# Outline > A fast team wiki for your handbook, how-tos and meeting notes. - Page: https://cgt.octabyte.io/templates/outline/ - Category: Docs & wikis - Replaces: Notion and Confluence - Ease of use: Some setup. People sign in with the work accounts they already have, so you register Outline once with your sign-in service, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft. - App price: Free. To run it you need Cloudgate (hosted, or free to install yourself) and a server, which hosted Cloudgate can provide. - License: BUSL-1.1 - Good for: Team handbooks, how-to guides and meeting notes that people can find quickly - Official website: https://www.getoutline.com - Documentation: https://docs.getoutline.com/s/hosting - Source code: https://github.com/outline/outline - Last updated: 2026-11-13 ## What is Outline? Self-hosted Outline: a fast team wiki and knowledge base, and a Notion and Confluence alternative, where your team writes and finds its documents. Outline is a team wiki and knowledge base where your team writes, organises and finds its documents: the handbook, how-to guides, policies and meeting notes. Documents are grouped into collections, such as Sales or Onboarding, and anyone can search across all of them as they type. The editor is quick and uncluttered. Several people can work on the same page at once, add images and tables, leave comments and link pages to each other. An office manager, for example, can write the onboarding checklist once, keep it up to date and send every new starter a single link instead of a stack of attachments. Outline works in any web browser, including on phones, and can show live previews of links from tools such as Figma, Loom, Google Docs and YouTube. It imports exports from Notion and Confluence as well as Word, Markdown and HTML files. It is source-available rather than open source: free to run for your own team, but its licence does not allow selling it as a wiki service. Cloudgate installs Outline and its database on a server Cloudgate provides or one you connect and gives it a secure web address, with images and attachments kept on the server's disk. People sign in with the work accounts they already have, through a sign-in service such as Google Workspace, Microsoft or Okta that you register once and enter during setup. The first person to sign in becomes the admin. ## What you can do with Outline - **Write together**: Several people can edit the same document at once and see each other's changes as they type. - **Find anything quickly**: Search across every document in the wiki as you type. - **Keep things organised**: Group documents into collections such as Sales or Onboarding, with pages nested inside pages. - **Start from templates**: Create meeting notes, how-to guides and project briefs from templates your team shares. - **Share what you choose**: Publish a page, and the pages inside it, on the web while the rest stays private. - **Comment and discuss**: Leave comments on any part of a page and resolve them when the question is answered. - **Bring your old docs**: Import exports from Notion and Confluence, as well as Word, Markdown and HTML files. ## Replaces Notion and Confluence Outline does the same job as Notion and Confluence. Here is what changes when you switch. ### What you gain - No price per member, however big the team gets - Your documents stay on your own server - A focused, quick editor without clutter - People sign in with the work accounts they already have ### What is different - Outline is for documents; it has no databases or boards like Notion - It needs a sign-in service such as Google Workspace or Microsoft, as there are no Outline passwords - Fewer add-ons than Confluence - Its licence lets you run it for your own team, but not sell it as a wiki service to others ## What happens when you click Deploy? Deploy link: https://cloudgate.octabyte.app/get-started?template=outline 1. **Click Deploy and create your account.** Deploy takes you to Cloudgate. Create an account, or log in if you have one. Outline itself is free. 2. **Choose a server.** No server? Get one from Cloudgate: pick a size and a country, and Cloudgate gets it ready. Already have one? Connect it instead. 3. **Cloudgate sets up Outline.** It prepares the server, makes the passwords the app needs and starts it. There is nothing to install and nothing to write down. 4. **Open your app and sign in.** Your app gets a free web address to start, without https. Add your own domain, like app.yourshop.com, and Cloudgate secures it with https for you. ## Questions ### Is Outline free? Yes, Outline is free to run for your own team, and you pay only for hosting. It is source-available under the Business Source License rather than open source, which means you may use it freely but not sell it as a hosted wiki service to other companies. ### Is Outline a good alternative to Notion or Confluence? Yes, if what you need is a fast, well-organised wiki for documents. Outline covers handbooks, how-to guides and meeting notes very well, but it has no databases or project boards like Notion and fewer add-ons than Confluence. ### How do I self-host Outline? The simplest way is to install it with Cloudgate on a server Cloudgate provides or one you connect. Cloudgate sets up Outline with its database and gives it a secure web address; you register Outline once with your sign-in service and enter those details during setup. ### How do people sign in to Outline? People sign in with an account from a sign-in service you connect, such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra or Okta. Outline has no passwords of its own, and the first person to sign in becomes the admin. ### Can I import my documents from Notion or Confluence? Yes. Outline imports exports from Notion and Confluence, along with Word, Markdown and HTML files. Notion databases do not carry over as databases, so check them after the import. ### Is my data private with Outline? Yes. Your documents, images and attachments are stored on your own server, not with Outline. Only the pages you choose to publish are visible on the web. ### Do I need technical skills? No. Click Deploy, create your Cloudgate account and choose a server, and Cloudgate sets up Outline and gives it a web address. You use it in your browser like any other online tool. ### Do I need my own server? No. When you deploy Outline, hosted Cloudgate can provide a server. If you already rent one, you can connect it instead.