Robust, locally hosted web application that allows you to perform all operations on PDF files
The fastest knowledge base for growing teams. Beautiful, realtime collaborative, feature packed, and markdown compatible.
Recommended VPS & Hardware Sizing
Estimated Hosting: $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode)Outline vs Confluence / Slite Comparison Matrix
| Evaluation Criteria | Outline (Open Source) | Confluence / Slite (Proprietary) |
|---|---|---|
| Per-User Fee | $0 software license; zero per-seat tax | $6.05 - $11.50 / user / mo (Confluence) |
| Editor Performance | Blazing fast <50ms Markdown rendering | Bloated, heavy enterprise page load |
Financial Impact: Migrating from Confluence / Slite to Self-Hosted Outline
* Excludes enterprise SSO add-ons & usage overages
* Commodity Hetzner / DigitalOcean compute instance
Compare Outline Head-to-Head
Comprehensive benchmark comparing Outline against proprietary Confluence / Slite licensing and features.
Flutter Native Desktop vs Collaborative Whiteboard Canvas
100% Sovereign Data Ownership vs Proprietary Cloud Workspace
Multimodal Infinite Canvas vs Closed-SaaS Relational Workspace
Browser-Based PDF Utilities vs Automated Document Archival & OCR
Organized Book/Chapter Hierarchy vs Enterprise Wiki Sprawl
Core Capabilities & Features
Self-Host Outline with Docker Compose
Tweak configuration ports, secrets, and volumes live. Download or copy your ready-to-run container file:
1-Click Docker Compose Generator
Generate production-ready container definitions with customizable ports and volumes.
The fastest, most beautiful collaborative team knowledge base built with Markdown and rich embeds
version: "3"
services:
outline:
image: outlinewiki/outline:latest
environment:
- NODE_ENV=production
- DATABASE_URL=postgres://outline:${DB_PASS:-outline_secret}@postgres:5432/outline
- REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
- SECRET_KEY=${SECRET_KEY:-generate_hex_64_bytes}
- UTILS_SECRET=${UTILS_SECRET:-generate_hex_64_bytes}
- URL=${URL:-http://localhost:3000}
- PORT=3000
ports:
- "${SERVER_PORT:-3000}:3000"
depends_on:
- postgres
- redis
redis:
image: redis:alpine
restart: always
postgres:
image: postgres:15-alpine
restart: always
environment:
- POSTGRES_USER=outline
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASS:-outline_secret}
- POSTGRES_DB=outline
volumes:
- pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
pgdata:Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Hosting Outline
How do I self-host Outline using Docker Compose?
You can deploy Outline (outline/outline) on any Linux server by copying the docker-compose.yml template on this page, configuring your desired host port and persistent volume directory, and running 'docker compose up -d'.
How does Outline compare to Confluence / Slite?
Outline is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Confluence / Slite built with TypeScript, Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, Redis. Unlike Confluence / Slite ($6.05 - $11.50 / user / month (Atlassian Tier)), Outline has zero per-user licensing fees and keeps 100% of your data on your own infrastructure.
What are the minimum VPS RAM and CPU requirements for Outline?
For production self-hosting (Medium difficulty tier), we recommend at least 4 GB RAM (minimum 2 GB), 2 vCPU, and 25 GB SSD storage, which typically costs $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode).
Is Outline free for commercial business use under the BSL-1.1 license?
Yes. Distributed under the BSL-1.1 license, Outline can be self-hosted internally by businesses and engineering teams of any size without per-seat royalties.
Embed Official Outline Badge in GitHub README
Served locally from OSSMatrix with Cloudflare global edge caching. Real-time verified alternative status, zero third-party dependencies, sub-5ms load time.
[](https://ossmatrix.com/project/outline)<a href="https://ossmatrix.com/project/outline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://ossmatrix.com/api/badge/outline" alt="Outline on OSSMatrix" /></a>Compare Outline with Other Self-Hosted Alternatives
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