DocFX vs Nextra
DocFX
dotnet.github.io
Nextra
nextra.siteSide by side
| Figure | DocFX | Nextra |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Technical Documentation Software | 8.2 (#12) | 7.1 (#34) |
| Spec score · Developer Documentation Software | 8.2 (#11) | 7.2 (#25) |
| Spec score · Knowledge base software | 7.7 (#102) | 7.0 (#132) |
| Purpose | DocFX builds technical documentation sites from .NET assemblies, XML code comments, REST API Swagger files, and Markdown. | Nextra is a site generation framework for building websites with Next.js and MDX. |
| Support | The DocFX project is listed as supported by the .NET Foundation. | The FAQ directs unanswered questions to the project's GitHub discussions. |
Plans
In their own words
DocFX
DocFX is a free static site generator for technical documentation. It builds documentation from .NET assemblies, XML code comments, REST API Swagger files and Markdown, and can produce rendered HTML pages, JSON models or PDFs. Static HTML output is placed in the `_site` folder for publication to hosting services such as GitHub Pages. DocFX can also be used as a NuGet library through the `Docfx.App` package and .NET APIs. It parses CommonMark-compliant Markdown with Markdig and supports additional extensions. Built-in templates include a modern option with dark mode and customization settings; users can also customize templates with CSS, JavaScript, Mustache templates and metadata. DocFX can generate git links for GitHub, GitLab, Azure Pipelines, AppVeyor, TeamCity and Jenkins. It requires .NET SDK 8.0 or higher. Node.js v20 or higher is optional generally, but required to create PDFs. Native reference documentation generation covers .NET and REST APIs; other languages need a custom API docs converter. PlantUML diagrams use a remote server by default, with local rendering available as a setting.