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MkDocs VS Markdown-it

Compare MkDocs VS Markdown-it and see what are their differences

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MkDocs logo MkDocs

Project documentation with Markdown.

Markdown-it logo Markdown-it

High-speed Markdown parser with 100% CommonMark support, extensions & syntax plugins.
  • MkDocs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-18

MkDocs is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. Start by reading the introductory tutorial, then check the User Guide for more information.

  • Markdown-it Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-07-21

MkDocs features and specs

  • User-Friendly
    MkDocs is designed to be easy to use, making it accessible for users with varying levels of technical expertise. It uses simple Markdown syntax for content creation and has a straightforward configuration file.
  • Static Site Generation
    MkDocs generates static HTML pages, which are fast to load and easy to deploy. This makes it a good choice for documentation sites that need to be scalable and secure.
  • Customizable Themes
    MkDocs supports custom themes, allowing users to tailor the look of their documentation to fit their branding and design requirements. The built-in themes like 'MkDocs' and 'ReadTheDocs' are visually appealing and functional.
  • Built-in Search
    MkDocs comes with built-in search capabilities, making it easy for users to find the information they are looking for within the documentation.
  • Integration with CI/CD
    MkDocs can be easily integrated into Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, enabling automated builds and deployments.

Possible disadvantages of MkDocs

  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    While MkDocs has some plugins available, its plugin ecosystem is not as extensive as some other static site generators. This might limit advanced customization options for some users.
  • Markdown Limitations
    MkDocs relies on Markdown for content creation, which can be limiting for users who need more complex formatting and features that Markdown does not support out of the box.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic usage is straightforward, leveraging advanced features such as custom themes, plugins, and configuration can have a steeper learning curve.
  • Performance on Large Sites
    For very large documentation sites, build times can become longer and navigation might not be as smooth as needed, which can affect the user experience.
  • Dependency on Python
    MkDocs is a Python-based tool, which means that users need to have a Python environment set up. This can be a barrier for users who are not familiar with Python or do not want to deal with additional dependencies.

Markdown-it features and specs

  • High Performance
    Markdown-it is designed for fast processing, making it suitable for applications where performance is crucial.
  • Extensibility
    Markdown-it offers a plugin system that allows developers to extend its core functionality with custom rules and plugins.
  • CommonMark Support
    Markdown-it fully supports the CommonMark specification, ensuring consistent rendering across different platforms.
  • Full-featured
    It includes a lot of built-in features like support for tables, footnotes, and more advanced Markdown formatting options.
  • Easy to Customize
    With a wide range of configurations, developers can easily customize the parser to fit their specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of Markdown-it

  • Size
    Being feature-rich and extensible may result in a larger library size, which might not be ideal for all projects, especially those with strict size limitations.
  • Complexity
    For users who need a simple markdown parser, Markdown-it’s extensive features and configuration options might be overwhelming.
  • Learning Curve
    Utilizing its full potential requires learning and understanding its plugin architecture and customization options, which could be challenging for beginners.
  • External Dependencies
    Relying on plugins may introduce external dependencies that need to be managed and maintained.

Analysis of MkDocs

Overall verdict

  • MkDocs is a good option for documentation, especially if you prefer Markdown and static site generators.

Why this product is good

  • MkDocs is favored for its simplicity, ease of use, and seamless integration with Markdown, making it easy to create clean and professional-looking documentation. It is well-suited for projects that require straightforward documentation without the need for complex configurations or customizations. The tool also benefits from a strong community and a variety of themes and plugins that extend its functionality.

Recommended for

  • Developers and teams seeking to quickly generate project documentation using Markdown.
  • Projects that require static site generation with minimal setup.
  • Users who prefer a simple and hassle-free documentation process.
  • Open-source projects and communities looking for an easy way to document software and APIs.

MkDocs videos

Alternatives to MkDocs

More videos:

  • Review - Урок 5. Плагины для Питон Django vs studio code. (mkdocs + Markdown)

Markdown-it videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MkDocs and Markdown-it)
Documentation
100 100%
0% 0
Competitive Intelligence
0 0%
100% 100
Documentation As A Service & Tools
SEO
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare MkDocs and Markdown-it

MkDocs Reviews

Introduction to Doxygen Alternatives In 2021
. User can host complete fixed HTML websites on Amazon S3, GitHub, etc. There’s a stack of styles offered that looks excellent. The built-in dev-server allows the user to sneak peek, as it has been written on documentation. Whenever users save modifications, it will likewise auto-reload and refresh the tab. MkDocs is a tool in the Tech Stack group of search engines.
Source: www.webku.net
Doxygen Alternatives
User can host full static HTML sites on Amazon S3, GitHub, etc. There’s a stack of themes available that looks great. The built-in dev-server allows the user to preview, as it has been written on documentation. Whenever users save changes, it will also auto-reload and refresh the tab. MkDocs is a tool in the Tech Stack group of search engines.
Source: www.educba.com
The most overlooked part in software development - writing project documentation
MkDocs calls itself a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. It is Python-based. Documentation source files are written in Markdown and configured with a single YAML configuration file. On its Wiki page it provides a long list of themes, recipes and plugins making it a very attractive system for writing...
Source: netgen.io

Markdown-it Reviews

We have no reviews of Markdown-it yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Markdown-it should be more popular than MkDocs. It has been mentiond 8 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.

MkDocs mentions (2)

  • Does anyone have an automated workflow to publish their notes to the web?
    I'm a software engineer, and before getting my rM2, I kept all of my notes in Markdown format. They're under source control (git), and I use mkdocs to build them into a static website. I have a CI pipeline set up so that whenever I push changes to my notes to GitHub/Gitlab/Sourcehut, they are automatically built and published to my site. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Quick and dirty mock service with Starlette
    Starlette is a web framework developed by the author of Django REST Framework (DRF), Tom Christie. DRF is such a solid project. Sharing the same creator bolstered my confidence that Starlette will be a well designed piece of software. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

Markdown-it mentions (8)

  • Building PicoSSG: 'Just Enough Code'
    ADR-003 documented the choice of markdown-it over alternatives like marked, based on careful evaluation of edge cases and built-in features like URL linking. - Source: dev.to / 28 days ago
  • 6 free Markdown (.md) WYSIWYG desktop Editors – Part1
    [5] markdown-it demo Https://markdown-it.github.io/. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Rendering Markdown with Enhance
    Enhance does not natively support rendering markdown into HTML, which is out of scope for the project. Instead, we rely on markdown-it, an excellent JavaScript markdown parser that is endlessly configurable with plugins. As we use markdown in many different projects, we’ve created a node module called, Arcdown, which packages together our preferred conventions for parsing markdown files. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • I struggled to get markdown highlighting to work: Here’s the working code snippet 🚀
    It looks like this is TypeScript using markdown-it? Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Adding Markdown Support to a Static Site Generator
    For my own static site generator, Jellybean, one feature of Docusaurus that I wanted to implement was full markdown support. This is because my static site generator previously only had partial markdown support, which is not very user-friendly. Thankfully, there are a some great open-source libraries which can provide full markdown support and I decided to use markdown-it for my project. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing MkDocs and Markdown-it, you can also consider the following products

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

ShowdownJS - A Markdown to HTML converter written in JavaScript

Doxygen - Generate documentation from source code

Marked.js - A full-featured markdown parser and compiler, written in JavaScript. Built for speed.

Docusaurus - Easy to maintain open source documentation websites

Snarkdown - The super fast, 1kb Markdown parser in JavaScript