head to head · open source
docsify vs markdoc
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars, 5,789 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped yesterday. markdoc has 8,476 stars, 252 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. docsify leads on adoption by 272% (31,513 vs 8,476 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; markdoc is written in TypeScript under MIT. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, markdoc 3%. docsify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (documentation, markdown), 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 | markdoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 252 |
| 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 markdoc if
- You want the markdoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and markdoc 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 markdoc
Markdoc is an MIT licensed, Markdown based authoring framework and toolchain written in TypeScript, built for teams that need custom documentation sites and content experiences on top of a syntax their writers already know.
read the full markdoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or markdoc more popular?
docsify has 31,513 GitHub stars and markdoc has 8,476. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and markdoc free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and markdoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and markdoc?
docsify is written in JavaScript and markdoc in TypeScript. 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 markdoc?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,513 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose markdoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.