Docusaurus vs Read the Docs: What are the differences?

Introduction

In the world of documentation tools, there are two popular options - Docusaurus and Read the Docs. Both tools offer unique features and functionalities, making it crucial to understand their key differences before deciding which one to use.

1. Hosting Platform:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus is a static site generator specifically designed for documentation purposes. It provides an easy-to-use platform for creating and hosting documentation websites. The generated website can be hosted on platforms like GitHub Pages or Netlify.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs, on the other hand, is a documentation hosting platform that automatically builds and deploys documentation from your code repository. It supports various programming languages and can deploy documentation on multiple platforms, including their own hosting service.

2. Customization and Theming:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus offers a highly customizable theming system that allows you to create a unique look and feel for your documentation website. It provides a wide range of options to modify the layout, styling, and branding of the website, making it suitable for projects with specific design requirements.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs focuses more on simplicity and ease of use when it comes to theming. It provides a few built-in themes that are clean and professional-looking. While customization options are limited compared to Docusaurus, Read the Docs allows you to quickly set up and deploy a documentation website without worrying too much about styling.

3. Content Authoring:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus supports writing documentation in Markdown, allowing for easy creation and formatting of content. It also provides additional features like versioning, sidebars, and search functionality out of the box, making it convenient for managing and organizing documentation.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs uses the Sphinx documentation generator, which supports writing documentation in reStructuredText. While reStructuredText provides more control over the layout and structure of the documentation, it has a steeper learning curve compared to Markdown. Additionally, Read the Docs offers advanced features such as automatic API documentation generation.

4. Community and Ecosystem:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus has a growing community and ecosystem around it, with active development and regular updates. It has gained popularity among open-source projects and is often used for creating project documentation.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs has been around for a longer time and has a larger user base and community. It is widely used for hosting documentation for both open-source and proprietary projects. The platform also supports integration with popular code hosting platforms like GitHub and GitLab.

5. Localization and Internationalization:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus provides built-in support for localization and internationalization of documentation. It allows you to easily translate your documentation into different languages and switch between different versions of the documentation based on the user's preferred language.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs does not have built-in support for localization and internationalization. To achieve multi-language documentation, you need to set up separate projects with translated content. This can lead to more manual effort in maintaining and updating multiple versions of the documentation.

6. Extendability and Plugins:

Docusaurus: Docusaurus offers a plugin system that enables extending its functionalities. It has a collection of official plugins and supports the development of custom plugins, allowing you to add specific features or integrations to your documentation website.

Read the Docs: Read the Docs has limited support for extending its functionalities through plugins. While you can customize the documentation theme to some extent, the platform does not provide a plugin system for adding additional features. This can be a limitation for projects requiring specific customizations.

In summary, Docusaurus is a static site generator specifically designed for documentation, providing customization options and an extensible plugin system. Read the Docs, on the other hand, is a documentation hosting platform focused on simplicity and ease of use, with strong support for auto-generating documentation from code repositories and localization. The choice between the two depends on specific needs, project requirements, and preferences for hosting and customization capabilities.