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  5. ReadMe.io vs Swagger UI

ReadMe.io vs Swagger UI

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

ReadMe.io
ReadMe.io
Stacks114
Followers365
Votes69
Swagger UI
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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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
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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Comments

Detailed Comparison

ReadMe.io
ReadMe.io
Swagger UI
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
GitHub
Node.js
Node.js
Git
Git
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge
Safari
Safari
Firefox
Firefox
Google Chrome
Google Chrome

What are some alternatives to ReadMe.io, Swagger UI?

Postman

Postman

It is the only complete API development environment, used by nearly five million developers and more than 100,000 companies worldwide.

Apiary

Apiary

It takes more than a simple HTML page to thrill your API users. The right tools take weeks of development. Weeks that apiary.io saves.

Docusaurus

Docusaurus

Docusaurus is a project for easily building, deploying, and maintaining open source project websites.

Read the Docs

Read the Docs

It hosts documentation, making it fully searchable and easy to find. You can import your docs using any major version control system, including Mercurial, Git, Subversion, and Bazaar.

Gelato.io

Gelato.io

Gelato.io is a SaaS tool for creating API documentation and developer portals.

MireDot

MireDot

Generate REST documentation directly from your Java source code. This ensures always up-to-date and accurate documentation with minimal effort.

Gitbook

Gitbook

It is a modern documentation platform where teams can document everything from products, to APIs and internal knowledge-bases. It is a place to think and track ideas for you & your team.

Slate

Slate

Slate helps you create beautiful API documentation. Think of it as an intelligent, responsive documentation template for your API.

jsdoc

jsdoc

JSDoc 3 is an API documentation generator for JavaScript, similar to JavaDoc or PHPDoc. You add documentation comments directly to your source code, right along side the code itself. The JSDoc Tool will scan your source code, and generate a complete HTML documentation website for you.

Ardoq

Ardoq

Ardoq's out of the box visualizations are automatically created in real-time. All changes and relationships are visualized simultaneously and are context sensitive. With Ardoq, you can see your documentation in the perspectives that best suit your needs.

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