head to head · open source
devdocs vs jsdoc
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. jsdoc has 15,463 stars, 1,492 forks, 459 open issues and last shipped yesterday. devdocs leads on adoption by 155% (39,461 vs 15,463 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; jsdoc is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, jsdoc 10%. jsdoc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docs, documentation), 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 | jsdoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 15K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick devdocs if
- You weight community size — 39K 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 jsdoc if
- You want the jsdoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and jsdoc fits your workflow better
About devdocs
DevDocs is an API documentation browser that combines multiple developer documentations into a single, clean and organized web UI with instant search, offline support, a mobile version, a dark theme and keyboard shortcuts, and it is aimed at developers who need to read and search API and reference documentation quickly.
read the full devdocs overview →
About jsdoc
JSDoc is an API documentation generator for JavaScript that reads annotations in source comments and produces a browsable documentation site, aimed at JavaScript developers and library maintainers who need reference documentation to stay in sync with code.
read the full jsdoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or jsdoc more popular?
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars and jsdoc has 15,463. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and jsdoc free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and jsdoc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and jsdoc?
devdocs is written in Ruby and jsdoc 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 jsdoc?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,461 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose jsdoc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.