Documents and notes decision
Slab
A small team can build a usable internal knowledge base (editor, topics, search, auth) in ~one week and self-host it, but reproducing Slab's enterprise features (SSO/SCIM/SLA), broad integrations catalog, and built-in AI capabilities would be expensive and time-consuming—so keep paying if you need those.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Slab alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Create and edit rich posts; organize content into topics; search and discover posts; manage users and access.
What it still won’t have
- Enterprise SSO, SAML, SCIM provisioning and audit logs
- Dedicated migration service and hands-off switching support
- Advanced AI capabilities (AI Autofix, AI Predict, AI Ask) as a built-in feature
- Unlimited integrations and prebuilt connectors catalog
- Uptime SLA, priority support, and enterprise analytics
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 9 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal team knowledge-base web app using Node.js + Express, PostgreSQL, React, and Elasticsearch. Implement: 1) a rich-text editor with save, edit history (DB schema + API endpoints), 2) Topics and tag associations and UI for browsing, 3) full-text search indexing and a search UI that queries Elasticsearch, 4) user auth using Google OAuth and basic role-based access control, 5) a one-click import from Google Docs (download docx/text and create posts), and 6) webhooks to receive document updates from one external source (e.g., Google Drive) to reindex. Out of scope: enterprise SAML/SCIM, advanced AI features, multi-tenant billing, dedicated SLA. Include error handling, input validation, and automated tests for API endpoints and search indexing.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 5 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score67
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 5
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productSlab - Knowledge Base & Wiki Software
- official pricingPricing - Slab
- official productAlternative to Google Docs for Knowledge Sharing - Slab
- open sourceoutline/outline
- open sourcedocmost/docmost
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
