head to head · open source
novu vs waterfox
novu has 40,002 GitHub stars, 4,494 forks, 105 open issues and last shipped yesterday. waterfox has 6,291 stars, 431 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. novu leads on adoption by 536% (40,002 vs 6,291 stars). novu is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; waterfox is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. novu has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, waterfox 7%. novu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| novu | waterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.5K | ⑂ 431 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick novu if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick waterfox if
- You want the waterfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and waterfox fits your workflow better
About novu
Novu is an open source communication infrastructure platform for building and managing multi channel notifications in products and connecting them to AI agents. It lives in the Node.js/TypeScript ecosystem and targets developers who need to send and receive messages across email, SMS, push, in app inbox, chat, and collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
About waterfox
Waterfox is an open source web browser built on Mozilla Firefox, with source code maintained in this repository. The project describes itself as a customisable browser based on the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and the tree contains both the upstream Mozilla platform code and the Waterfox specific product layer that sits on top of it. It lives in the JavaScript and Gecko browser ecosystem, sharing the rendering engine, build system and testing tooling that Mozilla maintains for Firefox. The browser is distributed to end users through the project's own website, while the source distribution here targets people who wan…
read the full waterfox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is novu or waterfox more popular?
novu has 40,002 GitHub stars and waterfox has 6,291. novu has the larger community by that measure.
Are novu and waterfox free?
Neither novu nor waterfox declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between novu and waterfox?
novu is written in TypeScript and waterfox in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, novu or waterfox?
Choose novu if you want the larger community (40,002 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose waterfox if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.