A help center that keeps itself accurate, without GitBook’s per-site, per-editor pricing
Fern, our AI agent, reads the pull requests you merge, your support tickets and your live product, and drafts a fix whenever an article goes out of date. The AI assistant, in-app widget, subfolder hosting and private docs all come on one plan.
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- Import from GitBook, URLs kept
Ferndesk GitBook- Built for
- Customer help centers, with API docs alongside Product and developer docs, with a help center option
- Keeping docs current
- Merged PRs, support tickets and the live product On request, plus ticket-driven gaps in beta on Ultimate
- Help center features
- All on one plan AI chat, widget, subfolder and private docs on Ultimate
- Price per month
- $149, or $124 billed yearly $374, or $309 billed yearly, for 1 site and 5 editors
GitBook is a docs platform with a much-loved editor. Ferndesk is a help center that keeps itself accurate.
If engineers write your docs in Git and a free plan matters, GitBook fits. If customers are the readers and nobody has time to keep articles current, Ferndesk fits, with every help center feature on one plan.
When to choose Ferndesk, and when to choose GitBook
Choose Ferndesk if
- Customers are your main readers, and support or product people edit the docs.
- You want the AI assistant, widget, subfolder hosting and private docs without the top plan.
- You ship every week and nobody owns keeping the articles current.
- You want merged pull requests, support tickets and the live product to drive doc updates.
Choose GitBook if
- You want a free plan to start, or GitBook’s free Community plan for open source.
- Your engineers want docs synced both ways with GitHub or GitLab.
- You need several versions or languages of the docs live at once.
- You already like GitBook’s editor and your docs rarely go out of date.
GitBook is well liked. The gaps show once it runs your help center.
Teams pick GitBook for its editor and Git sync. The friction comes later, from plan limits and upkeep, once customers rely on the docs.
The help center features sit on the top plan
The AI assistant, the embeddable widget, subfolder hosting and private docs all start on Ultimate, at $249 per site plus $12 per editor a month, billed yearly.
Keeping docs current is still someone’s job
GitBook Agent writes what you ask for. Its content gaps feature, in beta, can draft changes from connected support tickets on Ultimate. Nothing reviews every pull request you merge on its own or checks articles against your live product.
Its branding stays on your help center
Every GitBook site shows a “Powered by GitBook” link, and no plan removes it. On Ferndesk, white labeling is included.
Ferndesk and GitBook, side by side
| Feature | Ferndesk | GitBook |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping docs accurate | ||
| Drafts doc updates from merged pull requests | Yes | When @mentioned, Ultimate |
| Drafts articles from support tickets | Yes | Ultimate, in beta |
| Checks every article against the live product | Yes | No |
| Retakes screenshots when the UI changes | Yes | No |
| Help center | ||
| Visual editor | Yes | Yes |
| In-app help widget | Yes | Ultimate plan |
| AI answers from your docs | Yes | Premium and up |
| Host on a /help subfolder of your domain | Yes | Ultimate plan |
| Private docs behind your own login | Yes | Ultimate plan |
| Remove the vendor’s branding | Yes | No |
| AI translation | Yes | Ultimate, or a paid add-on |
| Developer docs | ||
| API reference from OpenAPI | Yes | Yes |
| Interactive API playground | Yes | Yes |
| Two-way sync with GitHub or GitLab | No | Yes |
| Versioned docs | No | Yes |
| llms.txt and an MCP server for AI tools | Yes | Yes |
GitBook’s agent writes what you ask for. Fern finds what needs writing.
Fern watches the places docs go wrong: merged code, support conversations and the live product. The fixes arrive drafted, and nothing publishes until someone on your team approves it.
Every merged PR, checked for doc impact
Fern reads each pull request you merge, finds the help articles it made wrong, and drafts the edit with a link to the change it came from. Nobody has to remember to ask.
Support tickets turned into articles
She reads resolved conversations in Intercom, Zendesk, Help Scout, Crisp and other inboxes, spots the questions your docs do not answer, and drafts the missing article.
Every article checked against the product
Verification reads each article claim by claim and checks it against your codebase, your website and the live product. Anything that is no longer true becomes a drafted fix, and scheduled audits repeat the check.
Screenshots retaken from your real UI
When a screen changes, Fern recaptures the screenshot from your product, so articles stop showing last year’s design.
Paste your GitBook URL and your docs come across in minutes
Ferndesk has a dedicated GitBook importer. It reads your published site’s navigation, so sections, folders and page order arrive as they are, and your old URLs redirect to the new pages so links and search rankings survive the move. If something will not import cleanly, we do it with you.
What comes across
- Your site sections, folders and page order
- Cards, tabs, callouts, tables, code blocks and images
- Page icons
- API reference pages, merged into a Ferndesk API reference
- Your URLs, with redirects from the old paths
The importer reads your published site, so change requests and Git history stay in GitBook.
Ferndesk costs $2,218 less a year
Ferndesk Pro against GitBook Ultimate for 1 site and 5 editors, both billed yearly: $1,490 against $3,708.
Ferndesk Pro $149a month
Or $124 a month billed yearly, $1,490 a year. Includes the help center on your own domain or /help, the in-app widget with 1,000 AI conversations a month, private help centers, white labeling, 5 languages and 5 seats, with Fern keeping every article accurate. 7-day free trial, no card.
Under $1M ARR? The first 12 months are half price: $745 for the year. Early-stage rate
$374a month
Or $309 a month billed yearly, $3,708 a year. Ultimate is GitBook’s plan with the AI assistant, widget, subfolder hosting and private docs: $249 per site plus $12 per editor, billed yearly. The assistant includes 500 answers, with a soft limit.
From GitBook’s pricing page, checked 24 September 2026.
Ferndesk vs GitBook: common questions
Something we missed? Write to us, a human answers.
Yes, when your docs are mostly for customers and you want them kept current without extra work. Ferndesk puts the help center, widget, AI answers, subfolder hosting and private docs on one plan, and Fern keeps the articles accurate. If your engineers want two-way Git sync or you need a free plan, GitBook is the better fit.
More on GitBook and the alternatives
The tools teams weigh when GitBook stops fitting.
GitBook pricing, explainedWhat each plan costs once sites and editors add up.
GitBook reviewWhat GitBook does well, and where it asks more of your team.
GitBook vs MintlifyHow the two developer docs tools compare.
Self-updating help centerHow Fern keeps every article accurate as your product changes.
How migration worksWhat comes across, what redirects, and how long it takes.
Your docs have been stale for months. Fix them in ten minutes.
Import your help center and Fern checks every article against your product, drafts the fixes, and keeps them current from then on. You approve, she publishes.
- 7-day free trial, no card
- Import in 10 minutes, URLs preserved
- Your support tool stays where it is
- Nothing publishes without you