[Top Tools for Documenting Your APIs | Archbee Blog](https://www.archbee.com/blog/api-documentation-tools)

https //www archbee com/blog https //www archbee com/blog documentationupdated november 4, 2025 dragos dragos founder, robot with feelings from planet aiur http //twitter com/happydragos https //www linkedin com/in/dragos bulugean/ finding the right api documentation tool can be a challenge, so we've compiled a list of the best ones you can try out top tools for documenting your apis if you want customers to use your api, you have to show them how and if you want your team to create informative api documents, you have to make the writing process as easy as possible you should keep in mind that writing https //www archbee com/blog/api documentation is an ongoing activity, meaning that you should select your documenting tool with care you’re going to use it daily, after all to help you present your customers with great api documents, we’ve compiled a list of nine popular tools we’ll compare their features and prices so that you can find the right solution that fits your needs \#swagger swagger editor and its premium version swaggerhub help you design, describe, and document your api automatically, minimizing the need for manual work the tool’s most noteworthy feature is that it automatically generates api documentation from your code source moreover, the documentation that swagger generates is readable by both humans and machines this facilitates automated testing and can help unburden your qa team swaggerhub source swagger it’s worth noting that swagger comes with some limitations for instance, the g2 reviewers who have used swagger note that there’s room for improvement regarding integrations, version control, and cpu usage however, if you encounter problems while using the tool, swagger’s extensive documentation base can help you resolve common issues swagger editor, swagger codegen, and swagger ui are open source tools you can use for free however, if you want more robust features and hands on support, you’ll have to pay for swaggerhub, the premium package that starts at €80 per month swagger price source swagger so, if you’d like to create comprehensive api documentation but don’t have too much time for writing it yourself, an automatic tool such as https //www archbee com/integrations/open api swagger the 14 day free trial can help you determine whether you can achieve your api docs goals with the free version or if the premium one would be a better choice \#readme a mere reference guide may not suffice for presenting your api in the best possible way instead, it’s better to use developer platforms like those powered by readme to describe your api, provide support, and connect with the users readme is a tool that helps companies create interactive api documentation we’ll look at the company’s own developer hub to see how intro to the readme api source readme as you can see, the api reference isn’t the only thing introducing the readers to the product there are code examples and recipes that readers can tinker with and a changelog with weekly updates about the product however, it’s the community discussions feature that separates readme from other https //www archbee com/blog/technical documentation alternatives community discussions on readme source readme readme allows you to create a developer forum within your documentation, so that you can easily answer your users’ questions and demonstrate to prospective clients that you take support seriously additionally, developers can use the hub to interact with other posters, strengthening the community around your product when it comes to shortcomings of the tool, capterra users list design issues as the biggest https //www archbee com/alternatives/readme alternative the price factor may also make the product inaccessible to smaller software companies or startups readme price source readme luckily, a free trial can help you determine whether the price starting at $99 a month justifies the cost of interactive api documentation \#archbee if you’re looking for a single platform where you can easily document your api and share the knowledge with the users, look no further than https //www archbee com/ archbee, our product https //www archbee com/blog/software documentation platform , lets you neatly structure all the information you want to share about your api descriptions, parameters, code blocks, diagrams, and more—over thirty custom blocks allow you to create a complete overview of your api we know that writing api documentation is not a one person project, so archbee’s collaborative features facilitate the teamwork between developers, technical writers, https //www archbee com/blog/api writer , and support specialists sharing lambda layers source archbee com since api documentation is usually intended for customers and end users, you need a documentation tool that allows them to find relevant information and continue using the product with ease archbee’s powerful search engine does just that the search algorithm provides users with the info they need in a matter of seconds ''api'' search in archbee search bar source archbee search bar when you combine this feature with a clear document outline, you create an informative, navigable knowledge base for your api that way, you can https //www archbee com/blog/knowledge management portal benefits#toc 3 of support tickets you receive, which is a win win situation for both users and the company pricing is an additional element that makes archbee an https //docs archbee com/demo/api documentation worth considering https //www archbee com/pricing start at $50 per month and go up as the number of team accounts and features included increases we also have a 50% discount for start ups for 2 years, available for https //share eu1 hsforms com/1lrnsiulss1u yl7a7skgzwf1jf4? hstc=59513074 3de71f40a80e7be771a3b825773b87df 1681887442439 1681887442439 1681902820161 2& hssc=59513074 55 1681902820161& hsfp=2602251434 in case you aren’t sure which plan would suit your needs the most, we invite you to start a free trial before you decide you can also check out how https //www archbee com/built with archbee to document their apis and products in general and if you want to see how we’ve upgraded the platform over time, don’t forget to visit https //changelog archbee com/ \#slate unlike the tools we’ve previously mentioned, slate is not a regular documentation platform as the product description states, “slate is just markdown”, making it a good solution for those accustomed to coding their way through life with slate, you can generate an api documentation site and publish it directly to github generate an api documentation site and publish it directly to github source github while this option may not be a good fit for large tech companies looking to host the api documentation under their domain, slate is a good solution for documenting the apis in smaller or open source projects you can also publish the documents elsewhere, but then you’d have to arrange hosting on your own, defeating the purpose of such a straightforward tool docs generated by slate feature a classic three panel outline with the table of contents on the left, api description in the middle, and code samples on the right classic three panel outline with the table of contents on the left source slate so, if you’re a one person band, you can create clean, responsive api documents using slate however, if you’d like to delegate https //www archbee com/blog/write technical documentation process to technical writers or members of non technical staff, you’re probably better off using a more intuitive and collaboration https //www archbee com/blog/developer friendly api tool slate is an open source project, and you can use the tool for free \#postman postman is a popular api documentation tool that you can use to manually create api documents or generate machine readable instructions and examples even if you’ve just dipped into the world of api documentation, you’ve probably already encountered postman because the company owns the world’s largest public api hub the reason why so many companies choose postman to create their api documentation lies in the fact that you can use one tool to manage the docs throughout the entire https //www archbee com/blog/document development life cycle postman on youtube source postman on youtube it allows you to create, manage, and store https //www archbee com/blog/api documentation specification definition difference , test cases, code samples, and all other api artifacts on one platform however, using such a complex tool comes with its own set of challenges that’s why you can see some users on capterra and trustradius complaining about the complicated user interface the imprecise search engine is also a commonly cited pain point, so make sure you consider it before purchasing, especially if you need to build docs for a larger api landscape postman offers the users flexibility when it comes to pricing there are four payment plans, including the free one with limited capabilities source postman all things considered, postman is a good documentation tool for those who don’t mind a bit of a learning curve \#dapperdox dapperdox is an open source api documentation generator you can use it to create api reference documents from swagger and raml files dapperdox homepage source dapperdox dapperdox allows users to supplement the documentation with diagrams and guides, creating rich reference sites for apis different formatting options allow you to personalize your docs you can also coordinate the api documents with your brand by adjusting the themes and styles that dapperdox offers the documents published on dapperdox have a straightforward structure, as you can see in the screenshot of the tool’s own documentation below screenshot of the tool’s own documentation source dapperdox using markdown is the only way to author documents in dapperdox, so keep that in mind when selecting your api documentation tool if you want the members of non technical staff to participate in document creation, it’s probably better to go with a tool that supports editing by clicking buttons similarly, if you often rely on third party tools to generate parts of documents, you should be aware of the tool’s limited integrations still, dapperdox is completely free, so it could be a good option for documenting apis in less complicated projects \#theneo if you aim to create informative and also visually appealing api documentation, theneo is a great platform to explore according to the product description, theneo can help you generate api documents as beautiful as those from stripe or square the documents generated in the platform do indeed look professional, with the table of contents displayed on the left and code samples and responses on the right side of the page table of contents displayed on the left and code samples and responses on the right source theneo this ai powered api documentation tool is also great for companies looking to save time spent on document creation theneo’s machine learning models help you cut down on tedious manual work in creating and publishing documents, letting you focus on the aspects of api where your expertise is irreplaceable you should keep in mind that theneo is a relatively new platform, launched in 2022 therefore, you can expect some features to still be a work in progress for instance, the founders reported a few months post launch that there was a bug with graphql importing and that they were working on resolving it and due to the platform being so new, the support documents may not cover that many edge cases yet theneo offers three pricing plans the tool may seem more cost effective than the alternatives, but it’s worth pointing out that the prices for the basic and the business plan of $20 and $45 respectively are listed for one editor only source theneo so, if you’re planning to take a collaborative approach to api document creation, you should consider the combined cost of multiple payments \#redocly redocly is a heavy duty api documentation tool that supports the needs of larger enterprises in addition to creating basic api specifications, redocly also allows users to create branded portals with interactive api documentation api reference documents generated with redocly mostly follow a standard outline and have a clean, basic design you can see the company’s own example below redocly api example source redocly however, customization is redocly’s main selling point, so enterprise users frequently incorporate redocly generated documents with custom themes, fonts, and the navigation bar into their portals in addition to customization, redocly also features api versioning, markdown editing, and auto generated code samples these are all standard features that you can find in most of the tools we’ve mentioned so far still, redocly offers more support and fewer limitations, making it a good option for large enterprises and teams with that said, we should note that redocly comes with prices that are a bit higher than the average redocly prices source redocly the starter plan is free, but it comes with limited features you may have seen this option under the name redoc, an open source api tool upgrading from redoc to redocly unlocks a slew of features, but the price starts at $69, which is pricier compared to basic plans of https //www archbee io/blog/api documentation tools if you’re running an enterprise operation, you’ll have to reach out to the sales team to get an accurate quote \#stoplight stoplight, an api design and management solution, is another tool that lets you automatically generate documents from openapi files in addition to listing references, you can use the tool to supplement your api documents with guides, tutorials, and code samples stoplight hello world source stoplight just like archbee, stoplight also provides clients with the option to host api documentation internally, in addition to sharing it with end users while you don’t have to use markdown to create api documentation in stoplight, there are some limitations that reduce the tools usability for instance, some of the g2 reviewers have complained about the lack of integration with the tools they usually use for https //www archbee com/blog/how to write api documentation some complaints are also directed at the complex and confusing ui that takes time to master still, once you get acquainted with the tool, you can create simple yet effective api documents stoplight offers four different plans, one of which is free note that the free plan only allows you to work on two projects source stoplight so, if you want to create more complex api documents with more than three team members, you’ll have to invest in one of the paid plans, starting at $79 per month \#conclusion any of the https //www archbee com/blog/api documentation tools above will help you design clean and user friendly api documentation however, there are some differences in features that could make some tools more suitable for your project than others so, whether you are looking for manual or automated document creation, make sure you determine which features your tool of choice absolutely has to have and which are nice to have additions try archbee's full range of features with our free 14 day https //app archbee com/signup? gl=1 p57wdf gcl au mjq2ntywndk2lje3mjmxotm4njm \#faq frequently asked questions how does swagger help with api documentation? swagger lets you design, describe, and publish api docs from your openapi/swagger definitions with minimal manual work using swagger editor, swagger ui, and codegen (free, open source) you can generate human and machine readable, interactive references straight from your spec swaggerhub (the paid version) adds collaboration, hosting, and governance so teams can keep specs and docs in sync and enable automated testing workflows why choose readme for documenting your api? what are the benefits of using archbee for api documentation? what are slate and dapperdox, and when should i use them? how does redocly support api documentation? documentation, technical writing tips and trends blog join 5000+ people from around the world that receive a monthly edition of the archbee blog newsletter mailto\ enter your email subscribe continue reading discover more insights and expand your knowledge https //www archbee com/blog/why teams are abandoning madcap flare a modern documentation alternative https //www archbee com/blog/why teams are abandoning madcap flare a modern documentation alternative https //www archbee com/blog/why teams are abandoning madcap flare a modern documentation alternative https //www archbee com/blog/why teams are abandoning madcap flare a modern documentation alternative https //www archbee com/blog/multi product documentation strategy https //www archbee com/blog/multi product documentation strategy https //www archbee com/blog/multi product documentation strategy https //www archbee 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