Mintlify vs Fern
OCT 2026 auditA comparison of Mintlify and Fern built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Mintlify if…
A team that wants docs and an API reference built from Markdown, MDX and OpenAPI files in a git repository, with an AI assistant, llms.txt and an MCP server, at a flat price per account rather than per seat. Pro is $540 a month billed monthly with unlimited editors; the free Starter plan allows five.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Fern if…
A team that wants one API definition to produce both a docs site and client SDKs, with llms.txt, an MCP server and an AI assistant on the free plan, which covers 10 team members and 1,000 pages.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Mintlify: You want SDKs generated from the same spec. Mintlify shows SDK code samples and points to Speakeasy for the SDKs themselves, where Fern generates them. The AI assistant is a Pro feature and is not on the free plan.
- Fern: You need a paid plan between free and custom. Fern Docs lists a free plan and an Enterprise plan quoted by sales and nothing priced in between, and SSO and self-hosting are Enterprise-only.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Mintlify alternatives · Fern alternatives
7 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Mintlify 0
Fern 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Mintlify | Fern |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | The Starter plan, free forever: hosting at a mintlify.site address, a custom domain, the web editor, authentication, an MCP server, the API playground and up to 5 editor seats. AI features are not on Starter; new accounts also get a separate 14-day Pro trial. | The Free docs plan: 10 team members, 1,000 pages, 250 AI credits and 2,000 page generations a month, a custom domain and subpath, API explorer and web editor, Ask Fern, Fern Agent, MCP server, and version and product switching. |
| Entry paid plan | $540/month billed monthly for Pro ($450/month when billed annually): unlimited editor seats, the AI assistant and automations, preview deployments and admin APIs. Starter is free and Enterprise is custom. | No priced paid plan is listed for Fern Docs: Enterprise is quoted by sales (Custom, 'Tailored pricing terms'). The only priced plan is Free at $0. |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly price per account rather than per seat: Starter is free with 5 editor seats, Pro and Enterprise have unlimited editor seats. AI features are metered in credits: Pro includes 10,000 credits a month, overage is $0.01 per credit, an assistant answer costs 25 credits and an automation update 250. Enterprise is custom. | Docs come in two plans: Free at $0 with caps (10 team members, 1,000 pages, 250 AI credits and 2,000 page generations a month) and a custom-priced Enterprise plan that lifts them. No self-serve paid tier is listed. AI features draw on a monthly credit allowance. |
| Limits | ||
| Sites or apps included | Unlimited editor seats on Pro, the entry paid plan (Starter has up to 5). The pricing page does not state a cap on the number of documentation sites. | One docs site on the Free plan; Enterprise is custom and adds multiple repos and docs instances. The pricing page lists no plan between the two. |
| Observability | ||
| Self-hostable | Limited — Enterprise plan only; each deployment is a scoped engagement with the account team | Limited — Enterprise plan only |
| Auth | ||
| SAML single sign-on | Limited — Enterprise plans only; covers sign-in to the Mintlify dashboard | Limited — Enterprise plan only; SAML 2.0 or OIDC sign-in to gated docs |
| Documentation | ||
| Docs as code in a git repository | Supported | Supported |
| API reference from an OpenAPI spec | Supported | Supported |
| Interactive API playground | Supported | Supported |
| Client SDK generation | Limited — Displays SDK code samples; the page points to Speakeasy for generating the SDKs themselves | Supported |
| llms.txt and markdown for AI tools | Supported | Supported |
| MCP server for the docs or API | Supported | Supported |
| Built-in AI assistant over the docs | Supported — Pro and Enterprise plans only, billed in credits; not on the free Starter plan | Supported |
| Multiple documentation versions | Supported | Supported |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type 2 report listed among the documents in Mintlify's Trust Center; ISO 27001 appears only as a letter of intent. | Trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CCPA, with a SOC 2 Type II Report among the documents available through a request-access form. |
| GDPR / data residency | The Trust Center lists Amazon Web Services as the cloud infrastructure subprocessor with data location Northern Virginia, and a GDPR Article 27 Verification document. | Fern's privacy policy says personal information is stored and/or processed in the United States, or where Fern or its partners, affiliates and third-party providers maintain facilities. |
Where they differ.
What the free plan includes
- Mintlify
- The Starter plan, free forever: hosting at a mintlify.site address, a custom domain, the web editor, authentication, an MCP server, the API playground and up to 5 editor seats. AI features are not on Starter; new accounts also get a separate 14-day Pro trial.
- Fern
- The Free docs plan: 10 team members, 1,000 pages, 250 AI credits and 2,000 page generations a month, a custom domain and subpath, API explorer and web editor, Ask Fern, Fern Agent, MCP server, and version and product switching.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing - Mintlify ↗
“The Starter plan is free forever and includes hosting, a custom domain, the web editor, authentication, an MCP server, the API playground, and up to 5 editor seats. [...] Can I use the AI features on the Starter plan? Not on Starter. [...] Every new account gets Mintlify Pro free for 14 days, with no credit card required.”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing | Fern ↗
“10 team members 1,000 pages 250 AI credits per month 2,000 page generations per month Custom domain and subpath Guides, API references, and changelogs API explorer and web editor Ask Fern, Fern Agent, and MCP server Version and product switching”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
Entry paid plan
- Mintlify
- $540/month billed monthly for Pro ($450/month when billed annually): unlimited editor seats, the AI assistant and automations, preview deployments and admin APIs. Starter is free and Enterprise is custom.
- Fern
- No priced paid plan is listed for Fern Docs: Enterprise is quoted by sales (Custom, 'Tailored pricing terms'). The only priced plan is Free at $0.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing - Mintlify ↗
“Pro is $450/month billed annually or $540/month billed monthly. For startups and growing teams Unlimited editor seats Everything in Starter Agent Assistant Automations Preview deployments Admin APIs”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing | Fern ↗
“Enterprise Custom Tailored pricing terms For organizations with governance, scale, and security requirements Book a demo”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- Mintlify
- Flat monthly price per account rather than per seat: Starter is free with 5 editor seats, Pro and Enterprise have unlimited editor seats. AI features are metered in credits: Pro includes 10,000 credits a month, overage is $0.01 per credit, an assistant answer costs 25 credits and an automation update 250. Enterprise is custom.
- Fern
- Docs come in two plans: Free at $0 with caps (10 team members, 1,000 pages, 250 AI credits and 2,000 page generations a month) and a custom-priced Enterprise plan that lifts them. No self-serve paid tier is listed. AI features draw on a monthly credit allowance.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing - Mintlify ↗
“Pro and Enterprise include unlimited editor seats, so you can add everyone who writes or reviews docs without paying per person. [...] AI features are billed in credits, and every action has a flat price. An Assistant answer is 25 credits and an automation run that updates your docs is 250 credits. [...] 10,000 / month $0.01 per credit for overages”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing | Fern ↗
“Free $ 0 /mo Free forever For developers and teams shipping production docs Start for free 10 team members 1,000 pages 250 AI credits per month 2,000 page generations per month [...] Enterprise Custom Tailored pricing terms”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
Sites or apps included
- Mintlify
- Unlimited editor seats on Pro, the entry paid plan (Starter has up to 5). The pricing page does not state a cap on the number of documentation sites.
- Fern
- One docs site on the Free plan; Enterprise is custom and adds multiple repos and docs instances. The pricing page lists no plan between the two.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing - Mintlify ↗
“How many editor seats are included? The Starter plan includes up to 5 editor seats. Pro and Enterprise include unlimited editor seats”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing | Fern ↗
“Publishing # of sites 1 Custom Pages 1,000 Custom [...] Multiple repos and docs instances”
Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction
Client SDK generation
- Mintlify
- Limited — Displays SDK code samples; the page points to Speakeasy for generating the SDKs themselves
- Fern
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Add SDK examples - Mintlify ↗
“If your users interact with your API through an SDK rather than direct network requests, add SDK code samples with the x-codeSamples extension. Mintlify displays these samples on your OpenAPI pages. [...] If you generate your SDKs with Speakeasy”
Read 2026-10-25 · official docs · Report a correction
- Fern SDKs: Client libraries for developers and agents. ↗
“Select languages to generate We support TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, C#, PHP, Swift & Rust.”
Read 2026-10-25 · official site · Report a correction
SOC 2
- Mintlify
- SOC 2 Type 2 report listed among the documents in Mintlify's Trust Center; ISO 27001 appears only as a letter of intent.
- Fern
- Trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CCPA, with a SOC 2 Type II Report among the documents available through a request-access form.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Mintlify Trust Center ↗
“SOC 2 Type 2 Report [...] ISO 27001 Letter of Intent”
Read 2026-10-25 · official site · Report a correction
- Trust center | Fern ↗
“SOC 2 Type II GDPR CCPA Request access [...] Documents SOC 2 Type II Report”
Read 2026-10-25 · official site · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- Mintlify
- The Trust Center lists Amazon Web Services as the cloud infrastructure subprocessor with data location Northern Virginia, and a GDPR Article 27 Verification document.
- Fern
- Fern's privacy policy says personal information is stored and/or processed in the United States, or where Fern or its partners, affiliates and third-party providers maintain facilities.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Mintlify Trust Center ↗
“Amazon Web Services Cloud Infrastucture Data location: Northern Virginia [...] GDPR Article 27 Verification”
Read 2026-10-25 · official site · Report a correction
- Privacy policy | Fern ↗
“The personal information we collect is stored and/or processed in United States, or where we or our partners, affiliates, and third-party providers maintain facilities.”
Read 2026-10-25 · official site · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Mintlify or Fern?
Mintlify: $540/month billed monthly for Pro ($450/month when billed annually): unlimited editor seats, the AI assistant and automations, preview deployments and admin APIs. Starter is free and Enterprise is custom.
Fern: No priced paid plan is listed for Fern Docs: Enterprise is quoted by sales (Custom, 'Tailored pricing terms'). The only priced plan is Free at $0.
Should I choose Mintlify or Fern?
Pick Mintlify if A team that wants docs and an API reference built from Markdown, MDX and OpenAPI files in a git repository, with an AI assistant, llms.txt and an MCP server, at a flat price per account rather than per seat. Pro is $540 a month billed monthly with unlimited editors; the free Starter plan allows five.
Pick Fern if A team that wants one API definition to produce both a docs site and client SDKs, with llms.txt, an MCP server and an AI assistant on the free plan, which covers 10 team members and 1,000 pages.
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