head to head · open source
devdocs vs zk
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. zk has 2,801 stars, 189 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 1,309% (39,462 vs 2,801 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; zk is written in Go under GPL-3.0. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, zk 7%. 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-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 | zk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 189 |
| 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 zk if
- You want the zk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zk 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 zk
A plain text note taking assistant Description zk is a command line tool helping you to maintain a plain text Zettelkasten or personal wiki. Looking for a quick usage example? Or want to see it in action? Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider . Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Highlights Creating notes from templates Advanced search and filtering capabilities including tags, links and mentions Integration with your favorite editors: Any LSP compatible editor zk emacs for Emacs zk nvim for Neovim 0.8+ zk vscode for Visual S…
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or zk more popular?
devdocs has 39,462 GitHub stars and zk has 2,801. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and zk free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and zk under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and zk?
devdocs is written in Ruby and zk 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 zk?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,462 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose zk if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.