Read the Docs vs. GitHub Pages comparison

GitHub Pages is great. We used to use it and we loved it. However, it's just for static hosting with no features at all. When talking about documentation, Read the Docs is the perfect solution for it.

Let's compare it to know what you can expect when deploying your project's documentation to Read the Docs.


Static hosting Publish any static content
Build your site on the cloud Generate your site's content on the cloud
Deploy previews Solve style issues before deploying
Search Always find what you are looking for
Multiple versions Publish multiple versions of your documentation
Redirects Redirect users to the right page
Custom 404 pages Style 404 pages with context-related information
Custom "robots.txt" Improve your SEO by telling bots how to explore your site
Page analytics Understand how people browse your documentation
Search analytics Explore what people search for in your docs
Translations Serve translated versions of your docs
Private documention Give access only to trusted people
No usage limits Build and store as much as you need
Open Source Maintained by the community

Try it out

.readthedocs.yaml

version: 2
build:
  os: "ubuntu-22.04"
  tools:
    python: "3"
    # You can also specify other tool versions:
    # nodejs: "16"
  commands:
    - pip install mkdocs-material
    - mkdocs build --site-dir $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/html

GitHub Pages can be useful for static hosting of simple web sites. However, for publishing good documentation it lacks many features that your readers will want. Read the Docs is the all-in-one solution that gets you started with all those features from the beginning.

Get started for free

Read the Docs is the all-in-one solution you're looking for your documentation

Deploy in 5 minutes and compare by yourself

Still not convinced? Try it yourself