ReadMe makes it easy to spin up a developer portal, especially for teams working with a single product and API. It offers a visual editor, guide pages, changelogs, and an interactive reference, all in one bundled UI. That’s great when you want everything managed in one place. But as your product portfolio and API ecosystem grow, ReadMe starts to show its limits.
Bump.sh is built for teams that need more control, more flexibility, and a workflow that fits how engineers actually work, while facilitating collaboration with other roles such as technical writers and product managers. We help you publish fast, reliable, reference-grade API documentation from your OpenAPI or AsyncAPI definitions, versioned, reviewed, and deployed through Git and CI/CD.
If you’re looking for a ReadMe alternative that doesn’t box you into a visual editor or manual publishing flow, Bump.sh is a better fit.
Why teams switch from ReadMe to Bump.sh
ReadMe is UI-first. You edit content in their interface and push it live from there. Git sync exists, but it’s optional, and branching is limited. That can work well for smaller, self-contained APIs, but it gets tricky fast when you’re juggling multiple versions, teams, or environments.
Bump.sh takes the opposite approach. We’re docs-as-code by default. Your API definitions live in Git. You control when and how they’re published. We plug right into your CI/CD workflow, generate changelogs automatically, detect breaking changes in pull requests, and publish seamlessly when you’re ready. No surprises. No uncontrolled steps.
And we scale with you. Whether you’re managing one API or an entire catalog, Bump.sh gives you one place to publish, version, and explore all of it. With a polished UI and blazing fast performance to match.
Top 3 reasons to choose Bump.sh over ReadMe
Built for complex, multi-API ecosystems
With Bump.sh, scaling your API documentation isn’t a struggle; it’s the default. You can manage as many API definitions as needed, and organize them clearly using advanced categorization and sorting. Group API docs in catalogs (“Hubs”) by product line, team, environment, or audience. Whatever makes the most sense for your platform.
You also get fine-grained access control. Each API can be published as public, private, or partner-only, with separate URLs and customizable headers and footers. That means you can serve internal docs, customer-facing references, and third-party partner guides all from the same place, without duplication or extra tooling.
And if you already have a developer portal? You don’t need to replace it. Our Embed mode lets you drop high-quality API references directly into your existing site. No full migration required. No loss of context or control. It’s seamless, fast, and flexible. Everything ReadMe makes hard when your content lives inside their editor.
Git-native workflow, built for teams
At Bump.sh, we believe your API definitions are contracts, and they deserve the same workflow as the rest of your code. We outline this workflow in more detail in The Perfect Modern OpenAPI Workflow. It’s the approach we use ourselves, and the one we help our customers adopt when they’re ready to scale API documentation the right way.
That’s why we’re fully Git-native. You write and maintain your OpenAPI or AsyncAPI definitions in your repository. Every change goes through pull requests, where we can validate the definition file, detect (breaking) changes, and even automatically comment directly on the PR with a preview link and human-readable changelog.
When you’re ready to publish, CI handles the deployment. No need to push buttons in a web UI or remember to sync changes. It’s a clean, modern workflow that supports reviews, traceability, and repeatability, all by design.
Compare that to ReadMe, where the editor is still the primary interface. Git sync is available, but it’s layered on top and doesn’t fully drive the publishing flow. There’s no way to roll back a change once it’s live. The alternativec requiring an Enterprise plan, goes through a staging workflow. Otherwise, you’re stuck manually reverting edits in the UI.
Purpose-built rendering, built for performance and precision
Bump.sh was built from the ground up for performance, clarity, and discoverability. We parse specs server-side using our proprietary rendering engine, fully compatible with both OpenAPI and AsyncAPI. That means your documentation loads fast, scales effortlessly, and stays reliable, no matter how complex your API is. It doesn’t matter if you work design-first or code-first. We handle deeply nested schemas, large definitions, and multiple versions without breaking a sweat.
We also generate full XML sitemaps automatically. These can be ingested by your dev portal, search engines, or any internal indexing system to offer a consistent, SEO-friendly search experience, inside or outside your documentation.
Our parsing and rendering engine supports rich features natively: deep linking, cURL examples, and shareable pre-filled API requests via the Explorer. And because we’re specification-centered, we support the x-codeSamples common custom OpenAPI extension out of the box—making it easy to include relevant, language-specific code snippets directly in your reference. You can write these manually, or generate them using external tools like Speakeasy or Stainless. Either way, they stay close to the spec and versioned alongside your contract, just like everything else.
ReadMe does a lot, but large specs and nested structures can quickly feel heavy or constrained. And if you care about SEO or need advanced rendering, you’re often left patching things together. With Bump.sh, performance and clarity aren’t nice-to-haves: they’re built in from day one.
Planning to migrate from ReadMe?
We’ve helped teams of all sizes move their documentation from ReadMe to Bump.sh. Whether you’re publishing from GitHub, dealing with versioning issues, or just want a better workflow, we’ll help you make the switch smoothly. With real, human support every step of the way.
Bump.sh isn’t trying to be everything. We focus on one thing and do it extremely well: publishing stunning, reliable, versioned API documentation. If you want a ReadMe alternative built for engineers, with modern workflows and no compromise on UX, let’s talk.