Sphinx vs YARD
Sphinx
sphinx-doc.orgYARD
yardoc.orgSide by side
| Figure | Sphinx | YARD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Documentation Generators | 8.2 (#7) | 7.1 (#29) |
| Installation | Sphinx is a Python application installable through PyPI, Conda, Linux package managers, Homebrew or MacPorts, Chocolatey, Docker, or from source. | The site instructs users to install YARD with the RubyGems command gem install yard. |
| Integrations | Built-in extensions include GitHub Pages publishing, Graphviz graphs, and intersphinx links to other projects’ documentation. | The site names plugins supporting RSpec, DataMapper, and Sinatra. |
| License | The project states that its code is released under the two-clause BSD license. | The site states that YARD uses the MIT License. |
| Purpose | Sphinx generates technical documentation from structured text. | YARD generates consistent, usable documentation for the Ruby programming language and can export it to different formats. |
| Support | The project directs users to Stack Overflow, GitHub Discussions, GitHub Issues, or the sphinx-users mailing list for questions and problem reports. | The site lists an IRC channel, a mailing list, and GitHub as ways to get in touch. |
Plans
In their own words
Sphinx
Sphinx is a free Python application that generates technical documentation from structured text. Authors can use reStructuredText or MyST Markdown; Markdown requires installing MyST-Parser separately. Built-in builders produce HTML, LaTeX for PDF, ePub, manual pages, Texinfo, and plain text. References can link sections, figures, tables, citations, glossaries, and code objects within one project or across projects. The autodoc extension imports documented modules and includes material from their docstrings. Themes and extensions, both built-in and third-party, add options such as diagrams, doctests, and API documentation. Other built-in extensions provide GitHub Pages publishing, Graphviz graphs, and intersphinx links. Sphinx also supports gettext-based translation and full-text search. It can be installed through Python and platform package managers, Docker, or from source, then deployed to services such as Read the Docs, GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, Netlify, or self-hosted servers. Its code is released under the two-clause BSD license, and the project is community supported.