JW Player
JW Player moves CMAF VOD into the dashboard, adds AV1, and opens Broadcast Live to audio-only feeds.
Comparison · Meetings
Element Call vs SRS
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element Call and SRS — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:webrtc
Element Call vs SRS: at a glance
What is Element Call?
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
Element Call ships a release candidate roughly every two to three weeks. v0.28.1-rc.1 adds a breaking change that falls back to publishing media on a remote SFU when possible, supports migrating to new LiveKit transport types and endpoints, and fixes room v12 power-level compatibility. It also brings in a MatrixRTC SDK and patches several dependency security advisories. The previous rc added a quick audio menu and redacted analytics IDs from rageshakes.
What is SRS?
SRS opens a 7.0 line built on a Go proxy tier, and drops features it no longer wants to carry.
SRS shipped the stable 6.0 line's first release on 12 August and, three hours later, the first development build of 7.0. The 6.0 line is now in pure maintenance — the r1 changelog is seven merges of DVR, WebRTC and edge fixes. Everything new is in 7.0-d0: RTSP playback, RTMPS, IPv6 across every protocol, HEVC in both directions between RTMP and WebRTC, and HLS fMP4 segments for HEVC and LL-HLS.
Element Call vs SRS: editorial side-by-side
Element Call
5.0MEETINGS
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
◆ Current state
Element Call ships a release candidate roughly every two to three weeks. v0.28.1-rc.1 adds a breaking change that falls back to publishing media on a remote SFU when possible, supports migrating to new LiveKit transport types and endpoints, and fixes room v12 power-level compatibility. It also brings in a MatrixRTC SDK and patches several dependency security advisories. The previous rc added a quick audio menu and redacted analytics IDs from rageshakes.
◆ Where it's heading
With the MatrixRTC protocol cutover finished in August, the team is now working on the media transport layer itself: how calls find and publish to SFUs and how LiveKit endpoints change underneath them. Packaging the RTC logic as an SDK suggests it is meant to be reused beyond the Element Call app.
◆ Prediction
Expect a 0.28.1 final and follow-ups to the LiveKit transport migration; whether the MatrixRTC SDK gets its own release isn't clear from the entries.
SRS
6.3MEETINGS
SRS opens a 7.0 line built on a Go proxy tier, and drops features it no longer wants to carry.
◆ Current state
SRS shipped the stable 6.0 line's first release on 12 August and, three hours later, the first development build of 7.0. The 6.0 line is now in pure maintenance — the r1 changelog is seven merges of DVR, WebRTC and edge fixes. Everything new is in 7.0-d0: RTSP playback, RTMPS, IPv6 across every protocol, HEVC in both directions between RTMP and WebRTC, and HLS fMP4 segments for HEVC and LL-HLS.
◆ Where it's heading
The project is trading breadth of legacy surface for a narrower, better-covered core. 7.0-d0 removes the embedded GB28181 SIP server, multi-threading, Cygwin, and most configuration hot reload, while introducing a Go proxy server and origin-cluster architecture alongside the C++ media core. Protocol coverage keeps generalizing — each release makes a codec or an address family a property of the server rather than of one delivery path.
◆ Prediction
Expect the 7.0 line to run a long alpha and beta train the way 6.0 did, with the Go proxy and origin clustering carrying most of the remaining work and 6.0 continuing to receive backported fixes in parallel.
Alternatives to Element Call and SRS
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 SRS.
Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
HOMER
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
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.
Nextcloud Talk
Nextcloud Talk patches v22 and v23 while v25 stable sits five weeks past its last RC.
See all Element Call alternatives → · See all SRS alternatives →
Recent activity from Element Call and SRS
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6h agoElement CallElement Call 0.28.1 rc adds remote-SFU fallback and LiveKit migration
- 21d agoElement CallQuick audio menu, bell reaction sound and redacted analytics IDs
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.1-rc.1
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.0-rc.2
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.0-rc.1
- 2mo agoElement CallMatrixRTC legacy mode removed — all calls now run on the new protocol ⚡
- 2mo agoSRSSRS 7.0-d0: Go proxy tier, RTSP playback, IPv6 across protocols ⚡
- 2mo agoSRS6.0-r1: DVR, WebRTC and edge fixes on the stable line
- 10mo agoSRSSRS 6.0 goes stable with H.265 across RTMP, HLS, TS and SRT ⚡
- 11mo agoSRS6.0-b3: use-after-free and HLS cleanup fixes
- 1y agoSRS6.0-b2: configurable SRT stream IDs and a WHIP transcoding fix
- 1y agoSRS6.0-b1: RTC crash fixes, Windows binary dropped
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Element Call and SRS?
Both compete on the same themes — webrtc — within Meetings. SRS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. 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 SRS?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. SRS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. 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 SRS?
Top SRS alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SRS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/srs for the full list with editorial commentary on each.