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SRS vs Greenlight

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

Shared themes:self-hosted

SRS vs Greenlight: at a glance

FeatureSRSGreenlight
SectorMeetingsMeetings
Velocity score6.35.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesstreaming-servers, webrtc, hevc, protocol-coveragevideo-conferencing, bigbluebutton, self-hosted, security
Last editorial update1mo ago6d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

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.

Read the full SRS trajectory →

What is Greenlight?

Greenlight 3.9 makes URL_HOST mandatory, forcing admin action on every self-hosted deployment.

Greenlight, the BigBlueButton web frontend, is in a security-maintenance phase. The 3.8.x series was dominated by gem updates and language patches; 3.9.0 introduces multiple undisclosed security fixes alongside a breaking change that requires URL_HOST to be set in .env or the application will refuse to start. A follow-up hotfix landed hours later to address a startup crash introduced in the release.

Read the full Greenlight trajectory →

SRS vs Greenlight: editorial side-by-side

S
SRS
MEETINGS
6.3

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.

G
Greenlight
MEETINGS
5.0

Greenlight 3.9 makes URL_HOST mandatory, forcing admin action on every self-hosted deployment.

◆ Current state

Greenlight, the BigBlueButton web frontend, is in a security-maintenance phase. The 3.8.x series was dominated by gem updates and language patches; 3.9.0 introduces multiple undisclosed security fixes alongside a breaking change that requires URL_HOST to be set in .env or the application will refuse to start. A follow-up hotfix landed hours later to address a startup crash introduced in the release.

◆ Where it's heading

Greenlight's release cadence is maintenance-driven: security response and dependency updates rather than feature work. The 3.9.0 breaking change is the project tightening deployment requirements, likely in response to misconfiguration risks identified in security audits. The rapid hotfix points to limited pre-release testing capacity on the project.

◆ Prediction

The undisclosed 3.9.0 security fixes will be disclosed within weeks and likely explain the URL_HOST mandate — deployments without it were probably vulnerable to host header injection or similar configuration-dependent attacks.

Alternatives to SRS and Greenlight

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 SRS or Greenlight.

See all SRS alternatives → · See all Greenlight alternatives →

Recent activity from SRS and Greenlight

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

  1. 7d agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.9.0.1: startup crash hotfix
  2. 7d agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.9.0: mandatory URL_HOST and undisclosed security fixes
  3. 1mo agoSRSSRS 7.0-d0: Go proxy tier, RTSP playback, IPv6 across protocols
  4. 1mo agoSRS6.0-r1: DVR, WebRTC and edge fixes on the stable line
  5. 1mo agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.8.2.4: security gem updates
  6. 4mo agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.8.2.3: security updates and translations
  7. 4mo agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.8.2.2: HTML support in maintenance banner
  8. 5mo agoGreenlightGreenlight 3.8.2.1: host configuration bypass option
  9. 9mo agoSRSSRS 6.0 goes stable with H.265 across RTMP, HLS, TS and SRT
  10. 10mo agoSRS6.0-b3: use-after-free and HLS cleanup fixes
  11. 11mo agoSRS6.0-b2: configurable SRT stream IDs and a WHIP transcoding fix
  12. 1y agoSRS6.0-b1: RTC crash fixes, Windows binary dropped

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between SRS and Greenlight?

Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — 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 SRS better than Greenlight?

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 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.

What are the best alternatives to Greenlight?

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