Author-it vs Dr.Explain
Author-it
author-it.comDr.Explain
drexplain.comSide by side
| Figure | Author-it | Dr.Explain |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $24.17/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Help Authoring Tools | 7.8 (#12) | 8.5 (#4) |
| Spec score · Technical Documentation Software | 7.8 (#23) | 8.4 (#8) |
| Spec score · Knowledge base software | 7.6 (#105) | 8.0 (#81) |
| Audience | The company highlights manufacturing, software, and utilities organizations, especially those with complex content accuracy and compliance needs. | both |
| Founded | 1996 | 2004 |
| Headquarters | New Zealand | New York, New York, USA |
| Product | Author-it is a component content management system that unifies structured authoring, review, translation, and publishing. | Dr.Explain is a help authoring tool for creating user guides, operating instructions, help files, and manuals. |
| Support | Customer Resources links to the Knowledge Centre, support tickets, community hub, system status, training videos, and on-premise downloads. | The maker offers multilingual technical and sales support by email and toll-free voicemail. |
Plans
Dr.Explain
- FreeFree
- Business Temporary$290 a year
- Business Perpetual v.7$690 a month
- Home Perpetual v.7$9,000 a month
- Free Restricted LicenseFree
- Business License — Temporary$290 a year
- Business License — Perpetual for v.7$690, paid once
- Home License — Perpetual for v.7$9,000, paid once
In their own words
Dr.Explain
Dr.Explain is a Windows help authoring tool for creating user guides, operating instructions, help files, and manuals. It captures application windows or web pages and adds numbered callouts to interface elements. Documentation can be exported as HTML, CHM, PDF, or DOCX; imports include CHM, HLP, HTML, XML, DOC/DOCX, and TXT, with project structure and formatting preserved. For software integration, it supports Help Context IDs and creates map files in.h,.vb, and.inc formats. Multiple authors can work on a project through the free Tiwri.com service or a corporate server on the company's internal network. An in-program AI Assistant offers generation, translation, and proofreading. The desktop application requires 64-bit Windows 11, 10, 8, or 7. The free license has no time limit but restricts project size and watermarks exported images; it includes 20 topics. Business Temporary costs $290 a year for five users, and Business Perpetual v.7 costs $690, paid once for five users. Home Perpetual v.7 costs $9,000, paid once for one user and excludes commercial use.