Bump.sh vs Fern
Bump.sh and Fern are both API & developer docs tools. Bump.sh is aimed at developers and small businesses, while Fern is aimed at developers. Only Fern has a free plan.
Hosted API docs, changelogs and MCP servers from OpenAPI and AsyncAPI
SDKs and docs generated from your API spec
| Pricing | Paid · $50 | Freemium |
| Starting price | $50/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | — |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses, Enterprise | Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | FR | US · 2022 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Bump.sh if
API and platform teams that keep OpenAPI or AsyncAPI specs in Git and want docs, breaking-change alerts and changelogs generated on every deploy.
- Breaking-change detection and changelogs need no manual writing
- First-class AsyncAPI support for event-driven and Kafka-style APIs
- Fits cleanly into CI so docs never drift from the spec
Look elsewhere if: Teams that need a marketing-style developer portal with long tutorials and guides (ReadMe, Mintlify).
Choose Fern if
API-first companies.
- Saves SDK engineering
- Idiomatic code
- Docs included
Look elsewhere if: Small internal APIs.
Bump.sh vs Fern pricing
Bump.sh
- Basic$50/mo10 API docs, 3 internal users, 20 guests, 5 MCP tools
- Pro$120/mo30 docs, 5 users, branches, API Explorer, changelog
- CustomCustomSSO, embed mode, on-prem MCP dataplane, 99.99% SLA
Fern
- Free$010 team members, 1,000 pages, custom domain
- EnterpriseCustomSSO, SCIM, RBAC, self-hosting, SLA
Bump.sh · Key features
- Reference docs generated from OpenAPI, AsyncAPI and Arazzo definitions
- Automatic diff that flags breaking changes before they go live
- Auto-generated API changelog with notifications for subscribers
- Doc previews on every pull request through CLI or GitHub Action
- API hubs that group many APIs under one custom-domain portal
- API Explorer for sending test requests on the Pro plan
Cons
- No free plan for commercial teams, entry price is $50 per month
- Doc counts are capped per plan, 10 on Basic and 30 on Pro
- Limited support for long-form guides compared with ReadMe or Mintlify
Fern · Key features
- SDK generation (TS, Python, Java, Go)
- Docs generation
- API definition
- CI publishing
- Versioning
- Examples
Cons
- Enterprise pricing is custom
- Spec quality required
- Vendor dependence
Bump.sh vs Fern: FAQ
Do Bump.sh and Fern have a free plan?
Bump.sh has no free plan, a 14-day free trial. Fern has a free plan.
Which is better for small businesses, Bump.sh or Fern?
Bump.sh lists small businesses as a core audience, while Fern is aimed more at developers.