Novu
The open-source notification infrastructure for developers
About Novu
Novu is an open-source notification infrastructure platform that enables developers to manage and deliver notifications across multiple channels including in-app, email, SMS, push, and chat through a unified API. It offers both a drag-and-drop workflow builder for non-technical teams and a code-first Framework SDK for developers.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable for full data control
- Excellent developer experience with well-documented APIs and SDKs
- Clean unified approach to handling notifications across all major channels
- Both visual workflow builder and code-first SDK for flexibility
- Strong community with 38K+ GitHub stars and active development
- Generous free tier with 10,000 workflow runs/month
Cons
- Admin dashboard can be confusing for non-developers
- Limited activity feed retention — free tier only 24 hours
- Analytics and reporting could be more robust compared to enterprise competitors
- Non-technical teams may find the platform less accessible than visual-first competitors
Key Features
Multi-Channel Unified API
Single API to send notifications across email, in-app, SMS, push, and chat channels
Workflow Engine
Visual drag-and-drop builder for creating multi-step notification workflows with conditional logic and delays
In-App Notification Inbox
Embeddable real-time notification inbox component that integrates with minimal code
Digest Engine
Consolidates multiple notifications into summary digests to reduce notification fatigue
Code-First Framework SDK
Define notification workflows in code and integrate with CI/CD pipelines
Subscriber Preference Center
Built-in UI for end-users to control notification preferences per channel and event type
Multi-Tenancy Support
Manage notifications across multiple tenants with isolated configurations
Activity Feed & Debugging
Real-time logs and activity feed for monitoring and debugging notification delivery
Pricing
- 10,000 workflow runs/month
- All channels
- Up to 20 workflows
- 3 team members
- 24-hour activity feed
- 30,000+ workflow runs/month
- Remove Novu branding
- Advanced email editor
- 7-day activity feed
- Higher rate limits
- 250,000+ workflow runs/month
- Up to 10 environments
- 90-day retention
- Unlimited team members
- RBAC
- 10M+ workflow runs/month
- Unlimited environments
- HIPAA BAA
- SSO (SAML/OIDC)
- Self-hosted option
Best For
Transactional Notifications
Send order confirmations, password resets, and payment reminders across email and SMS with guaranteed delivery
In-App Notification Feeds
Build real-time notification inboxes for SaaS products showing mentions, comments, and system alerts
Digest Notifications
Consolidate high-frequency events into periodic summaries to reduce notification fatigue
Multi-Channel Onboarding
Create multi-step onboarding sequences routing through email, in-app, and push based on engagement
DevOps Alerts
Route infrastructure alerts to Slack, email, or push with conditional escalation workflows
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