Novu vs SavvyCal
Open-source notification infrastructure — workflows across email, SMS, push, chat, in-app
vs. The indie-darling scheduling tool — polished UX, overlay-first design
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
SavvyCal
Basic
$12/user/mo (or $120/year). Unlimited event types, round-robin, single signatures.
$12/mo
Premium
$20/user/mo (or $200/year). Custom branding, custom domain, ranked/round-robin routing, webhooks.
$20/mo
Lifetime
$199 one-time. Full Premium forever (for early supporters / occasional offers).
$199/mo
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing free on Novu vs basic on SavvyCal.
| Metric | Novu | SavvyCal |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
SavvyCal · 15 features
- Automations — Reminders + follow-ups.
- Buffer Time — Before/after meetings.
- Calendar Overlay — See recipient cal overlayed on yours.
- Collective — Find time that works for all hosts.
- Collective Round-Robin — Best of both.
- Custom Branding — Logo + colors.
- Custom Domain — cal.yourbrand.com.
- Embed Widget — Inline + popup for websites.
- Group Events — Many attendees → 1 host.
- One-on-One — Standard solo meetings.
- Paid Bookings — Stripe integration.
- Ranked Availability — Suggest preferred times.
- Round-Robin — Distribute across hosts.
- Teams — Shared scheduling for teams.
- Webhooks — Real-time events (Premium).
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Novu | SavvyCal |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | Novu CLI | — |
| SDK | go-novu, @novu/api, @novu/framework, novu-java, novu-kotlin, novu-php, novu (Python), @novu/react (Inbox), novu-ruby | — |
| REST | Novu REST API | SavvyCal API |
| OTHER | Outbound Webhooks, Self-hosted (Docker) | Embed + Popup Widget, SavvyCal Dashboard, SavvyCal Webhooks |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to Novu and SavvyCal 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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