Compare 7 free documentation tools, free tiers, and developer deals. We could not confirm today's terms for 6 of them: on 5 the page we cite did not answer, and on 1 our own read did not confirm them. Each row says why. Nothing on record contradicts our terms for GitBook.
What this name holds: Documentation site generators and hosted docs platforms.
2 other names here answer “how do I build and publish an API”, and each holds a different list: API Development (41), API Gateway (6).
We track 7 documentation services with a free tier we hold as current. This category has been mostly stable — only 1 pricing change recorded across all vendors.
| Vendor | Tier | Description | Read / catalogue date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReadMe | Free | API documentation platform Starter plan — 1 project, 1 API reference, 1 published version, 1 admin seat, 24-hour request log retention, AI Dropdown / LLMs.txt / MCP Server included (Ask AI is a $150/mo add-on), ReadMe branding (cannot remove). Includes a custom domain; no custom CSS/HTML/JSOur read on 2026-11-05 found the page different from the terms we hold, and we hold no confirmation of the terms we publish. | 2026-11-05 / 2026-10-09 |
| GitBook | Free | Documentation platform — Free includes 1 free user. AI search, AI writing and editing, and custom domain are not included. GitBook Agent has a 10 message limit per week. | 2026-11-09 |
| Docusaurus | Free OSS | Free OSS (MIT). Meta-backed React/MDX documentation framework. Built-in search, versioning, i18n, and plugin systemThe page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-09, so we cannot confirm these terms today. | 2026-10-09 / 2026-07-29 |
| Nextra | Free OSS | Free OSS (MIT). Next.js-based documentation framework with MDX, full-text search, syntax highlighting, and dark mode. Simple file-system routingThe page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-09, so we cannot confirm these terms today. | 2026-10-09 / 2026-07-27 |
| VitePress | Free OSS | Free OSS (MIT). Vite and Vue-powered static site generator for documentation. Fast dev server, lightweight output, built-in searchThe page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-09, so we cannot confirm these terms today. | 2026-10-09 / 2026-07-28 |
| Sphinx | Free OSS | Free OSS (BSD). Python documentation generator. Extensive cross-referencing, automatic indices, code documentation from docstrings. Powers Python official docs and Read the DocsThe page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-09, so we cannot confirm these terms today. | 2026-10-09 / 2026-07-26 |
| Zoho Wiki | Free | Free for three users with 50 MB storage, unlimited pages, zip backups, RSS & Atom feed, access controls & customizable CSS.The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-10, so we cannot confirm these terms today. | 2026-10-10 / 2026-07-27 |