Docszero vs ReadMe: free tiers, branding and the price of a second project
ReadMe’s free plan gives you one project, one version and a ReadMe badge you cannot remove. Removing it starts at $250 a month. Docszero removes the badge at $19.99 and gives you ten sites.
published · ReadMe prices checked
the short version
ReadMe is the better choice if your documentation is an API reference and the interactive reference is the product. Docszero is the better choice if it is prose — guides, handbooks, internal docs — and you want more than one of them without a $250 step.
ReadMe is built around API references. An OpenAPI file becomes an explorable reference with real request logs against your own keys, and if that is the documentation you are publishing, ReadMe does something Docszero does not do at all.
Docszero is built around prose. Guides, handbooks, runbooks, onboarding, internal notes: Markdown that should be a searchable website without a project plan.
Both have a free plan. ReadMe’s Starter is $0 for one project and one version, and it keeps ReadMe’s own branding on your docs. Docszero’s free plan is $0 for one site on a docszero.com subdomain, and the badge comes off at $19.99 a month rather than $250.
What each free plan actually gives you
ReadMe Starter
Docszero Free
Price
$0 / month
$0 forever
Projects or sites
1
1
Published versions
1
Every build, and you can roll back to any of them
Custom domain
Included
No — Pro and above
Their branding on your docs
Stays — cannot be removed on Starter
A badge, removed on Pro
Private docs
No
No — Pro and above
Interactive API reference
Yes
No
Word or PDF import
No
Yes, converted to pages
Export the whole site
No
Yes, HTML or source
Reader analytics
Usage metrics
Totals for the last 2 days
ReadMe’s free plan includes a custom domain and ours does not. If a domain on a free plan is the deciding feature, ReadMe Starter wins that line outright — as long as you can live with their branding on the page, which Starter does not let you remove.
What it costs when free runs out
The free plans are close enough that the interesting question is the next step. ReadMe lists Pro at $250 a month billed annually. Docszero lists Pro at $19.99 a month, or $199.90 a year.
ReadMe
Docszero
Free plan
$0 — 1 project, 1 version
$0 — 1 site, export included
First paid plan
$250 / month, billed annually
$19.99 / month, or $199.90 a year
Projects or sites on it
More than one
10
Their branding removed
From the paid plan
From Pro
Private docs
From the paid plan
From Pro
A year of the first paid plan
$3,000
$199.90
A year of ReadMe Pro is roughly fifteen years of Docszero Pro. That gap is not a trick: it is what you get for not being an API-reference platform. ReadMe is maintaining an OpenAPI renderer, a request-logging pipeline and API key management, and charging for it. If you need those, the price is the price.
Where ReadMe is the better choice
Your documentation is an API reference generated from OpenAPI, and the reference is the point.
You want readers to make real calls with their own keys from inside the docs.
You want request logs and API usage metrics tied to the reference.
You need a custom domain while paying nothing at all.
You maintain several published versions of a reference at once.
Docszero does none of that. A mermaid diagram and a fenced code block are as close as we get to an API reference, and pretending otherwise would waste your afternoon.
Where Docszero is the better choice
The docs are prose: guides, handbooks, internal documentation, a knowledge base.
You want more than one site without moving to a plan priced for an API company.
You want their name off your docs for tens of dollars a month, not hundreds.
Some of the source material is a Word document or a PDF.
You want the export button to work on the plan you are on, free included.
Bringing ReadMe docs over
ReadMe’s guides are Markdown, and its bi-directional sync can put them in a Git repository. Zip that folder and upload it: headings become pages, images travel with them, and internal links are rewritten. What will not come across is the API reference itself — that is ReadMe’s own machinery, and it needs to stay where it is or be replaced.
Plenty of teams run both: the API reference on a tool built for API references, and the guides, handbooks and internal docs on something that costs $19.99 a month.
Questions
Is there a free ReadMe alternative?
Yes, for prose documentation. Docszero’s free plan publishes one site on a docszero.com subdomain with full-text search, a browser editor and static export, with no credit card. ReadMe also has a free Starter plan, limited to one project and one version and keeping ReadMe’s branding. Neither replaces the other for interactive API references, which ReadMe does and Docszero does not.
Does ReadMe have a free plan?
Yes. ReadMe lists a Starter plan at $0 a month, described as free for everyone, covering one project and one published version, with a custom domain, a Markdown editor, customizable themes and usage metrics. ReadMe branding is included and cannot be removed on Starter. Read from readme.com/pricing on 7 September 2026.
How do I remove ReadMe branding from my docs?
On ReadMe, by moving off the free Starter plan; its published paid tier, Pro, is $250 a month billed annually. On Docszero, removing the badge is part of Pro at $19.99 a month, which also covers ten sites, custom domains with HTTPS and password-protected docs.
Can Docszero host an API reference?
Not as an interactive reference. Docszero publishes Markdown, so an API reference written as Markdown pages with fenced code blocks works, and mermaid diagrams render. There is no OpenAPI import, no request playground and no API key handling. If those matter, use a tool built for them.
Can I move my ReadMe guides to Docszero?
Yes. Use ReadMe’s Git sync to get your guides out as Markdown, then upload the folder as a zip. Headings become pages, images come with them and internal links are rewritten. The API reference does not transfer, because it is generated by ReadMe rather than stored as Markdown.
Try the free plan instead of reading about it
One site, your own docszero.com subdomain, full-text search and the export button, free forever and without a card. Pro is $19.99 a month when you want your own domain, your own look and the badge gone.
Drag in a folder of Markdown, a zip, a Word document or a PDF
Search, navigation and a 404 page are built for you
Export the built site or the source on every plan, free included