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Documentation · head to head

HelpDocs vs Outline

HelpDocs logo

HelpDocs

Documentation

Self-service help centre software priced by number of editors, not by readers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Outline logo

Outline

Documentation

Team knowledge base under the Business Source Licence, self-hostable or vendor hosted

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Outline has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: HelpDocs it is a knowledge base only, so a company still needs a separate ticketing or chat tool for any support that is not fully self-service; Outline the Business Source Licence is not an open source licence, so anyone planning to host Outline for clients, resell it or embed it in a commercial service is prohibited until the per-release change date passes, and this is regularly discovered only at legal review.
  • They diverge on capability: HelpDocs covers Editor-only seat pricing, Outline covers Structured collections.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HelpDocs and Outline actually diverge.

Attributes where HelpDocs and Outline differ
AttributeHelpDocsOutline
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPer editor seat per monthFree to self-host, per user per month when hosted by the vendor
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Documentation).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in HelpDocs

  • Editor-only seat pricing
  • AI drafting and credits
  • Search analytics
  • Custom branding and domain
  • Multi-language content

Only in Outline

  • Structured collections
  • Block editor
  • Search
  • Backlinks and mentions
  • Templates
  • API and webhooks
  • Single sign-on
  • Self-hosting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

HelpDocs

  • A SaaS support team that wants a public, brandable help centre separate from its ticketing toolnot Outline
  • A product team publishing release notes and how-to articles that needs unlimited free readers with only a handful of paid writer seatsnot Outline
  • A company scaling its support content team that wants cost tied to writer headcount rather than customer or ticket volumenot Outline
  • A team wanting AI-assisted drafting of support articles without adopting a full AI-enabled helpdesk suitenot Outline

Outline

  • Running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdictionnot HelpDocs
  • Replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter mostnot HelpDocs
  • Keeping engineering decision records and postmortems in templated documents that link to each other automaticallynot HelpDocs
  • Giving a company already standardised on Google or Okta a wiki that inherits identity and group membership directlynot HelpDocs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

HelpDocs

  • It is a knowledge base only, so a company still needs a separate ticketing or chat tool for any support that is not fully self-service
  • Extra editor seats above a plan's included count cost $25 each per month, which adds up quickly for a growing content team on the Harvest tier
  • AI credits are capped per plan and reset monthly, so a heavy AI-drafting workflow can exhaust the allowance before the billing period ends
  • Moving from Sprout to Bloom to add editors is a large jump in absolute price, not a smooth per-seat increment, since each tier is a fixed bundle rather than pay-per-seat
  • There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, so a small team wanting to test long-term usage patterns has a short evaluation window
  • Being editor-priced means it does not scale cost with help centre traffic or ticket deflection value delivered, so a high-traffic help site pays the same as a low-traffic one with the same editor count

Outline

  • The Business Source Licence is not an open source licence, so anyone planning to host Outline for clients, resell it or embed it in a commercial service is prohibited until the per-release change date passes, and this is regularly discovered only at legal review.
  • There is no local password authentication, so self-hosting requires an identity provider to be in place first, which turns a small internal wiki into a project with a dependency on Google, Okta, Entra or a Keycloak instance somebody has to run.
  • Self-hosting needs Postgres, Redis and S3-compatible object storage together, so the operational footprint is larger than the single database most internal wikis require.
  • The hosted plans offer no customer-selectable hosting region, so buyers with data residency obligations are pushed to self-hosting even when they would have paid to avoid running servers.
  • It is built for internal knowledge rather than public documentation, with no versioned documentation sets, no static output and limited public publishing, so it will not serve as a product documentation site.
  • Because it is a single-vendor project rather than a foundation-governed one, a future licence or pricing change applies to new releases and the only defence is staying on an older version.

Pricing, plan by plan

HelpDocs

On request
  • Sprout$99/month
    • 5 editors
    • 1,000 AI credits/month
  • Bloom$239/month
    • 15 editors
    • 5,000 AI credits/month
  • Harvest$399/month
    • 25 editors
    • 10,000 AI credits/month
    • Extra editors at $25/month each

Outline

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Source available under the Business Source Licence
    • No licence fee for use inside your own organisation
    • Requires Postgres, Redis and S3-compatible storage
  • Team (hosted)$undefined/month
    • Charged per user per month
    • Hosted and maintained by the vendor
    • Single sign-on through Google, Slack or Microsoft
  • Enterprise (hosted)$undefined/month
    • SAML single sign-on and provisioning
    • Administrative controls and audit visibility
    • Negotiated terms and support

Which should you pick?

Choose HelpDocs if

  • You need editor-only seat pricing.
  • You also want ai drafting and credits.
HelpDocs review

Choose Outline if

  • You need structured collections.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android.
  • You also want block editor.
Outline review

Questions people ask

Is HelpDocs or Outline better?
Neither clearly leads. HelpDocs starts at On request and Outline at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HelpDocs or Outline?
Outline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for HelpDocs and Free for Outline.
Does HelpDocs or Outline run on more platforms?
HelpDocs runs on Web. Outline runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android.
Can I use Outline for free?
Yes. Outline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. HelpDocs starts at On request.
What is HelpDocs best used for?
HelpDocs is most often used for a saas support team that wants a public, brandable help centre separate from its ticketing tool, a product team publishing release notes and how-to articles that needs unlimited free readers with only a handful of paid writer seats, a company scaling its support content team that wants cost tied to writer headcount rather than customer or ticket volume, a team wanting ai-assisted drafting of support articles without adopting a full ai-enabled helpdesk suite. Of those, a saas support team that wants a public, brandable help centre separate from its ticketing tool and a product team publishing release notes and how-to articles that needs unlimited free readers with only a handful of paid writer seats are not what Outline is typically brought in for.
What can HelpDocs do that Outline cannot?
HelpDocs covers Editor-only seat pricing, AI drafting and credits, Search analytics, Custom branding and domain. Outline covers Structured collections, Block editor, Search, Backlinks and mentions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

HelpDocs: Are readers of the help centre charged for?

No, HelpDocs charges only for editors who log in to write and manage content; anonymous readers are unlimited and free.

Outline: Is Outline open source?

No, not in the OSI sense. It is source available under the Business Source Licence, which permits internal use and self-hosting but not offering it as a service to others, with each release converting to an open source licence after its change date.

HelpDocs: Is there a free plan?

No, HelpDocs offers a 14-day free trial rather than a permanent free tier.

Outline: Can I run it for free?

Yes, for your own organisation. Self-hosting carries no licence fee, only the cost of running Postgres, Redis, object storage and an identity provider.

HelpDocs: Does HelpDocs include ticketing or live chat?

No, it is a knowledge base and help centre product only; it integrates with tools like Zendesk and Intercom for ticketing.

Outline: Can I choose where the hosted version stores data?

No. The hosted plans do not offer a region choice, so residency requirements mean self-hosting.

Outline: Does it work for public product documentation?

Poorly. It has no versioned documentation sets or static site output, so it is best kept for internal knowledge.

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