Novu vs Stalwart XMPP
| Tagline | Open-source notification infrastructure for multi-channel developer alerts | Modern all-in-one XMPP server with web admin panel written in Rust |
| Category | Team Chat & Collaboration | Team Chat & Collaboration |
| Replaces | Slack, Microsoft Teams | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
| GitHub stars | 39k | 800 |
| Language | Docker | Rust |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose | Docker Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 5 days ago | 1 month ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Novu
- Not a real-time team chat; it is a notification delivery layer, not a conversation platform.
- Self-hosted setup requires Postgres, MongoDB, Redis, and S3-compatible storage, adding operational burden.
- Managed cloud features (advanced analytics, SLA guarantees) are not available in the open-source edition.
- Mobile SDK for in-app notifications has fewer features than commercial equivalents like OneSignal.
Stalwart XMPP
- Younger project with a smaller community and less battle-tested than Prosody or Ejabberd
- No native web chat client included; users need a third-party XMPP app
- Clustering and high-availability support is still maturing
Bottom line
Choose Stalwart XMPP if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Novu for the larger community and ecosystem. Novu has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.