Sphinx generates technical documentation from structured text, with builders for HTML, LaTeX for PDF, ePub, manual pages, Texinfo and plain text. Authors can use reStructuredText or MyST Markdown; Markdown requires the separately installed MyST-Parser. References can connect sections, figures, tables, citations, glossaries and code objects within a project or across projects. The autodoc extension imports documented modules and includes material from their docstrings. Themes and extensions provide options such as diagrams, doctests and API documentation, while built-in integrations include GitHub Pages publishing, Graphviz graphs and intersphinx links. Sphinx also provides gettext-based translation mechanisms and full-text search. It is a Python application, installable through package managers, Docker or from source, and its code is released under the two-clause BSD license. The project is community supported. Its free plan is 0.00 USD per free.
Who it is for
Sphinx suits people building technical documentation who need structured references, multiple output formats or API documentation from Python modules. It can also suit teams connecting documentation across projects or translating documents.
What is good
- Builds HTML, LaTeX for PDF, ePub and other formats
- Links references across projects
- Autodoc includes module docstrings
- Supports themes and extensions
- Full-text search is available
What to know first
- MyST Markdown requires a separate parser
- Web Support has limited adoption and development
Verdict
Sphinx offers a broad documentation toolset, from multiple output formats and cross-project links to themes and extensions. It is free, but Markdown authors must install MyST-Parser separately.
Sphinx plans and pricing
All plansCompared on knowledge base software
- Free plan
- Yes
