Open-source Dacast alternatives

SRS, short for Simple Realtime Server, is an open-source real-time media server for live streaming and video communication. It handles many protocols in one product, among them RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, SRT, HTTP-FLV, MPEG-DASH and the GB28181 surveillance standard, and supports video codecs including H.264, H.265, AV1 and VP9 and audio codecs including AAC, Opus and G.711.

It runs on Linux and macOS across a wide range of processor architectures, from x86-64 and ARM variants to Apple M1, RISC-V, LoongArch and MIPS. The getting-started guide recommends running SRS in Docker, after which you open the local web console on port 8080 and push a stream with FFmpeg or OBS to an RTMP address, then play it back with common players using whichever protocol you prefer. A mirror registry is mentioned for users in China.

SRS is written in C++ and licensed under MIT, though some third-party libraries carry their own licenses. Topics point to low-latency streaming, live broadcasting and video conferencing. It suits teams building live video platforms, surveillance ingest or conferencing backends who want to run their own media server.

PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform, developed by Framasoft as an alternative to centralized services such as YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo. It is a network of many small, interoperable video hosting providers, called instances, and it is described as community-owned and ad-free.

Users can upload videos and have them streamed anywhere, with descriptions and tags that make them discoverable across the whole federated network, not only one instance. Live streaming, including permanent streams, is supported, and a player can be embedded on other websites. Viewers can follow channels from the Fediverse, such as Mastodon, without an account on the instance hosting the video.

PeerTube uses ActivityPub for federation and peer-to-peer technology in the browser to share bandwidth between viewers. It is written in TypeScript with Angular and released under the AGPL-3.0 license. People can join an existing instance or create their own, so it fits both self-hosters and communities, and demonstration instances are listed.

Owncast is an open-source, self-hosted live video streaming and chat server for one broadcaster. It aims to work as a single service you run yourself, with streaming and chat included, so you keep ownership of your content, interface, moderation and audience instead of relying on a large streaming platform.

It works with any broadcasting software that sends video over RTMP, the protocol the major live services use, and OBS, Streamlabs and Restream have been used with it. The topics list HLS streaming, chat, ActivityPub and fediverse federation. The backend is written in Go and the frontend in React, and a quick-start guide plus a demo are available.

Owncast is licensed under MIT and deployed on your own server. The README advises using a tagged release rather than the develop branch when you want a stable version. It suits independent streamers, communities and organizations that want a branded, self-run live stream with built-in chat.

MediaCMS is an open-source content management system for video and other media. It is meant for organizations that want their own platform for viewing and sharing media, and the README says it can be used to put together a small to medium video portal in minutes. A public demo is available.

The stack is Python with Django and Celery on the server and React on the front end, and a REST API is included for integration. Listed features include complete control over your data through self-hosting, support for several publishing workflows such as public, private, unlisted and custom, and role-based access control with RBAC categories. Repository topics also cover audio, video sharing and CMS use cases.

MediaCMS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and is designed to run on your own server. It suits schools, companies, communities and creators that want an internal or public video library without relying on a third-party video platform, and that are comfortable administering a Django application.

Ant Media Server is a scalable media server for low-latency live streaming. It supports WebRTC with a claimed latency of about half a second, along with SRT, RTMP, RTSP, HLS and CMAF low-latency HLS, and also handles H.265/HEVC. Developers use it to build real-time video applications and live broadcasting.

Capabilities include adaptive bitrate workflows, transcoding, recording and cloud auto-scaling. SDKs are provided for iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Unity and JavaScript, and security features include SSL/TLS, token authentication, IP filtering and watermarking. The README lists use cases such as telehealth, e-learning, sports streaming, auctions and interactive applications.

The project is split into a Community edition with the essentials and an Enterprise edition that adds advanced features and support, and a free trial of the Enterprise edition is offered. It is written in Java, and documentation covers installation, API references and tutorials.

OvenMediaEngine, or OME, is a streaming server built for live video with sub-second latency. It can deliver high-definition streams to very large audiences using Low Latency HLS and WebRTC. The project also lists a hosted demo service, OvenSpace, built with OvenMediaEngine, OvenPlayer and OvenLiveKit, with its source available for implementation examples.

On the input side, OME accepts pushed streams over WebRTC, WHIP, SRT, RTMP, Enhanced RTMP and MPEG-2 TS over UDP, and it can pull streams over RTSP and OVT. An embedded live transcoder produces adaptive bitrate renditions with codecs including VP8, H.264, AV1 and, with hardware, H.265. Viewers receive output over LLHLS and WebRTC, and legacy HLS and SRT output are also supported.

Further capabilities include scheduled channels for pre-recorded live programming, multiplex channels, DVR-style live rewind, dumping streams for video on demand, timed ID3v2 metadata, WebVTT subtitles and DRM with Widevine, FairPlay and PlayReady. An embedded TURN server and WebSocket signalling server support WebRTC. It is written in C++ and licensed under AGPL-3.0.