BookStack vs Outline: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Confluence. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| BookStack | Outline | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| License | MIT | BUSL-1.1 |
| GitHub stars | 14k | 30k |
| Tech stack | PHP, Laravel, MySQL | Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, Redis |
| Replaces | Confluence | Confluence, Notion |
Outline has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
BookStack
Documentation organized into books and pages, an alternative to Confluence.
Pros
- MIT license
- Very lightweight compared to Confluence
Things to consider
- Fewer third-party plugins than Confluence
Outline
Fast, elegant team wiki, an alternative to Confluence.
Pros
- Very polished interface, fast team adoption
Things to consider
- BUSL-1.1 license restricts offering it as a competing SaaS
Key features
BookStack
- Books, chapters and pages structure
- WYSIWYG or Markdown editor
- Granular role-based permissions
Outline
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Instant search
- Collections and team permissions