Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
In today's dynamic working world, you need a flexible and efficient tool to share and organize knowledge within your team. While Confluence from Atlassian is considered the standard, with Outline a modern alternative that enables real-time collaborative work and is convincing in many areas.
For detailed instructions and an explanation of all configuration options, I recommend the YouTube video linked below. In this video, every single setting is explained in detail so that you receive comprehensive instructions for the exact setup. You can find any code from the video in this article so that you can use it directly without having to type it in.
Why an alternative to Confluence?
Confluence is undoubtedly an established and powerful tool for team collaboration. However, over time, some weaknesses have emerged that can become a problem, especially for growing companies or technical teams. Many users find the user interface sluggish and overloaded - which leads to frustration, especially with frequent access and everyday use. The complex authorization structures also make it difficult to manage content efficiently or make knowledge accessible across teams.
Another point of criticism is the constantly rising cost: while Confluence is still affordable for small teams, license fees increase rapidly with team size - especially for enterprise functions or self-hosted versions. Atlassian is also increasingly pursuing a cloud-first strategy. This forces many companies into a hosting model that does not fit their data protection guidelines - especially in healthcare, research or companies with strictly regulated IT infrastructures.
All these factors mean that many teams are looking for a modern, flexible and more data protection-friendly alternative - and this is exactly where Outline to.
Outline vs. Confluence: The most important differences
1. simple and modern user interface
Outline relies on a simple, intuitive UI that focuses on content. In contrast to Confluence, which is often perceived as "cluttered", you can work quickly and without distractions in Outline. The operation is very reminiscent of Notion or Google Docs - easy to understand and requires no lengthy familiarization.
2. true real-time collaboration
A major advantage of Outline is the smooth real-time editing. While Confluence often only synchronizes changes after they have been saved or even creates editing conflicts, Outline works in a similar way to Google Docs: all participants can see immediately what is currently being changed.
3. free open source alternative with self-hosting
Outline is open source and you can host it on your own server for free. This means full control over your data, no ongoing subscription costs and flexible scalability. If your team needs more features or support later, you can upgrade to a hosted version at any time.
4. markdown support and intuitive text editing
If you already use Markdown, you'll love Outline. Unlike Confluence, which relies on rather cumbersome rich text editing, you can format quickly and efficiently with Outline. Thanks to slash commands and simple structuring, writing documents is lightning fast.
5. powerful search and AI-supported answers
Outline offers a lightning-fast search function that finds content directly in documents - similar to Notion or Slite. There is also an AI-supported answer function that answers questions based on existing documents. In Confluence, the search is often slower and less intelligent.
6. better integrations
Outline integrates seamlessly with tools such as Slack, Figma, Loom and Zapier. Confluence also has integrations, but these are often complicated to configure or only available in the higher price tiers. With Outline, you can easily automate workflows and integrate information from different sources.
7. flexible authorization management
With Outline, you can define detailed permissions for teams and documents. Similar to Notion or GitBook, you can decide who can see or edit what. Confluence also offers extensive authorizations, but these are often complicated to manage and require in-depth knowledge.
8. no lock-in effects
A major disadvantage of Confluence is that it is tied to the Atlassian universe. If you want to migrate or use other software, it can get complicated. Outline, on the other hand, gives you full control over your data - and thanks to the open source model, you are not tied to one provider.
Comparison with other tools: Where does Outline stand?
- Notion: Outline has similar collaboration features, but is more flexible due to its open source model and Markdown support.
- Google Docs: Outline offers better structuring, wiki functions and a more sophisticated document organization.
- Slite: Both tools rely on minimalist UIs, but Outline has the better search function and integration.
- GitBook: Outline is not only suitable for developer documentation, but also for general knowledge management in teams.
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Installation of Outline with Docker Compose
services:
outline:
image: outlinewiki/outline:latest
container_name: outline
environment:
- TZ=Europe/Berlin
- SECRET_KEY=secretKeyGenerated
- UTILS_SECRET=utilSecretGenerated
- DATABASE_URL=postgres://outline:yourSafePassword@outline-db:5432/outline
- REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
- URL=http://deineServerIP:3024
- FILE_STORAGE=local
- DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=en_DE
- PGSSLMODE=disable
- OIDC_CLIENT_ID=clientID
- OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=clientSecret
- OIDC_AUTH_URI=https://auth.xyz.de/application/o/authorize/
- OIDC_TOKEN_URI=https://auth.xyz.de/application/o/token/
- OIDC_USERINFO_URI=https://auth.xyz.de/application/o/userinfo/
- OIDC_DISPLAY_NAME=Authentik
- OIDC_SCOPES=openid profile email
- DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=en_DE
- NODE_ENV=production
- DATABASE_CONNECTION_POOL_MIN=
- DATABASE_CONNECTION_POOL_MAX=
- FILE_STORAGE_LOCAL_ROOT_DIR=/var/lib/outline/data
- FILE_STORAGE_UPLOAD_MAX_SIZE=26214400
- FORCE_HTTPS=false
- ENABLE_UPDATES=true
- WEB_CONCURRENCY=1
- FILE_STORAGE_IMPORT_MAX_SIZE=5120000
- LOG_LEVEL=info
- RATE_LIMITER_ENABLED=true
- RATE_LIMITER_REQUESTS=1000
- RATE_LIMITER_DURATION_WINDOW=60
ports:
- 3024:3000
depends_on:
outline-db:
condition: service_healthy
restart: true
outline-db:
image: postgres:17
container_name: outline-db
environment:
- TZ=Europe/Berlin
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=yourSafePassword
- POSTGRES_USER=outline
- POSTGRES_DB=outline
ports:
- 5432:5432
volumes:
- /mnt/cache/appdata/outline-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data:rw
healthcheck:
test: pg_isready -U outline -d outline
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
redis:
image: redis
container_name: redis
environment:
- TZ=Europe/Berlin
ports:
- 6379:6379
volumes:
- /mnt/cache/appdata/redis:/data:rw
healthcheck:
test: redis-cli --raw incr ping
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 3
command: --save 60 1 --loglevel warningYouTube video implementation
Conclusion: Outline instead of Confluence? Definitely try it out!
Outline offers a modern, lean and powerful alternative to Confluence. With real-time collaboration, Markdown support, a first-class search function and the option of free self-hosting, it clearly stands out from classic wiki solutions. If you want to get away from the high costs and cumbersome nature of Confluence, you should give Outline a try. And the best thing about it? You can try it out straight away without making a long-term commitment!
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