head to head · open source
docsify vs schemaspy
docsify has 31,519 GitHub stars, 5,790 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped today. schemaspy has 3,724 stars, 357 forks, 303 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. docsify leads on adoption by 746% (31,519 vs 3,724 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; schemaspy is written in HTML under LGPL-3.0. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, schemaspy 10%. docsify 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
| docsify | schemaspy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-03-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 357 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docsify if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick schemaspy if
- You want the schemaspy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and schemaspy fits your workflow better
About docsify
Docsify is a client side documentation site generator that turns one or more Markdown files into a website with no build process, aimed at developers and maintainers who want to publish documentation from a static host such as GitHub Pages.
read the full docsify overview →
About schemaspy
SchemaSpy is a standalone Java based database metadata analyzer that reverse engineers an existing database schema and produces a browsable HTML report with entity relationship diagrams, for database administrators and developers who need to understand a data model they did not design.
read the full schemaspy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or schemaspy more popular?
docsify has 31,519 GitHub stars and schemaspy has 3,724. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and schemaspy free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and schemaspy under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and schemaspy?
docsify is written in JavaScript and schemaspy in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, docsify or schemaspy?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,519 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose schemaspy if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.