head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs jsdoc
mkdocs-material has 27,594 GitHub stars, 4,153 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. jsdoc has 15,471 stars, 1,493 forks, 459 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 78% (27,594 vs 15,471 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; jsdoc is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% 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-material | jsdoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the MIT 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-material
A powerful documentation framework on top of MkDocs Write your documentation in Markdown and create a professional static site for your Open Source or commercial project in minutes – searchable, customizable, more than 60 languages, for all devices. Check out the demo – squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs material . Silver sponsors Bronze sponsors <img src=" height="58"
read the full mkdocs-material 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-material or jsdoc more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,594 GitHub stars and jsdoc has 15,471. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and jsdoc free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and jsdoc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and jsdoc?
mkdocs-material 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-material or jsdoc?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,594 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose jsdoc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.