OneTimeA complete self-hosted help center — markdown in, branded SEO-ready docs out.
GitBook Premium runs $79/site/month. HelpScout Docs starts at $22/user/month inside a bundle. Docwell is a complete help center on your own hardware: write articles in Markdown with a live split-pane preview, organize collections and categories, and give customers a fast, branded, SEO-ready site with instant full-text search — for $79, once.
Docwell in 60 seconds
Everything in the box
Self-hosted knowledge base with instant FTS5 search, helpful-vote analytics and full SEO.
Branded public help center
Your logo, brand color and hero search box — no "Powered by" badge to pay to remove.
Instant FTS5 search
Search-as-you-type with highlighted snippets, powered by SQLite FTS5.
Markdown editor with live preview
Split-pane editing rendered by the exact same pipeline as the public site — plus paste-to-upload images.
Collections → categories → articles
Reordering, slug control, and a draft / published workflow — drafts are invisible and excluded from search.
Internal links done right
[[article-slug]] wikilinks plus hand-picked related articles, auto table of contents, prev/next navigation.
Helpful votes + feedback report
One vote per visitor, optional comment on a downvote, and a report showing your worst-scoring articles first — so you know exactly what to fix.
SEO done right
Meta descriptions, OG tags, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, canonical URLs, clean URLs, smart 404s that suggest close articles.
One SQLite file
Server-rendered public pages (zero JS framework), Docker included, desktop mode for offline writing, zero telemetry.
Docwell vs GitBook
GitBook charges $79/mo (Premium). Here's what actually differs.
| Docwell | GitBook | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79 once | $79/site/month (Premium) |
| Cost over 3 years | $79 | ~$2,844 |
| Custom branding | Free | Higher tiers |
| Remove "Powered by" | It's your code | Paid |
| Full-text search | FTS5, instant | Yes |
| Helpful-vote analytics | Yes, with worst-first report | Limited |
| Works offline / air-gapped | Yes | No |
| Your data | Your server, one SQLite file | Their cloud |
Docwell costs the same as one month of GitBook Premium. It pays for itself before your first article is finished.
Pick how you pay
Subscriptions if you want them — but the whole point is the lifetime tier.
Up and running in three steps
Buy once on Whop
One-time $79 for the packaged Windows installer with 1-click setup and updates.
Write your docs
Markdown with live split-pane preview, paste-in images, wikilinks and a draft workflow — desktop mode works fully offline.
Publish on your domain
docker compose up -d on a $5 VPS, point help.yourproduct.com at it — SEO meta, sitemap and clean URLs are already done.
Fair questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/knowledge-base-mvp. $79 buys the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates.
Is the public site fast?
Yes — it's server-rendered plain HTML with no JS framework, which is also why the SEO story is so clean. Search is the only scripted part, and it's instant vanilla JS over FTS5.
What doesn't it do vs GitBook?
Honestly: no git-repo sync, no AI answers, no multi-language localization, no multi-author roles — the admin is single-password. GitBook is genuinely better for open-source API docs maintained from a repo by a team. Docwell is better for the product help center you write and own.
Can I see which articles are failing?
Yes — the feedback report sorts worst-scoring articles first with every thumbs-down comment attached. It's the single most useful page in the app.
Do I need a server?
For a public help center, yes — a $5 VPS with the included Docker setup. Desktop mode runs the whole thing as a Windows app for writing and internal use.
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More about Docwell
Every page we publish about this app — comparisons, personas, platforms and the problems it solves.
For you
Platforms
Stop renting. Own Docwell.
Self-hosted knowledge base with instant FTS5 search, helpful-vote analytics and full SEO.
Get Docwell — $79 forever