Comparison#

PreactPress targets teams who document Preact libraries and APIs and want VitePress-style workflows with MDX, validation, and AI-ready exports.

At a glance#

	PreactPress	VitePress	Docusaurus	Starlight
UI stack	Preact + MDX	Vue	React	Astro
Primary audience	Preact libraries, APIs, AI agents	Vue documentation	Large React doc portals	Multi-framework content
Docs theme	Built-in default	Built-in default	Built-in default	Built-in default
Runtime size	Small Preact bundle	Vue hydration	React + router	Varies by integration
Static output	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Local search	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in
i18n	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in
Versioning	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in	Community patterns

Developer experience#

Capability	PreactPress	VitePress	Docusaurus	Starlight
File-based Markdown routes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MDX / interactive components	Preact MDX	Vue in Markdown	React MDX	Astro + islands
Config validation CLI	preactpress check	Build-time only	Build-time only	Build-time only
Plugin API	Typed hooks	VitePress hooks	Docusaurus plugins	Astro integrations
VitePress migration CLI	migrate vitepress	—	—	—

Library and API documentation#

Capability	PreactPress	VitePress	Docusaurus	Starlight
TypeScript API reference	@preactpress/plugin-typedoc	Manual / community	TypeDoc plugin	Manual
OpenAPI / REST docs	@preactpress/plugin-openapi	Community	Community	Community
Component prop tables	@preactpress/plugin-component-reference	Manual	PropTypes / manual	Manual
Live code playground	@preactpress/plugin-playground	Custom	Live codeblock plugin	Custom
Changelog from GitHub	@preactpress/plugin-changelog	Manual	Manual	Manual
Mermaid diagrams	@preactpress/plugin-mermaid	Built-in	Community	Community

AI and coding agents#

Capability	PreactPress	VitePress	Docusaurus	Starlight
llms.txt export	Built-in (ai config)	Community	Community	Community
Full-text LLM dump	llms-full.txt	Community	Community	Community
Per-page Markdown copies	Built-in	—	—	—
Structured context index	api/context.json	—	—	—

Deployment#

All four tools emit static files suitable for Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, and S3.

PreactPress additionally generates:

• _redirects from config (Netlify / Cloudflare)
• preactpress-redirects.json manifest
• Redirect HTML fallbacks with canonical URLs

When to choose PreactPress#

Choose PreactPress when:

• Your library or product already uses Preact
• You want VitePress-like docs DX without Vue
• You need TypeDoc, OpenAPI, or component prop docs as official plugins
• You want preactpress check in CI before every release
• You serve docs to AI coding agents via llms.txt

When to choose something else#

Tool	Choose when
VitePress	You are committed to Vue and want the reference Vue docs stack
Docusaurus	You need React, a large plugin ecosystem, or Meta-style doc portals
Starlight / Astro	You build multi-framework content sites with islands, not library API docs

Benchmarks#

PreactPress cold/warm build times for a 100-page fixture are documented in the release report. Compare tools on the same machine and page count for meaningful numbers.

Next steps#

Page	Why
What is PreactPress?	Core concepts
Getting started	Create your first site
Migrate from VitePress	Switch from Vue docs