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mkdocs vs Docs

mkdocs has 22,497 GitHub stars, 2,658 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Docs has 16,913 stars, 663 forks, 370 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mkdocs leads on adoption by 33% (22,497 vs 16,913 stars). mkdocs is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause; Docs is written in Python under MIT. mkdocs has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Docs 4%. Docs 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.

mkdocs ★ 22K Docs ★ 17K category Content & Publishing

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Side by side

mkdocs Docs
GitHub stars ★ 22K ★ 17K
License BSD-2-Clause MIT
Written in Python Python
Last push 2025-10-20 2026-10-10
Forks ⑂ 2.7K ⑂ 663
Self-hosting Yes Yes
Data ownership Your server Your server

pick mkdocs if

  • You weight community size — 22K 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

full mkdocs profile →

pick Docs if

  • You want the Docs feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the MIT license terms
  • Your stack matches Python
  • You evaluated both and Docs fits your workflow better

full Docs profile →

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 →

About Docs

Docs is an open source collaborative text editor for creating, editing, and sharing documents in real time. It lives in the open source documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is built with Django and React for web native use. The repository describes Docs as a web native editor made for teams that need clean documents and sub documents without surrendering data to a hosted service.

read the full Docs overview →

More in Content & Publishing

next.js ★ 143K storybook ★ 91K hugo ★ 90K Understand-Anything ★ 86K Strapi ★ 73K docusaurus ★ 66K

Related comparisons

playwright vs storybook storybook vs understand-anything storybook vs devdocs understand-anything vs devdocs storybook vs docsify storybook vs wiki storybook vs mkdocs-material understand-anything vs docsify react vs next-js react vs nuxt next-js vs vite next-js vs nuxt next-js vs gatsby next-js vs ghost next-js vs jekyll next-js vs hexo supabase vs strapi hugo vs strapi hugo vs jekyll hugo vs payload hugo vs halo strapi vs ghost hugo vs filament strapi vs payload

More Documentation & Knowledge Base projects

Compare either of these against the rest of the Documentation & Knowledge Base field.

mkdocs vs storybook mkdocs vs Understand-Anything mkdocs vs docusaurus mkdocs vs devdocs mkdocs vs docsify mkdocs vs wiki mkdocs vs mkdocs-material mkdocs vs BookStack mkdocs vs deepwiki-open mkdocs vs jsdoc mkdocs vs Skill_Seekers mkdocs vs gollum

Frequently asked questions

Is mkdocs or Docs more popular?

mkdocs has 22,497 GitHub stars and Docs has 16,913. mkdocs has the larger community by that measure.

Are mkdocs and Docs free?

Both are open source. mkdocs is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Docs under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between mkdocs and Docs?

mkdocs is written in Python and Docs 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, mkdocs or Docs?

Choose mkdocs if you want the larger community (22,497 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Docs if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.