Overview

ReadMe.io

Stacks114

Followers365

Votes69

Swagger UI

Stacks2.1K

Followers1.8K

Votes207

GitHub Stars28.3K

Forks9.2K

ReadMe.io vs Swagger UI: What are the differences?

Introduction

This Markdown code provides a comparison between ReadMe.io and Swagger UI, highlighting the key differences between the two tools.

Ease of Use: ReadMe.io provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of creating and managing API documentation. It offers a WYSIWYG editor with drag-and-drop functionality, making it easy to create and customize documentation. On the other hand, Swagger UI requires more technical knowledge and relies on JSON or YAML files for documenting APIs.
Collaboration: ReadMe.io offers robust collaboration features, allowing multiple team members to collaborate on API documentation. It offers role-based access control, allowing different levels of permissions for team members. Swagger UI, on the other hand, does not provide built-in collaboration features and is primarily focused on rendering and visualizing API documentation.
Customization: ReadMe.io provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to customize the look and feel of the documentation to match their branding. It supports custom CSS and JavaScript, making it easy to create a unique and tailored documentation experience. Swagger UI, on the other hand, has limited customization options and is more focused on providing a standard template for rendering API documentation.
API Interactivity: ReadMe.io allows developers to test and interact with the API directly from the documentation itself. It provides a sandbox environment where users can make API requests, view responses, and experiment with different API endpoints. Swagger UI also provides similar functionality, allowing users to make API requests and view responses, but it requires additional setup and configuration.
API Versioning: ReadMe.io provides built-in support for API versioning, allowing developers to organize and document multiple versions of the same API. It provides versioning controls and enables easy navigation between different versions of the API documentation. Swagger UI, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for API versioning and requires additional customization to handle multiple API versions.
API Reference Documentation: ReadMe.io emphasizes the importance of API reference documentation and provides extensive support for documenting API endpoints, request/response details, authentication, and other technical aspects. It offers a dedicated API reference section, making it easy for developers to find and understand the technical details of the API. Swagger UI also supports API reference documentation, but the emphasis is more on visualizing the API structure rather than providing detailed technical documentation.

In summary, ReadMe.io provides a user-friendly and collaborative platform for creating and managing API documentation, with extensive customization options, API interactivity, built-in support for API versioning, and a strong focus on API reference documentation. Swagger UI, on the other hand, is more focused on rendering and visualizing API documentation, with a simpler setup process and less emphasis on collaboration and customization.

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Advice on ReadMe.io, Swagger UI

StackShare

May 1, 2019

Needs advice

From a StackShare Community member: "I just started working for a start-up and we are in desperate need of better documentation for our API. Currently our API docs is in a README.md file. We are evaluating Postman and Swagger UI. Since there are many options and I was wondering what other StackSharers would recommend?"

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Detailed Comparison

ReadMe.io	Swagger UI
It is an easy-to-use tool to help you build out documentation! Each documentation site that you publish is a project where there is space for documentation, interactive API reference guides, a changelog, and much more.	Swagger UI is a dependency-free collection of HTML, Javascript, and CSS assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation and sandbox from a Swagger-compliant API
Collaboration - Crowdsource your docs! Users can keep docs current by suggesting changes.;API Explorer - Let users play with your API right inside the documentation.;GitHub Sync - Keep auto-generated reference docs synced with your actual code.;Editor - Markdown-based drag-and-drop editor makes documentation almost fun.;Theme Builder - Easily create a beautiful dev community that matches your brand.;Support - Let users ask questions and request features in the support forums.;Versioning - Maintaining old or testing beta versions of your docs is a breeze!;Application Keys - Your users can view their application keys embedded right in the docs.	The UI works in any development environment, be it locally or in the web;Allow end developers to effortlessly interact and try out every single operation your API exposes for easy consumption;Quickly find and work with resources and endpoints with neatly categorized documentation;Cater to every possible scenario with Swagger UI working in all major browsers
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 28.3K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 9.2K
Stacks 114	Stacks 2.1K
Followers 365	Followers 1.8K
Votes 69	Votes 207
Pros & Cons
Pros 18 Great UI 15 Easy 10 Cute mascot 10 Customizable 8 Looks great and is fun to use Cons 4 Support is awful 3 No backup and restore capability 2 Important parts of the CSS are locked 2 Document structure is severely restricted 2 Full of bugs	Pros 49 Open Source 34 Can execute api calls from the documentation 29 Free to use 19 Customizable 14 Easy to implement in .Net Cons 3 Need to learn YAML and RAML 2 Documentation doesn't look that good 1 Does not support hypermedia 1 You don’t actually get in-line error highlighting 1 Doesn't generate code snippets in different languages
Integrations
GitHub	Node.js Git Microsoft Edge Safari Firefox Google Chrome

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