# Mintlify vs GitBook

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/mintlify-vs-gitbook/

Every value below is read from Mintlify's and GitBook's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Mintlify | GitBook |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 plan for individuals: one user, unlimited page views, Git Sync with GitHub or GitLab, OpenAPI-based API docs with a playground, a docs MCP server and llms.txt. A custom domain and the AI Assistant Ask feature are not included. |
| 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. | Essential is $65 per site per month when billed annually, plus $12 per user per month for additional team members; Ultimate is $249 per site per month. The page shows annual-billing figures in its default view. |
| 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. | Priced per published site (Free, Essential, Ultimate, Enterprise) plus $12 per user per month on the paid plans; Enterprise is custom. Page views are never metered. AI features draw on monthly AI credits (Essential includes $20, Ultimate $100), extra credit bundles are sold separately and usage auto-pauses when credits run out. |
| 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. | Priced per site: Essential is $65 per site per month when billed annually, so the entry paid plan covers each site you buy; the page states no cap on the number of sites. Additional users are $12 per user per month. |
| Self-hostable | Limited — Enterprise plan only; each deployment is a scoped engagement with the account team | Limited — Published docs site only, and unsupported by GitBook |
| SAML single sign-on | Limited — Enterprise plans only; covers sign-in to the Mintlify dashboard | Limited — Enterprise plan only; for team members signing in to the app |
| Docs as code in a git repository | Supported | Supported — Two-way Git Sync with GitHub or GitLab |
| 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 | Limited — Generic code examples per operation; custom SDK samples via x-codeSamples |
| 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 — Ask from Essential, Chat from Ultimate; not on Free |
| Multiple documentation versions | Supported | Supported |
| 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. | GitBook Inc. states it completed the AICPA SOC 2 Type II audit, performed by Prescient Assurance. |
| 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. | Customer data is stored in U.S. data centers on Google Cloud; some HTML pages and assets may be cached in other geographies by the CDN. The page names no EU storage region. |

## 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. ([source](https://www.mintlify.com/pricing))
- GitBook: The Free plan for individuals: one user, unlimited page views, Git Sync with GitHub or GitLab, OpenAPI-based API docs with a playground, a docs MCP server and llms.txt. A custom domain and the AI Assistant Ask feature are not included. ([source](https://www.gitbook.com/pricing))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### 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. ([source](https://www.mintlify.com/pricing))
- GitBook: Essential is $65 per site per month when billed annually, plus $12 per user per month for additional team members; Ultimate is $249 per site per month. The page shows annual-billing figures in its default view. ([source](https://www.gitbook.com/pricing))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### 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. ([source](https://www.mintlify.com/pricing))
- GitBook: Priced per published site (Free, Essential, Ultimate, Enterprise) plus $12 per user per month on the paid plans; Enterprise is custom. Page views are never metered. AI features draw on monthly AI credits (Essential includes $20, Ultimate $100), extra credit bundles are sold separately and usage auto-pauses when credits run out. ([source](https://www.gitbook.com/pricing))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### 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. ([source](https://www.mintlify.com/pricing))
- GitBook: Priced per site: Essential is $65 per site per month when billed annually, so the entry paid plan covers each site you buy; the page states no cap on the number of sites. Additional users are $12 per user per month. ([source](https://www.gitbook.com/pricing))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### 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. ([source](https://security.mintlify.com))
- GitBook: GitBook Inc. states it completed the AICPA SOC 2 Type II audit, performed by Prescient Assurance. ([source](https://gitbook.com/docs/policies/privacy-and-security/security/security-as-a-company-value))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### 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. ([source](https://security.mintlify.com))
- GitBook: Customer data is stored in U.S. data centers on Google Cloud; some HTML pages and assets may be cached in other geographies by the CDN. The page names no EU storage region. ([source](https://gitbook.com/docs/policies/privacy-and-security/security/security-faq))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

## Which should you choose?

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 GitBook if A team that wants a collaborative editor with two-way Git sync and an OpenAPI reference, priced per published site: Essential is $65 per site per month billed annually plus $12 per additional user, and the free plan covers one user.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: GitBook — You publish several docs sites or have many editors, since the bill grows with both. AI answers start at Essential, SAML SSO is Enterprise-only, and SDK generation is limited to code examples.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Mintlify or GitBook?**

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.
GitBook: Essential is $65 per site per month when billed annually, plus $12 per user per month for additional team members; Ultimate is $249 per site per month. The page shows annual-billing figures in its default view.

**Should I choose Mintlify or GitBook?**

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 GitBook if A team that wants a collaborative editor with two-way Git sync and an OpenAPI reference, priced per published site: Essential is $65 per site per month billed annually plus $12 per additional user, and the free plan covers one user.