I built a $49/mo alternative to $300/mo documentation tools – launching Dokly 🚀

Hey IH! 👋

I'm Gautam, and I just launched Dokly – a hosted documentation platform for developers and startups.

The Problem

Documentation tools are absurdly expensive. Mintlify charges $300/month. GitBook and ReadMe aren't much better. For indie hackers and early-stage startups, that's a huge chunk of runway just to have decent docs.

But here's the thing: great documentation shouldn't require an enterprise budget.

What I Built

Dokly lets you create beautiful, professionally-branded documentation sites in minutes:

• MDX editor with live preview – write docs with Markdown + React components

• Instant publishing – static sites that load fast worldwide

• Custom domains – docs.yourcompany.com with automatic SSL

• Full-text search – Cmd+K instant search across all your docs

• API playground – import OpenAPI specs, let users test endpoints live

• Built-in analytics – see what pages get read, what users search for

• Dark mode – because it's 2026

All for $49/month (Pro) instead of $300+.

Why Now?

In the AI era, your docs need to be fast and static. AI agents are crawling documentation to understand APIs. Slow, JavaScript-heavy docs get skipped. Dokly generates pure static HTML that loads in under 100ms – perfect for both humans and AI crawlers.

Current Status

• Launched on Product Hunt (1,058 upvotes)

• Free tier available (1 project, 5 pages)

• Building in public

Tech Stack

Next.js 15, Supabase, Stripe, Vercel. One Next.js app handles marketing site, dashboard, and all customer doc sites via middleware routing.

What's Next

• GitHub sync (edit docs in your repo)

• Versioning for API docs

• Collaborative editing

The Ask

Would love feedback from fellow indie hackers:

1. Does the pricing make sense?

2. What features would make you switch from your current docs solution?

3. Anyone interested in being an early adopter?

Check it out: dokly.co

Happy to answer any questions about the build, the tech, or the business model.

– Gautam