head to head · open source
devdocs vs leafwiki
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. leafwiki has 1,135 stars, 83 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 3,377% (39,462 vs 1,135 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; leafwiki is written in Go under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, leafwiki 7%. leafwiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | leafwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 83 |
| 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 leafwiki if
- You want the leafwiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and leafwiki 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 leafwiki
🌿 LeafWiki Self hosted wiki. Single Go binary. SQLite + Markdown stored on disk. For engineers and self hosters who want structured, long lived documentation. No Node.js, no Redis, no Postgres — just a binary and a data directory. If you've looked at Wiki.js or Outline and thought "this is too much to operate for what I need" — this could fit for you. → Try it without installing: demo.leafwiki.com · Ctrl+E edit · Ctrl+S save · resets hourly → If it fits, a star helps others find it. → All install options (Docker Compose, Linux installer, binary) Table of Contents Features Good fit / not a fit Install Docker Dock…
read the full leafwiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or leafwiki more popular?
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars and leafwiki has 1,135. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and leafwiki free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and leafwiki under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and leafwiki?
devdocs is written in Ruby and leafwiki in Go. 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 leafwiki?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,462 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose leafwiki if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.