How to Self-Host Outline 2026

TL;DR

Outline is a modern team wiki and knowledge base — BSL license (free for self-hosting), ~29K GitHub stars, built with Node.js and React. It has a Notion-like block editor, real-time collaboration, search, SSO via OIDC/Slack/Google, and S3 document storage. Replace Notion ($8–15/user/month) with your own instance. Requires Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, and S3-compatible storage.

Key Takeaways

• Outline: BSL (Business Source License) — free for self-hosting under 3 years old, then converts to Apache 2.0
• ~29K stars, Node.js + React, real-time collaborative editing
• SSO: OIDC (connects to Authentik, Keycloak, Google, Slack, GitHub)
• Storage: S3-compatible required (MinIO for self-hosted, or Backblaze B2, AWS S3)
• Requirements: 1GB RAM, PostgreSQL, Redis, S3 storage
• vs Notion: No per-user pricing, data stays on your server, same editing UX

---

Outline vs Notion vs BookStack vs Wiki.js

Feature	Outline	Notion	BookStack	Wiki.js
License	BSL (free self-host)	Proprietary	MIT	AGPL 3.0
Editor	Block-based	Block-based	WYSIWYG	Markdown + visual
Real-time collab	✅	✅	❌	❌
Self-hostable	✅	❌	✅	✅
SSO	✅ OIDC	✅	✅ LDAP	✅ Many
API	✅ REST	✅	✅	✅
Monthly cost	~$10–15 VPS	$8–15/user	~$6/month	~$6/month
GitHub Stars	~29K	—	~15K	~24K

BookStack: Better for structured documentation (books/chapters/pages hierarchy). Simpler to self-host. Wiki.js: Stores content as Markdown in Git — great for developer documentation. Outline: Best for team knowledge bases with Notion-like UX.

---

Prerequisites

Outline requires an S3-compatible storage bucket for file attachments and images. Set up MinIO first (or use Backblaze B2/AWS S3):

Option A: MinIO (fully self-hosted S3)

# Add to docker-compose.yml:
  minio:
    image: quay.io/minio/minio:latest
    command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"    # S3 API
      - "9001:9001"    # Console UI
    environment:
      MINIO_ROOT_USER: "${MINIO_ROOT_USER}"
      MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD: "${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}"
    volumes:
      - minio_data:/data

Create a bucket outline in MinIO console after startup.

Option B: Backblaze B2 (cheapest managed)

Create a B2 bucket and Application Key — use those credentials in Outline's config.

---

Part 1: Docker Compose Setup

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  outline:
    image: outlinewiki/outline:latest
    container_name: outline
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_started

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: outline
      POSTGRES_USER: outline
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U outline"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Environment Configuration

# .env — Outline configuration

# Core
SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
UTILS_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
URL=https://wiki.yourdomain.com
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=production

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgres://outline:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/outline
REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379

# S3 Storage (MinIO example)
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-minio-access-key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-minio-secret-key
AWS_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_URL=https://minio.yourdomain.com
AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_NAME=outline
AWS_S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true
AWS_S3_ACL=private

# S3 Storage (Backblaze B2 example)
# AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-b2-key-id
# AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-b2-application-key
# AWS_REGION=us-west-004
# AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_URL=https://s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com
# AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_NAME=outline-documents
# AWS_S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true

# Authentication — pick one or more:

# Option 1: Slack OAuth
SLACK_CLIENT_ID=your-slack-client-id
SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=your-slack-client-secret

# Option 2: Google OAuth
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-google-client-id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-google-client-secret

# Option 3: OIDC (Authentik, Keycloak, etc.)
OIDC_CLIENT_ID=outline
OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=your-oidc-secret
OIDC_AUTH_URI=https://auth.yourdomain.com/application/o/authorize/
OIDC_TOKEN_URI=https://auth.yourdomain.com/application/o/token/
OIDC_USERINFO_URI=https://auth.yourdomain.com/application/o/userinfo/
OIDC_USERNAME_CLAIM=preferred_username
OIDC_DISPLAY_NAME=Authentik
OIDC_SCOPES=openid profile email

# Email (for invite emails, optional but recommended)
SMTP_HOST=smtp.yourdomain.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USERNAME=outline@yourdomain.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=smtp-password
SMTP_FROM_EMAIL=outline@yourdomain.com
SMTP_SECURE=false

# Feature flags
ENABLE_UPDATES=false   # Disable update checks

docker compose up -d

Visit https://wiki.yourdomain.com → log in via SSO → create your first workspace.

---

Part 2: HTTPS with Caddy

wiki.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

---

Part 3: Set Up OIDC with Authentik

If you're using Authentik (covered in our Authentik guide):

1. Authentik → Applications → Create Application

   • Name: Outline
   • Slug: outline

2. Create Provider (OAuth2/OIDC):

   • Redirect URIs: https://wiki.yourdomain.com/auth/oidc.callback
   • Scopes: openid, email, profile
   • Copy Client ID and Secret

3. Update .env with the OIDC credentials

4. Restart: docker compose up -d

Users log in with their Authentik account — no separate Outline user creation needed.

---

Part 4: Creating and Organizing Content

Document Structure

Outline organizes content as:

Workspace
  └── Collections (e.g., "Engineering", "Product", "HR")
        └── Documents (with nesting)
              └── Sub-documents

Creating Documents

1. New document → type / to see block commands
2. Available blocks:
   • /heading1, /heading2, /heading3
   • /bullet-list, /numbered-list
   • /code — code block with syntax highlighting
   • /callout — highlighted info box
   • /image — upload or embed
   • /table — spreadsheet-style table
   • /mention — @ mention a team member

Templates

Create reusable templates:

1. Document → "Convert to template"
2. Templates appear in new document dialog
3. Great for meeting notes, incident reports, project briefs

---

Part 5: Search and Integrations

Full-Text Search

Outline uses PostgreSQL full-text search — all documents are indexed and searchable instantly. Press Ctrl/Cmd + K to search.

Slack Integration

Get notified when documents are updated:

1. Settings → Integrations → Slack
2. Authorize Slack workspace
3. Set channel for notifications

Public Sharing

Share documents publicly (no login required):

1. Document → Share → Create public link
2. Share the URL with anyone
3. Revoke access anytime from the share settings

API Access

# List documents:
curl https://wiki.yourdomain.com/api/documents.list \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-api-token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"collectionId": "collection-id"}'

# Create a document:
curl -X POST https://wiki.yourdomain.com/api/documents.create \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-api-token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "New Document",
    "text": "# Hello World\n\nThis is a document.",
    "collectionId": "collection-id",
    "publish": true
  }'

Generate API tokens in Settings → API Tokens.

---

Part 6: Import from Notion

Outline has a built-in Notion importer:

1. Settings → Import
2. Select Notion
3. Export your Notion workspace as HTML (Notion → Settings → Export → HTML)
4. Upload the ZIP to Outline
5. Outline creates collections matching your Notion databases

---

Maintenance

# Update Outline:
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Backup database:
docker exec outline-postgres-1 pg_dump -U outline outline | \
  gzip > outline-db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# S3/MinIO data is stored separately — back up via rclone/Restic

# Check Outline logs:
docker compose logs -f outline

---

Cost Comparison

Option	Monthly Cost (10 users)
Notion Plus	$10/user = $100/month
Confluence	$5.75/user = $57.50/month
Notion Business	$15/user = $150/month
Outline self-hosted	~$10–15/month (VPS + B2 storage)

At 10 users, Outline self-hosted pays for itself vs Notion in the first month.

Why Self-Host Outline?

The case for self-hosting Outline comes down to three practical factors: data ownership, cost at scale, and operational control.

Data ownership is the fundamental argument. When you use a SaaS version of any tool, your data lives on someone else's infrastructure subject to their terms of service, their security practices, and their business continuity. If the vendor raises prices, gets acquired, changes API limits, or shuts down, you're left scrambling. Self-hosting Outline means your data and configuration stay on infrastructure you control — whether that's a VPS, a bare metal server, or a home lab.

Cost at scale matters once you move beyond individual use. Most SaaS equivalents charge per user or per data volume. A self-hosted instance on a $10-20/month VPS typically costs less than per-user SaaS pricing for teams of five or more — and the cost doesn't scale linearly with usage. One well-configured server handles dozens of users for a flat monthly fee.

Operational control is the third factor. The Docker Compose configuration above exposes every setting that commercial equivalents often hide behind enterprise plans: custom networking, environment variables, storage backends, and authentication integrations. You decide when to update, how to configure backups, and what access controls to apply.

The honest tradeoff: you're responsible for updates, backups, and availability. For teams running any production workloads, this is familiar territory. For individuals, the learning curve is real but the tooling (Docker, Caddy, automated backups) is well-documented and widely supported.

Server Requirements and Sizing

Before deploying Outline, assess your server capacity against expected workload.

Minimum viable setup: A 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM VPS with 20GB SSD is sufficient for personal use or small teams. Most consumer VPS providers — Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr — offer machines in this range for $5-10/month. Hetzner offers excellent price-to-performance for European and US regions.

Recommended production setup: 2 vCPUs with 4GB RAM and 40GB SSD handles most medium deployments without resource contention. This gives Outline headroom for background tasks, caching, and concurrent users while leaving capacity for other services on the same host.

Storage planning: The Docker volumes in this docker-compose.yml store all persistent Outline data. Estimate your storage growth rate early — for data-intensive tools, budget for 3-5x your initial estimate. Hetzner Cloud and Vultr both support online volume resizing without stopping your instance.

Operating system: Any modern 64-bit Linux distribution works. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Debian 12 are the most commonly tested configurations. Ensure Docker Engine 24.0+ and Docker Compose v2 are installed — verify with docker --version and docker compose version. Avoid Docker Desktop on production Linux servers; it adds virtualization overhead and behaves differently from Docker Engine in ways that cause subtle networking issues.

Network: Only ports 80 and 443 need to be publicly accessible when running behind a reverse proxy. Internal service ports should be bound to localhost only. A minimal UFW firewall that blocks all inbound traffic except SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS is the single most effective security measure for a self-hosted server.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Running Outline without a tested backup strategy is an unacceptable availability risk. Docker volumes are not automatically backed up — if you delete a volume or the host fails, data is gone with no recovery path.

What to back up: The named Docker volumes containing Outline's data (database files, user uploads, application state), your docker-compose.yml and any customized configuration files, and .env files containing secrets.

Backup approach: For simple setups, stop the container, archive the volume contents, then restart. For production environments where stopping causes disruption, use filesystem snapshots or database dump commands (PostgreSQL pg_dump, SQLite .backup, MySQL mysqldump) that produce consistent backups without downtime.

For a complete automated backup workflow that ships snapshots to S3-compatible object storage, see the Restic + Rclone backup guide. Restic handles deduplication and encryption; Rclone handles multi-destination uploads. The same setup works for any Docker volume.

Backup cadence: Daily backups to remote storage are a reasonable baseline for actively used tools. Use a 30-day retention window minimum — long enough to recover from mistakes discovered weeks later. For critical data, extend to 90 days and use a secondary destination.

Restore testing: A backup that has never been restored is a backup you cannot trust. Once a month, restore your Outline backup to a separate Docker Compose stack on different ports and verify the data is intact. This catches silent backup failures, script errors, and volume permission issues before they matter in a real recovery.

Security Hardening

Self-hosting means you are responsible for Outline's security posture. The Docker Compose setup provides a functional base; production deployments need additional hardening.

Always use a reverse proxy: Never expose Outline's internal port directly to the internet. The docker-compose.yml binds to localhost; Caddy or Nginx provides HTTPS termination. Direct HTTP access transmits credentials in plaintext. A reverse proxy also centralizes TLS management, rate limiting, and access logging.

Strong credentials: Change default passwords immediately after first login. For secrets in docker-compose environment variables, generate random values with openssl rand -base64 32 rather than reusing existing passwords.

Firewall configuration:

ufw default deny incoming
ufw allow 22/tcp
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw enable

Internal service ports (databases, admin panels, internal APIs) should only be reachable from localhost or the Docker network, never directly from the internet.

Network isolation: Docker Compose named networks keep Outline's services isolated from other containers on the same host. Database containers should not share networks with containers that don't need direct database access.

VPN access for sensitive services: For internal-only tools, restricting access to a VPN adds a strong second layer. Headscale is an open source Tailscale control server that puts your self-hosted stack behind a WireGuard mesh, eliminating public internet exposure for internal tools.

Update discipline: Subscribe to Outline's GitHub releases page to receive security advisory notifications. Schedule a monthly maintenance window to pull updated images. Running outdated container images is the most common cause of self-hosted service compromises.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Container exits immediately or won't start

Check logs first — they almost always explain the failure:

docker compose logs -f outline

Common causes: a missing required environment variable, a port already in use, or a volume permission error. Port conflicts appear as bind: address already in use. Find the conflicting process with ss -tlpn | grep PORT and either stop it or change Outline's port mapping in docker-compose.yml.

Cannot reach the web interface

Work through this checklist:

1. Confirm the container is running: docker compose ps
2. Test locally on the server: curl -I http://localhost:PORT
3. If local access works but external doesn't, check your firewall: ufw status
4. If using a reverse proxy, verify it's running and the config is valid: caddy validate --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Permission errors on volume mounts

Some containers run as a non-root user. If the Docker volume is owned by root, the container process cannot write to it. Find the volume's host path with docker volume inspect VOLUME_NAME, check the tool's documentation for its expected UID, and apply correct ownership:

chown -R 1000:1000 /var/lib/docker/volumes/your_volume/_data

High resource usage over time

Memory or CPU growing continuously usually indicates unconfigured log rotation, an unbound cache, or accumulated data needing pruning. Check current usage with docker stats outline. Add resource limits in docker-compose.yml to prevent one container from starving others. For ongoing visibility into resource trends, deploy Prometheus + Grafana or Netdata.

Data disappears after container restart

Data stored in the container's writable layer — rather than a named volume — is lost when the container is removed or recreated. This happens when the volume mount path in docker-compose.yml doesn't match where the application writes data. Verify mount paths against the tool's documentation and correct the mapping. Named volumes persist across container removal; only docker compose down -v deletes them.

Keeping Outline Updated

Outline follows a regular release cadence. Staying current matters for security patches and compatibility. The update process with Docker Compose is straightforward:

docker compose pull          # Download updated images
docker compose up -d         # Restart with new images
docker image prune -f        # Remove old image layers (optional)

Read the changelog before major version updates. Some releases include database migrations or breaking configuration changes. For major version bumps, test in a staging environment first — run a copy of the service on different ports with the same volume data to validate the migration before touching production.

Version pinning: For stability, pin to a specific image tag in docker-compose.yml instead of latest. Update deliberately after reviewing the changelog. This trades automatic patch delivery for predictable behavior — the right call for business-critical services.

Post-update verification: After updating, confirm Outline is functioning correctly. Most services expose a /health endpoint that returns HTTP 200 — curl it from the server or monitor it with your uptime tool.

---

See all open source Notion alternatives at OSSAlt.com/alternatives/notion.

See open source alternatives to Outline on OSSAlt.