Fern vs Theneo
Fern
buildwithfern.com
Theneo
theneo.ioSide by side
| Figure | Fern | Theneo |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 8 |
| Spec score · API Documentation Tools | 8.9 (#1) | 8.6 (#3) |
| Spec score · Api Docs | 8.8 (#5) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Spec score · AI Documentation Generators | 8.7 (#8) | 8.5 (#13) |
| AI tools | Fern offers AI search, a writing agent, AI translations, an MCP server, and 250 AI credits on the Free plan. | The platform offers AI-generated documentation, Ask AI answers, automated release summaries, MCP, and llms.txt support. |
| API Explorer | Published documentation can include an API Explorer that sends real requests with prefilled authentication. | Published documentation can include a live API Explorer that lets readers call endpoints from the docs. |
| CLI requirements | The current CLI installation documentation requires Node.js 22 or newer and supports npm or Homebrew installation. | The CLI documentation requires Node.js 18 or newer and installs with npm install -g @theneo/cli@latest. |
| Integrations | Listed integrations include PostHog, Google Analytics, Segment, Mixpanel, FullStory, Intercom, Postman, and Context7. | Documented integrations include GitHub or GitLab synchronization, Postman import, Bitbucket synchronization, Slack and Microsoft Teams support, Okta and Microsoft Entra ID. |
| Public API | Fern exposes a REST API for Ask Fern configuration, custom context and FAQs, usage, and analytics, authenticated with organization API keys. | The sample API exposes REST endpoints for creating, retrieving, updating and deleting API documentation and uses an Api-Key header. |
| 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. | Theneo says it maintains SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and ISO 9001 certifications and GDPR compliance. |
| Self-hosting | Fern lists self-hosting as an Enterprise capability for deploying on dedicated infrastructure. | Enterprise customers can deploy the complete platform with Docker and Kubernetes on cloud, on-premises or approved private infrastructure. |
| Support | The Enterprise plan includes dedicated support and an uptime SLA. | The pricing page lists in-app and email support, Slack 1:1 support, a dedicated customer success manager, and custom SLA in its plan comparison. |
| What it does | Fern turns API definitions and Markdown into hosted documentation sites, SDKs, and command-line tools. | Theneo generates and publishes interactive, branded API documentation and developer portals from API specifications. |
Plans
Theneo
- Starter PackageFree
- Business$120 a month
- Business (annual)$120 a year
- Business (monthly)$150 a month
- Growth$400 a month
- Growth (annual)$400 a year
- Growth (monthly)$450 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Theneo
Theneo is a developer portal for publishing API references, guides, changelogs, and customer-specific private portals. It creates interactive API documentation from OpenAPI files, Postman collections, or Git connections, with code samples, live testing, and CI/CD sync. Supported formats include REST, AsyncAPI, SOAP, GraphQL, and gRPC. Teams can co-edit, comment, review changes, track versions, and roll back. AI tools include documentation generation, Ask AI answers, release summaries, MCP, and llms.txt support. Private portals can control API visibility by customer and include SSO options and custom branding. Integrations include GitHub and Bitbucket sync, a VS Code extension, Postman sync, CLI, SDK, and API access. Theneo lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and ISO 9001 certifications and GDPR compliance; it describes AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2 or later in transit, and seven-day point-in-time backups. A free plan is available; Business starts at $120/month billed annually. Enterprise includes self-hosting on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or on-premises Kubernetes.