head to head · open source
OpenAPI-Specification vs redoc
OpenAPI-Specification has 31,215 GitHub stars, 9,156 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. redoc has 25,913 stars, 2,395 forks, 449 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenAPI-Specification leads on adoption by 20% (31,215 vs 25,913 stars). OpenAPI-Specification is written in Markdown under Apache-2.0; redoc is written in TypeScript under MIT. OpenAPI-Specification has attracted 29% as many forks as stars, redoc 9%. redoc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (openapi, openapi-specification), 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
| OpenAPI-Specification | redoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 26K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Markdown | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-11 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenAPI-Specification if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Markdown
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick redoc if
- You want the redoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and redoc fits your workflow better
About OpenAPI-Specification
The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) is a community driven open specification hosted within the OpenAPI Initiative, a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project. It defines a standard, programming language agnostic interface description for HTTP APIs, represented in YAML or JSON. The specification lives in the HTTP API tooling ecosystem, alongside the tools, libraries, and implementations listed in the repository's implementations document. The project source is released under the Apache 2.0 license, and its GitHub repository has accumulated roughly 31,000 stars and 9,100 forks across 13 years of activity.…
read the full OpenAPI-Specification overview →
About redoc
Redoc is an open source tool for generating API reference documentation from OpenAPI definitions, formerly known as Swagger. It lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem, ships under the MIT license, and is published on npm as the redoc package. By default it renders a responsive three panel layout: a left panel holding the search bar and navigation menu, a central panel holding the documentation itself, and a right panel showing request and response examples.
read the full redoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenAPI-Specification or redoc more popular?
OpenAPI-Specification has 31,215 GitHub stars and redoc has 25,913. OpenAPI-Specification has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenAPI-Specification and redoc free?
Both are open source. OpenAPI-Specification is licensed under Apache-2.0 and redoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenAPI-Specification and redoc?
OpenAPI-Specification is written in Markdown and redoc in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenAPI-Specification or redoc?
Choose OpenAPI-Specification if you want the larger community (31,215 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose redoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.