head to head · open source
docsify vs dokka
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dokka has 3,817 stars, 504 forks, 675 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. docsify leads on adoption by 727% (31,575 vs 3,817 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; dokka is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, dokka 13%. docsify 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
| docsify | dokka | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 504 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docsify if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dokka if
- You want the dokka feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and dokka fits your workflow better
About docsify
A magical documentation site generator. Gold Sponsor via Open Collective Docsify turns one or more Markdown files into a Website, with no build process required. Features No statically built HTML files Simple and lightweight Smart full text search plugin Multiple themes Useful plugin API Emoji support Quick Start Get going fast by using a static web server or GitHub Pages with this ready to use Docsify Template, review the quick start tutorial or jump right into a CodeSandbox example site with the button below. Showcase A large collection of showcase projects are included in awesome docsify. Links Documentation…
read the full docsify overview →
About dokka
Dokka Dokka is an API documentation engine for Kotlin. Just like Kotlin itself, Dokka supports mixed language projects. It understands Kotlin's KDoc comments and Java's Javadoc comments. Dokka can generate documentation in multiple formats, including its own modern HTML format, multiple flavors of Markdown, and Java's Javadoc HTML. Some libraries that use Dokka for their API reference documentation: kotlinx.coroutines Bitmovin Hexagon Ktor OkHttp Gradle You can run Dokka using Gradle, Maven or from the command line. It is also highly pluggable. Documentation Comprehensive documentation for Dokka is available on…
read the full dokka overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or dokka more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and dokka has 3,817. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and dokka free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and dokka under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and dokka?
docsify is written in JavaScript and dokka in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, docsify or dokka?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dokka if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.