GitBook is one of the most popular documentation platforms for developer teams. It has a polished editor, solid collaboration features, and good-looking published docs. If you're evaluating documentation tools, it probably showed up on your list.
We built Valoryx to solve problems that GitBook doesn't address — primarily around git ownership, self-hosting, and pricing transparency. But we want to give you an honest comparison, not a marketing page. Here's where each tool shines and where each falls short.
Editor Experience
GitBook has an excellent web editor. Block-based, clean, responsive. It supports markdown shortcuts, code blocks, tables, and embeds. The collaboration features (comments, change requests) are well-designed. For non-technical team members who need to contribute to docs, GitBook's editor is hard to beat.
Valoryx uses a Tiptap-based WYSIWYG editor that outputs clean markdown. It supports slash commands, code blocks with syntax highlighting, tables, callouts, and image embeds. The editor is optimized for speed — there's no perceptible lag even on large documents. Collaboration features (comments, version comparison) are on the roadmap for the Team plan.
Verdict: GitBook's editor is more mature today, especially for team collaboration workflows. Valoryx's editor is faster and produces cleaner markdown, which matters if you also edit docs in an IDE.
Git Integration
This is where the products diverge most.
GitBook offers "Git Sync" with GitHub and GitLab. Edits in the GitBook UI create commits in your repo. However, the sync is not truly bidirectional — pushing changes to git from an IDE frequently causes merge conflicts that require manual resolution in GitBook's interface. The git repo is not the source of truth; GitBook's internal storage is. If you disconnect Git Sync, your content continues to exist in GitBook but the git history is orphaned.
Valoryx is built on git from the ground up. Your documentation is a git repository — that's the only storage. The web editor creates commits, and git pushes update the web UI. There is no separate internal storage to diverge from. The Content Ledger pattern ensures that concurrent edits from the web UI and git never conflict.
Verdict: If git integration is important to your workflow — and especially if developers edit docs alongside code in their IDE — Valoryx is significantly better. If your team only edits in the web UI and treats git as a backup, GitBook's sync is good enough.
Self-Hosting
GitBook is cloud-only. There is no self-hosted option. Your documentation content is stored on GitBook's servers. For teams with data residency requirements, compliance constraints, or a preference for controlling their infrastructure, this is a hard no.
Valoryx is a single Go binary with zero external dependencies. Download, run, done. It works on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Docker. All data stays on your server. There is no phone-home telemetry, no license key validation, no feature gating based on plan. The Community edition (free, up to 5 editors) has the same features as the self-hosted Team and Business editions.
Verdict: If you need self-hosting, Valoryx is the only option here. GitBook does not offer it.
Pricing
GitBook offers a free tier for personal use and open-source projects. The Team plan starts at $6.70/user/month (billed annually) with a minimum of 5 users. The Business plan is custom pricing. Features like SSO, audit logs, and advanced permissions are gated behind higher tiers.
Valoryx offers three tiers:
- Community (free forever): Self-hosted, up to 5 editors, full features including git sync, WYSIWYG editor, published docs, and full-text search.
- Team ($29/workspace/month): Managed cloud hosting, unlimited editors, custom domains, priority support.
- Business ($79/workspace/month): SSO/SAML, audit logs, dedicated infrastructure, SLA.
Verdict: For small teams (5 or fewer), Valoryx is unbeatable — the free self-hosted edition has no feature restrictions. GitBook's free tier is limited to personal/open-source use. For larger teams, GitBook's per-user pricing can get expensive quickly; Valoryx's per-workspace pricing is simpler and often cheaper.
Published Documentation Sites
GitBook generates clean, professional documentation sites with custom domains, versioning, and search. The published output looks polished and is easy to navigate. SEO is handled well.
Valoryx also generates published documentation sites with custom domains, versioning, full-text search, and multiple themes. The published output is statically generated for fast loading. SEO meta tags, sitemaps, and structured data are included automatically.
Verdict: Both produce good-looking published docs. GitBook has more visual polish today; Valoryx focuses on performance (static generation) and search quality (SQLite FTS5).
When to Choose GitBook
- Your team edits docs exclusively in a web UI (no IDE editing)
- You need mature collaboration features (comments, change requests) today
- You don't need self-hosting
- You prefer a polished, established product with a large user base
When to Choose Valoryx
- Git ownership matters — you want your docs in a real git repo, always
- Developers edit docs alongside code in their IDE
- You need self-hosting for compliance, data residency, or preference
- You want a free, full-featured documentation platform for small teams
- You value simplicity — one binary, zero dependencies, 30-second install
The Honest Truth
GitBook is a good product for teams that live in the browser. Valoryx is a better product for teams that live in git. We built Valoryx because we are the second kind of team, and we couldn't find a tool that treated git as a first-class citizen rather than an integration bolt-on.
Both tools will help you create and publish documentation. The question is where your source of truth lives — and who controls it.