head to head · open source
docsify vs L5-Swagger
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. L5-Swagger has 2,931 stars, 410 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docsify leads on adoption by 977% (31,575 vs 2,931 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%. L5-Swagger 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| docsify | L5-Swagger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 410 |
| 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
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 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…
read the full L5-Swagger overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Documentation & Knowledge Base projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Documentation & Knowledge Base field.
Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or L5-Swagger more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and L5-Swagger has 2,931. 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 (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose L5-Swagger if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.