Best offer on record: Cloud 30-day free trial (no free cloud tier). 5 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Cloud 30-day free trial (no free cloud tier) high confidence
Pricing FAQ: 'When you create a team your first 30 days are free.' Each cloud plan (Starter, Team, Business) has a 'Start trial' link to app.getoutline.com/create (ref=starter, ref=team, ref=business). Homepage and compare pages advertise 'Cloud hosted, 30-day free trial'. The trial is time-based, not credits. After it ends, 'your knowledge base becomes read-only until a payment method is added'; all documents can be exported during read-only. Paid cloud prices on the same page: Starter $10/mo for 1-10 members, Team $79/mo for 11-100 members, Business $249/mo for 101-200 members; over 200 members means contacting sales. The page says annual pricing is available but shows no annual figure. Unlimited documents and revisions are stated; no storage, upload or region caps are stated.
Eligibility
Anyone who creates a team. The pricing page states no .edu email rule, no startup age or funding cap, no region limit and no student clause.
How to claim
Open https://www.getoutline.com/pricing, click 'Start trial' under Starter, Team or Business, and create a team. The 30 days run from team creation. Export documents before day 30 if you will not pay.
Expiry
30 days from team creation; then read-only until billing is added. It does not convert to a free plan.
Gotchas
This is a trial, not a free tier. Whether a credit card is required at sign-up is NOT stated on any page read, and the sign-up page did not render, so a card-free start is unverified. The 'until a payment method is added' wording suggests no card is needed during the first 30 days. The cloud price basis (flat per tier vs per member) is inferred from the plan cards.
Community Edition: free self-hosted build ($0, limited features, no support) high confidence
Pricing page lists Community Edition at '$0 limited features, no support' with a Download button; it is the only $0 option on the page. Image: outlinewiki/outline on Docker Hub (linked from the pricing page). Hosting docs call Docker the 'preferred, supported' install method; a source build and a community-maintained Terraform/Ansible route for GCP (third-party repo) are also listed. Requirements: PostgreSQL 14 or later, Redis 4 or later, 512 MB RAM minimum (1 GB or more recommended), Unix-like OS only (not Windows Server), a dedicated domain or subdomain, and a compatible authentication provider, since Outline 'does not support email + password authentication natively'. Hosting docs say it 'requires dev-ops experience' to run in production. Support is GitHub Discussions only. Not included in Community Edition: AI question answering, guest users, extra security controls, SAML 2.0, structured data attributes, Confluence importer, security audit log, Glean integration, removal of Outline branding, and a support contract. SSO authentication is included.
Eligibility
No sign-up, seat cap, .edu, or startup condition is stated. The code is under Business Source License 1.1 (see gotchas). Internal production use by your own employees and contractors falls within the license's production grant, as read from the license text (not legal advice).
How to claim
Pull outlinewiki/outline (or build from source), run it with PostgreSQL 14+ and Redis 4+ on a domain you control, connect a supported authentication provider, then follow https://docs.getoutline.com/s/hosting.
Expiry
No expiry stated for the edition. The license Change Date for Outline 1.11.0 is 2030-10-12, when that version converts to Apache 2.0.
Gotchas
License: BSL 1.1 is source-available, not OSI open source, until its Change Date, despite the homepage '10 years open source' badge. Additional Use Grant: 'you may not use the Licensed Work for a Document Service', where a Document Service is a commercial offering that lets third parties (other than your employees and contractors) create teams and documents they control. License restrictions page: 'selling, reselling, or hosting Outline as a service is a breach of the terms', and breach 'automatically terminates your rights under the license'. Costs are yours: server, PostgreSQL, Redis, domain and identity provider. File storage, SMTP and egress requirements were not stated on the pages read. Startups that need SAML or audit logs must pay for Business or Enterprise.
30% discount for non-profit and educational institutions high confidence
Pricing FAQ: 'Yep, absolutely - a 30% discount is available for non-profit and education.' followed by 'Please contact us for more details.' Scope is not stated: cloud vs self-hosted, which plans, duration and renewal are all unspecified. Arithmetic if applied to list prices: Starter $7/mo, Team $55.30/mo, Business $174.30/mo. This is a discount on paid plans, not a free plan.
Eligibility
Non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Individual students and startups are not mentioned. The page states no .edu email rule and no proof-of-status requirement.
How to claim
Contact Outline via https://www.getoutline.com/contact, ask for the 30% non-profit or education discount, and supply whatever institutional proof they request.
Expiry
Not stated.
Gotchas
The page is silent on how eligibility is proven, whether the discount recurs, and whether it covers self-hosted editions. Students acting alone do not appear to qualify on the page's wording.
Enterprise self-hosted trial (on request, terms unpublished) medium confidence
Pricing page: the Enterprise self-hosted column shows 'Request Trial' next to '$5/user/mo billed annually, 100 user min'. The contact form at https://www.getoutline.com/contact?trial=true offers a 'Request an enterprise trial' reason. Trial length, included features, card requirement and post-trial terms are not published. The Business self-hosted column offers 'Purchase' only ($4/user/mo billed annually, 10-user minimum). Upgrade path: switch the Docker image from outlinewiki/outline to outlinewiki/outline-enterprise and set LICENSE_KEY in the environment.
Eligibility
Enterprise is priced from a 100-user minimum. Trial eligibility rules are not published, so it is unclear whether a team under 100 users qualifies.
How to claim
Submit https://www.getoutline.com/contact?trial=true with 'Request an enterprise trial' selected, and ask for the trial terms in writing.
Expiry
Unknown.
Gotchas
Sales-led and unpublished; not a free tier. The Business self-hosted minimum is 10 users, about $40/mo at list before any discount.
Sponsored accounts for non-profits working on climate change medium confidence
Pricing FAQ: 'We're also happy to sponsor accounts for non-profits working directly on solving climate change.' No amount, duration or application process is published beyond 'Please contact us for more details.'
Eligibility
Non-profits working directly on solving climate change only. Not available to students or startups as written.
How to claim
Contact Outline via https://www.getoutline.com/contact.
Expiry
Not stated.
Gotchas
Narrow eligibility and no published terms. Listed for completeness; not relevant to students or startups.