Replace Notion with Self-Hosted Outline
Fast, collaborative team knowledge base & wiki built with React and Node.js Stop paying Business ($12/seat/mo) ($120/mo for a 10-person team) and run Outline on a $4.50/mo Linux VPS with full data sovereignty.
1-to-100 Seat Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Table
Comparing Notion (Business ($12/seat/mo)) vs Outline on Hetzner CX22 (4GB RAM / 2 vCPU).
| Team Size | Notion Cost | Outline VPS | Net Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Seat (Solo) | $12.00/mo ($144/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$90 / year |
| 5 Seats | $60.00/mo ($720/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$666 / year |
| 10 Seats | $120.00/mo ($1,440/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$1,386 / year |
| 25 Seats | $300.00/mo ($3,600/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$3,546 / year |
| 50 Seats | $600.00/mo ($7,200/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$7,146 / year |
| 100 Seats | $1,200.00/mo ($14,400/yr) | $4.50/mo (CX22) | +$14,346 / year |
Production Docker Compose + Caddy Auto-SSL
Copy and run docker compose up -d on any Ubuntu 24.04 server.
# Production Docker Compose: Outline (Replaces Notion)
services:
caddy:
image: caddy:2-alpine
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- "80:80"
- "443:443"
volumes:
- ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
- caddy_data:/data
networks:
- stack_net
outline:
image: outlinewiki/outline:latest
container_name: stack-outline
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
- "NODE_ENV=production"
- "SECRET_KEY=${OUTLINE_SECRET_KEY:-generate_64_char_hex_secret}"
- "UTILS_SECRET=${OUTLINE_UTILS_SECRET:-generate_64_char_hex_utils}"
- "DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-strongpassword}@postgres:5432/outline"
- "REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379"
- "URL=https://docs.${DOMAIN:-yourdomain.com}"
- "PORT=3000"
volumes:
- outline_data:/data
networks:
- stack_net
postgres:
image: pgvector/pgvector:pg16
container_name: stack-postgres
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
- "POSTGRES_USER=postgres"
- "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-strongpassword}"
volumes:
- postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
networks:
- stack_net
redis:
image: redis:7-alpine
container_name: stack-redis
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- redis_data:/data
networks:
- stack_net
networks:
stack_net:
driver: bridge
volumes:
caddy_data:
outline_data:
postgres_data:
redis_data:
# Automatic Let's Encrypt HTTPS for Outline
outline.{$DOMAIN:yourdomain.com} {
encode zstd gzip
reverse_proxy outline:3000
}
Why Teams Switch to Outline
- ✓Instant slash-commands & Markdown
- ✓Native Slack & OIDC/SSO auth
- ✓1-click Notion workspace importer
outlinewiki/outline:latest
Deploy Outline in 60 Seconds
Sized automatically for Outline (512MB container RAM + OS overhead).
Get All 16 Pre-Built Production Stacks + Encrypted S3 Backups
Includes pre-tuned docker-compose.yml, Caddy Auto-SSL, AES-256 encrypted nightly S3/R2 Postgres backups, and Ubuntu 24.04 UFW/Fail2ban hardening scripts.