Novu vs RevenueCat
Open-source notification infrastructure — workflows across email, SMS, push, chat, in-app
vs. Mobile subscription infrastructure — iOS + Android + web in one API
Pricing tiers
Novu
Free
10K workflow runs/mo. All channels. 20 workflows, 2 environments, 3 team members, 24h retention.
Free
Self-hosted (OSS)
Open source (MIT). Run locally or on own infrastructure. No usage limits.
$0 base (usage-based)
Pro
From $30/mo. 30K+ runs, 7-day retention, branding removal, advanced email editor.
$30/mo
Team
From $250/mo. 250K+ runs, 10 envs, 90-day retention, RBAC, 600 RPS.
$250/mo
Enterprise
Custom. 10M+ runs, HIPAA BAA, SSO/OIDC, data residency (SG/UK/AU/JP/KR), self-hosted/VPC.
Custom
RevenueCat
Starter
$0. Free up to $2,500 MTR (monthly tracked revenue). All core features. Email support.
Free
Pro
$0 base + 1% of MTR above $2,500. All features + priority support + SLA.
$0 base (usage-based)
Enterprise
Custom. Volume discount, dedicated support, custom contract.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing free on Novu vs starter on RevenueCat.
| Metric | Novu | RevenueCat |
|---|---|---|
| retention | 1 days | — |
| workflow runs monthly | 10000 runs/mo | — |
| workflows | 20 workflows | — |
Features
Novu · 15 features
- Activity Feed — Message-by-message delivery timeline.
- Chat — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Mattermost, WhatsApp, WeChat.
- Email — SendGrid, Postmark, Mailgun, AWS SES, Resend, SMTP, Plunk, Mailjet, Sparkpost, M…
- Inbox — React/Next/Vue/Angular in-app Inbox component.
- Layouts — Reusable email layouts with template nesting.
- Multi-tenancy — Per-tenant branding, templates, preferences.
- Novu Framework — Code-first workflow DSL (TypeScript) colocated with app code.
- Preferences — Per-subscriber + global notification preferences.
- Push — APNs, FCM, Expo, OneSignal, Pushpad, Pusher.
- Self-hosting — Docker Compose / Kubernetes deployment of full stack.
- SMS — Twilio, MessageBird, Plivo, Nexmo, Termii, Sendchamp, Africa's Talking, Kannel, …
- Subscribers — Subscriber profiles with channels, preferences, topics.
- Topics — Pub/sub style subscribe many users to a topic.
- Translations — i18n support for templates.
- Workflows — Code-first or visual notification workflows with steps, branches, delays.
RevenueCat · 13 features
- Audiences + Targeting — Target users by cohort, country, event.
- Charts — Cohort retention, LTV, MRR dashboards.
- Customer Center — Native UI for subscription management.
- Data Integrations — Push events to Mixpanel/Amplitude/Segment/etc.
- Entitlements — Server-authoritative feature unlocks independent of SKU.
- Experiments — Built-in A/B testing.
- Offerings + Packages — Remote product groupings + package targeting.
- Paywalls — Remote-configurable native paywall UI templates.
- Purchases — Unified purchase API across stores.
- Receipt Validation — Server-side App Store + Play receipt validation.
- Restore Purchases — Cross-device + reinstall restore.
- Web Billing (Stripe) — Accept subs via web with Stripe, reconcile with mobile.
- Webhooks — Subscription lifecycle events.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Novu | RevenueCat |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | Novu CLI | — |
| SDK | go-novu, @novu/api, @novu/framework, novu-java, novu-kotlin, novu-php, novu (Python), @novu/react (Inbox), novu-ruby | RevenueCat Android SDK, RevenueCat Flutter, RevenueCat iOS SDK, RevenueCat React Native, RevenueCat Web Billing |
| REST | Novu REST API | RevenueCat REST API |
| OTHER | Outbound Webhooks, Self-hosted (Docker) | RevenueCat Dashboard, RevenueCat Webhooks |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to Novu and RevenueCat may be affiliate links — Staxly may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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