Documize vs Outline

Documize

• Organizations that must keep documentation on their own or air-gapped servers
• Teams that want a flat annual price instead of a per-seat fee
• Controlled documents that need review and approval before they are published

Outline

• Teams that want a fast, Markdown-friendly internal wiki
• Organizations that need to host their knowledge base themselves
• Small teams: cloud hosting is a flat $10 a month for up to 10 members

Documize

• It is self-hosted only: the customer installs it and runs their own database, and the site offers no vendor-hosted version.
• Only the first 5 users are free; larger teams pay $900 a year for up to 100 users or $1,800 a year for unlimited users.
• Billing is annual, with a 90-day refund policy; no monthly option is listed.
• The vendor calls its Community edition open source but does not say on its pricing page how it differs from the paid plans.

Outline

• The cloud version has no free plan: after the 30-day trial the workspace is read-only until a payment method is added.
• Cloud pricing goes by team-size tier, so an 11th member moves a team from $10 to $79 a month, and teams over 200 need a quote.
• The free Community Edition lacks AI answers, guest users, SAML 2.0 and the audit log; paid self-hosted licenses need at least 10 users.
• The download page offers desktop apps for macOS and Windows only; no mobile apps are listed.

Documize

Single self-hosted binary

The server ships as one binary with no runtime dependencies for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD. License validation works offline, so it can run on an air-gapped network.

Spaces, labels and documents

Content is organized into spaces that hold related documents, with labels grouping similar spaces, in place of deeply nested folders.

Templates and content blocks

Documents are assembled from reusable templates and pre-defined content blocks so teams start from a shared standard.

Approvals and versions

A draft, review, approve and publish lifecycle with contribution requests is built in, and documents can be baselined and kept in several live versions.

Analytics and audit logs

Reports show which content is read, which is stale and what people search for, alongside activity streams and audit logs. They are included in both plans.

Permissions and sign-in

Permissions are set on spaces, documents and actions, and users can authenticate through LDAP, Active Directory, Keycloak or CAS.

Outline

Markdown-friendly editor

The editor supports Markdown, slash commands and interactive embeds. Documents and their version history are unlimited on every tier, including the free Community Edition.

Real-time collaboration

Several people can edit a document at the same time, and comments, threads and @mentions keep the discussion attached to the text.

Search and AI answers

Search covers the whole workspace, and questions about your documents get direct AI answers. AI answers are in every cloud tier but need a paid license when self-hosting.

Permissions and public sharing

Read and write permissions, user groups and guest users control access. Documents can be shared publicly by link, with your own brand colors, logo and domain.

Self-hosting

Outline can run on your own infrastructure, either as the free Community Edition or with a paid Business or Enterprise license that adds features such as SAML 2.0.

Integrations and API

More than 20 integrations cover tools such as Slack, Figma, GitHub, GitLab and Zapier, and an API with webhooks is included on every tier.

Documize

• Free (5 users)$0

  The first 5 users at no cost with no feature restrictions, activated with a free key.

• Essential$900

  per year for up to 100 users

  Self-hosted with unlimited content and storage, LDAP, AD, Keycloak and CAS sign-in, approvals, analytics, audit logs and product support.

• Enterprise$1,800

  per year for unlimited users

  The same feature set as Essential with no limit on the number of users.

Outline

• Community Edition$0

  Self-hosted on your own server: unlimited docs, real-time editing, SSO, integrations and the API, with no AI answers, guest users or support.

• Cloud, 1–10 members$10

  per month for the whole team; annual pricing available

  Hosted by Outline with every cloud feature: AI question answering, SSO, templates, groups and permissions, API and webhooks, and a security audit log.

• Cloud, 11–100 members$79

  per month for the whole team; annual pricing available

  The same features as the smaller tier. A team moves to this tier automatically once it has more than 10 members.

• Cloud, 101–200 members$249

  per month for the whole team; annual pricing available

  The same features for 101 to 200 members. Larger cloud teams are asked to contact Outline for pricing.

• On-Premises Business$4

  per user / month, billed annually, 10-user minimum

  Self-hosted license that adds AI question answering, guest users, SAML 2.0, extra security controls, a Confluence importer and the audit log.

• On-Premises Enterprise$5

  per user / month, billed annually, 100-user minimum

  Everything in On-Premises Business, plus removal of Outline branding and a support contract.

Documize

• Education

  30% off for academic institutions

  The pricing FAQ offers qualifying academic institutions a 30% discount on request.

Outline

• Nonprofit

  30% off for non-profits

  Outline's pricing FAQ offers non-profits a 30% discount on request, and says it will sponsor accounts for non-profits working directly on climate change.

• Education

  30% off for educational institutions

  The same pricing FAQ extends the 30% discount to educational institutions that contact Outline.