nb Notes 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.
Outline
Team knowledge base and wiki
| Feature | nb Notes | Outline |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Shell | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,410 | ★ 40,682 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion | Notion, Confluence |
What are nb Notes and Outline?
nb Notes
nb is a command-line and local web tool for plain-text note-taking, bookmarking, and archiving with Git-backed versioning and syncing. It works entirely in the terminal and supports encryption.
- Plain-text notes and bookmarks
- Git-backed sync
- Optional encryption
- Tagging and search
Outline
Outline is a fast, collaborative knowledge base and wiki for teams with real-time editing and powerful search. It targets organizations that want a self-hosted documentation hub. It is deployed via Docker with PostgreSQL and Redis.
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Fast full-text search
- SSO and team permissions
- Slack and API integrations
nb Notes vs Outline: key differences
Nb Notes is written in Shell, while Outline is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for nb Notes versus BSL-1.1 for Outline. Nb Notes is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Outline. Outline is the more established project (first released 2017), while nb Notes arrived in 2019. Outline has the considerably larger community, at 40,682 GitHub stars versus 8,410. Outline lists first-class Docker deployment; nb Notes does not.
Why pick each one
Choose nb Notes if…
- Powerful for terminal users
- Versioned with Git
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- No graphical client
Choose Outline if…
- Polished team wiki
- Great search
- Strong integrations
Watch out for
- Requires Postgres and Redis
- BSL is not fully open source
Frequently asked questions
Is nb Notes or Outline better?
Neither is universally better. Outline has the larger community, while nb Notes is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are nb Notes and Outline free and open-source?
Yes. nb Notes is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Outline under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run nb Notes and Outline with Docker?
nb Notes: check the project docs for container support. Outline: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, nb Notes or Outline?
nb Notes has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Outline. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.