head to head · open source
devdocs vs Docs
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Docs has 16,829 stars, 634 forks, 370 open issues and last shipped yesterday. devdocs leads on adoption by 134% (39,461 vs 16,829 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; Docs is written in Python under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Docs 4%. Docs 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 | Docs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 17K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 634 |
| 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 Docs if
- You want the Docs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Docs 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 Docs
Docs is an open source collaborative text editor for creating, editing, and sharing documents in real time. It lives in the open source documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is built with Django and React for web native use. The repository describes Docs as a web native editor made for teams that need clean documents and sub documents without surrendering data to a hosted service.
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Frequently asked questions
Is devdocs or Docs more popular?
devdocs has 39,461 GitHub stars and Docs has 16,829. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and Docs free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Docs under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and Docs?
devdocs is written in Ruby and Docs in Python. 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 Docs?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,461 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Docs if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.