---
title: Novu (open source)
description: "Open-source notification infrastructure that unifies email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat behind one API and workflow engine, self-hostable or run on Novu's"
canonical: "https://10xgtm.ai/oss/novu"
type: open-source-review
license: MIT (core); enterprise/ packages commercial
repo: "https://github.com/novuhq/novu"
language: TypeScript
---

# Novu

Open-source notification infrastructure that unifies email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat behind one API and workflow engine, self-hostable or run on Novu's cloud.

The **default open-source choice** for multi-channel notifications, with a drop-in React Inbox component and a real workflow engine that saves weeks of plumbing. The catch is that the **self-host stack is heavy**, MongoDB plus Redis plus separate worker and WebSocket services, and SSO, RBAC, and social login live only in Novu Cloud or the commercial Enterprise Edition.

## Project facts

- **License:** MIT (core); enterprise/ packages commercial
- **Repo:** https://github.com/novuhq/novu
- **Stars:** 39.7k
- **Language:** TypeScript

## What it does

- Sends across in-app, email, SMS, push, and chat from one API, so you stop wiring Twilio, SendGrid, FCM, and Slack together separately
- Runs a workflow engine with steps, delays, conditional branches, and digests that batch a burst of events into a single message
- Drops a real-time Inbox notification center into a React app, with a bell, feed, mark-as-read, preferences, and WebSocket updates
- Routes each channel through 60+ provider integrations, with fallback chains you configure once and change without touching application code
- Lets subscribers manage their own per-channel notification preferences, and stores that state for you
- Runs on your own servers via Docker Compose, keeping subscriber and message data inside your infrastructure for GDPR or data-residency needs

## What it can't do

- Install as a single binary; a real deployment means MongoDB, Redis, S3-compatible storage, and separate API, worker, and WebSocket services
- Give you SSO, SAML, RBAC, MFA, or social sign-in on the community build; those sit in Novu Cloud or the commercial Enterprise Edition
- Drop a prebuilt Inbox into Vue, Angular, or Svelte the way it does with React; non-React stacks fall back to the headless API
- Retain more than a short activity feed on the free cloud tier, which makes debugging older production issues harder
- Remove Novu branding, snooze notifications, or keep more than two environments on the self-hosted build; those are gated to the cloud

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Full review: https://10xgtm.ai/oss/novu