Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Comparison · Meetings
Asterisk vs Nextcloud Talk
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Asterisk vs Nextcloud Talk: at a glance
What is Asterisk?
The three-branch cycle closes: 20, 22 and 23 all promote to final with the same 28-issue set.
The release round that opened on August 7 has finished. Asterisk 20.21.0, 22.11.0 and 23.5.0 all tagged within a minute of each other, each carrying 39 commits from 16 authors, 28 resolved issues and zero security advisories. The counts are identical across all three branches, which is the same backport-in-lockstep pattern the certified track and the June security round both followed.
What is Nextcloud Talk?
Nextcloud Talk patches v22 and v23 while v25 stable sits five weeks past its last RC.
Nextcloud Talk's newest releases are maintenance drops for the v22 and v23 branches: a faster conversation-list unread cache, rate limiting on public-share and video verification, and a Matterbridge domain check against DNS rebinding. v23.0.12 also fixes SIP so direct incoming calls register as phone participants. The v25 line, which carries classified conversations, an owner role and configurable AI call summaries, has not moved past RC3 since September 10.
Asterisk vs Nextcloud Talk: editorial side-by-side
Asterisk
5.0MEETINGS
The three-branch cycle closes: 20, 22 and 23 all promote to final with the same 28-issue set.
◆ Current state
The release round that opened on August 7 has finished. Asterisk 20.21.0, 22.11.0 and 23.5.0 all tagged within a minute of each other, each carrying 39 commits from 16 authors, 28 resolved issues and zero security advisories. The counts are identical across all three branches, which is the same backport-in-lockstep pattern the certified track and the June security round both followed.
◆ Where it's heading
Nothing about the shape has changed: three mainline branches plus a certified track, one fix set, promoted together. The rc1-to-rc2-to-final progression narrowed from 27 issues to a single websocket segfault fix and then closed, which is a cycle converging on schedule. Release bodies still publish counts and links rather than user-facing notes, so the feed measures release discipline rather than product direction.
◆ Prediction
Expect the certified track to pick up this same fix set in its next cert release, following the lag it showed after the June round. The next mainline round should open with rc1 tags on all three branches again.
Nextcloud Talk
5.0MEETINGS
Nextcloud Talk patches v22 and v23 while v25 stable sits five weeks past its last RC.
◆ Current state
Nextcloud Talk's newest releases are maintenance drops for the v22 and v23 branches: a faster conversation-list unread cache, rate limiting on public-share and video verification, and a Matterbridge domain check against DNS rebinding. v23.0.12 also fixes SIP so direct incoming calls register as phone participants. The v25 line, which carries classified conversations, an owner role and configurable AI call summaries, has not moved past RC3 since September 10.
◆ Where it's heading
The feature story is still v25's compliance and governance set aimed at regulated, self-hosted deployments. Meanwhile the older branches are getting security hardening rather than features, which fits a team prioritizing stable-line safety before a major cut. The long gap after RC3 suggests the v25 release is gated on something not visible in these notes.
◆ Prediction
The next notable release is v25.0.0 stable or a further RC; the entries don't show why it has stalled, so timing is unclear.
Alternatives to Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk
Other Meetings products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Asterisk or Nextcloud Talk.
HOMER
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
Element Call
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
JW Player
JW Player moves CMAF VOD into the dashboard, adds AV1, and opens Broadcast Live to audio-only feeds.
rtpengine
rtpengine opens the mr26.3 branch with a rollback message and leaner call state.
Nextcloud Talk Desktop
Nextcloud Talk Desktop 2.3.3 adds accessibility options and bundles Talk v25.0.6.
See all Asterisk alternatives → · See all Nextcloud Talk alternatives →
Recent activity from Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13d agoNextcloud Talkv23.0.12: SIP call fix, rate limiting, Matterbridge hardening
- 13d agoNextcloud Talkv22.0.19: share-auth rate limiting and Matterbridge fix
- 1mo agoNextcloud TalkNextcloud Talk v25.0.0 RC3: file preview fixes
- 1mo agoNextcloud Talkv23.0.11
- 1mo agoNextcloud Talkv22.0.18
- 1mo agoNextcloud Talkv25.0.0 RC2: configurable AI call summary prompts
- 2mo agoAsterisk22.11.0 promotes to final with 28 issues resolved
- 2mo agoAsterisk23.5.0 closes the cycle on the newest mainline branch
- 2mo agoAsterisk20.21.0 carries the same fix set back to the LTS line
- 2mo agoAsterisk23.5.0-rc2: single fix for a websocket PONG segfault
- 2mo agoAsterisk20.21.0-rc2 takes the same one-commit websocket fix
- 2mo agoAsterisk22.11.0-rc2 mirrors the websocket PONG crash fix
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Asterisk better than Nextcloud Talk?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Asterisk and Nextcloud Talk are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Meetings products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Asterisk?
Top Asterisk alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Asterisk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/asterisk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Nextcloud Talk?
Top Nextcloud Talk alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Nextcloud Talk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nextcloud-talk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.