real advantage Storywright does not offer.
An active community
A long-running project with an engaged Discord and community-shared campaigns and plugins.
Where Storywright shines
The night of the game
Storywright pulls tonight’s objectives, likely NPCs, and active locations into one panel before the dice come out — and turns what happened into a recap when they stop. That run-the-session surface is the whole point.
Players as participants
Beyond viewing the wiki, each player writes: journals, private annotations, and character goals that flow to the GM to pay off later. Participation is the product’s thesis, not a permission setting.
Low ceremony
No entity taxonomy to design first. Write the NPC, link the place, run the session — most GMs are productive in their first sitting.
Do you have to pick one?
Some GMs keep a deep world bible in Kanka and run the living campaign — sessions, recaps, player journals — in Storywright. The JSON export means you are never locked into either choice.
Questions GMs actually ask
Is Storywright a Kanka alternative?
For running campaigns, yes — Storywright covers NPCs, places, factions, arcs, session tracking, and player journals with less setup. For a deep, typed worldbuilding wiki that is also open source and self-hostable, Kanka remains the stronger choice.
Is Kanka free?
Kanka has a genuinely generous free tier, with paid subscription tiers that raise entity, image, and campaign limits. Storywright also has a permanent free tier; its single paid tier is $9/month with players always free.
Can I self-host like Kanka?
No — Storywright is hosted only. If self-hosting is a requirement, Kanka is the better fit. Storywright offers a JSON account export on every plan; a complete world archive is still work we owe you.
Which is better for running sessions at the table?
Storywright, by design: it has a dedicated session tracker and drafts recaps from your notes. Kanka can hold session journals, but you structure and drive them yourself.
Kanka and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Storywright is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. This is an independent comparison; competitor facts reflect publicly available information on the review date noted above and may change — check the vendor for current details.
Try it on your real campaign.
Free to start. Free for your players, forever. JSON export on every plan — if it isn’t for you, your world leaves with you.