Softwr

Documentation · head to head

Outline vs Starlight

Outline logo

Outline

Documentation

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Starlight logo

Starlight

Documentation

Documentation site framework built on Astro that ships no JavaScript to the reader by default

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Starlight there is no editing interface, so every correction requires a git client, a Node install and a CI run, which puts documentation changes out of reach for anyone who does not already work in a repository.
  • They diverge on capability: Outline covers Structured collections, Starlight covers File based routing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Outline and Starlight actually diverge.

Attributes where Outline and Starlight differ
AttributeOutlineStarlight
Pricing modelFree to self-host, per user per month when hosted by the vendorOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, AndroidWeb, macOS, Windows, Linux

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Outline

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

Only in Starlight

  • File based routing
  • Pagefind search
  • Internationalisation
  • Component overrides
  • Zero client JavaScript
  • Expressive Code blocks
  • Auto generated sidebar

What people use each for

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

Outline

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

Starlight

  • A developer tool whose docs live in the same repository as the code and are reviewed in the same pull requestnot Outline
  • A team that already runs Astro for its marketing site and wants one build pipeline for bothnot Outline
  • Documentation that must be served from a CDN or an air gapped static host with no search backendnot Outline
  • A multilingual open source project that needs per locale content trees and untranslated page fallbacknot Outline

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Starlight

  • There is no editing interface, so every correction requires a git client, a Node install and a CI run, which puts documentation changes out of reach for anyone who does not already work in a repository.
  • Starlight versions track Astro versions, so an Astro major release becomes a documentation site migration on someone else timeline rather than yours.
  • Pagefind builds the whole search index at compile time, so build duration and index size grow with page count and large documentation sets pay for it on every deploy.
  • There is no analytics, no feedback widget and no page level rating built in, so measuring which pages fail readers means wiring a third party script yourself.
  • Component overrides are limited to the slots the theme exposes, and anything outside those slots means forking the theme and inheriting the merge burden on every upgrade.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Starlight

Free
  • Open sourceFree
    • MIT licence
    • All features included
    • Self hosted on any static host

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Starlight if

  • You need file based routing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want pagefind search.
Starlight review

Questions people ask

Is Outline or Starlight better?
Neither clearly leads. Outline starts at Free and Starlight at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Outline or Starlight?
Outline starts at Free and Starlight at Free.
Does Outline or Starlight run on more platforms?
Outline runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android. Starlight runs on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux.
Can I use Outline for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Outline best used for?
Outline is most often used for running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdiction, replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter most, keeping engineering decision records and postmortems in templated documents that link to each other automatically, giving a company already standardised on google or okta a wiki that inherits identity and group membership directly. Of those, running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdiction and replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter most are not what Starlight is typically brought in for.
What can Outline do that Starlight cannot?
Outline covers Structured collections, Block editor, Search, Backlinks and mentions. Starlight covers File based routing, Pagefind search, Internationalisation, Component overrides.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Starlight: Can a non technical writer publish a page without help?

No. There is no content management interface. Every change is a commit, a pull request and a build.

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.

Starlight: Do I need to know Astro to use it?

Not for basic use. Markdown files and a config file are enough until you want custom components, at which point Astro knowledge becomes mandatory.

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.

Starlight: Is search included or do I pay for it?

Included and free. Pagefind builds a static index at compile time. Algolia DocSearch is optional if you want hosted search instead.

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.

Starlight: What happens when Astro releases a major version?

Starlight follows it, and your site needs a migration. Read the upgrade guide before pinning a version for a long lived project.

Starlight: Can I self host with no external services?

Yes. The output is static HTML, CSS and a search index. Nothing calls out at runtime unless you add it.

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