coturn
coturn ships three minor versions in six weeks, packaged as Docker images on three registries.
Comparison · Meetings
HOMER vs rtpengine
A side-by-side editorial comparison of HOMER and rtpengine — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:sip
HOMER vs rtpengine: at a glance
What is HOMER?
HOMER 11 keeps patching its tiered storage while opening SIP search to AI agents over MCP
HOMER is on an 11.0.x patch train with a release every few days. Most fixes target the DuckDB and S3 tiered-storage layer; the latest stops an in-process SQLite from corrupting the live catalog and corrects a compaction setting passed to the native engine. Alongside that it has added TLS for FlightSQL, proxy-safe CSRF handling, QoS/RTCP charting, and a growing MCP interface for natural-language SIP search.
What is rtpengine?
rtpengine backports the same DTLS and socket fixes across four maintenance branches at once.
Sipwise's rtpengine media proxy is maintaining several release lines in parallel (mr13.5, mr14.1, mr26.0, mr26.1, mr26.2), and most recent entries are coordinated backports. The September 16 batch fixes hash-table updates, nested string lookups and stop_forwarding mixups across four branches, and adds DTLS negotiation corrections (setup=actpass logic, ignoring incorrect DTLS=passive, keeping TLS IDs on answer role changes) to the mr26.0 and mr26.1 lines.
HOMER vs rtpengine: editorial side-by-side
HOMER
5.0MEETINGS
HOMER 11 keeps patching its tiered storage while opening SIP search to AI agents over MCP
◆ Current state
HOMER is on an 11.0.x patch train with a release every few days. Most fixes target the DuckDB and S3 tiered-storage layer; the latest stops an in-process SQLite from corrupting the live catalog and corrects a compaction setting passed to the native engine. Alongside that it has added TLS for FlightSQL, proxy-safe CSRF handling, QoS/RTCP charting, and a growing MCP interface for natural-language SIP search.
◆ Where it's heading
The architecture is settling around a lake-plus-buffer storage model with a coordinator and nodes, and hardening is the current priority — catalog integrity and compaction are still being fixed release by release. The MCP work, which adds fields like response_code, cid and user_agent plus static-token auth, positions HOMER's capture data for agent-driven troubleshooting.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued fixes to catalog, compaction and tiering edge cases, with more MCP search fields and auth options arriving in between, before any large new capability.
rtpengine
5.0MEETINGS
rtpengine backports the same DTLS and socket fixes across four maintenance branches at once.
◆ Current state
Sipwise's rtpengine media proxy is maintaining several release lines in parallel (mr13.5, mr14.1, mr26.0, mr26.1, mr26.2), and most recent entries are coordinated backports. The September 16 batch fixes hash-table updates, nested string lookups and stop_forwarding mixups across four branches, and adds DTLS negotiation corrections (setup=actpass logic, ignoring incorrect DTLS=passive, keeping TLS IDs on answer role changes) to the mr26.0 and mr26.1 lines.
◆ Where it's heading
The work is focused on correctness in media negotiation, especially DTLS role handling and ICE on closed sockets, rather than new features. The newest branch, mr26.2, also brought AMR fmtp defaults, mirroring of generated RTCP sender reports to Homer, and recording cleanup hardening, which points to better interop and observability for carrier deployments.
◆ Prediction
More synchronized backport releases across the mr13.5 through mr26.2 lines are the clear pattern; feature work will most likely keep landing on mr26.2 first.
Alternatives to HOMER and rtpengine
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 HOMER or rtpengine.
OpenSIPS
OpenSIPS 4.0 is in release-candidate testing, with two RCs a month apart.
Kamailio
Kamailio's tracked feed shows one thing: a quiet, schema-stable 5.8 maintenance release.
JW Player
JW Player is rebuilding its VOD pipeline around CMAF, one workflow fix at a time
Restream
Restream's webinars get a registration page and a CSV of leads, turning broadcasts into a pipeline
BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton 4.0 rc.4 is a security-only release as the LiveKit stack hardens.
See all HOMER alternatives → · See all rtpengine alternatives →
Recent activity from HOMER and rtpengine
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3d agoHOMERFix for SQLite corrupting the live catalog; compaction limit honored
- 4d agoHOMERFlightSQL TLS, LDAP login ordering and proxy-safe CSRF
- 8d agoHOMERS3 cleanup no longer blocks node search
- 12d agoHOMERMCP search adds SIP response code, call ID and user agent
- 15d agoHOMERQoS panel charts RTCP Receiver Reports
- 15d agoHOMERDeep links auto-run search; static MCP auth token
- 16d agortpenginertpengine mr13.5.1.27: mux-offer fix when required
- 17d agortpenginertpengine mr26.0.1.23: DTLS negotiation and forwarding fixes
- 17d agortpenginertpengine mr13.5.1.26: forwarding and socket bug fixes
- 17d agortpenginertpengine mr26.2.1.2: core lookup and forwarding fixes
- 17d agortpenginertpengine mr26.1.1.11: DTLS negotiation and forwarding fixes
- 1mo agortpenginertpengine mr26.2.1.1: Homer RTCP mirroring, AMR defaults, recording fixes
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between HOMER and rtpengine?
Both compete on the same themes — sip — within Meetings. HOMER and rtpengine 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 HOMER better than rtpengine?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. HOMER and rtpengine 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to rtpengine?
Top rtpengine alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rtpengine alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rtpengine for the full list with editorial commentary on each.