Novu
Open source notification infrastructure
The Lens
Novu gives you one API for all your notifications: email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat, replacing the duct tape of Twilio, SendGrid, Firebase, and Slack APIs. Define a notification workflow once, and it handles routing to the right channel based on user preferences.
The open source version (self-hosted) is free and includes the core workflow engine, template management, subscriber preferences, and all channel integrations. The managed cloud has a free tier with 30,000 events/month, then $250/mo for the Business tier.
Self-hosting runs via Docker Compose with MongoDB, Redis, and the Novu workers. Setup takes 1-2 hours and the docs walk you through it. Moderate ops burden. You're running a multi-service stack with queues and a database. Solo developers: the cloud free tier at 30K events/month covers most side projects. Small teams: cloud free tier still works unless you're sending heavy volume. Growing teams: self-host to avoid per-event costs or pay $250/mo for managed.
The catch: Novu has pivoted its architecture multiple times. The latest version (v2) shifted to a code-first approach which is cleaner but broke backward compatibility. If you adopted v1 patterns, migration takes work.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
free self hosted paid cloudFree (Self-Hosted)
Full notification engine: all channels (email, SMS, push, in-app, chat), workflow editor, subscriber preference management, template system, and integrations with providers like SendGrid, Twilio, FCM. No event limits.
Free (Cloud)
30,000 events/month, 3 team members, community support. Enough for early-stage products.
Paid (Cloud Business), $250/mo
250,000 events/month, unlimited team members, priority support, advanced analytics, and digest/delay features.
Paid (Cloud Enterprise), Custom
Unlimited events, SLA, dedicated support, SSO, audit logs.
Self-Hosted Costs
MongoDB + Redis + Novu services via Docker. A $40-80/mo VM handles moderate notification volume. Storage grows with notification history. Expect 4-6 hours/month ops time.
When to Pay
Self-host if you're cost-sensitive or need data sovereignty. Pay $250/mo when your team would rather build features than maintain notification infrastructure. The break-even is roughly when self-hosting ops time exceeds 3-4 hours/month at your team's hourly rate.
Verdict
Cloud free tier is generous for small apps. Self-host to avoid per-event pricing at scale.
Cloud free tier: 30K events/month. Self-host for unlimited. $250/mo Cloud Business for managed convenience.
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