head to head · open source
devdocs vs RapiDoc
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars, 2,656 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped yesterday. RapiDoc has 1,910 stars, 326 forks, 138 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 1,973% (39,596 vs 1,910 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; RapiDoc is written in JavaScript under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, RapiDoc 17%. devdocs 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 | RapiDoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 326 |
| 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 RapiDoc if
- You want the RapiDoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and RapiDoc 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 RapiDoc
RapiDoc Custom Element for Open API spec viewing Sponsored by Zuplo Get a Stripe like API experience for your customers in minutes documentation, rate limiting and API key auth in minutes. Features Supports Swagger 2.0, OpenAPI 3.x.x Works with any framework or with no framework Allows making API calls Better Usability, all Models and Examples are expanded by default, eliminates the need to click and reveal. Request fields are pre populated with sample data Takes only one click to make an API call Request and response can be placed side by side for easy comparison Branding and Personalization features makes it…
read the full RapiDoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or RapiDoc more popular?
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars and RapiDoc has 1,910. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and RapiDoc free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and RapiDoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and RapiDoc?
devdocs is written in Ruby and RapiDoc 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 RapiDoc?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,596 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose RapiDoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.