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Read the Docs

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Empower your team with versioned documentation, seamless previews, and powerful authentication.

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TL;DR - Read the Docs

  • Automates documentation deployment and versioning from Git repositories.
  • Provides deploy previews for pull requests and integrated search.
  • Offers free hosting for open-source projects and paid plans for businesses with advanced features.
Pricing: Free plan available
Best for: Growing teams

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Seamless integration with Git workflows for "Docs as Code"
  • Free hosting and features for open-source and community projects
  • Automated build and deployment process on every commit
  • Supports multiple documentation tools and formats
  • Enhances collaboration with pull request previews

Cons

  • Free community plan includes ads
  • Advanced features like private repos and SSO are exclusive to paid plans
  • Requires some YAML configuration for project setup

Ratings Across the Web

5(2 reviews)

Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more

Key Features

Automatic deploy previews for pull requestsSupports Sphinx, MkDocs, Jupyter Book, and other documentation toolsIntegrated search across all documentationVersioned documentation from any branch or tagPrivate repository support (paid plans)Single Sign-On (SSO) with GitHub, GitLab, and Google (paid plans)Team management and permissionsCustom domains

Pricing Plans

Free Trial

Community

Always free

  • 2 concurrent builds
  • Host public documentation
  • Clone public repositories
  • 2 custom domains
  • Ad supported

Gold membership (individuals)

$5 per month

  • Ad free projects
  • Support Read the Docs
  • Keep our Community site sustainable

Gold membership (companies)

$50 per month

  • Ad free projects
  • Support Read the Docs
  • Keep our Community site sustainable

Basic

$50 per month

  • API access
  • Team management
  • Email support (Best effort)
  • Ad free
  • Public repositories
  • Pull request preview
  • Unlimited projects
  • Private repositories
  • 2 concurrent builds
  • Custom theming
  • Automatic building
  • Notifications
  • Environment variables
  • Automation rules
  • Documentation versioning
  • Documentation localization
  • Subprojects
  • Integrated search
  • Offline formats
  • Sitemap generation
  • Customizable error pages
  • Status badges
  • CDN hosting
  • Authentication auditing (30 days)
  • 100 redirects
  • Documentation authentication
  • Single sign-on (GitHub and GitLab)
  • Documentation sharing
  • 2 custom domains
  • Pageview analytics (30 days)
  • Search analytics (30 days)
  • Content embedding
  • URL customization

Advanced

$150 per month

  • Includes all core features
  • 2 business day response support
  • Single sign-on (SSO) With GitHub and GitLab
  • 4 concurrent builds
  • 5 custom domains
  • Search and pageview analytics (30 day retention)
  • API access
  • Team management
  • Email support (2 business days)
  • Ad free
  • Public repositories
  • Pull request preview
  • Unlimited projects
  • Private repositories
  • Custom theming
  • Automatic building
  • Notifications
  • Environment variables
  • Automation rules
  • Documentation versioning
  • Documentation localization
  • Subprojects
  • Integrated search
  • Offline formats
  • Sitemap generation
  • Customizable error pages
  • Status badges
  • CDN hosting
  • Authentication auditing (30 days)
  • 250 redirects
  • Documentation authentication
  • Documentation sharing
  • Content embedding
  • URL customization

Pro

$250 per month

  • Includes all Advanced plan features
  • 6 concurrent builds
  • 15 custom domains
  • 1 business day response support
  • Search and pageview analytics (90 day retention)
  • Authentication auditing (90 day retention)
  • Single sign-on (SSO) With Google
  • API access
  • Team management
  • Email support (1 business day)
  • Ad free
  • Public repositories
  • Pull request preview
  • Unlimited projects
  • Private repositories
  • Custom theming
  • Automatic building
  • Notifications
  • Environment variables
  • Automation rules
  • Documentation versioning
  • Documentation localization
  • Subprojects
  • Integrated search
  • Offline formats
  • Sitemap generation
  • Customizable error pages
  • Status badges
  • CDN hosting
  • 500 redirects
  • Documentation authentication
  • Documentation sharing
  • Content embedding
  • URL customization

Enterprise

Contact us

  • Custom builders
  • Support SLA
  • SAML SSO
  • Custom build images
  • Advanced audit tracking
  • Custom integrations

What is Read the Docs?

Editorial review
Read the Docs is a comprehensive platform for deploying and managing documentation, designed to integrate seamlessly with Git workflows. It enables teams to adopt a "Docs as Code" approach, allowing developers and writers to create and maintain documentation using familiar tools like Git and text editors. The platform supports popular documentation tools such as Sphinx, MkDocs, and Jupyter Book. It caters to both open-source projects and businesses, offering features like automatic deploy previews for pull requests, versioned documentation to match product release cycles, and integrated search capabilities. For businesses, it provides advanced features such as private repository support, Single Sign-On (SSO), team management, and detailed analytics. The platform aims to streamline the documentation process, ensuring accuracy, collaboration, and efficient delivery of technical content. Read the Docs is ideal for software development teams, technical writers, and open-source projects that need a robust, scalable, and automated solution for hosting and publishing their documentation. It simplifies the publishing pipeline, allowing users to focus on content creation while the platform handles building, hosting, and versioning.

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Read the Docs FAQ

What specific documentation tools are natively integrated with Read the Docs?

Read the Docs offers integrated support for Sphinx, MkDocs, and Jupyter Book. Its flexible architecture also allows it to work with any other documentation tool.

How does Read the Docs facilitate collaboration and review of documentation changes?

It provides automatic deploy previews for every pull request, allowing teams to review documentation changes before they are merged. This ensures that everyone can see what's being shipped and collaborate effectively.

Can I host documentation for private repositories, and what are the requirements for doing so?

Yes, private repository support is a feature of paid plans. You can clone private repositories by connecting your GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket account, or by using an SSH key for other Git providers.

What are the differences in Single Sign-On (SSO) options across the various paid plans?

The Advanced plan supports SSO with GitHub and GitLab. The Pro plan extends this to include Google for SSO. Enterprise plans can be customized for specific SSO requirements, including SAML.

How does Read the Docs handle versioning of documentation to align with product release cycles?

Read the Docs allows you to match your product release cycle by supporting multiple versions of your documentation. It can automatically build these versions directly from any branch or tag in your Git repository.

What are the retention periods for search and pageview analytics on the different business plans?

The Advanced plan retains search and pageview analytics for 30 days. The Pro plan extends this retention period to 90 days for both search and pageview analytics.