head to head · open source
devdocs vs swarmvault
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. swarmvault has 692 stars, 80 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 5,603% (39,462 vs 692 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; swarmvault is written in TypeScript under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, swarmvault 12%. devdocs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | swarmvault | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 692 |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-06-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 80 |
| 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 swarmvault if
- You want the swarmvault feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and swarmvault 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 swarmvault
SwarmVault Languages: English 简体中文 日本語 The local first LLM Wiki, knowledge graph builder, and RAG knowledge base for AI agents. SwarmVault turns docs, code, transcripts, notes, and URLs into a durable markdown wiki plus a local graph you can inspect, query, and hand to agents. Start with one command, then learn the deeper graph, review, context pack, and automation workflows when you need them. Documentation on the website is currently English first. If wording drifts between translations, README.md is the canonical source. Try It in 30 Seconds quickstart initializes a vault in the current directory, ingests a lo…
read the full swarmvault overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or swarmvault more popular?
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars and swarmvault has 692. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and swarmvault free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and swarmvault under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and swarmvault?
devdocs is written in Ruby and swarmvault 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 swarmvault?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,462 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose swarmvault if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.