Outline vs Pad
Comparing two open source alternatives to Notion . Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.
Outline
The fastest growing-team knowledge base — beautiful, realtime collaborative, feature packed, and markdown compatible Notion and Confluence alternative.
Pad
Apache-2.0Local-first project management for developers and AI agents, with a CLI, web UI, SQLite backend, and native skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and more.
Side-by-side comparison
| Outline | Pad | |
|---|---|---|
| License | — | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| GitHub Stars | 40,091 | 120 |
| Forks | 3,478 | 21 |
| Open Issues | 73 | 20 |
| Last Commit | Aug 12, 2026 | Aug 13, 2026 |
| First Released | May 22, 2016 | Mar 26, 2026 |
| Categories | ||
| Tags | — |
Similar open source alternatives
AppFlowy
Open source Notion alternative that brings projects, wikis, and teams together with AI while keeping you in control of your data.
Notion
HelixNotes
A fast, privacy-first local markdown note-taking app built with Tauri and SvelteKit. Your notes stay as plain .md files on your device.
Obsidian
Jotty
Lightweight self-hosted app for managing personal file-based notes and checklists.
Notion
Plane
Open-source project management platform — an alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday, and ClickUp.
Jira
Devlane
Self-hostable project management for dev teams: issues, cycles, modules, pages, and analytics. Go + React alternative to Jira and Linear.
Jira
memos
Privacy-first, self-hosted note-taking platform with markdown support, tagging, and built-in AI — a lightweight alternative to Notion and Obsidian.
Obsidian