head to head · open source
docsify vs L5-Swagger
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars, 5,789 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped yesterday. L5-Swagger has 2,935 stars, 413 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. docsify leads on adoption by 974% (31,513 vs 2,935 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; L5-Swagger is written in PHP under MIT. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, L5-Swagger 14%. 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 | L5-Swagger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 413 |
| 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 L5-Swagger if
- You want the L5-Swagger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and L5-Swagger fits your workflow better
About docsify
Docsify is a client side documentation site generator that turns one or more Markdown files into a website with no build process, aimed at developers and maintainers who want to publish documentation from a static host such as GitHub Pages.
read the full docsify overview →
About L5-Swagger
L5 Swagger OpenApi or Swagger Specification for your Laravel project made easy. ========== Please visit L5 Swagger Wiki for more information: Installation & Configuration Change Log Migration Guides Using Swagger UI with Passport Tips Support Disclaimer This package is a wrapper of Swagger php and swagger ui adapted to work with Laravel. The actual Swagger spec is beyond the scope of this package. All L5 Swagger does is package up swagger php and swagger ui in a Laravel friendly fashion, and tries to make it easy to serve. For info on how to use swagger php look here. For good examples of swagger php in action lo…
read the full L5-Swagger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or L5-Swagger more popular?
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars and L5-Swagger has 2,935. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and L5-Swagger free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and L5-Swagger under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and L5-Swagger?
docsify is written in JavaScript and L5-Swagger in PHP. 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 L5-Swagger?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,513 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose L5-Swagger if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.