Outline vs ZenTao
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 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 MDwiki Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next Raneto NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Documize Community Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Django Wiki 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
Compare ZenTao with
choose an app… Docusaurus Plane Calcom Calendar Wiki.js Huly MkDocs Docmost BookStack OpenProject Answer Gollum Phabricator git-bug Read the Docs Dendron Redmine Rallly MediaWiki Colanode Radicale DokuWiki Easy!Appointments Baïkal MDwiki Raneto Documize Community SOGo Django Wiki Twake Workplace Tegon MantisBT Otter Wiki Nextcloud Deck XWiki Cozy Nextcloud Groupware LeafWiki Twake Drive Bugzilla Taiga Daux.io Realms Wiki Davis Phorge Openmeetings Trac The Bug Genie EGroupware Group-Office Horde Groupware Traq DAViCal Kolab Groupware Kontact FlowInquiry Feng Office Citadel Kopano Groupware Core Rukovoditel Tine Cozy Contacts eTraxis Cozy Cloud Digiwall Zimbra Collaboration
Feature Outline ZenTao Category Notes & Knowledge Base Groupware License BSL-1.1 AGPL-3.0 Language TypeScript PHP Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 1,024 MB Deployment docker docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 40,034 ★ 1,665 First released 2017 2009 Replaces Notion, Confluence Jira, Confluence
Why pick each one
Choose Outline if… Polished team wiki Great search Strong integrations Outline details Choose ZenTao if… Comprehensive feature set Active development ZenTao details
Frequently asked questions Is Outline or ZenTao 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 ZenTao free and open-source? Yes. Outline is licensed under BSL-1.1 and ZenTao under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Outline and ZenTao with Docker? Outline: yes. ZenTao: yes.