head to head · open source
Outline vs obsidian-mind
Outline has 40,628 GitHub stars, 3,569 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. obsidian-mind has 4,653 stars, 532 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. Outline leads on adoption by 773% (40,628 vs 4,653 stars). Outline is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; obsidian-mind is written in TypeScript under MIT. Outline has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, obsidian-mind 11%. Outline was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Outline | obsidian-mind | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 532 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Outline if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick obsidian-mind if
- You want the obsidian-mind feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and obsidian-mind fits your workflow better
About Outline
Outline is an open source knowledge base application built with React and Node.js, designed for teams needing a fast, collaborative documentation platform. It runs as a self hosted service or via a hosted option at getoutline.com, and its source code powers the public instance along with all supporting services. The project lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and uses MobX for state management.
read the full Outline overview →
About obsidian-mind
obsidian mind is a self organizing Obsidian vault template that gives AI coding agents persistent memory, built for developers and knowledge workers who run Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI and want every session to build on the last.
read the full obsidian-mind overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Outline or obsidian-mind more popular?
Outline has 40,628 GitHub stars and obsidian-mind has 4,653. Outline has the larger community by that measure.
Are Outline and obsidian-mind free?
Both are open source. Outline has no licence declared in this registry, and obsidian-mind is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Outline and obsidian-mind?
Outline is written in TypeScript and obsidian-mind in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Outline or obsidian-mind?
Choose Outline if you want the larger community (40,628 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose obsidian-mind if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.