head to head · open source
docusaurus vs mkdocs
docusaurus has 66,471 GitHub stars, 10,071 forks, 430 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mkdocs has 22,497 stars, 2,658 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. docusaurus leads on adoption by 195% (66,471 vs 22,497 stars). docusaurus is written in TypeScript under MIT; mkdocs is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause. docusaurus has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mkdocs 12%. docusaurus 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
| docusaurus | mkdocs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 22K |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2025-10-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docusaurus if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mkdocs if
- You want the mkdocs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mkdocs fits your workflow better
About docusaurus
Docusaurus is an open source static site generator from Meta for maintainers who need a documentation, blog, and project website that is easy to keep up to date.
read the full docusaurus overview →
About mkdocs
MkDocs is a static site generator for Python developers and technical writers who want project documentation written in Markdown and served as plain HTML files.
read the full mkdocs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docusaurus or mkdocs more popular?
docusaurus has 66,471 GitHub stars and mkdocs has 22,497. docusaurus has the larger community by that measure.
Are docusaurus and mkdocs free?
Both are open source. docusaurus is licensed under MIT and mkdocs under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docusaurus and mkdocs?
docusaurus is written in TypeScript and mkdocs in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, docusaurus or mkdocs?
Choose docusaurus if you want the larger community (66,471 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mkdocs if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.