# Sphinx vs VitePress

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Sphinx

| Attribute | Sphinx | VitePress |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 68.9 (71% (medium)) | 60.2 (71% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 2 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 68,751 | 2 |
| adoption.github_stars | 7,989 | 18,245 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 15,422,418 | 1,043,743 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Converts reStructuredText and Markdown into multiple output formats including HTML, PDF, and ePub, with support for automatic API documentation, customizable themes, and internationalization. | A documentation site generator that transforms markdown files into fast static websites. Powered by Vite and Vue, it enables developers to embed Vue components directly in markdown and build custom themes. |
| features.capabilities | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Python","themeable":true,"api_reference":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false}` | `{"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Vite + Vue","authoring":"markdown","themeable":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false}` |
| language.primary | Python | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | - | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://www.sphinx-doc.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T15:27:10.554Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","description":"MIT Licensed","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free, MIT Licensed","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://vitepress.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:02:51.439Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 1 | 15 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.1.0","date":"2025-12-31T15:08:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.1.0rc2","date":"2025-12-27T03:17:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.1.0rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.1.0rc1","date":"2025-12-19T23:30:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.1.0rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.4","date":"2025-12-04T07:46:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.3","date":"2025-12-04T01:46:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.2","date":"2025-12-03T23:03:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.1","date":"2025-12-01T16:43:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.0","date":"2025-11-30T12:41:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.0rc4","date":"2025-11-30T06:18:15Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.0.0rc4"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.0rc3","date":"2025-11-30T03:03:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.0.0rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.0rc2","date":"2025-11-29T02:44:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.0.0rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v9.0.0rc1","date":"2025-11-28T00:47:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v9.0.0rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.3","date":"2025-03-02T22:31:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.2","date":"2025-03-02T21:01:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.1","date":"2025-02-21T23:29:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.0","date":"2025-02-18T19:52:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.0rc2","date":"2025-02-18T00:39:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v8.2.0rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.2.0rc1","date":"2025-02-16T05:41:49Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v8.2.0rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.1.3","date":"2024-10-13T20:26:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/releases/tag/v8.1.2","date":"2024-10-12T18:44:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.19","date":"2026-08-02T00:44:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.18","date":"2026-07-06T19:31:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.17","date":"2026-03-19T17:06:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.16","date":"2026-01-31T14:19:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.15","date":"2025-11-22T08:16:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.14","date":"2025-11-21T04:20:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.13","date":"2025-11-13T04:28:30Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.12","date":"2025-08-20T16:01:22Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.11","date":"2025-08-14T05:11:38Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.10","date":"2025-08-11T09:06:50Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.9","date":"2025-07-26T21:30:54Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.8","date":"2025-07-08T07:59:31Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.7","date":"2025-06-24T10:13:46Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.6","date":"2025-06-12T07:02:09Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.5","date":"2025-04-21T12:21:16Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.4","date":"2025-03-09T07:27:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.3","date":"2025-02-24T20:22:06Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.2","date":"2025-01-23T15:53:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v2.0.0-alpha.1","date":"2025-01-22T07:39:17Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/vuejs/vitepress/releases/tag/v1.6.3","date":"2025-01-22T15:30:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.3"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 5.5 | 4.4 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=sphinx&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=doc-theme-323&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Documentation Tools)

| Capability | Sphinx | VitePress |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool kind | Static-site generator | Static-site generator |
| Engine / language | Python | Vite + Vue |
| **Authoring** |  |  |
| Authoring format | - | Markdown |
| **API docs** |  |  |
| API reference from OpenAPI / code | ✓ | - |
| **Content** |  |  |
| Multi-version docs | - | - |
| Internationalisation | ✓ | - |
| **Discovery** |  |  |
| Search | - | - |
| **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 2026-09-01T14:44:07.619Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*