Node RED

Browser-based flow editor that helps you wiring hardware devices, APIs and online services to create IoT solutions.

Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Still maintained? Yes: 131 commits in the last 90 days, latest release 5.0.9 (Oct 2026).

Also an alternative to Home Assistant Cloud and Zapier.

Docker #2 of 20 in Internet of Things (IoT)

At a glance

Node RED quick facts

Health score: 98/100 GOOD
Stars: 23,794
Last commit: 4 days ago (Oct 2026)
Latest release: 5.0.9, Oct 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

View node-red/node-red on GitHub ↗ Website ↗

Top alternatives to Node RED

Full rankings: Home Assistant Cloud alternatives, Zapier alternatives

Why it ranks here

Health score explained

Node RED scores 98/100, #2 of 20 in Internet of Things (IoT): 131 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (5.0.9, 9 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 23,794 stars add 17.5 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and Docker support adds the final 10. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is star count, worth 2.5 more points.

Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.

Commit activity 35.0 / 35

131 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
Release recency 25.0 / 25

5.0.9 released 9 days ago
Stars biggest shortfall 17.5 / 20

24k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
Not archived 10.0 / 10

Repository is active
Docker support 10.0 / 10

Docker image or Compose file available

Commit activity

131
Last 90 days: 786
Last 12 months: 4 days ago
Last push

Ranked #2 of 20 tools in Internet of Things (IoT) by health , between Home Assistant (#1) and EMQX (#3) .

Details

Licence	Apache-2.0
Platforms	Nodejs, Docker
Latest release	5.0.9 · 9 days ago
Stars	23,794
Open issues	224
Docker	Yes
Repository	node-red/node-red ↗

Visit website ↗ Source code ↗

Node RED vs its top 5 alternatives

Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with Node RED (Internet of Things (IoT)), scored on the same five terms.

Tool	Health	Stars	Licence	Last commit
Home Assistant	100	92k	Apache-2.0	today
Node RED (this tool)	98	24k	Apache-2.0	4 days ago
Domoticz	94	3.8k	GPL-3.0	today
Gladys	94	3.3k	Apache-2.0	today
ioBroker	83	1.4k	MIT	yesterday
openHAB	57	1.2k	EPL-2.0	yesterday

Node RED: common questions

What does Node RED replace?

Repoly lists Node RED as an open-source alternative to Home Assistant Cloud and Zapier. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where Node RED stands against the others.

Is Node RED still maintained?

Node RED had 131 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was 4 days ago; the latest tagged release, 5.0.9, is from 9 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.

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