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mdBook vs Starlight: catalog facts
mdBook	Starlight
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Builds a complete static site from plain Markdown Maintained by the Rust project with an active history	Search, navigation and i18n included Markdown, Markdoc and MDX support
Command line only Aimed at web output rather than EPUB or print	Focused on documentation sites only Requires Node.js and some Astro knowledge to customise
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MPL-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.