Notion and Outline are both great note-taking and knowledge-base creation apps, but they are very different in many aspects. While Notion is an all-in-one type of tool, Outline has a lot more clear functions based on text and collaboration. I’ve used them, and I can express an honest opinion that Outline can be better than Notion for most users. Here’s why!

5 Straightforward usage and interface

It’s simple to use for everyone

As I’ve mentioned above, Notion has a lot more features than Outline and tries to do everything. While this can be great, if you need a tool to create a knowledge base and use it as a documentation platform, Outline is top-notch. It’s built specifically for this, so it doesn’t try to juggle too many features at once.

That focus means Outline is way simpler to use, with a clean and easy-to-navigate interface, and that’s especially great if you’re just starting out. It stores all your notes in collections, and then you can assign users or groups to access them selectively. Also, they are easily searchable from anywhere with the Ctrl + K shortcut.

4 Open-source and self-hosting

You have full control of your data

Another Outline advantage is that it’s open-source, so you can host it yourself if you want total control over your data. And if self-hosting sounds like too much hassle, no worries, there’s a cloud version of Outline you can use instead.

By self-hosting, you can adjust features, integrate additional tools, or even modify the code to better suit your workflows. Notion, on the other hand, is a closed-source tool, which means you can’t make any meaningful changes in its usage.

However, you should know that Outline is free only if you self-host it. That might be a deal-breaker if you’re not willing to put the extra effort and knowledge into it.

3 Seamless integration with tools you already use

Include your documentation directly in Slack

Outline integrates smoothly with popular tools like Slack, Loom, and Figma. In fact, right from the start, you can log in to your Slack account and workspace, which eliminates any complex integration processes.

Moreover, after you integrate it with Slack, you can search for your knowledge base directly from the chat client by using the /outline command.

To this, you can also add integrations with Google Analytics, GitHub, Webhooks, and Zapier to improve your team’s workflow. I’m not saying that Notion doesn’t have plenty of integration options, but Outline’s simplicity and focus on core tools seem more intuitive and easier to manage.

2 Superior document organization

Backlinking is seamless

Outline is great at organizing documents through features like nesting, collections, and automatic backlinks. You can group related documents into collections for logical hierarchy and easy navigation.

The nice surprise about Outline is that it generates backlinks automatically, so you can see which other documents reference a particular page. You just type @ to link to another document and the one you refer to links back automatically.

Notion is pretty good at organization, but its features can sometimes feel secondary to its broader functionality as an all-in-one tool. If you focus solely on documentation, Outline’s specialized approach is more effective.

1 Enhanced privacy and security

If you’re self-hosting, you’re safe

If you’re worried about data privacy, the self-hosting option makes Outline a standout choice. When you host the platform on your own servers, you maintain full control over your data, ensuring it’s not accessible to third-party servers.

This might not be your first priority if you’re only using it to create grocery lists or personal thoughts. However, if you’re the IT manager of an organization with strict compliance requirements or one that handles sensitive information, you will be especially interested in this aspect. But if you’re an IT manager, you will also be happy that you won’t need any onboarding efforts because Outline is very easy to use by anyone without any training.

Notion, as a cloud-based solution, requires trust in its servers and data policies, which might not be on par with all privacy preferences. Moreover, Notion can be overwhelming if you’re just starting, and will definitely require usage documentation.

Sometimes, less is more

I can’t stress enough the fact that Notion has more features and gimmicks under its sleeve compared to Outline. It’s unquestionable, but Outline does a few things better. Its organization structure, interface, and functionality make it a great tool for a wiki or knowledge base for you or your organization.

The seamless integration with Slack also convinced me that it can be great for collaboration and constantly building references that add to the knowledge base. And hey, if you want to switch from Notion to Outline, you can also import your notes from there with just a few clicks in Outline.