BookStack vs GitBook
BookStack
bookstackapp.com
GitBook
gitbook.comSide by side
| Figure | BookStack | GitBook |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | £37.50/mo | $65/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Knowledge Management Software | 9.0 (#2) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Spec score · Knowledge base software | 8.9 (#8) | 9.1 (#5) |
| API | The project describes a growing REST API for automation and importing content. | The GitBook API is RESTful and supports standard GET, POST, PATCH, and DELETE methods for content, collaboration, and integrations. |
| Publishing audience | both | both |
| Custom domain | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Product | BookStack is a simple, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organising and storing information. | GitBook is a collaborative, AI-native documentation platform for creating, reviewing, and publishing branded documentation websites. |
| Security | BookStack supports CSP headers to increase protection against malicious content and stores MFA secrets encrypted in the database. | GitBook's Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 compliance. |
| SSO support | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Official paid support services are provided by HTTP Functions Ltd., while community support is available through discussions, Codeberg, Reddit, documentation and YouTube. | GitBook provides product support through [email protected] and offers sales contact and demos. |
| Version history | Yes | Yes |
Plans
BookStack
- BookStack self-hostedFree
- Community SupportFree
- Professional Support Plan£450 a year
- Enterprise Support Plan£4,500 a year
In their own words
BookStack
BookStack is a free, open-source platform for organizing and storing information on a self-hosted instance. It organizes content into Books, Chapters and Pages, with a WYSIWYG editor and an optional Markdown editor with live preview. Search works within a book or across books, chapters and pages, and users can link directly to paragraphs. The editor includes diagrams.net drawing capability. Authentication supports OIDC, SAML2 and LDAP, as well as social-based secondary authentication options. Built-in multi-factor authentication can be enforced by role and uses TOTP and static backup codes. Content exports include contained HTML, PDF, plain text, Markdown and Portable ZIP. The project describes a growing REST API for automation and importing content. The MIT-licensed software has no cost to download and install. Setup requires PHP 8.2 or newer, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or newer, Git, Composer 2.2 or newer and a PHP-compatible web server. BookStack does not currently support shared PHP hosting. Community support is free but does not assure a response, support or resolution; paid support plans are also listed.
GitBook
GitBook is a documentation platform for teams creating, reviewing, and publishing branded documentation websites. Content can be written in a block-based visual editor or Markdown, organized through branch-based review, or synchronized with GitHub and GitLab. Published sites support custom domains, responsive layouts, SEO, preview deployments, and site variants. GitBook Agent can surface documentation gaps, draft updates, and review changes, while GitBook Assistant answers questions using documentation and connected sources. Teams can set tiered permissions and restrict documentation to authenticated users. The Free plan is free, includes one user, and limits GitBook Agent to 10 messages per week. Premium is $65 a month billed per site annually, plus $12 per user/month; Ultimate is $249 a month billed per site annually, plus $12 per user/month. Annual billing includes two months free, and a 14-day trial is available. Published documentation traffic is not limited.