When Outline cloud or self-hosted Outline fits your team
For most teams under 100 members that have no residency rule and no SAML requirement, Outline's hosted plans are the simpler choice, because Outline's pricing page lists cloud plans at 10 US dollars per month for 1 to 10 members, 79 dollars for 11 to 100 and 249 dollars for 101 to 200. Self-hosting fits better when data must stay inside your own cloud account, data center or air-gapped network, or when your identity and audit requirements call for controls you must own. The tipping factors are data residency rules, whether you need SAML, whether staff with dev-ops experience will run the stack, and how many people will use it. Outline's hosting docs say it requires dev-ops experience to run in production, so that point should be settled before anything else.
Self-hosting the free Community Edition is the narrowest path. It comes with limited features and no support, and Outline does not offer email and password sign-in natively, so you must connect an identity provider such as Microsoft Entra, Google, OIDC or passkeys. SAML is only available in the licensed Business and Enterprise editions, so a SAML requirement moves a self-hosted deployment to a paid license. Confirm the current feature split on Outline's pricing page before you decide, since the Business license is priced at 4 US dollars per user per month billed annually with a 10-user minimum, and Enterprise at 5 dollars per user per month with a 100-user minimum. Ask whether the cloud plan's controls meet your audit needs, because a hosted plan shifts operations to Outline while you keep responsibility for your own access decisions.
The license limits who can run Outline as a service. The Community Edition is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, which is not an OSI-approved open source license. Selling, reselling or hosting Outline as a service breaches those terms and automatically terminates license rights, so an internal knowledge base is fine but a client-facing portal built on it is not. Before you plan a self-hosted rollout, have counsel confirm that your use fits the license, and review the Outline pricing page for the Business and Enterprise terms that may apply.
Outline cloud and self-hosted Outline side by side
This table compares Outline's hosted plans with self-hosting the community edition or a licensed Business or Enterprise edition. Read it by asking who operates each layer, what is priced per member or per user, and which features depend on a paid license.
| Factor | Outline cloud | Self-hosted Outline |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing structure | Starter at 10 US dollars per month for 1 to 10 members, Team at 79 dollars for 11 to 100, Business at 249 dollars for 101 to 200; larger teams quoted on request (Outline pricing page) | Community edition is free with limited features and no support; Business at 4 US dollars per user per month billed annually with a 10-user minimum; Enterprise at 5 dollars per user per month with a 100-user minimum (Outline pricing page) |
| Who operates the platform | Outline operates hosting, application uptime and upgrades within the plan you buy | Your team operates the application, database, Redis, storage, backups, upgrades and the identity provider; Outline's hosting docs say production use requires dev-ops experience |
| Authentication options | Sign-in is handled by Outline's hosted service; confirm the methods offered on your plan with Outline | Google, Microsoft Entra, Slack, OIDC, Discord, GitLab, passkeys and email magic link; email and password is not native, so you must supply a provider |
| SAML availability | Confirm with Outline whether your cloud plan includes SAML | Licensed editions only: Business and Enterprise. The community edition does not include SAML |
| Storage options | Managed by Outline; confirm data location and storage terms with Outline | Local file storage or S3-compatible object storage, which your team provisions and backs up |
| Database and cache requirements | Managed by Outline | PostgreSQL 14 or later and Redis 4 or later, both run and patched by your team |
| Memory and hosting base | Managed by Outline | At least 512MB of memory with 1GB or more recommended, a dedicated domain, and a Unix-compatible host |
| Nonprofit and education discount | Outline offers a 30% discount to non-profits and educational institutions (Outline pricing page); confirm eligibility and whether it covers cloud and licensed self-hosted plans | Same 30% discount applies to eligible organizations per the Outline pricing page; confirm scope before quoting |
Where your data lives and what compliance review must cover
A managed Outline deployment moves infrastructure, sign-in and evidence collection to a different party than self-hosting does. The cards below cover the decisions that follow from that split, and they are the questions to put to Outline and to any implementation partner before a compliance review starts. DeployOpen prepares controls and evidence, but independent auditors issue any attestation.
Data location and infrastructure holder
With Outline cloud, the vendor decides which facilities and regions hold your documents, attachments and database backups. With self-hosting, your cloud account, data center or air-gapped network holds them, and you choose the location. Ask Outline in writing where cloud data is stored, which sub-processors touch it, and how backups are kept. For a self-hosted deployment, document the region and the PostgreSQL, Redis and file storage locations as part of the system boundary.
Sign-in provider and access control
Outline does not support email and password sign-in natively, so every deployment depends on an external provider such as Google, Microsoft Entra, OIDC, GitLab or passkeys. In a self-hosted install, that provider and its MFA policy sit inside your control boundary and must be recorded in your access control evidence. SAML is available only in the licensed Business and Enterprise editions. Confirm which sign-in methods a cloud plan exposes and who administers them.
Evidence for the assessment
Assessors ask for proof, such as configuration exports, access reviews, change records and restore tests. A self-hosted install gives you the logs, database and host records directly, but you must collect and retain them yourself. A cloud plan may provide some of this evidence on request, and that evidence is only as useful as the vendor's documented scope. Agree in writing which artifacts each side produces, and how long they are kept.
Shared responsibility for operations
Outline states that self-hosting requires dev-ops experience to run in production. Patching the platform, the database, Redis and the host, plus backup and restore, fall to your team or to a retained partner in self-hosted deployments. In a cloud plan, the vendor operates those layers, but you still own user accounts, content decisions and export. Map each layer to an owner in the control matrix so no control is claimed twice or missed.
BSL limits on managed hosting
The Business Source License in Outline's community edition forbids using it for a Document Service, which means offering Outline to third parties as a service. Outline's hosting docs say that hosting Outline as a service breaches these terms and terminates license rights. A managed deployment for your own staff is a different case, but a partner that runs Outline for several client organizations needs its own license and legal review. Ask the partner to state its model in writing before scoping.
Certifications and attestations to confirm
DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies do that work. Confirm directly with Outline which certifications, reports or security documents it holds for cloud plans, and whether they cover the version and plan you will buy. Do not treat a self-hosted install as inheriting any vendor attestation.
What your team runs when you self-host Outline
Self-hosting Outline means your team owns every layer of the stack, not just the wiki. The application itself can be deployed with Docker or installed from source, and Outline's hosting docs state plainly that running it in production requires dev-ops experience. Around the application you must run PostgreSQL 14 or newer and Redis 4 or newer, provide at least 512MB of memory (Outline recommends 1GB or more), assign a dedicated domain, and choose where files live, either local storage or S3-compatible object storage. Confirm the exact database and Redis versions against the current requirements doc before you build a base image, because version floors are the first thing that changes between releases.
Authentication is the layer most teams underestimate. Outline does not support email and password sign-in natively, so you must connect an identity provider such as Google, Microsoft Entra, Slack, OIDC, GitLab or email magic link, and decide who administers it. SAML is available only in the licensed Business and Enterprise editions, so if your identity team requires SAML, that decision is a licensing decision as well as a configuration one. Scaling is also yours to design: Outline documents horizontal scaling, which means load balancing, shared storage and database capacity planning all fall to your platform team. Ask your team to name an owner for each of these components before the first installation.
The hosted plans move these operations to Outline, including the database, Redis, storage, patching and availability. Self-hosting keeps data inside your infrastructure and removes per-seat fees for the free Community Edition, but the labor of upgrades, backups, monitoring and incident response stays with you and recurs with each release. Before you choose, list the operations you can staff, and get a written scope from any implementation partner that covers installation, hardening, backup testing and upgrade procedures for each component above.
Operating tasks in each hosting model
This table maps who performs each operating task under Outline cloud and under self-hosted Outline, where the self-hosted column splits between the free Community edition and a licensed Business or Enterprise edition. Read each row as a question of who gets paged at 2 a.m. and who owns the change window.
| Operating task | Outline cloud (vendor-run) | Self-hosted Outline (customer-run) |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrades | Vendor applies new releases, such as v1.11.0 published on October 12, 2026, on its own schedule. You confirm feature changes with the vendor. | Your team pulls each release, tests it and schedules downtime. Community and licensed editions both require this work. Confirm the upgrade path and any migration steps in the release notes before each change. |
| Database and cache operation | Vendor runs PostgreSQL and Redis, including patching and failover design. Ask for the recovery objectives in writing. | You provision PostgreSQL 14 or newer and Redis 4 or newer, then patch, tune and monitor both. Ownership does not change with a paid license. |
| Backups and restore testing | Vendor takes backups and restores them. Confirm retention, location and whether you can export your own copy. | Your team designs backups for the database and file storage, and tests restores. Restore testing is the step most often skipped, so schedule it. |
| File storage | Vendor hosts attachments and manages capacity within the plan. | You choose local or S3-compatible storage, size it, and secure access and encryption for it. |
| Identity provider configuration | Vendor configures supported sign-in methods. Confirm which options your plan includes. | You register Outline with your identity provider. Outline does not support email and password sign-in natively, so you must pick a provider such as Google, Microsoft Entra, OIDC or GitLab. SAML requires a Business or Enterprise license. |
| Monitoring and incident response | Vendor monitors availability and responds to incidents. Ask about the notification path and response targets in your contract. | Your team sets up uptime, log and resource alerts, and runs incident response. Outline's hosting docs state that production use requires dev-ops experience. |
| Scaling | Vendor scales capacity behind the plan's member tier. Larger teams are priced on request. | You plan horizontal scaling and memory sizing. The documented minimum is 512MB, with 1GB or more recommended, and actual sizing depends on your team's usage. |
| Support | Included in the hosted plan. Confirm response channels and hours with the vendor. | Community edition has limited features and no support, so issues go to your own team or public channels. A Business or Enterprise license adds vendor support, which should be confirmed in the license terms. |
How to move Outline between cloud and self-hosted
This sequence takes an Outline workspace from one hosting model to the other with a confirmed license tier, a prepared target stack, mapped sign-in, verified content and permissions, and a controlled DNS cutover.
Confirm license tier and export options
Before any move, confirm with Outline which plan or license the workspace uses and which data export options apply to it. Self-hosted Business and Enterprise licenses are priced per user with minimums, and the free Community edition has limited features and no support, so the target tier must cover every feature the team depends on, including SAML if you use it. Ask Outline in writing to confirm export formats for pages, attachments and users. Done when you hold a written list of included features, export options and any license limits that affect the target.
Check the BSL terms before choosing self-hosting
Outline's Community edition is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, which is not an OSI-approved open source license. Read the license terms with your legal team before you run the community build for anything beyond internal use. Hosting Outline as a service for third parties breaches the BSL and terminates license rights, so a self-hosted deployment for your own staff stays within the terms only if your use fits them. Done when legal has signed off on the intended use and the license tier is recorded.
Prepare PostgreSQL, Redis, storage and identity
Build the target stack in your own infrastructure: PostgreSQL 14 or newer, Redis 4 or newer, at least 512MB of memory (1GB or more is recommended), a dedicated domain, file storage that is either local or S3-compatible, and an authentication provider. Outline does not support email and password sign-in natively, so choose one of its supported providers such as Google, Microsoft Entra, Slack, OIDC, GitLab, passkeys or email magic link. Your team will need dev-ops experience to run the stack in production. Done when a test instance starts, connects to the database and cache, stores a test attachment and completes a sign-in with the chosen provider.
Map users and sign-in identities
Build a mapping table that links each existing Outline account to the identity the target provider will issue, using a stable attribute such as the work email. Decide how guests, former staff and shared accounts are handled, and confirm with the provider that the same addresses will authenticate. Because email and password sign-in is not native, any account without a provider identity will not be able to log in after cutover. Done when every active user has one confirmed identity in the mapping and exceptions are assigned to an owner.
Move content and attachments
Export or migrate collections, documents, revisions and attachments from the source workspace, then import them into the target. If you use the Notion importer, note that it is available in all editions from v0.83.0. Keep the source read-only during the final copy so nothing written after the export is lost. Done when page counts, collection structure and a sample of attachments match between source and target, and a named reviewer has checked a set of high-value documents.
Validate permissions and integrations
Compare collection and document permissions in the target against the source for each group and key user. Then reconnect and test each integration you use, such as GitHub, Linear, Figma, Slack, Jira and webhooks, because tokens, callback URLs and endpoints usually change when the host changes. Confirm each integration with a real event, not only a successful connection. Done when permission checks pass for the sample set and every integration you depend on has produced an expected update in the target.
Cut over DNS and confirm operations
Schedule the cutover with users, lower DNS time to live ahead of the change if your DNS provider allows it, point the domain at the target, and then run a final delta export if content changed since the copy. After cutover, confirm backups, upgrades and monitoring are working on the new host, since self-hosting puts those tasks on your team. Done when the domain resolves to the target, users can sign in, and backup and restore have been tested once.
Agree scope in writing with DeployOpen
If DeployOpen plans, implements or supports this move, the scope, deliverables and timeline are agreed in writing before any work begins, and most engagements are fixed-scope. Give DeployOpen the outputs of the earlier steps: the license decision, the export confirmation, the identity mapping and the integration list. Ask for a quote based on that written scope, since DeployOpen does not publish a price list. Done when a signed scope document lists each step above with an owner and an acceptance check.
Questions buyers ask before choosing Outline hosting
How much does self-hosting Outline cost compared with the hosted plans?
The software cost depends on the edition, but the total cost is mostly the infrastructure and people behind it. The community edition is free but has limited features and no support. Outline's pricing page lists a self-hosted Business license at 4 US dollars per user per month billed annually with a 10-user minimum, and Enterprise at 5 dollars per user per month with a 100-user minimum. Hosted plans are 10 US dollars per month for 1 to 10 members, 79 dollars for 11 to 100 and 249 dollars for 101 to 200. Self-hosting also means you pay for the servers, PostgreSQL, Redis, file storage, a domain, an authentication provider and the staff time to run them. Those costs recur and rise with users, backups and uptime targets. Ask any partner for a written quote that separates one-time setup from recurring operations.
How long does a self-hosted Outline rollout take?
The duration depends on scope, and no fixed timeline applies to every team. A rollout covers the installation method, identity provider setup, file storage, backups, migration of existing content and user onboarding. Outline's hosting docs cover Docker and from-source installation, so the path you choose changes the work. Teams with an existing PostgreSQL, Redis and identity provider usually move faster than teams building those from scratch. Durations and milestones should be agreed in the written scope before work starts. Ask for the list of deliverables and the assumptions behind each date.
What skills does a team need to run Outline in production?
Outline's hosting docs say it requires dev-ops experience to run in production. In practice, the team needs someone who can deploy containers or build from source, manage a PostgreSQL database and a Redis instance, and configure an external authentication provider. Someone also needs to handle TLS on a dedicated domain, configure S3-compatible or local file storage, and plan backups and upgrades. Outline runs only on Unix-compatible systems, so Linux administration skills matter. Security staff should review how sign-in, session handling and access to stored documents are configured. Check these skills against your own staff before committing to self-hosting.
Can our team deploy and maintain Outline without an outside partner?
A capable platform team can deploy Outline alone if it has the skills described above and can cover on-call and upgrades. The question is whether the work fits into existing capacity over the long term. Outline's requirements call for PostgreSQL 14 or newer, Redis 4 or newer, at least 512MB of memory with 1GB or more recommended, and a dedicated domain. Each of these needs patching and monitoring. Partners such as DeployOpen plan, implement, harden, back up and document self-hosted platforms inside your own infrastructure under a written scope, and offer retainers for ongoing support and upgrades. Decide which tasks your team keeps and which you outsource.
Does SAML sign-in for Outline require a paid license?
Yes. SAML login is only available in Outline's licensed Business and Enterprise editions, according to Outline's SAML hosting doc. The community edition does not include SAML. Outline also does not support email and password authentication natively, so the community edition relies on providers such as Google, Microsoft Entra, Slack, OIDC, Discord, GitLab, passkeys or email magic link. If your identity policy requires SAML, price the Business license at 4 US dollars per user per month with a 10-user minimum, or the Enterprise license at 5 dollars per user per month with a 100-user minimum, as listed on the pricing page. Confirm the current feature list with Outline before you decide.
What happens to our data if we switch from self-hosted Outline to the cloud?
Your content stays in your database and file storage until you move it, so the switch is a migration project rather than a single action. Plan an export of documents, attachments and user records, then confirm with Outline how existing content and accounts will be imported into the hosted plan. Keep your PostgreSQL backups and file storage copies until the target workspace is verified. Check that your identity provider mapping matches the hosted sign-in options. Moving the other way has the same shape. Ask for a written migration plan that lists what is exported, what is validated and who signs off.
Can we host Outline for our customers or sell it as a service?
No, not under the community edition license. Outline's community edition is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1, which forbids using it for a Document Service, meaning a commercial offering that lets third parties create their own teams and documents. Outline's hosting docs state that selling, reselling or hosting Outline as a service breaches the BSL terms and automatically terminates license rights. The license names Apache License 2.0 as the change license with a change date of October 12, 2030. Confirm your use case with Outline and with counsel before you deploy.
Is Outline's community edition open source?
It is source-available, but it is not an OSI-approved open source license. The community edition uses the Business Source License 1.1, which restricts certain commercial uses. Teams that require OSI-approved licensing for policy reasons should review this before shortlisting Outline. Read the license text in the outline/outline repository and confirm how it applies to your internal use.
Which Outline license path matches your constraints
The community edition is the free self-hosted option. Your team installs, patches, backs up and operates every component, and the pricing page lists it with limited features and no support. It fits a small group with dev-ops skills in-house that can absorb upgrade and outage work without vendor help.
- Who runs it: Your team runs Outline, PostgreSQL 14 or newer, Redis 4 or newer, file storage, the domain and the authentication provider, on Unix-compatible systems you control. The Outline requirements list the minimum memory, with 1GB or more recommended.
- Sign-in: Outline does not offer email and password login natively, so you must connect Google, Microsoft Entra, Slack, OIDC, GitLab, passkeys or email magic link. SAML is not available in this edition.
- Support: None from the vendor. Outline's hosting docs state that running it in production requires dev-ops experience.
- License limit: The Business Source License 1.1 forbids using the code to run a Document Service for third parties, so this path cannot back a hosted product for your customers.
- Fit: Internal teams with a named operations owner, no SAML requirement and a tolerance for handling incidents alone.
Confirm the current feature list on the pricing page before you commit, because the features this edition omits decide whether you need a paid license.
The Business license keeps Outline on your infrastructure and adds paid functionality under a per-user subscription. Your team still runs the database, cache, storage and hosts, but the license adds SAML sign-in, which the community edition lacks. It suits organizations that need federated login through an existing identity provider and want to stay self-hosted.
- Who runs it: Your team runs the full stack, as in the community edition, including PostgreSQL, Redis, file storage and upgrades.
- Sign-in: SAML login is available in this license, documented in the Outline SAML guide. Confirm the identity provider setup your team needs before you buy.
- Cost: The pricing page lists 4 US dollars per user per month, billed annually, with a 10-user minimum. At the minimum, that is 40 dollars per month before infrastructure, staff time and any support contract.
- Support: The hosting docs say paid licenses add functionality and guarantees. Ask Outline in writing what support response and scope the Business license includes.
- Fit: Teams of 10 or more users that depend on SAML and can still operate the stack themselves.
Ask for the license terms and the included support in writing, and compare the annual per-user total against the Enterprise minimum before you pick a tier.
The Enterprise license is the paid self-hosted tier for larger deployments. Like Business, it keeps Outline in your environment, and the pricing page prices it per user with a higher minimum. It suits organizations with a large user base that want a licensed, self-hosted footprint and a formal support relationship, and that can staff the operations work themselves.
- Who runs it: Your team runs Outline, PostgreSQL, Redis, storage, backups and upgrades in your own accounts or data centers.
- Sign-in: SAML is part of the paid Business and Enterprise editions, so the same federated login options apply. Verify the exact identity provider integrations with Outline before you plan rollout.
- Cost: The pricing page lists 5 US dollars per user per month, with a 100-user minimum. At that minimum, the license alone is 500 dollars per month, before infrastructure and staff time.
- Support: Confirm the support scope, response expectations and any contractual guarantees in the written order. The hosting docs only describe paid licenses as adding functionality and guarantees.
- Fit: Organizations with 100 or more users that have already decided on self-hosting and want a paid license with a vendor relationship.
Request a full feature comparison between Business and Enterprise from Outline, because the public pages in this topic do not list every difference.
Outline's hosted plans move operation of the application to the vendor, so your team does not install or patch PostgreSQL, Redis or storage. Pricing follows team size, with three published tiers and larger teams priced on request. It suits teams that want a managed wiki and accept the vendor's hosting model in exchange for less operational work.
- Who runs it: Outline runs the hosting under the plan you choose. Your team manages members, content and any integrations it enables.
- Sign-in: Confirm which sign-in methods each hosted plan supports, since the self-hosted authentication docs do not describe the cloud offering.
- Cost: The Outline pricing page lists 10 US dollars per month for 1 to 10 members, 79 dollars for 11 to 100 and 249 dollars for 101 to 200. Costs step up at each member threshold, so team growth drives the bill.
- Licensing: The BSL prohibits offering Outline as a service to others, but using the hosted product as a customer is not affected by that restriction.
- Fit: Teams that want no infrastructure ownership and can accept the vendor's data location and hosting terms.
Before you sign, ask for written answers on data location, backup and restore, data export if you leave, and the support terms included in each plan.
How DeployOpen scopes and runs self-hosted Outline
DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up and documents self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure. For Outline, that means starting from the written decision about edition, identity and hosting, then building the stack the client will actually run.
How we scope
- Engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.
- The written scope names the Outline edition, the PostgreSQL, Redis and file storage targets, and the sign-in provider.
- Scope also records who operates Outline after handover and which team owns the Business or Enterprise license decision.
How we build
- Installation covers Docker or from-source deployment in the client's cloud account, data center or air-gapped network.
- Authentication is configured against the client's chosen provider, with SAML only where a licensed edition is in scope.
- Testing covers sign-in, file storage, backups and restore before users are onboarded to the workspace.
How we hand over
- Handover documentation covers configuration, upgrade steps for new Outline releases and the dependencies the client must maintain.
- Runbooks describe backup, restore and scaling procedures for the database, Redis and storage layers.
- Compliance evidence, where the client needs it, is prepared for their independent auditors, since DeployOpen does not issue attestations.
How we support
- Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer after handover.
- Retainers can cover Outline version upgrades, dependency updates and periodic restore tests, scoped in writing.
- Ask any provider which of these tasks sit inside the quote and which the client's own operations team must still own.
