Fern vs Redocly
Fern
buildwithfern.com
Redocly
redocly.comSide by side
| Figure | Fern | Redocly |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · API Documentation Tools | 8.9 (#1) | 8.3 (#6) |
| Spec score · Technical Documentation Software | 8.8 (#3) | 8.1 (#17) |
| Spec score · Knowledge base software | 8.8 (#17) | 8.6 (#30) |
| Spec score · Technical Writing Platforms | 8.8 (#4) | 8.2 (#12) |
| Spec score · Api 1 | 8.9 (#4) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Spec score · Developer Documentation Software | 8.7 (#5) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Spec score · Api Docs | 8.8 (#5) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Spec score · AI Documentation Generators | 8.7 (#8) | 8.2 (#16) |
| Access control | Fern supports documentation access through password protection, SSO, JWT, or OAuth, with role-based access control. | Enterprise and Enterprise+ plans include SSO, which supports SAML 2 or OpenID Connect identity providers. |
| API references | Fern generates interactive API references from OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, gRPC, GraphQL, OpenRPC, and related specifications. | Redoc generates API reference documentation from OpenAPI definitions and supports automatic code samples, mock servers, and interactive API testing with Replay. |
| Publishing audience | both | Redocly describes its product as serving developers, executives, product managers, and technical writers. |
| Compliance | Fern's trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and CCPA, with a SOC 2 report and penetration-test summary available by request. | Redocly says it completed a SOC 2 Type II audit and offers a Data Processing Addendum for GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations. |
| Content analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Custom domain | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Security | Fern's trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and CCPA and provides access requests for its SOC 2 report, penetration test summary, and information security policy. | Redocly says data in transit is protected with TLS 1.2+ and data at rest is encrypted with AES-256. |
| SSO support | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Redocly
- Pro$10 a month
- Enterprise$24 a month
- Respect Monitoring$101 a month
- Enterprise+Priced on request
In their own words
Redocly
Redocly is an API documentation and governance suite for teams creating, maintaining, and monitoring API experiences. Redoc generates reference documentation from OpenAPI definitions, with automatic code samples, mock servers, and interactive testing through Replay. Reunite supports collaborative editing, visual reviews, remote content, and deployment previews with an audit trail; it connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, or Redocly’s native Git solution. The open-source CLI validates, lints, and bundles OpenAPI definitions, while the VS Code extension helps write and maintain them and flags definition errors. Reef provides a searchable internal API catalog with metadata, scorecards, and discovery features. Respect monitors APIs against an OpenAPI specification and can send alerts through Slack or email. Redocly lists web, API, and extension platforms, custom domains, and content analytics. It says data is encrypted in transit and at rest and reports a completed SOC 2 Type II audit. Pro costs $10.00 per seat/month, billed monthly, and includes one project and 100 pages. API docs can be launched for free, and the full suite has a 30-day trial.