head to head · open source
redoc vs RapiDoc
redoc has 25,915 GitHub stars, 2,397 forks, 449 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. RapiDoc has 1,898 stars, 326 forks, 138 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. redoc leads on adoption by 1,265% (25,915 vs 1,898 stars). redoc is written in TypeScript under MIT; RapiDoc is written in JavaScript under MIT. redoc has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, RapiDoc 17%. redoc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (openapi3, swagger), 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
| redoc | RapiDoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-02-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 326 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick redoc if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick RapiDoc if
- You want the RapiDoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and RapiDoc fits your workflow better
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 →
About RapiDoc
RapiDoc is an MIT licensed JavaScript custom element that renders Swagger 2.0 and OpenAPI 3.x specifications as interactive API documentation inside any web page or framework.
read the full RapiDoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is redoc or RapiDoc more popular?
redoc has 25,915 GitHub stars and RapiDoc has 1,898. redoc has the larger community by that measure.
Are redoc and RapiDoc free?
Both are open source. redoc is licensed under MIT and RapiDoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between redoc and RapiDoc?
redoc is written in TypeScript and RapiDoc 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, redoc or RapiDoc?
Choose redoc if you want the larger community (25,915 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose RapiDoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.