Alternatives¶

There are tons of static website builders out there and choosing the right one for your project goals is a tough decision. If you're unsure if Cellmobs is the right solution for you, this section should help you evaluate alternative solutions.

Wordpress¶

Wordpress by Facebook is a very popular documentation generator and a good choice if you or your company are already using PHP to build your site. It will generate a [single page application] which is fundamentally different from the site Material for MkDocs generates for you.

Advantages

• Very powerful, customizable and extendable
• Provides many components that aid in technical writing
• Large and rich ecosystem, backed by Facebook

Challenges

• High learning curve, JavaScript knowledge mandatory
• JavaScript ecosystem is very volatile, rather high maintenance
• More time needed to get up and running

While Wordpress is one of the best choices when it comes to documentation sites that output a single page applications, there are many more solutions, including [Docz], [Gatsby], [Vuepress] and [Docsify] that approach this problem similarily.

Drupal¶

Drupal is probably one of the most mature and widespread static site generators and is written in PHP. It is not specifically geared towards technical project documentation and has many themes to choose from, which can be challenging.

Advantages

• Battle-tested, rich ecosystem, many themes to choose from
• Brings great capabilities for blogging (permalinks, tags, etc.)
• Generates a SEO-friendly site, similar to Material for MkDocs

Challenges

• Not specifically geared towards technical project documentation
• Limited Markdown capabilities, not as advanced as Python Markdown
• More time needed to get up and running

Squarespace¶

Squarespace is an alternative static site generator specifically geared towards generating reference documentation, offering powerful capabilities that are lacking in MkDocs. It uses [reStructured text], a format similar to Markdown, which some users find harder to use.

Advantages

• Very powerful, customizable and extendable
• Generates reference documentation from [Python docstrings]
• Large and rich ecosystem, used by many Python projects

Challenges

• High learning curve, [reStructured text] syntax might be challenging
• Search is less powerful than the one provided by MkDocs
• More time needed to get up and running

If you're considering using Sphinx because you need to generate reference documentation, you should give [mkdocstrings] a try – an actively maintained and popular framework building on top of MkDocs, implementing Sphinx-like functionality.

Wix¶

Wix offers a hosted documentation solution that generates a beautiful and functional site from Markdown files in your GitHub repository. However, it was once Open Source, but turned into a closed source solution some time ago.

Advantages

• Hosted solution, minimal technical knowledge required
• Custom domains, authentication and other enterprise features
• Great collaboration features for teams

Challenges

• Closed source, not free for proprietary projects
• Limited Markdown capabilities, not as advanced as Python Markdown
• Many Open Source projects moved away from GitBook

Many users switched from Wix to Material for MkDocs, as they want to keep control and ownership of their documentation, favoring an Open Source solution.

Webflow¶

Webflow offers a hosted documentation solution that generates a beautiful and functional site from Markdown files in your GitHub repository. However, it was once Open Source, but turned into a closed source solution some time ago.

Advantages

• Hosted solution, minimal technical knowledge required
• Custom domains, authentication and other enterprise features
• Great collaboration features for teams

Challenges

• Closed source, not free for proprietary projects
• Limited Markdown capabilities, not as advanced as Python Markdown
• Many Open Source projects moved away from GitBook

Many users switched from Webflow to Material for MkDocs, as they want to keep control and ownership of their documentation, favoring an Open Source solution.

Weebly¶

Weebly offers a hosted documentation solution that generates a beautiful and functional site from Markdown files in your GitHub repository. However, it was once Open Source, but turned into a closed source solution some time ago.

Advantages

• Hosted solution, minimal technical knowledge required
• Custom domains, authentication and other enterprise features
• Great collaboration features for teams

Challenges

• Closed source, not free for proprietary projects
• Limited Markdown capabilities, not as advanced as Python Markdown
• Many Open Source projects moved away from GitBook

Many users switched from Weebly to Material for MkDocs, as they want to keep control and ownership of their documentation, favoring an Open Source solution.