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DocFX VS Swagger Codegen

Compare DocFX VS Swagger Codegen and see what are their differences

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DocFX logo DocFX

A documentation generation tool for API reference and Markdown files!

Swagger Codegen logo Swagger Codegen

Swagger Codegen can reduce the complexities that arise in your build process by providing client SDKs and server stubs for any API you want.
  • DocFX Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11
  • Swagger Codegen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-24

DocFX features and specs

  • Open Source
    DocFX is an open-source project, which allows for community contributions and transparency in development.
  • Multi-platform Support
    It supports generating documentation for .NET projects across different operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    DocFX can generate documentation from source code files as well as markdown files, making it versatile for different types of documentation needs.
  • Customization and Extensibility
    The tool allows for customization of templates and supports plugins, enabling users to tailor the output to their specific requirements.
  • Static Site Generation
    DocFX can generate a full static website from the documentation, which can be easily hosted on platforms like GitHub Pages.
  • Integration with .NET Core
    DocFX integrates well with .NET ecosystem, making it a convenient choice for .NET developers for both code and conceptual documentation.

Possible disadvantages of DocFX

  • Complex Setup
    The initial configuration and setup might be complex for users who are not familiar with the tooling, requiring careful reading of the documentation.
  • Performance Issues
    For large projects, DocFX can be slow during the documentation generation process, which may affect productivity for large-scale documentation.
  • Limited Non-.NET Language Support
    While it is excellent for .NET projects, DocFX offers limited features when applied to projects in other programming languages.
  • Documentation Quality
    Some users might find that the generated documentation lacks polish out-of-the-box, requiring additional effort to meet professional publishing standards.
  • Learning Curve
    There can be a learning curve for new users in understanding how to use DocFX effectively, especially in customizing templates and themes.

Swagger Codegen features and specs

  • Automation
    Swagger Codegen automates the process of generating client libraries, server stubs, API documentation, and more from an OpenAPI Specification. This reduces manual effort and speeds up development.
  • Multi-Language Support
    It supports a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, enabling developers to generate code for various platforms and technologies with ease.
  • Consistency
    By generating code from a single API specification, it ensures consistency across different client implementations, reducing the likelihood of discrepancies.
  • Community and Extensibility
    Swagger Codegen is open-source and has an active community, allowing users to contribute or extend functionality to meet specific needs through plugins or templates.

Possible disadvantages of Swagger Codegen

  • Customization Complexity
    While customization is possible, it can be complex and time-consuming, especially for teams that require highly customized code generation templates.
  • Learning Curve
    Using Swagger Codegen effectively requires understanding the OpenAPI Specification and the tool's configuration options, which may present a learning curve for new users.
  • Generated Code Quality
    The quality and performance of the generated code can vary depending on the language and framework. Developers may need to make significant modifications to meet production standards.
  • Dependency Management
    Generated projects may include dependencies that need careful management to ensure compatibility and security, which may add additional overhead to the development process.

DocFX videos

Generate Java documentation with DocFX

Swagger Codegen videos

Jesse Collis - Automatically Generating your API Client with Swagger and Swagger Codegen

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DocFX and Swagger Codegen)
Documentation
100 100%
0% 0
Development
41 41%
59% 59
Knowledge Base
100 100%
0% 0
Tool
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Swagger Codegen should be more popular than DocFX. It has been mentiond 14 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

DocFX mentions (7)

  • TSDocs.dev: type docs for any JavaScript library
    This is a better looking version of what Java and C# have had for a long time (kudos to the author for that!), is that the inspiration for this tool? https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/tools/windows/javadoc.html https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/ I saw the author mentioned in another comment that they found themselves peeping inside type declaration files "too often". While I do often use sites generated... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • What Does Microsoft Use to Create their KB Articles?
    Actually, we use it for OptiTune, it's called "docfx" https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Library / Codebase Documentation - Multiple aggregated libraries - How to create? DocFx does not support this?
    We would really prefer to use a somewhat generic pre-made tool for this (such as DocFX) compared to rolling our own solution. We can roll our own solution... But would prefer not to so that we can minimize development and maintenance overhead. Source: over 3 years ago
  • CSharp Docuementation Site
    I use docfx from microsoft to generate documentation for all my oss libraries. Source: over 3 years ago
  • What platform is Microsoft Docs hosted on?
    My best guess would be that there's a CI/CD pipeline in GitHub that utilizes DocFX to convert the Markdown files to HTML. The constructed HTML files are then placed in an Azure Storage account that configured for Static Website Hosting combined with Azure CDN. Source: over 3 years ago
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Swagger Codegen mentions (14)

  • Swagger Made Simple: A Walkthrough of API Documentation
    Swagger Codegen is a tool that generates code from your API specifications. It creates templates for server or client apps in various languages, saving time by providing a base for API integration. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • How to Write Great API Documentation 🗒
    Swagger Codegen: Generate client libraries and API documentation (click here). - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • How to Build Efficient CRUD Apps?
    Swagger Codegen: Automatically generates client SDKs, server stubs, and API documentation based on the OpenAPI specification. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Let's write a simple microservice in Clojure
    Swagger descriptor for REST API with nice Swagger UI console. Nowadays, it is a standard de facto. Microservices should be accessible via HTTP and operate with data in a human-readable JSON format. As a bonus, it is super easy to generate data types and API client code for the client side (it works well for a TypeScript-based front-end, for example). - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Different Levels of Project Documentation
    Often used for cases where a project exposes a REST or other type of API service. Open API is a popular method of documenting such API services. It can also be used along side tools such as Swagger Codegen to produce boilerplate code for API interaction / testing purposes. There may also be support files for popular API testing tools such as Postman or Insomnia. This makes it easier at a glance to see what data is... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing DocFX and Swagger Codegen, you can also consider the following products

Doxygen - Generate documentation from source code

OpenAPI Generator - OpenAPI Generator enables you to generate documentation, clients, and servers from OpenAPI 2.0/3.x documents without hassle.

Docsify.js - A magical documentation site generator.

API Transformer - API Transformer is a powerful solution that enables you to Transform API specifications to any format.

Natural Docs - Natural Docs is an open-source documentation generator for multiple programming languages.

Widdershins - Widdershins is an open-source, easy to use Semoasa/ OpenAPI/ AsyncAPI/ definition to ReSlate/Slate compatible markdown released under the MIT License.