Node RED
Node RED is an open-source, self-hosted app in the Home Automation & IoT category, licensed Apache-2.0 and written mainly in JavaScript. It is a self-hosted alternative to Zapier, IFTTT and Nest / SmartThings and ships a Docker image. It has 23,783 GitHub stars and its last commit was on Oct 24, 2026 (data as of Oct 26, 2026).
- Home Automation & IoT
- JavaScript
- Apache-2.0
- Docker
- Active
GitHub stats
- GitHub stars
- 23,783
- Forks
- 3,940
- Open issues
- 219
- Commits, last 12 months
- 985
- Last commit
- Oct 24, 2026
- Latest release
- 5.0.9Oct 21, 2026
- Created
- Sep 5, 2013
- License
- Apache-2.0Open source
Data as of from the GitHub API. Report an error
Project health
ActiveActive: last commit Oct 24, 2026, 985 commits in 12 months.
- Regular releases10 or more releases in 12 months
- Security policyPublishes a security policy on GitHub
| Last commit | Oct 24, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Commits, last 12 months | 985 |
| Latest release | 5.0.9 (Oct 21, 2026) |
| Releases, last 12 months | 10 or more |
| Releases, all time | 189 |
| Open issues | 219 |
| Open pull requests | 126 |
| Good first issues | 1 |
| Contributing guide | Yes |
| Security policy | Yes |
| Created | Sep 5, 2013 |
Health as of , from the GitHub API. A label describes activity, not quality or security. How we label project health · Report a data error
About Node RED
Browser-based flow editor that helps you wiring hardware devices, APIs and online services to create IoT solutions.
Description adapted from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0). Source code: github.com/node-red/node-red.
Topics
- node-red
- javascript
- low-code
- openjs-foundation
- flow-based-programming
- visual-programming
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Is Node RED free and open source?
Yes. Node RED is open-source software released under the Apache-2.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.
Can I run Node RED with Docker?
Yes. Node RED provides a Docker image, so you can run it on any Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose installed. The project README lists the image name and the environment variables to set.
What are the best alternatives to Node RED?
Popular self-hosted alternatives to Node RED include Home Assistant, Tasmota and Thingsboard. Node RED itself is a self-hosted alternative to Zapier, IFTTT, Nest / SmartThings and Google Home.
Is Node RED actively maintained?
The most recent commit to Node RED was on Oct 24, 2026 with 985 commits in the past twelve months. The latest release is 5.0.9, published Oct 21, 2026. It had 219 open issues on GitHub. appsgit's project-health label for it is "Active" as of Oct 26, 2026.