Heartbeat vs Nodyx
Heartbeat
heartbeat.chat
Nodyx
nodyx.devSide by side
| Figure | Heartbeat | Nodyx |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 14 | 1 |
| Spec score · Community Platforms | 8.9 (#11) | 8.6 (#20) |
| Spec score · Online Community Platforms | 8.7 (#9) | 8.1 (#22) |
| Custom Domain | Custom domain is included on every plan. | Yes |
| Event hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Integrations | Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle, and Peerboard imports. | The homepage lists RSS, webhooks, iCal sync, and OAuth under external connections, marked as coming in v2.2. |
| Mobile Apps | Heartbeat includes iOS and Android apps. | none |
| Moderation tools | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Heartbeat
- Build$49 a month
- Build$490 a year
- Grow$149 a month
- Grow$1,490 a year
- Scale$849 a month
- Scale$9,200 a year
- Native video hosting add-on$19 a month
- Build annual$40 a month
- Build monthly$49 a month
- Grow annual$124 a month
In their own words
Heartbeat
Heartbeat is a paid platform for running online communities, with Android and iOS apps. Its listed features include private spaces, event hosting, moderation tools and custom domains. Plans vary by community size: Build supports up to 350 members, Grow up to 5,000 and Scale has unlimited members. Build costs $49 a month billed monthly; Grow costs $149 a month billed monthly; Scale costs $849 a month billed monthly. Build includes five automation workflows and one custom landing page. Grow includes unlimited automation workflows and 50 hours of native video hosting. Scale includes 50 custom landing pages, 200 hours of native video hosting and a white-label branded mobile app. Native video hosting is also available as a $19 a month add-on for 50 hours of storage. Integrations include Zapier, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Slack, Circle and Peerboard imports. The 14-day trial does not become a continuing free plan: communities are deactivated if they are not upgraded afterward, and inactive communities are automatically deleted after 30 days.
Nodyx
Nodyx is a self-hosted community platform that brings forums, real-time chat and voice channels into one installation. Each installation serves an independent community rather than part of a shared multi-community service. Forum tools include categories, threads, rich editing, polls, pinned posts, reactions, thanks and tags; chat and voice features include WebRTC channels and screen sharing. The maker says direct messages use ECDH P-256, AES-256-GCM and an ESY layer for end-to-end encryption. Its Grid Builder supports resizable columns, previews, theme editing and ZIP-uploaded widgets running in Shadow DOM. Installations can discover one another through a global directory and relay through NAT using nodyx-relay. Documented security features include TOTP and Signet two-factor authentication and a honeypot suite. Nodyx is AGPL-3.0 licensed and listed as free, with no feature gating. Setup options include Docker, a Windows Server PowerShell installer or manual installation on Linux, Mac or Windows; manual installation requires Node.js 22+, PostgreSQL 16+ and Redis 7+.