Redocly, without the platform.
Redocly makes good API docs. They also charge $28–$66 per user per month, limit your pages, and ship a React runtime to your users. Sourcey produces the same quality output — free, static, zero JS.
Feature by feature.
Same capabilities. No monthly bill. Static HTML you own and deploy yourself.
| Redocly | Sourcey | |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAPI reference | Native | Native |
| Open source | Partial (Redoc + CLI) | Yes (MIT) |
| Static HTML output | Yes (with JS runtime) | Yes (zero JS) |
| Zero JS shipped | No | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Doxygen / C++ docs | No | Native |
| MCP server docs | No | Native |
| Markdown guides | Yes | Yes |
| Config format | YAML | TypeScript |
| Dark mode | Yes | Yes |
| Search | Typesense (Enterprise) | Built-in |
| Pricing | $28–$66/user/mo | Free |
What Redocly costs you.
$28–$66 per user per month
Redocly Pro costs $28/user/month. Enterprise is $66/user/month. Both are billed per contributor. A five-person team on Pro pays $140/month for documentation. Enterprise — which unlocks SSO, analytics, and more than 100 pages — costs $330/month for the same team. These are per-user fees for a tool that generates documentation.
Pro is capped at 100 pages and one project. If your docs grow past 100 pages, you're forced to Enterprise at $66/user/month. Enterprise raises the cap to 500 pages. Sourcey has no page limits, no user limits, and no tiers. The CLI is free. The output is static HTML.
Page limits
Redocly Pro limits you to 100 pages of documentation. Enterprise raises it to 500. For any serious API with guides, tutorials, reference docs, and changelog — 100 pages is not a lot. You hit the limit, you upgrade. The page count becomes a billing lever.
A typical API documentation site with 30 endpoints, each generating a reference page, plus 20 guide pages, plus getting-started, authentication, SDKs, webhooks, and changelog is already approaching 60 pages before you've added tutorials or conceptual docs. Growth is penalized. Sourcey builds as many pages as you have content for.
React runtime shipped to users
Redocly Realm is built on React. Your documentation ships a client-side JavaScript runtime to every visitor. Pages are React components with server-side rendering and client hydration. Custom pages are .page.tsx files. The platform supports dynamic imports and client-only rendering modes. This is a React application, not a static site.
Redocly's documentation explicitly describes React page creation, dynamic imports with @redocly/theme, and client-side rendering support. Redoc itself (the open-source renderer) is a React component. Sourcey outputs static HTML with zero framework JavaScript. Every page is a plain HTML file that works without JS enabled.
Open source, but split
Redoc (the API reference renderer) is open source. Redocly CLI (linting and bundling) is open source. But the product that ties them together — Reunite, the collaboration platform with preview deployments, Git-based editing, and the visual editor — is not. The open-source pieces are useful on their own, but the full experience requires a paid account.
Redocly's own blog post "Premium vs Open Source Features" documents the split. Reunite's visual editor, scorecard reporting via Reef, and typeahead linting hints are not available in Redoc or Redocly CLI. The open-source tools are a funnel to the paid platform. Sourcey is one tool — the CLI, the build output, and every feature are MIT-licensed.
One command. Five minutes.
If you have an OpenAPI spec, you're most of the way there. Redocly Markdown content transfers with minor adjustments.
Init
Creates sourcey.config.ts and detects any OpenAPI specs in the directory.
npx sourcey initPoint at your spec
Same OpenAPI spec you used with Redocly. YAML or JSON, local file or URL.
import { defineConfig } from "sourcey";
export default defineConfig({
name: "Your API",
navigation: {
tabs: [
{
tab: "API Reference",
slug: "api",
openapi: "./openapi.yaml",
},
],
},
});Add your guides
Markdown with frontmatter. Redocly's Markdown content transfers directly — adjust any Reunite-specific admonitions to Sourcey's directive syntax.
---
title: Authentication
---
## API keys
:::note
All requests require an API key in the `Authorization` header.
:::
```bash
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
https://api.example.com/v1/resource
```Build
Outputs static HTML to dist/. Deploy wherever.
$ npx sourcey build
Sourcey — building documentation site
Pages: 28
Output: dist
Time: 1.4sCommon questions.
Is Sourcey really free?
Yes. Sourcey is open source under MIT. The CLI, the build output, and all features are free. There are no per-user fees, no page limits, and no premium tiers that gate functionality.
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.
Does Sourcey have a linter like Redocly CLI?
No. Redocly CLI's linting and bundling tools are genuinely useful and open source — you can keep using them alongside Sourcey. Sourcey is a documentation generator, not an API lifecycle platform. Use Redocly CLI to lint your spec, then use Sourcey to build your docs from it.
What about Redocly's visual editor?
Reunite's visual editor is a paid feature of the Redocly platform. Sourcey doesn't have a visual editor. You write Markdown in your editor of choice — VS Code, Vim, whatever — and the Vite dev server hot-reloads on every save. If you need a GUI editor, Sourcey isn't the right tool.
Does Sourcey support Doxygen and MCP?
Yes. This is where Sourcey covers ground Redocly doesn't. Sourcey reads Doxygen XML output for C++ and Java API reference, and generates MCP server documentation from schema definitions. Redocly is focused on OpenAPI. If your product has a REST API, a C++ SDK, and an MCP server, Sourcey documents all three in one site.
How does search work without Typesense?
Sourcey builds a client-side search index at build time. Every page and API operation is indexed. Search is instant fuzzy matching via Cmd+K — no external service, no API calls, works offline. Redocly gates Typesense and AI search behind Enterprise ($66/user/month).
Own your docs.
Open source. Self-host it, fork it, ship it on your own infrastructure. No account required.
Fork the demo →