DocFX vs Writerside

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.

Writerside is a tool for authoring, building, testing, and publishing technical documentation. It is now a plugin for JetBrains IDEs, not a standalone IDE; the plugin retains the standalone product's features and adds editor support and validation for supported code samples. Its components include an authoring plugin, a documentation builder, and a frontend for rendering help websites. Writerside supports Markdown and semantic markup, with single sourcing that lets teams reuse topics, sections, markup elements, filters, and variables across outputs. Built-in Git integration can automate builds, testing, and deployment with GitHub or GitLab hosting. A Docker builder can also support CI/CD pipelines, with instructions for GitHub, GitLab, and TeamCity. Writerside can generate PDFs with a table of contents and optional cover, header, and footer, and create API entity references from OpenAPI specifications. Local previews include search; published documentation uses an external search service by default. AI writing actions require the Grazie Pro plugin. The free plugin supports Linux, macOS, and Windows through JetBrains IDEs.