Read the Docs
Host and automatically build documentation from your source code repositories
- Also known as
- read-the-docs
Available worldwide
What is Read the Docs?
A platform for hosting project documentation with automatic building from Git repositories, supporting both free public docs for open-source projects and private documentation for commercial teams.
Read the Docs pricing
Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.
Free for open source. Paid plans from $50/month for commercial projects. 30-day free trial available.
Read the Docs Community
FreeFor free and open-source projects
- features
- ads-supported hosting
- repositories
- public only
- documentation
- public only
- Clone public repositories
- Public documentation
- Ads-supported hosting
Basic
For small teams getting started with private docs
- redirects
- 50
- custom_domains
- 1 (shared domain)
- concurrent_builds
- 2
- 2 concurrent builds
- Shared domain
- SSO with GitHub and GitLab
- 50 redirects
- 3 business day support
- Automatic builds
- Versioning
- Search
- Pull request previews
- CDN hosting
Advanced
For hosting public docs at your own domain
- redirects
- 250
- custom_domains
- 5
- concurrent_builds
- 4
- 4 concurrent builds
- 5 custom domains
- 250 redirects
- 2 business day support
- Automatic builds
- Versioning
- Search
- Pull request previews
- CDN hosting
Pro
For organizations with scale and security needs
- redirects
- 500
- custom_domains
- 15
- concurrent_builds
- 6
- 6 concurrent builds
- 15 custom domains
- SSO with Google
- 500 redirects
- 1 business day support
- Automatic builds
- Versioning
- Search
- Pull request previews
- CDN hosting
Enterprise
Contact salesCustom plans for large-scale deployments
- SAML SSO
- Dedicated builders
- Advanced audit tracking
- Support SLA
What Read the Docs does
The capabilities that matter for documentation tools, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Tool kind
- Hosted build service
- Engine / language
- Sphinx, MkDocs, Docusaurus, and others
- Authoring format
- Markdown
- API reference from OpenAPI / code
- ✓
- Multi-version docs
- ✓
- Internationalisation
- -
- Search
- Built-in
- Theming / custom design
- -
- Edit-in-Git / WYSIWYG round-trip
- ✓
- Self-hostable
- -
- Official managed host
- ✓
- Built-in usage analytics
- ✓
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- Web
- Cloud / SaaS
Integrations (7)
Independently observed- GitHub
- GitLab
- Bitbucket
- Sphinx
- MkDocs
- Docusaurus
Read the Docs FAQ
Common questions about Read the Docs, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is Read the Docs?
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. It is indexed under Documentation Tools.
Source: https://readthedocs.org/pricing/
Is Read the Docs free to use?
Read the Docs is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. A commercial or hosted edition starts at $50 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
Source: https://readthedocs.org/pricing/
What platforms does Read the Docs support?
We have confirmed browser-based access to Read the Docs. 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://readthedocs.org/pricing/
Can Read the Docs be self-hosted?
We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Read the Docs, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.
Source: https://readthedocs.org/pricing/
What does Read the Docs integrate with?
We have confirmed 7 integrations for Read the Docs, including GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Google, Sphinx, MkDocs and Docusaurus. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.
Source: https://readthedocs.org/pricing/
Is Read the Docs open source?
Yes. Read the Docs 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.
Read the Docs alternatives
Other documentation tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- DocusaurusStatic site generator focused on documentation projectshigh · 79%
- Sphinxmedium · 69%
- MintlifyA documentation platform that automatically synchronizes content with your codebase and optimizes it for both human developers and AI agents.medium · 74%
- GitBookDocumentation platform that synchronizes with your product code and keeps content accurate through automation and collaborationhigh · 75%
- HugoA high-performance static site generator for rapid website developmentlow · 49%
- StarlightDocumentation website generator built on Astromedium · 70%
Compare Read the Docs
Side by side against other documentation tools, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Read the Docs, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | 75 | 0.10 | 7.4 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 97 | 0.07 | 6.5 | ✓ |
| Development activity | 52 | 0.12 | 6.2 | ✓ |
| Pricing transparency | 100 | 0.05 | 5.3 | ✓ |
| Security score | 75 | 0.05 | 4.0 | ✓ |
| Reliability | 50 | 0.05 | 2.7 | ✓ |
| Stars | 74 | 0.03 | 2.4 | ✓ |
| Price level | 50 | 0.04 | 2.0 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 26 | 0.05 | 1.4 | ✓ |
| Dependent projects | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
| Security posture | 5 | 0.09 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.17 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 43 | mediumsource · 2026-09-11 · 65% |
Adoption
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Github stars | 8,386 | highsource · 2026-09-11 · 90% |
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 6 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 66% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Kind: hosted_build · Engine: Sphinx, MkDocs, Docusaurus, and others · Search: built_in · Git sync: Yes · Analytics: Yes · Authoring: markdown | mediumsource · 2026-09-14 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | mediumsource · 2026-08-14 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Python | highsource · 2026-09-11 · 90% |
License
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spdx | MIT | highsource · 2026-09-11 · 95% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | mediumsource · 2026-09-14 · 50% |
Pricing
Release
Reliability
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Status page | Yes | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |
Security
Is Read the Docs the right choice for you?
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