Pricing
Two one-time licenses. No subscription.
OwnDocs source license
One-time payment. The dollar price covers currency conversion and payment-processing markup for international buyers.
- The full OwnDocs source code
- The right to white-label or rebrand it for your own project
- Every Version 1 minor release and security patch, free for life
- Version 2 (the next major release) — priced separately once it is planned
- The right to resell, sublicense, or redistribute OwnDocs itself
No refund once the source code or license credentials have been delivered — see the Refunds page. Read the refund policy.
OwnDocs resale license
One-time payment. The dollar price covers currency conversion and payment-processing markup for international buyers.
- Everything in the OwnDocs source license
- The right to resell, sublicense, or redistribute OwnDocs to your own customers
- Every Version 1 minor release and security patch, free for life
- Version 2 (the next major release) — priced separately once it is planned
No refund once the source code or license credentials have been delivered — see the Refunds page. Read the refund policy.
How OwnDocs compares
Free frameworks are real, but self-hosting one well still takes real engineering time. Hosted SaaS tools skip that time, but rent you the result — stop paying and the site goes down. OwnDocs' one-time price buys the built-in feature set of a premium hosted tool, running on infrastructure you actually own.
Setup and operations vs. Docusaurus
OwnDocs: OwnDocs ships as a ready-to-deploy Next.js app with built-in search, an MCP server, an AI chat integration (bring your own AI key), and reader feedback included in the one-time price — no plugin assembly required.
Docusaurus: Docusaurus is free and MIT-licensed, but its own docs describe self-hosting as requiring experience in networking, Linux, and web server administration, and call it the most difficult deployment option. Search, AI chat, and similar capabilities are not built in and are added through third-party plugins or services.
Who can self-host vs. Mintlify
OwnDocs: Self-hosting is included in every OwnDocs license, starting at BDT 20,000 / $250 — there is no higher tier to unlock it.
Mintlify: Mintlify's self-hosted deployment is an Enterprise-plan feature with custom pricing, not available on its standard published plans.
Pricing model vs. GitBook
OwnDocs: OwnDocs is a single one-time payment, with no per-site or per-user recurring fee.
GitBook: GitBook's paid plans bill per site ($65-$249 per month, billed annually) plus $12 per team member per month — a recurring cost that scales with team size.
Access to on-premise deployment vs. ReadMe
OwnDocs: On-premise, self-hosted deployment is the default for every OwnDocs buyer, included in the one-time price.
ReadMe: ReadMe offers on-premise deployment only as an Enterprise-plan feature with custom pricing, not available on its standard plans.
Cost of AI chat vs. Docusaurus
OwnDocs: OwnDocs' AI chat integration is included in the one-time license price on every tier — connect your own AI provider key and there is no extra OwnDocs fee for the feature itself.
Docusaurus: Docusaurus ships no native AI chat. Its "Ask AI" feature requires a separate Algolia account with the Ask AI assistant enabled, plus your own LLM provider key, and is not enabled by default.
Ownership if you stop paying vs. Mintlify
OwnDocs: A one-time OwnDocs purchase is yours forever — the full source code and design already run on your own infrastructure, so nothing expires or gets locked away.
Mintlify: Mintlify's rendered site is built and hosted by Mintlify. Exporting a deployable static copy of it requires an Enterprise plan; it is not available on the Starter or Pro tiers most customers are on.
True self-hosting vs. GitBook
OwnDocs: OwnDocs deploys entirely on your own infrastructure at every price tier, with no SaaS dependency at all.
GitBook: GitBook's own pricing FAQ says self-hosting only mirrors content already published on its SaaS platform, and its open-source repository states plainly, "we do not recommend this."
Cost of AI chat vs. ReadMe
OwnDocs: OwnDocs' AI chat integration is part of the one-time license price on every tier — no extra monthly fee for the feature itself.
ReadMe: ReadMe prices its full "Ask AI" assistant as a $150 per month add-on, charged on top of every plan including Enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
Why pay for OwnDocs when free, open-source documentation tools exist?
Free tools like Docusaurus are real, capable software — "free" describes the license, not the total cost. Self-hosting one well still takes real engineering time: search, theming, versioning, an AI chat layer, an OpenAPI reference, and dozens of other pieces most teams end up building or bolting on themselves. OwnDocs ships all of that together, ready to deploy, for a one-time price with no subscription. For a personal project, the free route is often the right call. For a team shipping documentation at scale, the engineering hours saved usually cost more than the license itself.
Is OwnDocs only for large companies, or can I use it for a personal project?
Personal use is fine — nothing in the license blocks it. OwnDocs is built and priced with commercial and enterprise documentation in mind: teams managing a large, growing set of docs across products and an API, with multiple contributors, where built-in search, versioning, access control, and AI chat earn their keep. A personal project can use every feature too; it just may not need all of them right away.
Do I own OwnDocs after I buy it, or does access expire?
You own it. The source code is yours to keep, deploy, and modify — there's no subscription to lapse and no vendor that can take your site down. The license covers Version 1 for its lifetime, including every future Version 1 minor release and security patch, at no extra cost.
Can I resell OwnDocs to my own clients?
Only with the resale license (BDT 60,000 / $750). The standard source license lets you build and run your own project with it, including white-labeled, but not resell it as a competing product. The resale license adds that right.
What happens when Version 2 comes out?
Version 2, the next major release, is priced and licensed separately once it's planned. Your Version 1 license keeps working and keeps receiving Version 1 updates regardless of when that happens.
Do I need a subscription for hosting or the AI chat?
No. OwnDocs is self-hosted on your own infrastructure, and the AI chat is BYOK — you connect your own AI provider key (Anthropic, an OpenAI-compatible gateway, or Ollama). There is no OwnDocs subscription for either.
Is there a refund if I change my mind?
No refund is available once the source code or license credentials have been delivered. See the Refunds page for the full policy.
Do I need to know how to code to use OwnDocs?
You need enough comfort with a terminal to deploy a Next.js app and edit Markdown/MDX files — no database administration or backend work is required day to day. Writing a documentation page is writing an .mdx file; the platform itself is a working Next.js codebase you can also extend if you want to.