Read the Docs vs. Leed
Read the Docs does one thing exceptionally well: it builds and hosts documentation from your Sphinx or MkDocs sources, with best-in-class versioning, pull-request preview builds, full-text search, and a free community tier that has served open source for years. But the authoring still happens in your own static generator — reStructuredText or Markdown in Git — and the analytics stop at aggregate page views and search terms. Leed is a managed platform where you author in-app, reach readers as identified contacts, and run a built-in growth engine — and it's also free to start, with unlimited users.
You host versioned open-source project docs built from Sphinx or MkDocs and you want free, community-supported hosting with pull-request preview builds and the Sphinx ecosystem behind you.
You want to author in-app, not build in a separate static generator — with reader-level analytics, native lead capture, and a growth engine that turns docs into pipeline, free to start and with unlimited users, never per seat.
Where the platforms diverge.
The growth engine Read the Docs doesn't host.
Author in-app, not in a separate static generator
With Read the Docs you write in Sphinx or MkDocs — reStructuredText or Markdown in your own repo — and RTD builds and hosts the result. Leed is where the authoring happens too: AI-assisted, real-time collaborative editing in the platform, with nothing to wire up between your generator and your host. Both are free to start, but only one lets you write, publish, and grow in one place.
Reader-level analytics, not traffic-level counts
Read the Docs Traffic Analytics shows aggregate page views and top search terms — useful for knowing which pages are popular, but anonymous. Leed tells you who read what: reader identity, scroll depth, and full consumption per person, so engagement becomes a signal you can act on instead of a number on a dashboard.
A closed per-reader funnel, not a host that ends at page views
Read the Docs stops at hosting — and on the free community tier, pages carry EthicalAds. Leed adds native lead capture and nurturing on top of your docs, turning engaged readers into identified contacts and tracked pipeline. You're metered on the contacts and email you choose to act on, never per seat and never on raw traffic — capture is free, acting is paid.
Start free. See what your docs are worth.
Bring your existing docs — unlimited users, your own domain, no card. Capture leads free; pay only when you're ready to email and nurture them.