# MkDocs vs Starlight

| Attribute | MkDocs | Starlight |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 57.4 (71% (medium)) | 62.2 (69% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 69 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 18,004 | 35 |
| adoption.github_stars | 22,497 | 9,407 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 3,612,213 | 1,439,772 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A documentation platform that converts Markdown files into static HTML websites. It offers built-in themes, plugin support for extensions, and YAML-based configuration for easy customization. It is indexed under Documentation Tools.","source":"https://www.mkdocs.org","question":"What is MkDocs?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"MkDocs is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the BSD-2-Clause licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.mkdocs.org","question":"Is MkDocs free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"MkDocs supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.mkdocs.org","question":"What platforms does MkDocs support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. MkDocs can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.mkdocs.org","question":"Can MkDocs be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. MkDocs is published under the BSD-2-Clause licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs","question":"Is MkDocs open source?","confidence":0.67}]` | `[{"answer":"An open-source documentation platform that provides built-in navigation, search, internationalization, and dark mode. Supports Markdown, Markdoc, and MDX authoring with extensibility via React, Vue, Svelte, and Solid components. It is indexed under Documentation Tools.","source":"https://starlight.astro.build","question":"What is Starlight?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Starlight. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://starlight.astro.build","question":"What platforms does Starlight support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Starlight can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://starlight.astro.build","question":"Can Starlight be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Starlight, including React, Vue, Svelte and Solid. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://starlight.astro.build","question":"What does Starlight integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Starlight is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight","question":"Is Starlight open source?","confidence":0.99}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A documentation platform that converts Markdown files into static HTML websites. It offers built-in themes, plugin support for extensions, and YAML-based configuration for easy customization. | A static documentation platform built on Astro with integrated search, multi-language support, code formatting, color theme options, and TypeScript-validated metadata for page organization and discovery. |
| features.capabilities | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Python","authoring":"markdown","themeable":true,"build_model":"fully_static","api_reference":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false,"docs_specialised":true}` | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Astro","search":"built_in","themeable":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 4 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"React"},{"name":"Vue"},{"name":"Svelte"},{"name":"Solid"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.mkdocs.org","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:11:13.960Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://starlight.astro.build","retrievedAt":"2026-10-15T09:19:52.028Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 77 | 4 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.6.1","date":"2024-08-30T12:23:09Z","type":"stable","version":"1.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.6.0","date":"2024-04-20T17:55:01Z","type":"stable","version":"1.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.3","date":"2023-09-18T21:27:59Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.2","date":"2023-08-02T14:54:19Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.1","date":"2023-07-27T22:44:51Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.0","date":"2023-07-26T20:39:53Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.3","date":"2023-05-02T21:19:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.2","date":"2022-11-01T18:34:14Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.1","date":"2022-10-15T19:19:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.0","date":"2022-09-27T17:38:06Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.3.1","date":"2022-07-19T07:28:26Z","type":"stable","version":"1.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.3.0","date":"2022-03-26T19:55:09Z","type":"stable","version":"1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.4","date":"2022-03-26T19:39:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.3","date":"2021-10-12T21:59:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.2","date":"2021-07-18T19:32:00Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.6","date":"2026-10-08T18:51:09Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.5","date":"2026-10-01T08:58:14Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.4","date":"2026-09-24T14:59:57Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.3","date":"2026-09-22T16:53:15Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.2","date":"2026-09-18T10:01:56Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.1","date":"2026-09-15T12:20:11Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.42.0","date":"2026-09-02T11:13:55Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.42.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight-docsearch%400.8.0","date":"2026-09-02T11:13:58Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight-docsearch@0.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.11","date":"2026-09-01T16:55:51Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.10","date":"2026-08-28T14:21:37Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.9","date":"2026-08-25T17:23:04Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.8","date":"2026-08-24T16:56:44Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.7","date":"2026-08-05T10:18:34Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.6","date":"2026-07-31T19:55:11Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.5","date":"2026-07-28T07:55:30Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.4","date":"2026-07-22T14:16:32Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.3","date":"2026-07-03T20:20:31Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.2","date":"2026-07-01T11:32:49Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.1","date":"2026-06-25T12:49:53Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/withastro/starlight/releases/tag/%40astrojs/starlight%400.41.0","date":"2026-06-23T19:21:49Z","type":"stable","version":"@astrojs/starlight@0.41.0"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 4.1 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=mkdocs&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40astrojs%2Fstarlight&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Documentation Tools)

| Capability | MkDocs | Starlight |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool kind | Static-site generator | Static-site generator |
| Engine / language | Python | Astro |
| **Authoring** |  |  |
| Authoring format | Markdown | - |
| **API docs** |  |  |
| API reference from OpenAPI / code | ✓ | - |
| **Content** |  |  |
| Multi-version docs | - | - |
| Internationalisation | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Discovery** |  |  |
| Search | - | Built-in |
| **Design** |  |  |
| Theming / custom design | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Workflow** |  |  |
| Edit-in-Git / WYSIWYG round-trip | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✓ |
| Official managed host | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Built-in usage analytics | - | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:14:38.106Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*