Mintlify, without the bill.
Same output quality, open source and self-hosted. No $250/month Pro tier for docs that could be static HTML.
Feature by feature.
Same capabilities. No monthly bill. Static HTML you own and deploy yourself.
| Feature | Mintlify | sourcey |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAPI reference | Native | Native |
| Rich components | Yes | Yes |
| Static HTML output | No | Yes |
| No client-side framework | No | Yes |
| Self-hosted | No | Yes |
| Config format | JSON | TypeScript |
| Dark mode | Yes | Yes |
| Search | Built-in | Built-in |
| Pricing | Free / $250/mo | Free |
What you give up on Mintlify.
- 01
$250/mo Pro tier
Mintlify Pro costs $250 a month. For that you get hosted documentation, custom components, and their build pipeline. sourcey generates comparable output (OpenAPI reference, rich markdown components, dark mode, instant search) at no cost, as static HTML you deploy wherever static files work: Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, your own nginx, whatever.
Pricing verified May 2026: a free Hobby tier, then Pro at $250/month, then custom Enterprise. The trade is ownership versus a recurring bill for static output, not a knock on Mintlify's quality.
- 02
Closed source, vendor lock-in
Mintlify uses a proprietary JSON config format (docs.json, formerly mint.json), proprietary components, and proprietary hosting. Your docs live on their infrastructure. If you decide to leave, you're rewriting your config, replacing custom components, and migrating your content to a new structure. There's no export button that gives you a portable site.
Mintlify's component library is closed source. Their MDX extensions are non-standard. A Mintlify project can't be built by any other tool. sourcey uses standard markdown with directive extensions that degrade to plain text in any renderer. Your sourcey.config.ts and markdown files are the entire project; move them wherever you want.
- 03
No self-hosting
Mintlify is SaaS-only. Your documentation is served from their infrastructure. You can't run it on your own servers, behind your own firewall, or in an air-gapped environment. For regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government, defense) this can be a dealbreaker.
If Mintlify has an outage, your docs have an outage. If the terms change, you comply or migrate. A shutdown makes your docs disappear entirely. sourcey builds a directory of static HTML files that work forever, on any web server, with no external dependency.
- 04
No static output
Mintlify doesn't give you a build artifact. There's no dist/ folder, no HTML files you can inspect, no output you can commit to a repo or serve from a CDN you control. The build happens on their side, the hosting happens on their side, and the resulting site is theirs to serve.
A live sourcey build: OpenAPI reference as static HTML, with no client-side framework shipped to the reader.
Five minutes from install to first build.
Init scaffolds the project. It auto-detects OpenAPI specs in the directory.
- 01
Init
Creates sourcey.config.ts and detects any OpenAPI specs or Doxyfiles in the project.
npx sourcey init - 02
Add your content
Markdown with frontmatter. Directives for tabs, callouts, cards.
--- title: Getting Started --- ## Install the SDK :::tabs ::tab{title="npm"} ```bash npm install @yourapi/sdk ``` ::tab{title="pip"} ```bash pip install yourapi ``` ::: - 03
Configure
Navigation, tabs, spec path, theme. TypeScript with autocomplete.
import { defineConfig, markdown, openapi } from "sourcey"; export default defineConfig({ name: "Your API", navigation: { tabs: [ { tab: "Documentation", source: markdown({ groups: [ { group: "Getting Started", pages: ["introduction", "quickstart"], }, ], }), }, { tab: "API Reference", slug: "api", source: openapi("./openapi.yaml"), }, ], }, }); - 04
Build
Outputs static HTML to dist/. Deploy wherever.
$ npx sourcey build sourcey: building documentation site Pages: 14 Output: dist Time: 1.2s
Common questions.
Is sourcey really free?
Yes. sourcey is open source under AGPL-3.0; the CLI, the build output, and every feature are free, with no tiers that gate functionality. The static HTML you build and self-host carries no AGPL obligation: it is your site. AGPL obligations only attach if you modify sourcey's own source and offer that modified version to others as a network service. Building your docs and deploying the output is unaffected.
Does sourcey support the same components as Mintlify?
sourcey supports callouts, tabs, code groups, cards, accordions, and steps via markdown directives. The syntax is standard markdown with directive extensions, not a proprietary component format.
Can I use my existing OpenAPI spec?
sourcey supports OpenAPI 3.0, OpenAPI 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 (auto-converted at build time). Point your config at a YAML or JSON file, or a URL. Code samples are auto-generated in curl, JavaScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Rust, and more.
How do I migrate from Mintlify?
Copy your markdown files into a sourcey project, point openapi at your spec in sourcey.config.ts, and run npx sourcey build. Mintlify's MDX components don't transfer directly; you'll replace their custom tags with sourcey's markdown directives, which cover the same functionality.
Does sourcey have a hosted option?
No. sourcey is a build tool that outputs static HTML for you to deploy. If you want managed hosting, that's what Mintlify sells. sourcey is the opposite trade. You own the files and run the deploy yourself, so there is nothing to pay.