Joplin 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 Joplin with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Plane SiYuan Logseq Paperless-ngx Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack Foam Omnivore OpenProject Notesnook Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr VNote Wallabag Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces Papra DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Zim Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes OutWiker WiseMapping Tiddloid MyTetra WikidPad Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx QST
Compare Outline with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Docusaurus Memos Mark Text Plane SiYuan Logseq Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable MkDocs Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack 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 Joplin Outline Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License AGPL-3.0 BSL-1.1 Language TypeScript TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 256 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker GitHub stars ★ 55,856 ★ 40,034 First released 2017 2017 Replaces Evernote, OneNote Notion, Confluence
Why pick each one
Choose Joplin if… Strong privacy with E2EE Flexible sync options Active development Joplin details Choose Outline if… Polished team wiki Great search Strong integrations Outline details
Frequently asked questions Is Joplin or Outline better? Joplin is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Outline if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Joplin and Outline free and open-source? Yes. Joplin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Outline under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Joplin and Outline with Docker? Joplin: yes. Outline: yes.