head to head · open source
devdocs vs liam
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars, 2,656 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped yesterday. liam has 5,158 stars, 242 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 668% (39,596 vs 5,158 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; liam is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, liam 5%. 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 | liam | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 242 |
| 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 liam if
- You want the liam feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and liam 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 liam
Automatically generates beautiful and easy to read ER diagrams from your database. Website • Documentation • Roadmap What's Liam ERD? Liam ERD generates beautiful, interactive ER diagrams from your database. Whether you're working on public or private repositories, Liam ERD helps you visualize complex schemas with ease. Beautiful UI & Interactive : A clean design and intuitive features (like panning, zooming, and filtering) make it easy to understand even the most complex databases. Simple Reverse Engineering : Seamlessly turn your existing database schemas into clear, readable diagrams. Effortless Setup : Get…
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or liam more popular?
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars and liam has 5,158. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and liam free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and liam under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and liam?
devdocs is written in Ruby and liam 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 liam?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,596 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose liam if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.