MDwiki vs Outline
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare MDwiki with
choose an app… Docusaurus Wiki.js MkDocs Docmost BookStack Answer Gollum TiddlyWiki Read the Docs Dendron MediaWiki DokuWiki Raneto zk Helpy Documize Community Gitit Zim Django Wiki ZenTao Otter Wiki XWiki LeafWiki Kiwix Feather Wiki Daux.io Realms Wiki Antora Doctave phpMyFAQ Wikmd Mycorrhiza Wiki MoinMoin OutWiker Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware Tiddloid AmuseWiki WikidPad Pepperminty Wiki YesWiki Foswiki Oddmuse W WackoWiki PhpWiki PmWiki WiKiss
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 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 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 MDwiki Outline Category Wikis & Documentation Notes & Knowledge Base License GPL-3.0 BSL-1.1 Language JavaScript TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 64 MB 1,024 MB Deployment bare-metal, source docker GitHub stars ★ 3,191 ★ 40,034 First released 2013 2017 Replaces Confluence Notion, Confluence
Why pick each one
Choose MDwiki if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Active community (3.2k GitHub stars) Written in JavaScript MDwiki details Choose Outline if… Polished team wiki Great search Strong integrations Outline details
Frequently asked questions Is MDwiki or Outline better? Neither is universally better. Outline has the larger community, while MDwiki is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are MDwiki and Outline free and open-source? Yes. MDwiki is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Outline under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MDwiki and Outline with Docker? MDwiki: check the project docs for container support. Outline: yes.