head to head · open source
docsify vs zk
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. zk has 2,863 stars, 199 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. docsify leads on adoption by 1,003% (31,575 vs 2,863 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; zk is written in Go under GPL-3.0. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, zk 7%. 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-tool), 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 | zk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 199 |
| 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 zk if
- You want the zk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zk 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 zk
A plain text note taking assistant Description zk is a command line tool helping you to maintain a plain text Zettelkasten or personal wiki. Looking for a quick usage example? Or want to see it in action? Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider . Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Highlights Creating notes from templates Advanced search and filtering capabilities including tags, links and mentions Integration with your favorite editors: Any LSP compatible editor zk emacs for Emacs zk nvim for Neovim 0.8+ zk vscode for Visual…
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or zk more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and zk has 2,863. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and zk free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and zk under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and zk?
docsify is written in JavaScript and zk in Go. 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 zk?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zk if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.