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Element Call vs HOMER

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element Call and HOMER — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Element Call vs HOMER: at a glance

FeatureElement CallHOMER
SectorMeetingsMeetings
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesmatrix, webrtc, sfu, federationvoip, sip capture, ducklake, security hardening
Last editorial update1h ago1d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Element Call?

Element Call now routes every participant through their own homeserver's SFU.

Element Call publishes release candidates rather than finals, and is at v0.24.0-rc.1. The structural change in this window landed in v0.21.0-rc.1, which made multi-SFU the default: each participant connects to the media server associated with their own homeserver, and subscribes read-only to streams on others. Since then the work has been media quality controls, mobile layout for voice and group calls, and a breaking removal of .well-known transport discovery.

Read the full Element Call trajectory →

What is HOMER?

HOMER 11's DuckLake rearchitecture is in its hardening phase, shipping near-daily.

HOMER is releasing at near-daily cadence — twelve tags across 11.0.304 to 11.0.315 in nine days. The work concentrates on the DuckDB/DuckLake storage layer that HOMER 11 is built on: sanitizing bad RTPengine HEP timestamps that were creating future date partitions, stopping false-positive forbidden-keyword matches on Call-IDs, reconnecting DuckDB on catalog refresh. Two security advisories closed in the same window — a self-service admin escalation via PATCH /api/v4/users/:id, and an under-authenticated node /query endpoint that also exposed DuckDB external scanners. Separately, the search UI learned to treat HEP node name as an identity distinct from the numeric capture ID.

Read the full HOMER trajectory →

Element Call vs HOMER: editorial side-by-side

E
Element Call
MEETINGS
5.0

Element Call now routes every participant through their own homeserver's SFU.

◆ Current state

Element Call publishes release candidates rather than finals, and is at v0.24.0-rc.1. The structural change in this window landed in v0.21.0-rc.1, which made multi-SFU the default: each participant connects to the media server associated with their own homeserver, and subscribes read-only to streams on others. Since then the work has been media quality controls, mobile layout for voice and group calls, and a breaking removal of .well-known transport discovery.

◆ Where it's heading

The arc is toward removing negotiation and configuration from the connection path. Multi-SFU removed the argument over which server hosts a call; dropping .well-known transport discovery and the default server config removes guesses that were usually wrong. Alongside that, a steady mobile and widget-embedding thread continues, with React Compiler and spotlight re-render work aimed at the performance cost of running in someone else's app.

◆ Prediction

With multi-SFU now the default and legacy single-SFU still reachable through developer settings, the likely next step is retiring that legacy path rather than adding another connection mode.

H
HOMER
MEETINGS
5.0

HOMER 11's DuckLake rearchitecture is in its hardening phase, shipping near-daily.

◆ Current state

HOMER is releasing at near-daily cadence — twelve tags across 11.0.304 to 11.0.315 in nine days. The work concentrates on the DuckDB/DuckLake storage layer that HOMER 11 is built on: sanitizing bad RTPengine HEP timestamps that were creating future date partitions, stopping false-positive forbidden-keyword matches on Call-IDs, reconnecting DuckDB on catalog refresh. Two security advisories closed in the same window — a self-service admin escalation via PATCH /api/v4/users/:id, and an under-authenticated node /query endpoint that also exposed DuckDB external scanners. Separately, the search UI learned to treat HEP node name as an identity distinct from the numeric capture ID.

◆ Where it's heading

Nearly every entry here repairs something the new coordinator-and-storage-node design exposed rather than adding surface — which is the signature of a rearchitecture being shaken out in production rather than a feature push. 11.0.315 is the first release in this window that optimizes instead of repairs: the coordinator now caches each node's {min_ts,max_ts} from a stats endpoint and skips nodes whose range cannot overlap the query window. The security fixes cluster on the same young components, the node /query path and the raw-SQL validator.

◆ Prediction

Expect smart routing to move from opt-in toward default once the historical pcap and replay-ingest caveat is resolved, and the raw-SQL validator to keep absorbing fixes as more DuckDB surface gets exposed through it.

Alternatives to Element Call and HOMER

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 Element Call or HOMER.

See all Element Call alternatives → · See all HOMER alternatives →

Recent activity from Element Call and HOMER

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 23h agoElement CallMedia quality settings UI; .well-known transport discovery removed
  2. 1d agoHOMERCoordinator skips storage nodes outside the query time range
  3. 3d agoHOMERSecurity: node /query auth hardened, DuckDB scanners blocked
  4. 5d agoHOMERNode Name search and column, plus Prometheus label alignment
  5. 5d agoHOMERNode reconnects DuckDB on catalog refresh
  6. 6d agoHOMERSecurity: blocks privilege escalation to admin via user PATCH
  7. 6d agoHOMERCall flow consolidates by Capture ID; MCP parser metrics
  8. 15d agoElement CallLandscape mobile call layout fixes
  9. 29d agoElement CallDefault gradient background and reworked mobile call design
  10. 1mo agoElement CallMulti-SFU becomes the default call topology
  11. 1mo agoElement Callmatrix_rtc_mode config option and typed connection errors
  12. 2mo agoElement CallBug fixes, older WebView polyfill and dependency bumps

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Element Call and HOMER?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Element Call and HOMER 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 Element Call better than HOMER?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Element Call and HOMER 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 Element Call?

Top Element Call alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Element Call alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/element-call for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to HOMER?

Top HOMER alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HOMER alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/homer-voip for the full list with editorial commentary on each.