NeoWiki vs Semantic MediaWiki

Semantic MediaWiki has been the answer for structured knowledge in MediaWiki for twenty years. It is powerful, and a generation of institutions depends on it. NeoWiki picks a different bottom of the stack: structured data with native schemas, projected to real graph databases, because the things modern knowledge work reaches for at scale (federation, SPARQL, AI grounding, schema-defined constraints) want a different storage model. The two tools answer the same question with different commitments at the foundation layer.

Where the work lives

Both extend the same MediaWiki underneath. The commitment difference shows up in the three layers above it: how authors put structure in, where that structure lives, and how it comes back out.

NeoWiki

Authoring

Schema-driven forms and REST API

Storage

Versioned JSON on pages, optionally projected to Neo4j, SPARQL stores, or both

Query

Cypher or SPARQL

Semantic MediaWiki

Authoring

Wikitext and Page Forms (no API)

Storage

Versioned wikitext + property tables in SQL

Query

SMW Query (#ask)

MediaWiki

Shared foundation

	NeoWiki	Semantic MediaWiki
Storage	Structured JSON in MediaWiki revision slots.	Property values inline in wikitext (`[[Property::value]]`), parsed at save time.
Schemas	Native schemas with types, constraints, and defaults.	Property pages declare types one at a time.
Editing	Form-based editing built in, derived from your schema.	Page Forms is a separate extension layer.
Page model	Several Subjects per page as a native concept; subject-first mode when records should stand alone.	One subject per page; subobjects for extras.
Query	Cypher or SPARQL over a graph database.	SMW Query (`#ask`) over a SQL-backed store.

Forms without the form definitions

In Page Forms, the form is its own artifact: a form-definition page written by hand and kept in sync with templates and properties. In NeoWiki the form is derived from the schema at edit time. Define the type once and every subject of that type gets a typed editor, with validation and autocompletion for linked subjects, and nothing extra to maintain.

Same question, different mechanics

Find every person born after 1900, with their birth year and field. Both wikis can do it. The shape of the answer is what differs.

Semantic MediaWiki

mediawiki

{{#ask:
  [[Category:Person]]
  [[Has birth date::>1900]]
  | ?Has birth date
  | ?Has field
}}

CypherSPARQL

cypher

MATCH (p:Person)
WHERE p.birthDate > date('1900-01-01')
RETURN p, p.birthDate, p.field

sparql

SELECT ?person ?born ?field
WHERE {
  ?person a :Person ;
          :birthDate ?born ;
          :field ?field .
  FILTER(?born > "1900-01-01"^^xsd:date)
}

If you're already on SMW

NeoWiki is not a drop-in replacement. The data model differs at the storage layer, so SMW property assertions don't auto-translate to NeoWiki schemas. Migration is a scoping conversation: we look at your property structure, your query patterns, and the data you have accumulated, and shape the path. That's a consulting engagement, not a button.

If you are starting greenfield and choosing between the two, the trade is between SMW's twenty years of stability and NeoWiki's foundation for federation, schema-driven editing, and AI grounding. Different tools for different time horizons.

Twenty years of stability.

A different foundation.

Talk to us about migration Try the sandbox