The Novu alternative with the team features built in.
Notifly is built on Novu's workflow engine — same provider ecosystem, same API shapes — and run for you by Devino. The comparison that matters is therefore not "which repo," but what you get without an enterprise contract: Novu's community self-hosted edition excludes a long list of team features, and Novu Cloud puts roles and translations on its Team plan, listed from $250/month on novu.co/pricing. Notifly's Team plan is $149/month, and the free plan is a working workspace rather than a demo.
Everything in the right-hand columns below is taken from Novu's own published comparison of its self-hosted and Cloud editions, its pricing page, or its public GitHub issues — each row links its source. The Notifly column names the plan each capability lands on. Where the two products are the same, the table says so.
At a glance
Best for
Notifly
Teams that want the Novu engine as a hosted service, with roles, translations and an audit log on a $149 self-serve plan and nothing to operate.
Best for
Novu
Teams that must run the platform on their own infrastructure, want the open-source community edition, or want Novu's own Cloud directly from the team that builds the engine.
Is Notifly open source like Novu?
No. Novu publishes an open-source community edition that you run yourself. The Notifly platform is a hosted commercial service operated by Devino and is not distributed as source code: you get an account and an API, not an installer.
The client SDKs (@notiflyio/js, @notiflyio/react, @notiflyio/nextjs, @notiflyio/react-native, @notiflyio/web-push, @notiflyio/capacitor-push) are released under the MIT license on npm. If open source or self-hosting is a requirement, Novu's community edition is the right choice, as "When to pick Novu instead" below says; if you want the same engine run for you, read on.
Against Novu's community self-hosted edition
Most teams searching for a Novu alternative are running the free community edition and have hit its limits: one team member, no roles, no MFA, and no translations. This is that edition, row by row.
| Capability | Notifly (hosted) | Novu self-hosted (community) |
|---|---|---|
| What you operate [source] | Nothing — Devino runs the stack | Your own Docker or Kubernetes deployment |
| Multi-factor authentication (TOTP) [source] | Every plan, including Free | Not in the community self-hosted edition |
| Role-based access control (RBAC) [source] | Team — $149/month | Not in the community edition — Cloud Team plan and up |
| SAML SSO + SCIM directory sync [source] | Enterprise | Enterprise only |
| Social sign-in (Google) [source] | Every plan | Not in the community self-hosted edition |
| Team members [source] | 3 on Free and Pro, unlimited on Team | Max 1 in the community self-hosted edition |
| Organization switching [source] | Included | Self-hosted request closed as not planned |
| Content translations (i18n) [source] | Team — $149/month | Not in the community edition — a proprietary-licensed enterprise package; Cloud Team plan and up |
| Audit log with CSV/NDJSON export | Every plan | Not available |
| Custom environments [source] | Unlimited on Team | Not in the community edition (max 2) |
| Remove product branding [source] | Pro and up ($19/month) | Not in the community edition |
| MCP server for AI clients (OAuth 2.1) [source] | Every plan, including Free — OAuth 2.1 sign-in | Novu Cloud only — no self-hosted account MCP server |
| Web push (VAPID) provider [source] | Included | Open request since 2023 |
| Guest mode (try without an account) | Included | Not available |
Against Novu Cloud
Novu Cloud is the closer comparison, and on several rows the two products are identical — the table keeps those rows rather than hiding them. The differences are price, the size of each plan, and whether you can run it yourself.
| Capability | Notifly (hosted) | Novu Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan volume [source] | 10,000 events/month | 10,000 workflow runs/month |
| First paid plan [source] | Pro — $19/month, 50,000 events | Pro — from $30/month, 30,000 workflow runs |
| Plan with roles and translations [source] | Team — $149/month, 500,000 events | Team — from $250/month, 250,000 workflow runs |
| Volume above the plan [source] | Higher volumes sized on request | $1.20 per 1,000 extra runs on Pro and Team |
| Team members [source] | 3 on Free and Pro, unlimited on Team | 3 on Free and Pro, unlimited on Team |
| Multi-factor authentication [source] | Every plan | Every plan |
| Remove branding [source] | Pro and up | Pro and up |
| Custom SSO and SCIM [source] | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Run it on your own infrastructure [source] | Not offered — hosted only | Community edition, or on-prem Enterprise |
The one-seat problem
Novu's own docs list a maximum of one team member in the community self-hosted edition, and the two GitHub issues asking for team invites and organization switching in the self-hosted dashboard — #8398 and #11356 — were both closed as "not planned." In Notifly, invites, roles, and the org switcher are ordinary product features: invites and the switcher from the free plan, roles from Team.
When to pick Novu instead
Pick Novu if you have to run the platform yourself. Notifly is hosted only — one deployment behind api.notifly.io, with no region choice today — while Novu ships an open-source community edition and lists an on-prem Enterprise option with SSO and RBAC on its pricing page. Air-gapped networks, strict data-residency rules and a policy of owning every datastore all point the same way.
Pick Novu, too, if you want engine changes the day they ship. Notifly tracks upstream and merges it regularly, but a new Novu feature reaches Notifly after it reaches Novu. And if your plan runs over its allowance often, Novu publishes a per-1,000 overage price where Notifly sizes higher volumes with you on request — some teams prefer the published number.
Migrate from Novu
- Create a free Notifly workspace — no card — and copy the secret key from the Development environment.
- Connect the provider credentials you already use in Novu (SendGrid, Twilio, FCM, APNs, Slack and the rest) as integrations. Delivery stays billed by those providers.
- Recreate each workflow in the visual editor under the same identifier, so the names your code triggers do not change.
- Point your trigger calls at api.notifly.io with the Notifly key. POST /v1/events/trigger keeps the same name, to and payload shape.
- Move subscribers over the subscribers API, check deliveries in the activity feed, then promote the workflows and switch to the Production key.
Frequently asked questions
Is Notifly a good Novu alternative?
It is if what you want is the Novu engine without running it, and the team features without an enterprise contract. Notifly runs the same workflow engine, provider integrations and trigger API as a hosted service, and puts roles, translations and custom environments on a $149 self-serve plan, with a free plan and an opt-in 14-day Pro trial (no card). It is the wrong choice if you need to run the platform on your own infrastructure: Notifly is hosted only, and Novu's community edition or its on-prem Enterprise option is the answer there.
Is Notifly the same thing as Novu?
No, but it shares the engine. Notifly began as a fork of Novu and still tracks it — the workflow editor, digest, delay and throttle steps, the in-app inbox components, topics, tenants, and the provider integrations all follow upstream, so improvements land here too. Notifly is operated by Devino as a hosted commercial service rather than a distribution you install. The client SDKs (@notiflyio/js, @notiflyio/react, @notiflyio/nextjs, @notiflyio/react-native, @notiflyio/web-push, @notiflyio/capacitor-push) are released under the MIT license on npm. The platform itself is not licensed that way.
Is Notifly open source like Novu?
No. Novu publishes an open-source community edition you can run yourself; the Notifly platform is a hosted commercial service operated by Devino and is not distributed as source code. The client SDKs (@notiflyio/js, @notiflyio/react, @notiflyio/nextjs, @notiflyio/react-native, @notiflyio/web-push, @notiflyio/capacitor-push) are released under the MIT license on npm. If open source or self-hosting is a requirement, Novu's community edition is the right choice; if you want the same engine run for you, that is what Notifly is.
How do I migrate from Novu to Notifly?
Create a free workspace, connect the same provider credentials you use in Novu, and recreate each workflow in the visual editor under the same identifier. Your trigger calls keep their shape — POST /v1/events/trigger with a workflow name, a recipient and a payload — so the code change is the base URL and the API key. Move subscribers over the subscribers API, test against the Development environment, then switch to the Production key. The getting-started guide walks through the first workflow end to end.
How does Notifly's pricing compare with Novu Cloud?
Both have a free plan with 10,000 a month — events on Notifly, workflow runs on Novu. Notifly's first paid plan is $19 a month for 50,000 events; Novu's Pro starts at $30 a month for 30,000 runs. The plan with roles and translations is $149 a month on Notifly and starts at $250 a month on Novu Cloud. Novu publishes a per-1,000 overage price; Notifly sizes higher volumes on request instead of billing overage automatically.
Which channels does Notifly support compared with Novu?
The same five, because the channel layer is the shared engine: email, SMS, mobile and web push, chat (Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp Business and more) and the in-app inbox, across 70+ provider integrations. Notifly adds a web push provider built on VAPID keys. You connect your own provider accounts on both, so delivery is billed by those providers.
Can I self-host Notifly the way I can self-host Novu?
No. Notifly is a hosted service only, run as one deployment behind api.notifly.io with no region choice today. If self-hosting is a hard requirement — for data residency, an air-gapped network or policy — Novu's community edition or its on-prem Enterprise offering is the right tool, and that is a real advantage Novu has over Notifly.
Do I need to talk to sales to get roles, translations or SSO?
Roles, translations, custom environments and unlimited members are on the Team plan, which you can buy from the dashboard without talking to anyone. Start free; try Pro free for 14 days whenever you’re ready, no card needed. SAML or OIDC single sign-on and SCIM directory sync are Enterprise features on both Notifly and Novu; for those, or for volumes above the Team plan, write to sales@notifly.io.
What changes if you move off self-hosted Novu?
Your API calls and SDK usage carry over, because the trigger surface and payload shapes follow the same engine. What changes is who runs it: Mongo, Redis, the workers, and the upgrade path stop being yours, and the features Novu's community edition omits — multiple team members, roles, MFA, org switching, translations, audit logs — are simply present, on the plan named in the tables above.
See it on your own workflows.
One POST /v1/events/trigger — email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat. 10,000 events a month, free.