Notifications form the backbone of any good product experience by connecting users and businesses. It’s often used as a product strategy to increase product adoption, as growth and product teams have used clear and timely notifications to increase product stickiness.
SAAS industry is shifting from API-based solutions to API + component-based solutions, where API with embeddable components, similar to payment solutions, authentication, or analytics, provides the whole unit’s functionality.
This trend has caught in the notification space, too, with the rise in many providers providing notification infrastructure as a solution. One of the prominent open-source solutions in this space is Novu.
Novu is a popular open-source notifications solution primarily made for developers to embed usable notification blocks, including templates, workflows, and notification analytics in their codebase using the Novu CLI. However, it can also be limiting for many other use cases, which is why a business would want to seek an alternative.
This article will explore some of the top Novu alternatives, their features, pros, cons, and pricing.
Why do you need a Novu Alternative in 2024?
Businesses can look for Novu competitors for various reasons, including feature gaps, learning curve, being open-source, vendor lock-ins, dependency on dev teams, and more. This section will examine why businesses look for different notification providers.
1. Limited Capabilities on dashboard
Novu is primarily accessed via Novu CLI and has fewer features on the dashboard; hence, a non-tech person, like in the product management domain, might need engineering help in managing notification workflows for their product. Since it’s running via CLI, the developer will also have to learn new commands and understand the error associated with the notification system.
2. Limited functionality
Bigger players in the notifications space provide more functionalities and customization options than Novu, like providing templates over CRUD API or supporting multi-tenancy in the preferences module. Novu might not be the perfect solution for complex B2B organizations requiring notification customizations.
3. Open Source Limitations
Being an open-source tool, some companies can find it non-compliant with their internal business practices and policies since the majority of the source code is available publicly. Enterprises, especially, have very steep compliance requirements and closed-source tools cater well to those cases.
Top 7 Novu alternatives in 2024
If you want to replace your current notifications tool, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s look at the top 7 Novu competitors.
1. SuprSend
SuprSend is a notifications infrastructure built by developers who have previously built and managed a notification system that handled millions of monthly notifications. It’s designed to be scalable, reliable, and fault-tolerant in the long run while providing both personalization and customization capabilities at scale. Let’s check out some of the top features of SuprSend, which is one of the best Novu alternatives available.
Comparison of Key Features:
[Feature 1]: WYSIWYG Template Editor with v-Control
You can build and customize templates from the UI using the WYSIWYG editor. It’s intuitive, so even non-tech teams like product or design can use it to design template copies. You can create personalized notifications without managing and deploying templates in your codebase. It supports multiple languages and keeps track of different versions. This saves the tech team a lot of time.
[Feature 2]: Granular Preference Center with ready UI components
SuprSend's preference center offers an extensive preference module, allowing customers to easily configure and manage notification preferences across different tenants and channels. Teams can set up notification preferences at granular levels like categories, frequency, channels, tenants, and capture them via API and ready-components for UI. SuprSend also provides a hosted preference page for customers.
[Feature 3]: Powerful Workflow Engine
SuprSend shines well when it comes to building logics with notification workflows. You can easily set up multi-step channels, create in-app activity feeds, add nodes like channel routing, batch similar messages, throttle messages to reduce bombarding, send notifications in customers’ timezone, and post information to other systems.
[Feature 4]: Observability and Troubleshooting
It’s super easy to do RCAs around your notifications deliverability using SuprSend’s analytics and logs. You can get details of every execution, request made, broadcast failed node, and more, so you know exactly what is breaking.
[Feature 5]: Integration with Data Warehouses and Databases
SuprSend works well with popular databases like MySQL and BigQuery. This means you can easily query your users based on customer 360-degree data and create richer notifications without writing crons in the code. You can also link your CDP tools like Segment and Mixpanel, to stream events to SuprSend.
Pros
- Quick implementation as multiple SDKs are present.
- Advanced WYSIWYG template editor for creating visually stunning notifications
- Flexible and user-friendly preference center at multi-tenant levels
- Powerful workflow engine for designing complex notification logic
- Comprehensive observability through analytics and logs to ensure reliable and efficient notification delivery
Cons
- Some advanced features like multi-tenancy and preferences are not available in the free plan.
Pricing
SuprSend offers three primary plans in their pricing, starting with a free plan for indie devs and small projects. Then, they have growth and enterprise plans with additional features and compliance considerations.
Their pricing is primarily based on the volume of notifications; however, they also support user-based or events-based pricing.
2. Courier
Courier is a comprehensive notification platform that effortlessly empowers developers to build, manage, and deliver notifications across multiple channels. Courier simplifies scaling multi-channel notifications while maintaining a superior user experience by integrating a fully functional notification system into a product. Developers can leverage Courier’s robust API and SDKs for various languages to send notifications, manage templates, and handle user preferences.
Key Features
- Multi-Channel Integration: Courier's API connects with over 50 providers, making it easy to manage notifications across different channels like email, SMS, and in-app messaging.
- Effortless Scaling: Allows teams to add new channels and switch providers in minutes, centralizing the routing and configuration of notifications.
- Template Management: Supports omnichannel templates with drag-and-drop designs and JSON-based templates, simplifying content creation for various notification types.
- User Preferences: The ability to respect and manage user preferences regarding language, frequency, and communication channels.
- Centralized Analytics and Logging: Provides insights into notification delivery across all channels, aiding in debugging and optimizing user experience.
Pros
- Developer-Centric: Offers SDKs for all major languages and APIs that give developers extensive control over the notification process.
- Omnichannel Flexibility: Supports a wide range of notification channels, making providing a consistent user experience easy.
- Simplified Scaling: Effortlessly adds and scales notification channels, allowing seamless provider changes.
- Customizable Templating: Allows teams to design templates through drag-and-drop tools and JSON, catering to diverse use cases.
Cons
- Feature Complexity: The extensive feature set might be overwhelming for SMBs or projects that need a simpler notification system.
- Learning Curve: Due to its flexibility & power, new users may experience a steeper learning curve when setting up their notification infrastructure.
Pricing
- Free Tier: Designed for indie developers, providing a basic set of features for quick implementation.
- Pro Plan: Priced at $0.005/ notifications, offering additional features, priority support, and enhanced usage limits.
- Enterprise Solutions: Custom pricing for tailored support and advanced features to meet specific business requirements.
3. OneSignal
OneSignal is a versatile customer engagement platform that is made for marketers. It offers push notifications, emails, SMS, in-app messages, and live activity updates that you can embed into your product. The platform focuses on providing a smooth, multi-channel experience, ensuring you reach your customers where they are. It includes simple, no-code tools and automation. Marketers can create personalized messages without needing developer support. This makes OneSignal popular with both marketing teams and developers.
Key Features
- Omnichannel Messaging: Supports mobile/ web push notifications, SMS, emails, and in-app notifications, enabling communication across multiple channels.
- Journeys: A drag-and-drop workflow builder to automate customer engagement without needing to write code.
- Personalization: Advanced segmentation & personalization options to tailor content for each user.
- Analytics: Real-time insights to measure performance and optimize engagement strategies.
- SDK & API Integrations: Supports seamless integrations with popular development platforms, allowing for easy adoption in apps and websites.
Pros
- Comprehensive Messaging Platform: Covers multiple channels like push, email, SMS, and more, all in one platform.
- Easy-to-Use: No-code features like the Journeys workflow builder make it accessible for non-developers.
- Strong Developer Support: Reliable SDKs, APIs, and extensive documentation cater to developer needs.
- Scalability: Suitable for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises, and easily scales with your user base.
Cons
- Unified API for all channels: They don’t provide a single unified API to access all the notification channels.
- Multi-tenancy not supported: In case your business model includes multi-tenants, you would find it complex to support custom notifications for each brand at scale.
- Basic preferences: Users only get basic preferences with many necessary options that are not available.
- In-app inbox, Slack, Teams not supported: Businesses cannot create in-app notifications via app inbox, nor does it support Slack or Teams, which are essential communication mediums in the SaaS world.
- Fewer workflow options: Some necessary workflow nodes like batching and digests are not available.
- Step-by-step workflow logs are not available: You can’t see the step-by-step workflow node logs, including the payload, requests, status, and overall summary, at a granular level.
Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes essential features like push notifications and email, with up to 10,000 monthly notifications.
- Growth Plan: Starts at $9/month, offering higher limits and additional features.
- Professional & Enterprise Plans: Custom pricing based on specific business needs, with advanced capabilities and dedicated support.
4. Knock
Knock is a developer-first notifications platform built to integrate in products through its intuitive components and SDKs quickly. It helps businesses scale their notifications volume quickly while also being fault-tolerant. Knock supports all major channels such as email, SMS, push, app inbox, Slack, Discord, and more.
With a focus on flexibility, Knock provides customizable workflows, batching capabilities, and tools for managing notification preferences. Their easy scaling infrastructure powered by PostgreSQL ensures that notifications evolve alongside the product, supporting enterprises from the startup stage to full-scale production.
Key Features
- Cross-channel notifications: Supports email, SMS, push, Slack, and more.
- Comprehensive API: A unified API for managing notifications.
- Built-in user preferences: Manage user notification preferences seamlessly.
- Real-time inboxes: Pre-built components for in-app notification feeds.
- Security & Compliance: SOC2, GDPR, and HIPAA certified.
Pros
- Easy integration with thorough documentation.
- Customizable and scalable for small to large businesses.
- Cross-channel support with no setup required for infrastructure.
- Enterprise-grade security and user control tools.
Cons
- May be overkill for small-scale applications with simple notification needs.
- Limited free tier (10k notifications per month).
Pricing
- Free Tier: 10,000 notifications per month for free.
- Starter: $250/ month for 50000 notifications
- Pay-as-you-go: Pricing scales with usage, with no upfront infrastructure costs.
5. Engagespot
Engagespot is a notification service built for developers. It offers an easy-to-use platform with a user-friendly interface for managing multi-channel messaging. You can send notifications through in-app, email, SMS, WhatsApp, Slack, and more, all using a single API.
Engagespot’s platform helps teams create scalable and user-friendly notification systems. It includes message templates, user preference management, two-way messaging, and action buttons to enhance the notification experience.
Key Features:
- Unified API: Send notifications across multiple channels (email, in-app, SMS, etc.) using a single API.
- Template Editor: Customizable, provider-agnostic templates for notifications.
- User Preference Management: Users can control how and where they receive notifications.
- Actionable Notifications: Add interactive elements like buttons or forms to notifications.
- Real-Time In-App Inbox: Built-in in-app inbox for real-time updates.
Pros:
- Easy to integrate across different platforms and channels.
- Allows customization through an intuitive no-code template editor.
Cons:
- Some users may need help with the initial setup process.
- Limited documentation on highly advanced use cases.
Pricing:
Engagespot offers a free plan with up to 10,000 notifications per month. Custom pricing is available for higher volumes and advanced features based on specific business needs. Their growth plan starts at $249/ month with some advanced capabilities like 90 days of log retention and i18n translations.
6. Raven.dev
Raven.dev is a platform that makes transactional messaging easy for product and engineering teams. It offers a centralized system to manage notifications across channels like Email, SMS, Push, WhatsApp, Voice, and more, with support for over 40 major providers.
Its no-code template editor lets users create and manage notifications without writing any code. Smart routing and fallback rules are built in to ensure important messages are delivered on time.
Key Features:
- Multi-Channel Support: Manage transactional messaging across channels like SMS, Email, Push, WhatsApp, and Voice.
- One API for All Channels: Send messages using one API supporting 40+ major providers.
- No-Code Template Editor: Easily create and update notification templates without deployment.
- Intelligent Orchestration: Configure fallback and retry rules to ensure message delivery.
- Logs & Analytics: Track performance and get insights from a centralized dashboard.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use platform with one API to handle multiple channels.
- No-code editor simplifies template management.
- Offers intelligent delivery rules to ensure critical messages are delivered.
Cons:
- Initial learning curve when configuring multiple channels.
- Limited customization for advanced users.
- No support for multi-tenancy
Pricing:
Raven offers 10,000 free events per month, after which pricing depends on usage, with scalable plans based on the number of events and advanced features like analytics and orchestration. Their team plan starts at $90/month with 100,000 notifications.
7. Magicbell
MagicBell is a notification service that adds a real-time inbox to web apps. It supports multi-channel notifications, including in-app, push, email, Slack, and more. This helps developers launch notification systems fast without losing out on design or features.
MagicBell syncs notifications across devices, so users won't see duplicates. It also allows for easy customization to fit a brand’s look. With a simple dashboard and multiple SDKs, teams can easily manage and integrate notifications into their product.
Key Features:
- Multi-Channel Support: Supports in-app, push notifications, email, and Slack.
- Customizable Design: Modify the notification inbox to align with brand aesthetics.
- Cross-Device Sync: Avoid duplicate notifications with synchronized updates.
- Developer-Friendly SDK: Easily integrate with your product in minutes using pre-built SDKs.
Pros:
- Quick setup with real-time notifications.
- Cross-device synchronization improves user experience.
- Extensive customization options for notification inbox styling.
Cons:
- Limited advanced customization is available for more complex notification use cases.
- Some users may experience an initial learning curve with integrations.
Pricing:
MagicBell offers a free plan, allowing for limited usage, with paid plans starting at around $99/month, depending on the number of notifications and advanced features required.
Comparison Table: SuprSend vs. Novu
What to Consider When Choosing a Notification Infrastructure
When choosing a way to send notifications, keep these things in mind:
- Understand your business needs and try to forecast the scale shortly. Ensure your notifications service can handle these continuous spikes without any challenges.
- Having a good user preference, you must ensure that your customers' wishes are complied with around their notification channel and frequency.
- A good customer support will be crucial if you are stuck somewhere in the process. Smaller teams usually provide better customer support than large incumbents.
- Your new system should work smoothly with your existing tools.
- The product should have a good logging and observability layer.
- Don't just think about the cost today. Consider how it might change as you grow.
- You'll send more messages as you get more customers. Make sure the system can keep up.
- You shouldn't need to be a tech genius to use it. Look for simple, user-friendly tools.
- With all the privacy rules, ensure your system follows the law and protects customer info.
Get Started with SuprSend
Choosing the right notification infrastructure enhances user engagement and customer satisfaction. If you want to streamline communication and ensure accurate message delivery to the right users, SuprSend could be an excellent choice. It helps keep your audience not just informed but fully engaged.
Ready to experience SuprSend? Book a demo today!
