#77th of 36 in Backends, databases and hosting
novu
Notification API and agent messaging layer for Inbox, email, SMS, push and chat
- Stars
- 40.2k
- License
- custom license
- Last commit
- Nov 2026
- Last release
- Sep 2026
- Language
- TypeScript
38,458 on 10 Apr 202640,248 on 30 Oct 2026
From GitHub's daily star counts.
Checked on GitHub.
Overview
Novu exposes one API for sending notifications through Inbox, email, SMS, push and chat providers, with a workflow engine, digests and an embeddable React Inbox component. It also offers Agent Communication Infrastructure, which normalizes messages between Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp or email and an existing agent. The core is MIT; the enterprise folder is under a commercial license.
Who it is for: Developers adding notifications or chat channels to products and agents
Ranked among open-source alternatives to Firebase (#7 of 10), Vercel (#7 of 10) and Heroku (#7 of 10).
Strengths
- Wide provider coverage: 20 email, 37 SMS, 8 push and 13 chat providers
- Workflow engine with branching, per-channel conditions and digests
- Embeddable real-time Inbox and preferences components for React
- Agent layer works with any agent stack, such as AI SDK or LangGraph
Weaknesses
- Open core: the enterprise folder requires a commercial license
- README points to a hosted dashboard; self-hosting is only linked, not described
- Inbox component is React only; React Native, Vue and Angular are marked coming soon
- Agent features route messages only; Novu is not the agent itself
What it needs
- no GPU
- Compose
Quick answers
Is novu open source?
Its code is public on GitHub under its own license terms; read them before you use it at work.
Can you run novu with Docker?
Yes. Its repository has a Docker setup: a Dockerfile, a Compose file or a published image.
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