DocFX vs Widdershins
DocFX
dotnet.github.ioWiddershins
github.comSide by side
| Figure | DocFX | Widdershins |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Documentation Generators | 8.2 (#6) | 7.1 (#28) |
| Purpose | DocFX builds technical documentation sites from .NET assemblies, XML code comments, REST API Swagger files, and Markdown. | Widdershins converts OpenAPI, Swagger, AsyncAPI, and Semoasa definitions into Markdown compatible with Slate and ReSlate. |
| Templates | DocFX includes built-in templates, and its modern template supports dark mode and customization options. | Users can customize output by editing or overriding the included templates. |
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.
Widdershins
Widdershins has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.