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Scalar vs Mintlify

OCT 2026 audit

A comparison of Scalar and Mintlify built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 18 criteria compared

The short answer

Choose Scalar if…

A team that wants OpenAPI-driven docs, an API client, SDK generation and MCP servers from one toolchain with an MIT-licensed core. Pro is $150 a month for 15 APIs and 5 editor seats.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

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

Consider something else if…

  • Scalar: You need SAML SSO, which starts at Business, or a SOC 2 Type II report, where Scalar states a Type 1. Publishing a docs site needs a paid plan after the 7-day trial, so the free plan is not a way to host docs.
  • 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.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Scalar alternatives · Mintlify alternatives

7 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Scalar documentationVisit Mintlify documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionScalarMintlify
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierFree tier
What the free plan includesThe Free plan costs $0 with no credit card: hosted OpenAPI docs, built-in API client, landing pages, up to 3 APIs, 1 SDK up to 25 endpoints, 50 Agent Scalar credits and 1 editor seat. Publishing a Docs site needs a paid plan after the 7-day trial every new team gets.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.
Entry paid plan
Pro is $150/month ($125/month billed yearly): 5 editor seats, up to 15 APIs, 1 SDK up to 100 endpoints, custom domains, Git Sync, Markdown and MDX, hosted MCP servers. Business is $600/month.
$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.
Pricing modelPriced per plan by APIs published, SDK size (endpoints in the OpenAPI document) and editor seats: Free 3 APIs and 1 seat, Pro 15 APIs and 5 seats, Business 25 APIs and 10 seats, Enterprise custom. Each plan includes 1 SDK; extra SDKs are $150/month each up to 100 endpoints or $600/month each for 101-250. Billed monthly or yearly.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.
Limits
Sites or apps includedPro, the entry paid plan, allows up to 15 APIs and 5 editor seats; Free allows 3 APIs and 1 editor seat, Business 25 APIs and 10 seats.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.
Observability
Self-hostableLimited — MIT-licensed core only; no page says the hosted Docs platform itself can be self-hosted.Limited — Enterprise plan only; each deployment is a scoped engagement with the account team
Auth
SAML single sign-on
Supported — Business and Enterprise plans; not on Free or Pro.
Limited — Enterprise plans only; covers sign-in to the Mintlify dashboard
Documentation
Docs as code in a git repositorySupportedSupported
API reference from an OpenAPI specSupportedSupported
Interactive API playgroundSupportedSupported
Client SDK generation
Supported
Limited — Displays SDK code samples; the page points to Speakeasy for generating the SDKs themselves
llms.txt and markdown for AI toolsSupportedSupported
MCP server for the docs or APISupportedSupported
Built-in AI assistant over the docsSupportedSupported — Pro and Enterprise plans only, billed in credits; not on the free Starter plan
Multiple documentation versionsSupported — Docs plan table lists versions from Pro upward, not on Free.Supported
Compliance
SOC 2SOC 2 Type 1 report received for controls relevant to security; no Type 2 stated. GDPR privacy rights are described, no data-residency region is stated.SOC 2 Type 2 report listed among the documents in Mintlify's Trust Center; ISO 27001 appears only as a letter of intent.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

What the free plan includes

Scalar
The Free plan costs $0 with no credit card: hosted OpenAPI docs, built-in API client, landing pages, up to 3 APIs, 1 SDK up to 25 endpoints, 50 Agent Scalar credits and 1 editor seat. Publishing a Docs site needs a paid plan after the 7-day trial every new team gets.
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.
Sources (2) →
  • Scalar Pricing — Free & Paid Plans for API Docs & SDKs ↗

    “Hosted OpenAPI docs Built-in API client Landing pages Up to 3 APIs, 1 SDK up to 25 endpoints 50 Agent Scalar credits 1 editor seat [...] Every new team starts with a 7-day trial with Pro limits, including Docs publishing. After the trial, publishing a Docs site needs a paid plan.”

    Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • 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

Entry paid plan

Scalar
Pro is $150/month ($125/month billed yearly): 5 editor seats, up to 15 APIs, 1 SDK up to 100 endpoints, custom domains, Git Sync, Markdown and MDX, hosted MCP servers. Business is $600/month.
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.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Scalar
Priced per plan by APIs published, SDK size (endpoints in the OpenAPI document) and editor seats: Free 3 APIs and 1 seat, Pro 15 APIs and 5 seats, Business 25 APIs and 10 seats, Enterprise custom. Each plan includes 1 SDK; extra SDKs are $150/month each up to 100 endpoints or $600/month each for 101-250. Billed monthly or yearly.
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.
Sources (2) →
  • Scalar Pricing — Free & Paid Plans for API Docs & SDKs ↗

    “Pricing scales with how many APIs you publish and the size of each SDK, measured by the number of endpoints in your OpenAPI document. [...] Additional SDKs are priced by each SDK's endpoint count: $150 per month each for up to 100 endpoints, or $600 per month each for 101–250 endpoints.”

    Read 2026-10-25 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • 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

Sites or apps included

Scalar
Pro, the entry paid plan, allows up to 15 APIs and 5 editor seats; Free allows 3 APIs and 1 editor seat, Business 25 APIs and 10 seats.
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.
Sources (2) →

Client SDK generation

Scalar
Supported
Mintlify
Limited — Displays SDK code samples; the page points to Speakeasy for generating the SDKs themselves
Sources (2) →

SAML single sign-on

Scalar
Supported — Business and Enterprise plans; not on Free or Pro.
Mintlify
Limited — Enterprise plans only; covers sign-in to the Mintlify dashboard
Sources (2) →

SOC 2

Scalar
SOC 2 Type 1 report received for controls relevant to security; no Type 2 stated. GDPR privacy rights are described, no data-residency region is stated.
Mintlify
SOC 2 Type 2 report listed among the documents in Mintlify's Trust Center; ISO 27001 appears only as a letter of intent.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

GDPR / data residencyMintlify: The Trust Center lists Amazon Web Services as the cloud infrastructure subprocessor with data location Northern Virginia, and a GDPR Article 27 Verification document.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Scalar or Mintlify?

Scalar: Pro is $150/month ($125/month billed yearly): 5 editor seats, up to 15 APIs, 1 SDK up to 100 endpoints, custom domains, Git Sync, Markdown and MDX, hosted MCP servers. Business is $600/month.

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.

Should I choose Scalar or Mintlify?

Pick Scalar if A team that wants OpenAPI-driven docs, an API client, SDK generation and MCP servers from one toolchain with an MIT-licensed core. Pro is $150 a month for 15 APIs and 5 editor seats.

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.

Provider pages

ScalarAPI documentation platform and OpenAPI toolchain: hosted docs, SDK generator, API client and MCP servers built from an OpenAPI document.MintlifyHosted documentation platform that publishes developer docs and API references from Markdown and OpenAPI files in a Git repository, with an AI assistant and MCP server.

Related comparisons

Fumadocs vs ScalarMintlify vs FernMintlify vs FumadocsMintlify vs GitBookMintlify vs ReadMeScalar vs RedoclyFern vs ReadMeReadMe vs GitBook

Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.