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SPECIFICTION
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DocFX vs RDoc

DocFX

dotnet.github.io

RDoc

ruby.github.io

Side by side

FigureDocFXRDoc
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYes—
macOSYes—
LinuxYesYes
APIYes—
Self-hostedYesYes
Plans published11
Spec score · Documentation Generators8.2 (#6)8.1 (#8)
PurposeDocFX builds technical documentation sites from .NET assemblies, XML code comments, REST API Swagger files, and Markdown.RDoc produces HTML and command-line documentation for Ruby projects, with `rdoc` and `ri` tools to generate and display it.
SupportThe DocFX project is listed as supported by the .NET Foundation.The project directs users to CONTRIBUTING.md for filing bug reports.

Plans

DocFX

  • DocFXFree

DocFX pricing →

RDoc

  • RDocFree

RDoc pricing →

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.

Visit dotnet.github.io

RDoc

RDoc is free software for producing Ruby project documentation as HTML pages and command-line reference output. The `rdoc` command generates documentation, while `ri` displays it. It processes Ruby, C, and RBS source files, plus RDoc markup, Markdown, RD, and TomDoc documents. RBS declarations can describe classes, modules, methods, attributes, and constants, and can add comments or type signatures to matching Ruby source documentation. A local preview server watches source files and refreshes the browser after changes. It uses Ruby’s built-in TCPServer and needs no external gems, but provides neither HTTPS nor HTTP/2 and is intended only for local previews. RDoc reports documentation coverage with `rdoc -C`, or includes parameter names with `rdoc -C1`. Generation can be automated through Rake or the RDoc API. Aliki is the default theme; Darkfish is deprecated. Ruby 3.2.0 or newer is required for the current gem.

Visit ruby.github.io