MessageBird

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to MessageBird

A curated collection of the 4 best self hosted alternatives to MessageBird.

Cloud communications platform for businesses to send and receive SMS, voice, email and chat, manage omnichannel customer conversations and engagement flows via APIs, SDKs and a shared inbox; includes campaign orchestration and integrations.

Alternatives List

#1
ntfy

ntfy

ntfy is a lightweight HTTP pub-sub service to send push notifications to phones, desktops, and browsers via PUT/POST or a REST API.

ntfy screenshot

ntfy (pronounced “notify”) is a simple HTTP-based publish/subscribe notification service. It lets apps, servers, and scripts send push notifications to phones, desktops, and web browsers using straightforward HTTP requests.

Key Features

  • Publish messages to topics via HTTP PUT/POST
  • Topics are created dynamically by publishing or subscribing
  • Web app for browser subscriptions with desktop notifications
  • Push delivery to mobile clients (Android and iOS apps are available)
  • Works well for automation and server-to-user alerts without complex integrations

Use Cases

  • Send server and backup job notifications from shell scripts or cron jobs
  • Application alerting (deployments, monitoring events, CI results) via a simple REST-style interface
  • Personal notification hub for homelab events and device automation

Limitations and Considerations

  • If used without accounts/reserved topics, topic names function like shared secrets and should be hard to guess

ntfy is a pragmatic choice when you want a minimal, reliable notification pipeline based on plain HTTP. It is well-suited for automation scenarios and for teams or individuals who prefer a simple pub-sub model over heavy messaging platforms.

28.2kstars
1.1kforks
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#2
Dittofeed

Dittofeed

Developer-focused platform for automated, omnichannel messaging (email, SMS, push, WhatsApp) with low-code journeys, segmentation, templates, and self-hosting.

Dittofeed screenshot

Dittofeed is an open-source customer engagement platform for automating transactional and marketing messages across multiple channels. It provides developer-focused APIs and SDKs plus low-code GUI tools to build journeys, broadcasts, and personalized templates while supporting self-hosted and cloud deployments.

Key Features

  • Omni-channel delivery: email, SMS, mobile push, webhooks and integrations for channels like WhatsApp and Slack
  • Low-code Journey Builder: drag-and-drop automation with branching, local timezone handling, and analytics per branch
  • Powerful Segmentation: multi-condition, AND/OR segment builder that supports event- and trait-based conditions at scale
  • Template editor: Notion-like low-code editor plus HTML/MJML support and Liquid-style personalization
  • Embeddable components & white-labeling: iframe and headless React components for embedding Dittofeed in third-party apps (embedded features in progressive release)
  • Developer-first APIs & SDKs: REST Admin API, Web/Node.js/React Native SDKs, and Git/branch-based workflows for campaign versioning
  • Scalable infrastructure: designed around Postgres and ClickHouse for storage and analytics and deployable via Docker, Helm, or Kubernetes
  • Observability & deployment tooling: Kubernetes/Helm charts, Docker Compose examples, and monitoring integrations for production readiness

Use Cases

  • Lifecycle marketing automation: onboarding flows, re-engagement, and newsletters driven by user events
  • Transactional messaging: password resets, receipts, appointment reminders, and system alerts across channels
  • Embedded messaging for SaaS: expose messaging controls inside a CRM, franchise platform, or agency product via embeddable components

Limitations and Considerations

  • Enterprise embedding, advanced multi-tenancy, and some white-label features are provided under a licensed/closed offering; the public repo and self-hosted distribution do not include those gated enterprise features
  • Integrations with specific provider features (e.g., advanced ESP or carrier functionality) depend on connectors and third-party provider limits; verify required channel provider support before production roll-out

Dittofeed combines low-code UX with developer-grade APIs and scalable storage to support both self-hosted and cloud use. It is suited for teams that need control over data, want to avoid vendor lock-in, and require flexible, embeddable messaging automation.

2.6kstars
314forks
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#3
Laudspeaker

Laudspeaker

Open-source customer engagement and product onboarding platform for building event-triggered journeys and sending email, SMS, push notifications, and webhooks.

Laudspeaker is an open-source customer engagement, messaging automation, and product onboarding platform. It helps teams build event-triggered user journeys and deliver messages across multiple channels to drive activation and retention.

Key Features

  • Visual journey builder for designing multi-step, event-driven workflows
  • Segmentation based on user attributes and tracked events/actions
  • Omnichannel messaging including email, SMS, push notifications, and webhooks
  • A/B testing and message personalization capabilities
  • Scalable architecture designed for high-volume message delivery

Use Cases

  • Product onboarding flows such as checklists, setup wizards, and lifecycle nudges
  • Retention and re-engagement campaigns triggered by user behavior
  • Omnichannel customer communication orchestration for marketing and product teams

Limitations and Considerations

  • Some advanced capabilities referenced on the roadmap (for example SSO/SAML, richer audit logs, in-app notifications) may not be fully available depending on the current release.

Laudspeaker is suited to teams that want a controllable, extensible alternative to proprietary customer engagement and onboarding tools. It combines workflow automation, segmentation, and multichannel delivery in a single platform focused on event-triggered messaging.

2.6kstars
199forks
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#4
Live Helper Chat

Live Helper Chat

Self-hosted live chat and customer support platform with website widgets, operator console, chatbots, omnichannel integrations, and optional voice/video/screensharing.

Live Helper Chat screenshot

Live Helper Chat is an open-source customer communication platform for adding real-time support chat to websites. It provides an operator console, embeddable chat widgets, automation and bot capabilities, and integrations for messaging channels.

Key Features

  • Embeddable website live chat widget with operator console and multi-operator handling
  • Chatbot/bot workflows with support for integrating third-party AI and REST APIs
  • Omnichannel integrations (e.g., Telegram, WhatsApp via providers, Facebook Messenger/Instagram)
  • File uploads, chat transcripts, archiving, search, and basic reporting/statistics
  • Department routing, transfers, canned responses, and working-hours configuration
  • Optional voice/video/screensharing integrations via external providers

Use Cases

  • Customer support chat for websites with multiple agents and departmental routing
  • Omnichannel messaging inbox bridging web chat with popular chat platforms
  • AI-assisted support flows (FAQ-style automation, intent routing, or agent assist)

Limitations and Considerations

  • Voice/video/screensharing capabilities rely on external integrations rather than being fully native
  • Advanced high-scale analytics/search typically requires optional components (e.g., Elasticsearch)

Live Helper Chat fits organizations that need a self-managed live support system with extensibility and integrations. It is suitable for both small teams and higher-volume deployments when paired with optional scaling components.

2.2kstars
734forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running