# Hush vs. Octobox for GitHub notifications > Octobox and Hush are both web apps for GitHub notifications. Octobox is a mature, self-hostable inbox with rich search; Hush sorts by whose turn it is and pushes what waits on you. Source: https://hush-gh.com/compare/octobox ## Summary **Octobox is a mature, open-source web inbox for GitHub notifications, with an archive state, rich search, Gmail-style keys, and a self-hosted option that works with GitHub Enterprise. Hush is a newer web app that decides whose turn it is on each thread, keeps a short "Needs you" list, and sends push alerts for it.** - Choose Octobox to host your own copy, to use GitHub Enterprise, or for search over many fields. - Choose Hush for a "Needs you" list, push alerts with quiet hours, and pull request actions in place. ## At a glance | | Octobox | Hush | | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Where it runs | Web (octobox.io), or self-hosted (Docker, Heroku, OpenShift) | Web app (installable), on Cloudflare; self-hosting possible | | Price | Free for open source; enhanced data for private repos from $10 per user per month | Free in beta; planned $3 a month or $30 a year | | Open source | Yes (AGPL-3.0) | Yes | | Sort order | Time, with search and filters | Needs you, FYI, Muted, by whose turn it is | | Filters | Repo, org, type, reason, state, CI status, labels, author, assignee, bot, draft, and more | Rules, a query language, saved views | | Push alerts | Not documented | Web Push, quiet hours, digests, limits | | Pull request actions | Comment from the thread view (beta) | Approve, request changes, comment, merge, close, re-run CI | | GitHub Enterprise | Yes, when self-hosted | No (github.com only) | | API | Yes (REST, OpenAPI) | Atom feeds; settings as JSON | | Latest release | "october-2026", 1 October 2026 | Beta, updated continuously | ## How they sort **Octobox** adds an **archive** state to GitHub notifications: you archive a thread when you finish, and Octobox brings it back to the inbox when new activity comes. You can also star and mute threads. Its search takes prefixes such as `repo:`, `owner:`, `type:`, `reason:`, `state:`, `label:`, `author:`, `status:` (CI), `bot:`, `draft:`, and `assignee:`, and combines them with free text. With its optional GitHub App, Octobox also gets the state, CI status, labels, and author of each item. The list is sorted by time; Octobox does not decide which threads need you. **Hush** reads the pull request or issue behind each notification and decides if you are the next person who must act. Those threads go to **Needs you**; the rest go to **FYI**. When a thread stops needing you (you approved, CI passes now, it was merged), Hush moves it to Done with a note; if it needs you again, it comes back. [Rules](https://hush-gh.com/docs/rules) change where threads go and whether they push. Both apps bring a finished thread back when there is new activity, and in both, Mute stops the notifications of that thread. ## Pull requests **Octobox** has a thread view, in public beta, that shows the comments of a notification inside Octobox. You can post a comment from it. Approve and merge are not documented. **Hush** has [Pull requests and Issues tabs](https://hush-gh.com/docs/pull-requests-and-issues) grouped by Your turn, Your team's turn, and Waiting on others, also for items with no notification. The [peek](https://hush-gh.com/docs/peek) shows the description, comments, reviews, and checks, with Approve, Request changes, Comment, Merge, Close, and Re-run failed jobs. Hush does not show the diff. ## Alerts **Octobox** does not document push or desktop alerts. Its "live updates" setting refreshes the rows on screen. For a desktop app, the README suggests wrapping the site with Nativefier, or a community browser extension. **Hush** sends Web Push to desktop and phone browsers, by default only for "Needs you". It has [quiet hours, digests, a limit, and one alert per pull request](https://hush-gh.com/docs/notifications#how-often), and private [Atom feeds](https://hush-gh.com/docs/feeds). ## Hosting and privacy **Octobox** runs as a hosted service at octobox.io, or on your own server. A self-hosted copy can point at GitHub Enterprise, can let in only one org or team, and can turn on personal access tokens. The hosted service stores your email address, page-visit data, basic data about notifications, and, with the GitHub App, authors, labels, comments, and status. Tokens are encrypted. **Hush** is hosted on Cloudflare, with each user's data in storage of its own. It stores your encrypted token, your threads, and the facts of each pull request and issue; it has no analytics (see [Privacy](https://hush-gh.com/privacy)). The code is open, so you can run your own copy, but Hush calls only api.github.com, so a copy does not work with GitHub Enterprise Server. ## Where Octobox is better - Self-hosting is documented, with Docker, Heroku, and OpenShift, and works with GitHub Enterprise. - Free for open-source work, with no account limit stated. - Search over many fields, including labels, assignees, CI status, and draft state. - A REST API for your notifications and pinned searches. - Mature: in development since 2016, with monthly releases and about 4,500 stars on GitHub. ## Where Hush is better - It decides who must act next, and keeps one short "Needs you" list up to date. - Push alerts on desktop and phone, with quiet hours and digests. - Approve, request changes, merge, and re-run CI from the list. - Dashboards of pull requests and issues that involve you, also with no notification. - Rules that sort, push, mute, or snooze threads by themselves. ## Choose Octobox if… - You must host the tool yourself, or you use GitHub Enterprise Server. - You maintain open-source projects and want a free inbox with strong search. - You want an API to build on. ## Choose Hush if… - You want the app to tell you which threads wait on you, not only to filter them. - You want push alerts on your phone. - You review and merge many pull requests and want to do it from the inbox. ## Sources - [octobox.io](https://octobox.io): service, pricing - [Octobox documentation](https://octobox.io/documentation): search prefixes, keys, mute - [Octobox privacy policy](https://octobox.io/privacy) - [octobox/octobox on GitHub](https://github.com/octobox/octobox): README, AGPL-3.0 license, thread view, desktop use - [Octobox installation guide](https://github.com/octobox/octobox/blob/main/docs/INSTALLATION.md): self-hosting, GitHub App, GitHub Enterprise, live updates - [Octobox releases](https://github.com/octobox/octobox/releases): "october-2026", 1 October 2026 - Hush: [inbox](https://hush-gh.com/docs/inbox), [peek](https://hush-gh.com/docs/peek), [notifications](https://hush-gh.com/docs/notifications), [privacy](https://hush-gh.com/privacy), [pricing](https://hush-gh.com/pricing) _Last checked: 3 October 2026._