head to head · open source
devdocs vs larecipe
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. larecipe has 2,512 stars, 266 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 1,471% (39,462 vs 2,512 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; larecipe is written in PHP under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, larecipe 11%. devdocs 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 | larecipe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 266 |
| 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 larecipe if
- You want the larecipe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and larecipe 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 larecipe
LaRecipe LaRecipe is simply a code driven package that provides an easy way to create beautiful documentation for your product or application directly inside your Laravel app. We are working on a dotnet version as well. Check it out LaRecipe Dotnet Follow me on LinkedIn for updates and the latest news. Getting Started ☝️ Install the package via composer. composer require binarytorch/larecipe ✌️ Run the install command. php artisan larecipe:install Visit your app domain with /docs endpoint. That's it. See full documentation Official tools and assets support LaRecipe Dark Theme LaRecipe RTL Support LaRecipe Feedbac…
read the full larecipe overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or larecipe more popular?
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars and larecipe has 2,512. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and larecipe free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and larecipe under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and larecipe?
devdocs is written in Ruby and larecipe in PHP. 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 larecipe?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,462 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose larecipe if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.