Node-RED

Open SourceApache-2.0Self-hostable

The original flow-based programming tool — 12+ years of wiring devices, APIs and services together on a visual canvas, with the largest node library in open-source automation.

Open source alternative to

n8n

Zapier

Visit Node-RED View source

About Node-RED

Node-RED invented the category everyone else now iterates on. Born at IBM in 2013 and now an OpenJS Foundation project, it pioneered wiring 'nodes' together on a canvas to move data between devices, APIs and services — and twelve years on, it remains the most battle-tested automation runtime you can self-host.

Its superpower is the ecosystem: thousands of community-published nodes cover everything from MQTT sensors and Modbus PLCs to Slack, Postgres and OpenAI. That reach has made it the de-facto standard in IoT, home automation and industrial monitoring.

Where n8n courts SaaS-to-SaaS business workflows, Node-RED shines closer to the metal: events, devices, protocols and glue logic. It runs happily on a Raspberry Pi, and its Apache-2.0 license is as permissive as open source gets.

Key features

Flow-based editor — Drag, wire and deploy flows in the browser — logic you can see, running on your own hardware.
Thousands of nodes — The largest community node library in automation — hardware protocols to SaaS APIs.
Runs anywhere — Raspberry Pi, a $5 VPS, Docker or industrial gateways — Node-RED is famously lightweight.
OpenJS governance — Vendor-neutral foundation stewardship and an Apache-2.0 license — no fair-code strings.

How to install Node-RED

The honest read

What we like

12+ years of production hardening
Unmatched device/protocol support (MQTT, Modbus, serial…)
Huge community and documentation base
Runs on tiny hardware like a Raspberry Pi
Truly permissive Apache-2.0 license

Worth knowing

UI feels dated next to n8n or Activepieces
Weaker fit for SaaS-to-SaaS business automations
Single-user by design — no built-in team permissions
Complex flows can become spaghetti without discipline

FAQ

Is Node-RED free?

Completely — it's Apache-2.0 licensed under the OpenJS Foundation, free for any use including commercial, with no paid tiers at all.

Node-RED vs n8n — which should I use?

Node-RED for events, devices, IoT and protocol glue; n8n for SaaS-to-SaaS business workflows with its 400+ app integrations. Plenty of teams run both for their respective strengths.

Can Node-RED run on a Raspberry Pi?

Yes — it's the canonical deployment. Node-RED ships in Raspberry Pi OS repositories and drives a huge share of home-automation setups.

Is Node-RED good for business automation?

It can call any HTTP API, so yes technically — but it lacks the pre-built SaaS connectors and team features of n8n or Activepieces. Its sweet spot remains events and devices.