What is the cheapest way to host private documentation?
Private documentation hosting compared on price, as of October 2026: free self-run options, DocuGate at $5 a month, and the hosted platforms at $249 and up.
By Gusenga Thierry ·
The short answer
The cheapest options cost no money but take setup: a static docs site behind Cloudflare Access's free tier, or behind oauth2-proxy on a server you already run. Among hosted platforms, DocuGate Pro is $5 a month for docs from private repositories, while GitBook and ReadMe put private docs on plans of about $250 a month, as of October 2026.
The short answer
If your time is free and you are comfortable with DNS and servers, a static site behind an identity proxy costs nothing. If you want someone else to run it, prices for private documentation range from a few dollars to several hundred a month, and the difference is mostly in what comes with the gate.
Prices, as of October 2026
| Option | Price for private docs | What you get | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static site + Cloudflare Access | Free tier for small teams; check current limits | Sign-in by email or identity provider in front of any site on your domain | Cloudflare Zero Trust |
| Static site + oauth2-proxy | Free software, plus the server you run it on | OAuth sign-in in front of static files | Self-hosted |
| GitHub Pages, private visibility | Requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud | Readers limited to people with repository read access | GitHub docs |
| DocuGate Pro | $5/mo, $50/yr, or $2/wk | Docs from private repositories, gated by repository access or an allowlist | /pricing |
| GitBook | Ultimate, $249/mo per site, or Enterprise | Authenticated access plus GitBook's editor and features | gitbook.com/pricing |
| ReadMe | Pro, $250/mo billed annually | Private docs plus ReadMe's API tooling | readme.com/pricing |
| Mintlify | Pro around $450/mo billed annually; check which plan includes the access you need | A full docs platform | mintlify.com/pricing |
Prices change. Mintlify's changed several times in 2026, so check each vendor's page before you decide.
How to choose
- Count the readers. Ten engineers who all have the repository need a different gate from forty clients who must never see the code.
- Decide who runs it. A proxy is free but someone maintains it, renews its configuration and answers when sign-in breaks.
- List what you need besides the gate. A web editor for non-developers, analytics, versioned docs or an API explorer may justify a larger platform.
- Check how the docs stay current. Anything that copies your docs instead of reading them from the repository will drift unless someone syncs it.
Where DocuGate fits
DocuGate reads a folder of markdown from GitHub and serves it with an access gate, with no build step and no import. Each space is Public, Repo access (whoever can open the repository on GitHub can read) or Allowlist (named GitHub logins or email addresses, and those readers can sign in with Google). It renders an API reference from an OpenAPI file on every plan. It has no web editor beyond editing a page and committing it back to the repository, and no analytics yet, so if you need those the larger platforms are worth their price. See access control.
Questions people also ask
Is GitHub Pages a free way to host private docs?
Not unless you are on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. On other plans a Pages site is public to anyone with the URL, even when the repository is private.
Why do GitBook and ReadMe cost so much more?
They are full documentation products, with web editors, analytics, versioning and support, and private access sits on their upper tiers. If you need those, the price buys something. If you only need the gate, you are paying for the rest.
What does DocuGate's weekly price mean?
Pro can be paid at $2 a week, $5 a month or $50 a year. Weekly works out at about $8.67 a month, so it costs more over time; the point of it is that you can stop any week.
Is there a free DocuGate plan for private docs?
Starter is free and covers one space from a public repository. Spaces that read a private repository need Pro.
Read next
- How do I password protect a Docusaurus site?: Docusaurus has no login of its own. The four ways to put a password or sign-in in front of a Docusaurus site, and what each one costs.
- Can a GitHub Pages site be private?: Only on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. What private Pages means, and the other ways to keep docs published from a repository readable by the right people only.
- A GitBook alternative for gated docs from GitHub: DocuGate and GitBook compared on price, access control and editing, as of October 2026, including when GitBook is the better choice.
- A ReadMe alternative for private API docs: DocuGate and ReadMe compared on price, private docs and API reference, as of October 2026, including when ReadMe is the better choice.
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