Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

mdbook VS Docsify.js

Compare mdbook VS Docsify.js and see what are their differences

mdbook logo mdbook

Gitbook alternative in Rust

Docsify.js logo Docsify.js

A magical documentation site generator.
  • mdbook Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-07
  • Docsify.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-28

mdbook features and specs

  • Easy to Use
    mdBook is designed to be user-friendly, allowing users to create and manage books using Markdown with minimal setup.
  • Customization
    It offers a range of customization options, including themes and configuration options, enabling users to tailor it to their preferences.
  • Lightweight and Fast
    As a Rust-based tool, mdBook is lightweight and fast in performance, making it suitable for handling large projects with ease.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, mdBook encourages contributions and allows users to adapt the tool for their specific needs.
  • Integration with Continuous Integration (CI) Systems
    The platform allows for seamless integration with CI systems, facilitating automated builds and deployments.

Possible disadvantages of mdbook

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While great for straightforward documentation, mdBook may lack more advanced features needed for highly complex or unique publishing needs.
  • Learning Curve for Customization
    Although customization is a pro, the initial learning curve to truly customize the tool to its full potential can be steep for some users.
  • Dependent on Markdown
    Its reliance on Markdown can be a limitation if users require advanced styling or scripting capabilities not inherently supported by Markdown.
  • Rust Dependency
    Users need to have Rust installed to use mdBook, which might be cumbersome for users unfamiliar with Rust or not utilizing it for other projects.

Docsify.js features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Docsify.js is simple to set up and use. It allows for the creation of documentation directly from Markdown files without the need for a complicated build process.
  • Real-time Update
    With Docsify.js, changes to documentation can be seen in real-time. This is particularly useful for collaborative work where updates need to be immediately reflected.
  • Customizable
    Docsify offers a high degree of customization, allowing users to tweak the look and feel of their documentation through themes, plugins, and custom scripts.
  • No Build Process
    Unlike many other documentation tools, Docsify renders Markdown files on the fly, which means you don't need a separate build step to see changes.
  • Lightweight
    Docsify is lightweight and doesn't require much in terms of dependencies, making it fast and efficient to use.
  • SPA Architecture
    Docsify uses a Single Page Application (SPA) architecture, which provides smooth navigation and a better user experience.

Possible disadvantages of Docsify.js

  • SEO Challenges
    Since Docsify relies on client-side rendering, it can be more challenging to ensure that search engines properly index the content of your documentation.
  • Performance
    For very large documentation projects, the lack of a static site generation can lead to performance issues, especially on initial load.
  • Less Suitable for Complex Docs
    Docsify might not be the best choice for very complex or large-scale documentation projects due to its simple and lightweight nature.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    While Docsify is customizable, it has limited built-in features compared to more comprehensive documentation tools like Docusaurus or GitBook.
  • Dependency on JavaScript
    Docsify is heavily reliant on JavaScript, which means that users with JavaScript disabled won't be able to view the documentation properly.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to mdbook and Docsify.js)
Documentation As A Service & Tools
Documentation
39 39%
61% 61
Knowledge Base
49 49%
51% 51
Knowledge Management
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare mdbook and Docsify.js

mdbook Reviews

Best Gitbook Alternatives You Need to Try in 2023
Mdbook is a command-line tool for creating online portals from Markdown files. It is built in Rust and focuses on being easy to use and fast. It also supports various output formats like HTML, PDF, and ePub. It also allows you to add custom themes to give your books a unique look.
Source: www.archbee.com

Docsify.js Reviews

We have no reviews of Docsify.js yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Docsify.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 18 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.

mdbook mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of mdbook yet. Tracking of mdbook recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Docsify.js mentions (18)

  • 🚀 Fast Static Site Deployment on AWS with Pulumi YAML
    I built a fast, responsive, and lightweight static documentation site powered by Docsify, hosted on AWS S3 with a CloudFront CDN for global distribution. The entire infrastructure is managed using Pulumi YAML, allowing me to declaratively define and deploy resources without writing any imperative code. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Cookbook for SH-Beginners. Any interest? (building one)
    Okay new plan, does anyone know how to do this docsify on github? I obviously am a noob on github and recently on reddit. I'd like to help where I can but my knowlegde seems to be my handycap. I could provide you a trash-mail, if you need one, but I need a PO (product owner) to manage the git... I have no clue about this yet (pages and functions and stuff). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Cookbook for SH-Beginners. Any interest? (building one)
    Good idea. Instead of bookstack, I recommend something like Docsify The content is all in Markdown and can be managed in a git repo. Easy to deploy the whole website to any simple static HTTP server - or even Github pages. This way you can review contributions and have good version control. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Any Sugestions for Proceures Documentation?
    The tools to author it aren't that important, frankly. Ask your audience what they're most comfortable using and try to meet them there. If the stakeholders are technical, you have more options. If they aren't, I hope you like Google Docs or Word, because if you give them anything other than that or a PDF, they'll probably complain. At worst, yeah, write it in a long Markdown text file and use tools like pandoc to... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • How to Build a Personal Webpage from Scratch (In 2022)
    Big fan of https://docsify.js.org since theres no need to compile your static site. A small amount of js just renders markdown. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing mdbook and Docsify.js, you can also consider the following products

GitBook - Modern Publishing, Simply taking your books from ideas to finished, polished books.

MkDocs - Project documentation with Markdown.

Doxygen - Generate documentation from source code

Docusaurus - Easy to maintain open source documentation websites

pandoc - Pandoc is a Haskell library for converting from one markup format to another, and a command-line...

DocFX - A documentation generation tool for API reference and Markdown files!