head to head · open source
devdocs vs docsify
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars, 2,656 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docsify has 31,575 stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 25% (39,596 vs 31,575 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, docsify 18%. devdocs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (docs, 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 | docsify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 32K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 5.8K |
| 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 docsify if
- You want the docsify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and docsify 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 docsify
A magical documentation site generator. Gold Sponsor via Open Collective Docsify turns one or more Markdown files into a Website, with no build process required. Features No statically built HTML files Simple and lightweight Smart full text search plugin Multiple themes Useful plugin API Emoji support Quick Start Get going fast by using a static web server or GitHub Pages with this ready to use Docsify Template, review the quick start tutorial or jump right into a CodeSandbox example site with the button below. Showcase A large collection of showcase projects are included in awesome docsify. Links Documentation…
read the full docsify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or docsify more popular?
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars and docsify has 31,575. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and docsify free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and docsify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and docsify?
devdocs is written in Ruby and docsify in JavaScript. 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 docsify?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,596 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose docsify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.