head to head · open source
Ntfy vs Plunk
Ntfy has 34,282 GitHub stars, 1,605 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Plunk has 5,474 stars, 401 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Ntfy leads on adoption by 526% (34,282 vs 5,474 stars). Ntfy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Plunk is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Ntfy has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Plunk 7%. Ntfy 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
| Ntfy | Plunk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 5.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 401 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ntfy if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Plunk if
- You want the Plunk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Plunk fits your workflow better
About Ntfy
ntfy is an HTTP based publish subscribe notification service that delivers push notifications to phones and desktops via simple REST API calls. It operates in the open source notification ecosystem, providing a lightweight alternative to proprietary push notification infrastructure. Users publish messages to topics via standard HTTP methods, and subscribers receive them instantly on registered devices.
About Plunk
Plunk is an open source email platform written in TypeScript and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It combines transactional email, marketing campaigns, and workflow automation in a single system, and it is positioned as a self hosted alternative to SendGrid, Resend, and Mailgun. The project lives in the TypeScript and Node.js ecosystem, ships as a Docker image, and is documented at docs.useplunk.com with a community Discord for support.
read the full Plunk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ntfy or Plunk more popular?
Ntfy has 34,282 GitHub stars and Plunk has 5,474. Ntfy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ntfy and Plunk free?
Both are open source. Ntfy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Plunk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ntfy and Plunk?
Ntfy is written in Go and Plunk in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ntfy or Plunk?
Choose Ntfy if you want the larger community (34,282 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Plunk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.