Outline vs Trilium Notes Next
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
VS
Trilium Notes Next
Archived
Hierarchical note-taking app for building knowledge bases
| Feature | Outline | Trilium Notes Next |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | BSL-1.1 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 40,682 | ★ 2,926 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence | Evernote, OneNote, Notion |
What are Outline and Trilium Notes Next?
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
Trilium Notes Next
TriliumNext is the actively maintained community continuation of Trilium Notes, a hierarchical note-taking application for building large personal knowledge bases. It supports rich text, code notes, and scripting.
- Hierarchical note tree
- Rich text and code notes
- Scripting and automation
- Note encryption
Outline vs Trilium Notes Next: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Trilium Notes Next's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Outline is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSL-1.1 for Outline versus AGPL-3.0 for Trilium Notes Next. Trilium Notes Next is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Outline. Outline is the more established project (first released 2017), while Trilium Notes Next arrived in 2024. Outline has the considerably larger community, at 40,682 GitHub stars versus 2,926.
Why pick each one
Choose Outline if…
- Polished team wiki
- Great search
- Strong integrations
Watch out for
- Requires Postgres and Redis
- BSL is not fully open source
Choose Trilium Notes Next if…
- Excellent for large knowledge bases
- Powerful and extensible
Watch out for
- Steeper learning curve
- Primarily single-user
Frequently asked questions
Is Outline or Trilium Notes Next better?
Neither is universally better. Outline has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Outline and Trilium Notes Next free and open-source?
Yes. Outline is licensed under BSL-1.1 and Trilium Notes Next under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Outline and Trilium Notes Next with Docker?
Outline: yes. Trilium Notes Next: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Outline or Trilium Notes Next?
Trilium Notes Next has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Outline. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.