head to head · open source
mkdocs vs jsdoc
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars, 2,658 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 1.0 years ago. jsdoc has 15,471 stars, 1,493 forks, 459 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mkdocs leads on adoption by 46% (22,532 vs 15,471 stars). mkdocs is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause; jsdoc is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. mkdocs has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, jsdoc 10%. 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
| mkdocs | jsdoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 15K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2025-10-20 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick jsdoc if
- You want the jsdoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and jsdoc fits your workflow better
About mkdocs
MkDocs Project documentation with Markdown [![PyPI Version][pypi v image]][pypi v link] [![Build Status][GHAction image]][GHAction link] [![Coverage Status][codecov image]][codecov link] MkDocs is a fast , simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. It is designed to be easy to use and can be extended with third party themes, plugins, and Markdown extensions. Please see the [Documentation][mkdocs] for an introductory tutorial and a full user…
read the full mkdocs overview →
About jsdoc
JSDoc An API documentation generator for JavaScript. Want to contribute to JSDoc? Please read CONTRIBUTING.md . Installation and Usage JSDoc supports stable versions of Node.js 8.15.0 and later. You can install JSDoc globally or in your project's node modules folder. To install the latest version on npm globally (might require sudo ; learn how to fix this): npm install g jsdoc To install the latest version on npm locally and save it in your package's package.json file: npm install save dev jsdoc Note : By default, npm adds your package using the caret operator in front of the version number (for example, ^3.6.3…
read the full jsdoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mkdocs or jsdoc more popular?
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars and jsdoc has 15,471. mkdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs and jsdoc free?
Both are open source. mkdocs is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and jsdoc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs and jsdoc?
mkdocs is written in Python and jsdoc in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mkdocs or jsdoc?
Choose mkdocs if you want the larger community (22,532 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose jsdoc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.