BookStack vs Outline
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare BookStack with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Docusaurus Memos Mark Text Joplin SiYuan Logseq Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Focalboard Notable MkDocs Docmost Obsidian Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Answer Notesnook Gollum Zettlr Quartz VNote MarkText Workspace Self-hosted LiveSync Leantime Blinko Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor Read the Docs nb Notes Dendron MediaWiki DokuWiki MDwiki Raneto Documize Community Django Wiki ZenTao Otter Wiki XWiki LeafWiki Daux.io Realms Wiki
Compare Outline with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Docusaurus Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane SiYuan Logseq Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable MkDocs Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Omnivore OpenProject Answer Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz VNote Wallabag MarkText Workspace Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor Read the Docs nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Dendron Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces MediaWiki DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry MDwiki Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next Raneto NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Documize Community Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Django Wiki ZenTao Atomic Server Otter Wiki Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes XWiki Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes LeafWiki Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Daux.io Realms Wiki Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes WiseMapping MyTetra Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx QST
Feature BookStack Outline Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License MIT BSL-1.1 Language PHP TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker GitHub stars ★ 18,974 ★ 40,034 First released 2017 2017 Replaces Confluence, Notion Notion, Confluence
Why pick each one
Choose BookStack if… Very easy to learn Clean organized structure Good permissions BookStack details Choose Outline if… Polished team wiki Great search Strong integrations Outline details
Frequently asked questions Is BookStack or Outline better? Neither is universally better. Outline has the larger community, while BookStack is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are BookStack and Outline free and open-source? Yes. BookStack is licensed under MIT and Outline under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BookStack and Outline with Docker? BookStack: yes. Outline: yes.