head to head · open source
jsdoc vs cheat
jsdoc has 15,463 GitHub stars, 1,492 forks, 459 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cheat has 13,456 stars, 853 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. jsdoc leads on adoption by 15% (15,463 vs 13,456 stars). jsdoc is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; cheat is written in Go under MIT. jsdoc has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, cheat 6%. jsdoc 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
| jsdoc | cheat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 853 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick jsdoc if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cheat if
- You want the cheat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cheat fits your workflow better
About jsdoc
JSDoc is an API documentation generator for JavaScript that reads annotations in source comments and produces a browsable documentation site, aimed at JavaScript developers and library maintainers who need reference documentation to stay in sync with code.
read the full jsdoc overview →
About cheat
cheat is an MIT licensed, Go written command line tool for nix system administrators that creates and displays interactive cheatsheets, so that options for commands used frequently but not frequently enough to remember stay one command away.
read the full cheat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jsdoc or cheat more popular?
jsdoc has 15,463 GitHub stars and cheat has 13,456. jsdoc has the larger community by that measure.
Are jsdoc and cheat free?
Both are open source. jsdoc is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cheat under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jsdoc and cheat?
jsdoc is written in JavaScript and cheat 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, jsdoc or cheat?
Choose jsdoc if you want the larger community (15,463 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cheat if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.