When should you choose Sequenzy?

1. You Want Managed Simplicity

Novu is powerful but requires setup - especially self-hosted. If you don't have DevOps resources and want to focus on email marketing, Sequenzy is fully managed. You can send your first campaign in minutes without touching infrastructure.

2. You Need Email Marketing, Not Notification Infrastructure

Novu delivers notifications but doesn't have marketing features. If you need email campaigns, subscriber segments, and AI-generated sequences, Sequenzy is purpose-built for that. Novu would require adding a separate marketing tool.

3. You Want Native Stripe Integration

Sequenzy connects directly to Stripe via our native integration and syncs customer data, MRR, subscription status, and churn signals automatically. Novu requires you to build event tracking yourself. If your billing is in Stripe, we make it effortless.

4. You Want AI-Generated Email Content

Describe what you want ("a 5-email trial-to-paid sequence for a project management SaaS") and our AI generates the emails. Novu has no content creation features - it's infrastructure for delivering messages, not creating them.

When should you stick with Novu?

1. You Want Open-Source Control

Novu is MIT-licensed. You can self-host, audit the code, and have complete control. Sequenzy is proprietary SaaS. If open-source matters to your team - whether for security audits, compliance, or philosophy - Novu is the right choice.

2. You Prefer Self-Hosting

If running infrastructure in-house is a priority (data sovereignty, compliance, cost control at scale), Novu's self-hosted option is free. We don't offer self-hosting. You only pay Novu for their cloud if you want managed hosting.

3. You Need Multi-Channel Notifications

Novu handles email, push notifications, SMS, in-app messages, and chat platforms (Slack, Discord) from one unified system. We only do email. For true multi-channel notifications, Novu is the right choice.

4. You Have Engineering Resources

Novu shines when you have developers who want to build notification infrastructure. It's designed for engineering teams who value control and customization. If you have the resources, Novu's flexibility is worth the setup effort.

5. You Need In-App Notification UI

Novu has pre-built notification inbox components for React and other frameworks. A notification center in your app - like what you see in GitHub or Notion. We don't have this. If in-app notifications are important, Novu wins.

Honest Limitations of Sequenzy

• Not open-source: Proprietary SaaS platform.
• No self-hosting: Fully managed only.
• Email only: No in-app notifications, push, SMS, or chat.
• No notification inbox UI: We don't have pre-built components for in-app notifications.
• SaaS pricing: Monthly subscription vs free self-hosted option.

Honest Limitations of Novu

• Not a marketing platform: No email campaigns, segments, or marketing automation.
• Self-hosting requires DevOps: Managing your own infrastructure takes engineering time.
• Less mature than alternatives: Younger project, documentation still improving.
• No content creation: Delivers messages but doesn't help you write them. No AI features.
• No Stripe integration: You have to build your own event tracking for billing data.
• Cloud pricing can add up: $250/mo Team tier for 250k runs if you need scale on managed hosting.