How much does Node-RED cost?

Node-RED publishes a single tier, Community Edition, at Free.

Does Node-RED have a free plan?

Yes. The Community Edition tier costs nothing and covers visual editor, extensible, rest api.

Which smart home tools can I use without paying?

4 of the 8 smart home tools listed alongside Node-RED have a free tier: ESPHome, Losant, MQTT, Matter.

What am I actually paying for with Node-RED?

The record lists 13 features across 3 areas: other, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for low-code event-driven application development, iot and device integration workflows, visual programming for server-side integrations.

Does Node-RED charge per user?

The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.

Are these Node-RED prices current?

They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.

What should I compare Node-RED against before paying?

The closest smart home tools in this directory are Rachio Pro, ESPHome, Losant, MQTT. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Node-RED covering price, platforms and features.

Smart Home · pricing

Node-RED pricing

Node-RED publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the smart home tools listed alongside it.

As of 30 August 2026, Node-RED pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.

Entry price: Free
Model: Open-source
Tiers: 1
Free tier: Yes

Node-RED plans, side by side

Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.

Node-RED pricing tiers
Plan	Price	Features listed	Step up from the tier below
Community Edition	Free	4	Entry tier

Where Node-RED stops being free

Community Edition, Free

Visual editor
Extensible
REST API
MQTT support

No paid tier on record

Node-RED lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.

What the product covers

The full Node-RED feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.

Other

Visual Editor
Flow-Based Programming
Extensible
HTTP Integration

Integrations

MQTT
REST API
WebSocket
Database
Social services

Platform

Node.js support
Docker support
Cloud support
Edge devices support

People bring Node-RED in for low-code event-driven application development, iot and device integration workflows, visual programming for server-side integrations. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Node-RED are worth a look before you commit to a tier.

How that compares in Smart Home

Too few smart home tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.

Node-RED entry price against other Smart Home tools
Tool	Entry price	Model	Rated	Head to head
Node-RED (this page)	Free	open-source	-
Rachio Pro	$10/month	One-time controller purchase with optional cellular subscription	-	vs Node-RED
ESPHome	Free	open-source	-	vs Node-RED
Losant	Free	subscription	-	vs Node-RED
MQTT	Free	open-source	-	vs Node-RED
Hubitat Elevation	$189.95/one-time	-	-	vs Node-RED
Crestron	On request	quote	-	vs Node-RED

Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Node-RED badges page.

Before you pay for Node-RED

Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.

What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.

Node-RED runs on node.js, docker, cloud, edge devices, and is published by OpenJS Foundation of International Community. The full record is on the Node-RED review, and the rest of the category is under best smart home tools.

Node-RED pricing on the vendor's own site

Node-RED pricing questions

How much does Node-RED cost?: Node-RED publishes a single tier, Community Edition, at Free.
Does Node-RED have a free plan?: Yes. The Community Edition tier costs nothing and covers visual editor, extensible, rest api.
Which smart home tools can I use without paying?: 4 of the 8 smart home tools listed alongside Node-RED have a free tier: ESPHome, Losant, MQTT, Matter.
What am I actually paying for with Node-RED?: The record lists 13 features across 3 areas: other, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for low-code event-driven application development, iot and device integration workflows, visual programming for server-side integrations.
Does Node-RED charge per user?: The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
Are these Node-RED prices current?: They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
What should I compare Node-RED against before paying?: The closest smart home tools in this directory are Rachio Pro, ESPHome, Losant, MQTT. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Node-RED covering price, platforms and features.