BLOGS
Courier Alternatives - Top 3 Competitors (With Comparisons)
In this article, we discuss three respectable alternatives to Courier as your 3rd party notification service to weigh against, along with a comparison table.
In this article, we discuss three respectable alternatives to Courier as your 3rd party notification service to weigh against, along with a comparison table.
| NotificationAPI | Courier | Novu | Knock | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per Notification | $0.001 | $0.005 + integration costs | $0.001 + integration costs | $0.005 + integration costs |
| Channels | ||||
| Built-In with Dedicated IPs | Requires SendGrid or similar | Requires SendGrid or similar | Requires SendGrid or similar | |
| Realtime In-App | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| SMS / Voice | Built-In with Automatic A2P Registration | Requires Twilio account or similar | Requires Twilio account or similar | Requires Twilio account or similar |
| Web Push (Browser) | Supported | Requires OneSignal account or similar | Requires OneSignal account or similar | Requires OneSignal account or similar |
| Mobile Push (iOS, Android, RN) | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Slack, MS Teams | Not Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Not Supported | Supported | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Features | ||||
| User Preferences | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Batching, Digest, Scheduling | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Throttling & Deduplication | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Custom Workflow Editor | Not Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Logs and Reporting | ||||
| Detailed Notification Logs | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Log Streaming, API, or Webhook | All Plans | Enterprise Only | Enterprise Only | Enterprise Only |
| Engagement Tracking | Supported | Supported | Not Supported | Supported |
| Customization | ||||
| Template management and editing | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| White-labelling | Free | Paid plans | Paid plans | Paid plans |
| Internationalization | Free | Free | Cloud Version | Enterprise Plan |
| Security and Support | ||||
| Support SLA | <1 hour during work hours (Eastern Timezone) for any paid plan | Enterprise Plan | Enterprise Plan | Enterprise Plan |
| GDPR | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| SOC2 Type 2 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| HIPAA | Supported | Enterprise Plan | Enterprise Plan | Enterprise Plan |
| US Region | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Canada Region | Included | Not Supported | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| European Region | Included | Enterprise Plan | Included | Not Supported |
Summary
Courier’s top competitors are:
- NotificationAPI: 5x better pricing, no need to pay or manage any other third-party integrations
- Knock: very similar to Courier with minor differences
- Novu: open-core model with a strong community of contributors
NotificationAPI
Founded: 2020 (one year after Courier)
Headquarter: Canada
Funding: Independent, Profitable
NotificationAPI focuses on developer experience by eliminating the need for any third-party integrations as opposed to Courier, leading to quicker implementation. Furthermore, NotificationAPI is 5 times cheaper than Courier.
Pros:
- Faster Setup: Built-in notification delivery without the need for third parties such as SendGrid, OneSignal or Twilio
- Compliance: All paid plans include the standard compliance requirements, Google bulk sender policy compliance, and A2P 10DLC registration
- Better Pricing: 5 times cheaper than Courier
- Customization: Supports designing multiple templates for each notification to allow for unlimited localization and branding options
- Better Support: ~1 hour response time during work hours (EST) for any paid plan
- Better Logs: Log APIs & Webhook available in all plans vs. Knock
- EU & Canada Regions: Available at no additional cost
- Fiscally Established: Profitable and not dependent on funding
Cons:
- Fewer integrations, such as Segment and Datadog
- No support for Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, or WhatsApp
- No custom workflow editor
Novu
Founded: 2021 (two years after Courier)
Headquarter: Israel
Funding: Seed (2022)
Novu provides many mutual channels and supports similar customization features, but there are notable differences between them. One key difference of Novu is their open-source alternative version of their cloud service.
Pros:
- Open-core & cloud versions: Novu offers an open-source version of their cloud service
- EU Region: Available in the cloud version
- Pricing: Starting at $0.001 per notification, their paid plans are competitively low in price
- Community: Their open-core service supports an active community of contributors
Novu might not fully deliver on your ideal service if you have no interest in their open-source bargaining chip:
Cons:
- Fewer integrations and channels
- Unclear support SLAs
- Novu’s open-core version doesn’t contain the same features as their cloud version. We couldn’t find any source for supported features, so you’ll need to do your research on what’s missing.
- No investments since 2022
Knock
Founded: 2021 (two years after Courier)
Headquarter: US
Funding: Series A (2024)
Knock’s product is almost identical to Courier and they compete mostly on sales and pricing with no known pros.
Cons:
- Fewer channels
- Fewer template editing capabilities
- Internationalization is only available in Enterprise
- EU region is not supported