# 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.

_Source: https://www.docszero.com/compare/readme_
_Comparison · Docszero vs ReadMe_
_Published 7 September 2026, prices checked 7 September 2026_

> **In short:** 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 plans

Read from https://readme.com/pricing on 7 September 2026.

- **Starter** — $0 / month. One project, one version, ReadMe branding stays.
- **Pro** — $250 / month. Billed annually.
- **Enterprise** — Custom. Annual billing only.

## The short answer

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](https://readme.com/pricing) 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.

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Published by Docszero (https://www.docszero.com) — docs, minus the setup. Upload Markdown, a Word document or a PDF and get a searchable documentation site. Free for one site; export the source on every plan.