head to head · open source
devdocs vs compodoc
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars, 2,656 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped yesterday. compodoc has 4,117 stars, 416 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped yesterday. devdocs leads on adoption by 862% (39,596 vs 4,117 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; compodoc is written in TypeScript under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, compodoc 10%. devdocs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (documentation, documentation-tool), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| devdocs | compodoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 4.1K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 416 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick devdocs if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick compodoc if
- You want the compodoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and compodoc fits your workflow better
About devdocs
DevDocs — API Documentation Browser DevDocs combines multiple developer documentations in a clean and organized web UI with instant search, offline support, mobile version, dark theme, keyboard shortcuts, and more. DevDocs was created by Thibaut Courouble and is operated by freeCodeCamp. We are currently searching for maintainers Please reach out to the community on Discord if you would like to join the team! Keep track of development news: Join the contributors chat room on Discord Watch the repository on GitHub Table of Contents: Quick Start · Vision · App · Scraper · Commands · Contributing · Documentation ·…
read the full devdocs overview →
About compodoc
The missing documentation tool for your Angular application. Live Demo A live demo is available — [see it in action][demo] ! The demo features documentation generated for a simple [TodoMVC application]. [demo]: [todomvc application]: Features Modern Angular support — Documents standalone APIs, signal inputs and aliases, styleUrl , injectable metadata, and inheritance details. Standalone aware routing — Generates route and dependency graphs for provideRouter , lazy routes, default export route files, and classic NgModule routing. Complete project documentation — Covers components, directives, pipes, modules…
read the full compodoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or compodoc more popular?
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars and compodoc has 4,117. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and compodoc free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and compodoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and compodoc?
devdocs is written in Ruby and compodoc in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, devdocs or compodoc?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,596 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose compodoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.