Node RED
Browser-based flow editor that helps you wiring hardware devices, APIs and online services to create IoT solutions.
Actively maintained with regular releases.
Commit activity more than 73% of tracked projects; popularity more than 90%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 24k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | 4.1.15 · 9 Sept 2026 |
| Repo updated | 18 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Built with | Nodejs, Docker |
Is Node RED actively maintained?
Over the last 11 months the project absorbed 733 commits, of which 129 arrived in the most recent quarter — roughly 43 commits a month.
Activity is cooling: commits are down 67% against the previous quarter. One slow quarter is normal; two in a row is a signal.
The most recent tagged release, 4.1.15, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.
Node RED ranks #7 of 20 in Internet of Things (IoT), placing it mid-table for maintenance activity.
What Node RED actually does
Node RED is a browser-based flow editor designed for wiring together hardware devices, APIs, and online services. It provides a visual interface to connect disparate inputs and outputs without writing traditional code for every integration. This helps you build Internet of Things solutions and automation pipelines.
Best fit: Developers and hobbyists who need to visually prototype and coordinate IoT hardware integrations or API data flows quickly.
Worth knowing: Managing large collections of interconnected flows can become difficult to debug and maintain over time compared to traditional code bases.
Deployment notes
You will typically deploy this via Docker, ensuring that you configure persistent storage for your flow data and place it behind a reverse proxy to handle TLS.
Links
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