Microsoft OneNote vs Outline
Microsoft OneNote and Outline are both note-taking & docs tools. Microsoft OneNote is aimed at freelancers and small businesses, while Outline is aimed at developers and small businesses. Both have a free plan.
Free freeform digital notebook from Microsoft with ink and sync
Fast, self-hostable team knowledge base
| Pricing | Free | Freemium · $10 |
| Starting price | Not published | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 30 days |
| Built for | Freelancers, Small businesses, Enterprise | Developers, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web, windows, macos, ios, android | web |
| Country | US · 2003 | US · 2017 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Microsoft OneNote if
Students, teachers and Microsoft 365 users who want a free, pen-friendly notebook that syncs across every device.
- Completely free on every major platform with no note limits
- Best-in-class pen experience for students and tablet users
- Freeform canvas suits mixed media better than linear note apps
Look elsewhere if: Knowledge workers who need databases, linked notes or plain-file ownership (Notion, Obsidian or Evernote suit them better).
Choose Outline if
Engineering-led teams and companies wanting a fast wiki with predictable pricing or self-hosting.
- Flat per-workspace pricing by team size
- Open source and self-hostable
- Very fast and clean
Look elsewhere if: Teams wanting all-in-one workspaces or non-technical setups.
Microsoft OneNote vs Outline pricing
Microsoft OneNote
- OneNote$0Free with a Microsoft account; notebooks sync via 5 GB OneDrive
- Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99/mo$99.99/year; 1 TB OneDrive and Copilot in OneNote
- Microsoft 365 Family$12.99/mo$129.99/year; up to 6 people, 2 TB shared storage
Outline
- Starter$10/moCloud, 1-10 team members; annual pricing available
- Team$79/moCloud, 11-100 team members
- Business$249/moCloud, 101-200 team members
- Community Edition$0Self-hosted, limited features, no support
- On-prem Business$4/user/moSelf-hosted, billed annually, 10 user minimum
Microsoft OneNote · Key features
- Freeform pages where text, images, ink and files can be placed anywhere
- Notebook, section and page hierarchy with color-coded tabs
- Pen and stylus inking with handwriting search and ink-to-text
- Text extraction from images and printouts inserted into notes
- Audio recording linked to notes and tags such as To Do and Important
- OneNote Web Clipper for saving web pages into a notebook
Cons
- Storage is capped by OneDrive, only 5 GB on free accounts
- No databases, Markdown or bidirectional links
- Weak export makes migrating to another app painful
Outline · Key features
- Markdown editor with slash commands and real-time collaboration
- Collections with nested documents and permissions
- SSO via Slack, Google, Microsoft, Okta and OIDC
- Fast full-text search and AI question answering
- Public sharing and publishing of docs
- Self-hosted or hosted; REST API and webhooks
Cons
- Wiki only; no databases or tasks
- Small team; features ship slower than big players
- Self-hosting requires Postgres, Redis and S3
Microsoft OneNote vs Outline: FAQ
Do Microsoft OneNote and Outline have a free plan?
Yes, both Microsoft OneNote and Outline have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.