If you want to type, then retype
Soura Bhattacharyya | May 13, 2025
It is ironic that I am publishing this post on a site hosted via GitBook. Because it is about their direct competitor, Retype.
I have used GitBook to set up my personal blog, this site, and a product website (neoport.org). The free plan works great for a single-contributor site, but paid tiers for collaboration were beyond my budget. Or beyond my faux middle-class sensibilities.
So, when faced with the prospect of publishing a large project, I spent several weeks exploring alternatives for publishing static sites. My criteria were—in no particular order:
Inexpensive
Easy for me to understand and operate, i.e. designed primarily for a writer, not a coder
Ability to hide some pages, and password-protect others.
Easy to manage content via GitHub, where all of our documentation sits
I chanced across Retype thanks to a Reddit post. Used it for our open-source platform, Agni. Loved it. Here is why.
Git all the way—with you in control
Retype takes markdown content as-is, and builds a .retype html directory within your repository. It then creates a separate branch, which you publish via GitHub pages. You have full control over content at all times.
If you already follow pull-request discipline, then garnering contributions from the entire team is simple. If you use a paid plan, then you save the license key as a repo secret. No need to share passwords.
Build and run locally
This is a huge bonus over GitBook. Retype can be built and run locally—a great way to review changes before publishing them, especially during major overhauls. Once changes are merged to the main branch, GitHub actions rebuilds and publishes the website.
The local build feature is so useful that I we are adding Retype to a complex internal project, just to have a better way to read through docs.
Generous free-tier and pocket-friendly pricing
Websites up to 100 pages are free.
All the essential features, including css customization, are free. The paid tier gives you ability to control visibility of pages and sections.
You can test drive the paid plan locally, to see if it right for you.
Pricing is based on projects, not users. Yup, you read that correctly.
A single license, mapped to a sub-domain, is free for lifetime. Updates are limited to three years.
Attention to detail
Some of these configurations are paid. All of these configurations are examples of design done right:
Switch between different logos for dark versus light mode. On the Agni site, check out the top-left icon as you switch between dark and light mode.
Vary heading depths on the right-side navbar. The free plan is limited to the default of H2 to H4.
Specify language to beautify code snippets, show or hide line numbers, and add line-level highlights.
Use Octicons to spruce up buttons and side navigation.
Exercise granular control over the left side nav—sequence of items, grouping, open/ closed state.
Use markdown-like syntax to pull in UI elements like accordions and tabs.
If you need cards—something that GitBook provides by default—then create a one-time, customized CSS container.
So, if you type, try Retype.
Photo credit: Arun Sharma on Unsplash
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