Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Notify OSD VS Gotify

Compare Notify OSD VS Gotify and see what are their differences

Notify OSD logo Notify OSD

Canonicals on-screen-display notification agent, implementing the freedesktop.

Gotify logo Gotify

a simple self-hosted server for sending and receiving messages
  • Notify OSD Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-01
  • Gotify Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-13

Notify OSD features and specs

  • Non-intrusive
    Notify OSD provides a non-intrusive way to display notifications, allowing users to receive updates without interrupting their workflow.
  • Consistency
    The notifications are visually consistent across different applications, providing a uniform user experience.
  • Customization
    It allows for some level of customization through themes and appearance settings, which can be adjusted via configuration files.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, Notify OSD allows users and developers to access the source code and contribute to its development or modify it themselves.
  • Integration
    Notify OSD can be easily integrated into the Ubuntu desktop environment, as it is designed to work seamlessly with it.

Possible disadvantages of Notify OSD

  • Limited Interactivity
    Notify OSD notifications are not interactive; users cannot click on them to perform actions, which might limit functionality for some applications.
  • Customization Constraints
    While some customization is possible, Notify OSD has limited support for user customization compared to some other notification systems, making it less flexible.
  • Stacking Issue
    Notifications do not stack, which could result in losing important notifications if multiple are sent in quick succession.
  • Support Limitations
    Notify OSD is primarily designed for Ubuntu, which means users on other distributions may experience compatibility issues or require additional configuration.
  • No Action Persistence
    Once a notification disappears, the information is gone unless the application has logged it elsewhere; there is no built-in history or persistence feature.

Gotify features and specs

  • Open Source
    Gotify is open-source software, meaning its source code is publicly available. This allows users to inspect, modify, and distribute the software freely.
  • Self-Hosting Capable
    Users can self-host Gotify on their own servers, giving them full control over their data and message delivery.
  • Real-Time Notifications
    Gotify provides real-time notifications, ensuring that messages are delivered promptly.
  • Web UI and API
    Includes a web-based user interface for ease of management and a comprehensive API for integration with other systems.
  • Customizable
    Gotify supports message customization, including priority levels and message formatting, enabling users to tailor notifications to their needs.
  • Lightweight
    Gotify is designed to be lightweight, with minimal resource usage, making it suitable for a wide range of hosting environments.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Gotify offers clients for multiple platforms, including mobile apps for both iOS and Android.

Possible disadvantages of Gotify

  • Requires Server Knowledge
    Setting up and maintaining a self-hosted instance of Gotify requires a certain level of technical knowledge and server management skills.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    Self-hosting Gotify means that users are responsible for keeping the software up-to-date and secure, potentially requiring ongoing attention.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established notification systems, Gotify has a smaller ecosystem in terms of plugins, integrations, and community support.
  • Message Delivery
    Since Gotify relies on self-hosting, the reliability of message delivery is dependent on the stability and performance of the user's server infrastructure.
  • Scalability Concerns
    Running Gotify on a small server might not scale well for high volumes of notifications, potentially requiring more complex infrastructure for larger use cases.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Notify OSD and Gotify)
Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Push Notifications
20 20%
80% 80
Web Push Notifications
0 0%
100% 100
OS & Utilities
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Notify OSD and Gotify

Notify OSD Reviews

We have no reviews of Notify OSD yet.
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Gotify Reviews

Self Hosting Like Its 2025
Gotify is a notification management software. You can install the app on your phone and receive notifications, which can be triggered by a simple web request. There are also integrations with lots of other self-hosted software like Uptime Kuma. Really handy.
Source: kiranet.org
35 Best Free Push Notification Services and Tools (+ Open Source Push Notification Services to Consider)
Gotify is an open-source notification solution written in the Go programming language. The service can be self-hosted without incurring any charges for notifications, and it also has API-support, making development easier. Detailed documentation for the application is available at the Gotify website.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Gotify seems to be a lot more popular than Notify OSD. While we know about 35 links to Gotify, we've tracked only 1 mention of Notify OSD. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Notify OSD mentions (1)

  • Recommend packages for a WM Setup
    I use Sakura for terminals, xmobar for info, nemo) as the file manager, flameshot to grab screenshots, picom for transparency, notify-osd for showing notifications, xscreensaver to blank/lock the screen, redshift to set brightness/adjust color, x-on-resize to handle connecting screens, and parcellite for clipboards. Source: over 3 years ago

Gotify mentions (35)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Notify OSD and Gotify, you can also consider the following products

Snarl - Snarl is a notification system for Windows.

Pushover - Real-time notifications on your Android, iPhone, iPad, and Desktop

Notifo - Notifo is a mobile notifications platform empowering developers to build their own services with a...

Pushbullet - Pushbullet - Your devices working better together

Growl for Windows - Growl for Windows is a Windows-compatible version of https://alternativeto.

AirDroid - Access Android phone/tablet from computer remotely and securely. Manage SMS, files, photos and videos, WhatsApp, Line, WeChat and more on computer.