Novu vs Ofelia

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureNovuOfelia
CategoryAutomation & WorkflowsAutomation & Workflows
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptGo
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB32 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 39,466★ 3,955
First released20212016
ReplacesCourier, Knockcron

Why pick each one

Choose Novu if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 39.5k GitHub stars
Novu details

Choose Ofelia if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Docker-native scheduling
Ofelia details

Frequently asked questions

Is Novu or Ofelia better?

Neither is universally better. Novu has the larger community, while Ofelia is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Novu and Ofelia free and open-source?

Yes. Novu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ofelia under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Novu and Ofelia with Docker?

Novu: yes. Ofelia: yes.

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