Side by side

Doxygen vs phpDocumentor

Both stand on api documentation tools. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Doxygen

Free plan LinuxMacWindows

Doxygen offers broad language and output-format coverage for code documentation, with a GUI and diagram support. Users should account for its warranty terms and limited commercial support capacity.

Visit Doxygen

phpDocumentor offers a free, self-hosted route to PHP API documentation, with diagrams, markup support, and CI options. Choose an installation method with its runtime requirements in mind, especially since direct Composer installation is not actively supported.

Visit phpDocumentor

The facts

	Doxygen	phpDocumentor
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	Linux, Mac, Windows	Linux, Mac, Self-hosted
Lowest paid plan	Free or on request	Free or on request
Plans published	1	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	doxygen.nl	phpdoc.org
On api documentation tools	#5 of 27	#9 of 27

Doxygen: what it does well

Generates HTML, PDF, Word, and XML documentation.
Supports many programming and description languages.
Doxywizard provides a graphical interface.
Can generate diagrams with Graphviz dot.
Does not require registration or collect usage data.

What to know first

Graphviz dot is needed for diagrams.
Provided without express or implied warranty.
Commercial support has limited capacity.

phpDocumentor: what it does well

Generates API documentation from PHP code and DocBlocks.
Can create UML diagrams of code structure.
Supports Markdown and reStructuredText.
Offers CI integration through a GitHub Action or Docker image.
Free and open source.

What to know first

Standalone installation requires PHP 8.1.2 or higher.
Standalone installation requires the mbstring extension.
Direct Composer installation is not actively supported.

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