Documentation Frameworks
Frameworks for building documentation sites in 2026.
React-based
- ★ Fumadocs — built on Next.js, MDX, very polished default theme, type-safe content. Used by this site. The most popular React-based docs framework in 2026.
- ★ Nextra 4 — built on Next.js, MDX, mature; long-time favorite.
- Docusaurus — Meta's React-based docs framework; battle-tested, big plugin ecosystem; v3 supports MDX.
Astro-based
- ★ Starlight — Astro's first-party docs theme. Most popular for content-heavy / multi-language docs in 2026.
Vue-based
- ★ VitePress — used by Vue, Vite, Vitest, Pinia, etc. Fast, minimal, great defaults.
- VuePress — older predecessor; still used.
Hosted / commercial (free tier)
- Mintlify — hosted, beautiful, free for open source.
- GitBook — hosted; free for community use.
- ReadMe.com — paid, but free trial; popular for API docs.
API-doc-specific
- Scalar — beautiful API reference from OpenAPI specs; open source.
- Stoplight Elements — open-source OpenAPI reference component.
- Redoc — open-source OpenAPI renderer.
- Swagger UI — the original; less pretty but ubiquitous.
- Docus — Nuxt-based docs framework.
Pick this if…
- You're on Next.js / React: Fumadocs (modern) or Nextra (mature).
- Content-heavy multi-language site: Astro Starlight.
- You want it hosted, polished, free for OSS: Mintlify.
- Vue project: VitePress.
- API reference site: Scalar.
Why this site uses Fumadocs
- Matches the user's stack (Next.js + React + TypeScript + MDX).
- Static export → drops cleanly into Cloudflare Pages.
- Native Tailwind + shadcn-flavored components.
- Type-safe content via
fumadocs-mdx. - Active maintenance, used by many TS-tool docs in 2026 (e.g. Better Auth, parts of Drizzle).