Is there a free ntfy alternative with an iOS app?
Yes — Lert is a free ntfy alternative with a native iOS app. Download it, copy your link, and POST to it. No self-hosting, no topic names to guess, no account. Free covers one channel and 50 notifications a day.
ntfy is genuinely great, and its core idea — send a notification with a plain HTTP POST — is exactly right. It's open source, self-hostable, and beloved by people who want full control of their own server. If that's you, ntfy is a fantastic choice.
Lert keeps the same POST-and-you're-done model but removes the two things people most often trip over: running (or trusting) a server, and the fact that a topic name on a public ntfy server is essentially a shared secret anyone could guess. With Lert your link is private and unique to your device from the start, and there's a polished iOS app to receive on.
The entire setup — under 30 seconds
- Download the app. Open it once. There's no account and no server to stand up.
- Copy your link. A private, unguessable link is on screen — one tap copies it.
- POST to it. Send an HTTP request from anywhere and your iPhone buzzes, even locked.
Same one-line habit as ntfy
curl -X POST "https://lert.dev/p/your-id" \ -d 'Backup finished'
Plain text works, or send JSON with title, body, and tag. No topic to subscribe to, no server URL to configure — the link is the whole address.
Fair comparison: ntfy wins if you want open source, self-hosting, or Android-first delivery, and its free tier is generous. Lert wins if you'd rather skip all server setup and have a private link plus a native iOS app out of the box. See Lert vs ntfy for the details.
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Great for deploy alerts, new sales, and form submissions. Start with the curl guide or the docs.
Free is one channel and 50 notifications a day; Lert Pro is $2.99/month for unlimited.
Send your first one in 30 seconds.
Download Lert, copy your link, POST to it. Your iPhone buzzes.