What's interesting is already seen some movement. Arbitrum dropped from 4/5 to 2/5 because the docs stopped serving markdown and started serving HTML. Meanwhile Mantle, Lighter, ADI Chain, Facet and Ethscriptions all went up a point bc GitBook added WebMCP.
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GitBook on X
Talk about GitBook is split three ways and thin: mild praise for single features, a handful of paying customers who call $90–99 a month unjustifiable, and a larger group who would rather build or self-host their own docs.
First written 27 Oct · what changed · from 19 posts by 17 people
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as of Nov 3, 09:00 UTCWhat changed
as of 27 Oct · checked once a monthFirst written 27 Oct. When what people say changes, it shows here.
Tone· 10 posts from 8 people· written 27 Oct
How do people feel about GitBook?
The largest theme in the 10 posts is mild, single-feature praise from 4 people — a search bar, separate pages, bookmarks, WebMCP support. Disappointment and outright recommendations are level behind it at 2 people each.
Praise is real but narrow: each of the 4 posts filed under it names one feature and stops. A search bar is said to solve a problem faster, separate pages to settle a launch-day problem, bookmarks to still be useful, and one post credits GitBook adding WebMCP with moving Mantle, Lighter, ADI Chain, Facet and Ethscriptions each up a point in a docs review, while a project that stopped serving markdown dropped from 4/5 to 2/5.
Disappointment and recommendation are level at 2 people each. The disappointed are paying customers: one has been paying $99 a month, calls it an "unjustifiable expense" and says getting rid of it is next on the list; the other cancelled a 90-dollar monthly subscription after rebuilding the same usage in an hour or two. The two recommendations are for its free plan, offered against plain markdown files, and for building out detailed documentation.
- Likes specific features4
- Disappointed4
- Recommends it2
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separate pages in gitbook solve most of this before launch day
gitbook bookmarks still useful though...
I vibe coded a few small SaaS tools I was using, and saving already about 100$/month. Tbh, it's not just the cost savings for me, it's the freedom you get from becoming the full owner of your own stack. You can make changes, customise the tools for your workflow, and so much more easily. I don't know where even historical software like Unbounce will end up going, honestly. There's only one exception: Gitbook. I have been paying $99 a month and I feel very stupid about it. This is next on my list, and I'll be the happiest person alive when I finally get rid of this unjustifiable expense
MD files are easier imho. GitBook has generous free plan, I would recommend this. Otherwise go plain html?))
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Pain points· 4 posts from 2 people· written 27 Oct
What do people complain about with GitBook?
Everything filed here is one complaint from 2 people: GitBook costs far too much, at around $90 to $99 a month, for what it does.
There is only one theme in this section, and only 2 people behind its 4 posts, so this is not a wide pattern — it is two paying customers saying the price does not match the product.
One has paid $99 a month and calls it an unjustifiable expense, saying it is "outrageously expensive for fundamentally nothing" and that dropping it is next on a list of subscriptions already replaced. The other describes a 90-dollar monthly subscription as something they used to pay, after rebuilding the same usage themselves in an hour or two, and says the subscription is cancelled.
Both frame the price against what they can build instead, and neither names a specific missing feature — the objection is the cost of a tool they say does the same job as something they put together in hours.
- Too expensive4
See the 4 postsHide the posts
I vibe coded a few small SaaS tools I was using, and saving already about 100$/month. Tbh, it's not just the cost savings for me, it's the freedom you get from becoming the full owner of your own stack. You can make changes, customise the tools for your workflow, and so much more easily. I don't know where even historical software like Unbounce will end up going, honestly. There's only one exception: Gitbook. I have been paying $99 a month and I feel very stupid about it. This is next on my list, and I'll be the happiest person alive when I finally get rid of this unjustifiable expense
Non-technical here: it's only a matter of time, I definitely agree. I've already vibe-coded everything, replacing most of my SaaS expenditure. Next on my list is GitBook, which is outrageously expensive for fundamentally nothing. And the time for maintaining can be shortened with recurring loops, or check-ins will become part of the work routine of everyone. The part that technical people miss, imo, is the enjoyment (normal) people also get from being able to refine and customize their tooling. It will feel much more natural than using 2010-style SaaS (e.g. Carta, WebinarJam, ClickFunnels, etc.)... I'll give it 2-3 years at most and for "normies" will feel much more natural this rather than having to learn how to use a tool that is, as of today, very complex to use (e.g. Meta Ads). Nobody enjoys to use these tools today. Updating your tools, will be "sharpening your axe" routine 2030 edition...
used to pay gitbook 90 usd per month! vibe coded something equivalent in 2 hours and cancelled my sub, software industry is doomed
just cancelled my 90 usd monthly gitbook subscription, it took me 1 hour to recreate the same usage software.
Alternatives· 8 posts from 6 people· written 27 Oct
What are the alternatives to GitBook?
Most of this section is replacement by hand: 4 of 6 people built or plan to build their own docs instead of paying GitBook, with one mention each of migrating to Blume and of self-hosted markdown tools.
The dominant theme is building it themselves — 6 posts from 4 people. One has tried help-centre and docs tools for eight years and decided to "roll our own" for a new platform: knowledge base, release notes and support tickets inside the product, with an MCP answering the how-to questions. Others rebuilt what they used in an hour or two, or ask "Why pay Gitbook yearly when you can build your own gitbook". The pull is ownership and customisation as much as the money.
Two single mentions point elsewhere. One welcomes a Blume migration command and wants it to emit a redirect map from every old GitBook and MkDocs URL, because docs moves lose Google traffic through dead links. A Chinese-language post lists GitBook's frontend among five self-hosted, pure-markdown documentation tools, chosen to avoid per-seat pricing.
- Built their own instead6
- Blume1
- Self-hosted docs tools1
See 5 of 8 postsHide the posts
I must have tried every help center and docs tool out there in the past 8 years. HubSpot, Intercom, GitBook (latest), Featurebase, Zendesk, you name it. For the new Ventla platform I decided to just roll our own. Knowledge base, release notes and support tickets, all built into the product and the flows we already have. Not that I know who will even read the articles in a couple of months, when you can ask our MCP and get the exact answer you need. Or even better; skip the questions and have ChatGPT or Claude or whoever use the MCP to do the whole thing for you. Gonna keep perfecting and automating this. Fewer how-to questions, more "do this for me".
Forgot to also show the doc pages. Why pay Gitbook yearly when you can build your own gitbook.
npx blume migrate gitbook --codex is a nice touch. i'd have the agent also spit out a redirect map from every old gitbook/mkdocs url to the new path and fail the run on any 404. docs moves tend to lose their google traffic through dead links, not through worse content
😤 文档工具按人头收费太肉疼。这 5 个自托管：Wiki.js 知识库、docsify 零构建、MkDocs 出文档站、GitBook 前端、note-gen 本地笔记。写的都是纯 Markdown。 link
just cancelled my 90 usd monthly gitbook subscription, it took me 1 hour to recreate the same usage software.
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Questions· 2 posts· written 27 Oct
What do people ask about GitBook?
Two separate one-person questions: whether GitBook handles session timeouts, and whether an error page means GitBook itself is down or the fault is local.
This section holds 2 posts from 2 people, and they have nothing in common beyond being asked — one theme each, and neither is answered in the posts.
One person, replying in a launch thread, asks whether the person they are talking to has checked "how GitBook handles those weird session timeouts yet". Another sees "Something went wrong" on a GitBook site and asks whether it is an issue on their side or the GitBook. Reach is small on both, so neither is a question many people are asking at once.
- How does it handle session timeouts?1
- Is GitBook down?1
Wishes· 3 posts· written 27 Oct
What do people want from GitBook?
Three single-person asks, each different: better tags, docs split by user type, and state-machine behaviour.
Each of the 3 posts here is its own theme from its own person, so this is a list of individual asks rather than anything a group is pushing for.
Two come from the same launch thread and are stated flatly, in three words each: GitBook "needs better tags", and GitBook "needs a state machine". The third gives a reason: segmenting the docs by user type would "actually solve that onboarding drop off", by which they mean newcomers leaving during onboarding. Nothing in the posts says how many others share any of these; each rests on one person's word.
- Better tags1
- Docs segmented by user type1
- A state machine1
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