# Hugo vs Read the Docs

| Attribute | Hugo | Read the Docs |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 60.7 (49% (low)) | 65 (51% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 39 | 44 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 210 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 89,554 | 8,377 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source static site generator that renders content to HTML files using templates, supporting multiple content formats, multilingual projects, and comprehensive asset pipelines for CSS, JavaScript, and images. | A managed documentation platform that connects to Git repositories to automatically build, preview, and host documentation. Handles infrastructure for builds, search, versioning, and authentication so teams can focus on writing documentation. |
| features.capabilities | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Go","git_sync":true,"authoring":"markdown","themeable":true,"versioning":true,"api_reference":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false}` | `{"kind":"hosted_build","engine":"Sphinx, MkDocs, Docusaurus, and others","search":"built_in","git_sync":true,"analytics":true,"versioning":true,"hosted_offering":true}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | 7 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"PostCSS"},{"name":"Tailwind CSS"},{"name":"Dart Sass"},{"name":"Chroma"},{"name":"esbuild"},{"name":"LibSass"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitLab"},{"name":"Bitbucket"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"Sphinx"},{"name":"MkDocs"},{"name":"Docusaurus"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source under Apache 2.0 License","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://gohugo.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T09:23:05.179Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Community","summary":"Free for open source","features":["Clone public repositories","Public documentation","Ads-supported hosting","Automatic builds","Versioning","Search","Pull request previews","CDN hosting"],"description":"For open source and community projects","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Basic","summary":"$50/month","features":["2 concurrent builds","Shared domain","SSO with GitHub and GitLab","50 redirects","Pageview analytics (30 days)","Search analytics (30 days)","Authentication auditing (30 days)","Private repository support","Documentation authentication","Email support (3 business days)","Automatic builds","Versioning","Search","Pull request previews","CDN hosting"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For small teams getting started with private docs","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"redirects":"50","custom_domains":"1","concurrent_builds":"2","analytics_retention":"30 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Advanced","summary":"$150/month","features":["4 concurrent builds","5 custom domains","SSO with GitHub and GitLab","250 redirects","Pageview analytics (90 days)","Search analytics (90 days)","Authentication auditing (90 days)","Private repository support","Documentation authentication","Email support (2 business days)","Automatic builds","Versioning","Search","Pull request previews","CDN hosting"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":150,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For hosting public docs at your own domain","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"redirects":"250","custom_domains":"5","concurrent_builds":"4","analytics_retention":"90 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$250/month","features":["6 concurrent builds","15 custom domains","SSO with Google","500 redirects","Pageview analytics (90 days)","Search analytics (90 days)","Authentication auditing (90 days)","Private repository support","Documentation authentication","Email support (1 business day)","Automatic builds","Versioning","Search","Pull request previews","CDN hosting"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":250,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For organizations with scale and security needs","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"redirects":"500","custom_domains":"15","concurrent_builds":"6","analytics_retention":"90 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"From $10k/year","features":["SAML SSO","Dedicated builders","Advanced audit tracking","Support SLA"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":10000,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For organizations with custom requirements","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $50/month. Free tier for open source. 30-day trial available. Annual billing and purchase orders supported.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://readthedocs.org/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T15:27:45.147Z","freeTrialDays":30,"startingPrice":{"amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | mid |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 6 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.165.0","date":"2026-08-12T15:39:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.165.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.164.0","date":"2026-07-06T17:48:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.164.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.3","date":"2026-06-18T16:41:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.2","date":"2026-06-15T15:27:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.1","date":"2026-06-11T17:19:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.0","date":"2026-06-08T14:36:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.162.1","date":"2026-05-28T18:06:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.162.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.162.0","date":"2026-05-26T14:16:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.162.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.161.1","date":"2026-04-29T14:38:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.161.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.161.0","date":"2026-04-28T13:55:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.161.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.160.1","date":"2026-04-08T14:23:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.160.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.160.0","date":"2026-04-04T14:17:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.160.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.2","date":"2026-04-01T14:42:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.1","date":"2026-03-26T10:18:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.0","date":"2026-03-23T18:36:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.158.0","date":"2026-03-16T18:07:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.158.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.157.0","date":"2026-02-25T17:00:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.157.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.156.0","date":"2026-02-18T17:21:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.156.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.155.3","date":"2026-02-08T17:06:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.155.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.155.2","date":"2026-02-02T10:41:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.155.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.08.26","date":"2026-08-26T14:54:05Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.08.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.08.18","date":"2026-08-18T15:07:27Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.08.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.08.11","date":"2026-08-11T16:05:45Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.08.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.08.04","date":"2026-08-04T16:49:45Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.08.04"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.07.28","date":"2026-07-28T14:55:41Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.07.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.07.21","date":"2026-07-21T16:14:39Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.07.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.07.07","date":"2026-07-07T16:14:18Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.07.07"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.07.01","date":"2026-07-01T19:16:11Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.07.01"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.30","date":"2026-06-30T12:19:59Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.23","date":"2026-06-23T15:59:57Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.16","date":"2026-06-16T14:56:53Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.09","date":"2026-06-09T13:12:30Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.09"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.02post1","date":"2026-06-02T17:19:50Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.02post1"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.06.02","date":"2026-06-02T15:45:02Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.06.02"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.05.26","date":"2026-05-26T16:05:37Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.05.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.05.05","date":"2026-05-05T15:55:03Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.05.05"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.04.29","date":"2026-04-29T14:19:09Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.04.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.04.21","date":"2026-04-21T16:07:26Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.04.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.04.14","date":"2026-04-14T08:18:34Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.04.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/releases/tag/2026.04.07","date":"2026-04-07T09:53:51Z","type":"stable","version":"2026.04.07"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.6 | 7.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":11,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgohugoio%2Fhugo&per_page=100","last_12m":8,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Documentation Tools)

| Capability | Hugo | Read the Docs |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool kind | Static-site generator | Hosted build service |
| Engine / language | Go | Sphinx, MkDocs, Docusaurus, and others |
| **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: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:54:30.843Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*