by CEF Comparison
The Cesbo Astra alternative
20 streams and an HDMI monitor out of a single Raspberry Pi 5, or 250 on a Linux server, with every site on one screen — and a price you can read before you ask.
Cesbo Astra is a software headend; Stream Gateway by CEF is a gateway. That is the honest summary. Astra covers cable, satellite, terrestrial and IP on a Linux server. We do one part of that — SRT and HLS in, UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program out — on a Raspberry Pi at a site or on a Linux server handling up to 250 streams, from $750 once per device, with every device managed from one cloud panel.
If you need DVB tuner input, Astra does something we do not. The rest of this page is about the case where you do not.
Read this first
When Cesbo Astra is the better choice
Three cases where they win outright, and you should not waste a month testing us.
You need a full headend
Astra is a software headend for cable, satellite, terrestrial and IP. If you need DVB-S, DVB-T or DVB-C input from tuner cards, that is a different job from ours and they do it.
Your source can only push to a listener
Astra takes SRT in caller or listener. We do caller only, and on purpose — the reason is in the next section. But if your source cannot dial out and has to push to a listening address, they cover that case and we do not.
You need more than a gateway
Astra is a full headend, with a broader feature set than ours. If you need functions beyond SRT and HLS in and UDP and HLS out, check their list against what you actually use today.
Where we fit
When Stream Gateway by CEF fits better
Above all when delivery is spread across many sites: hotel chains, cable operators with several headends, IPTV and OTT platforms, WISPs and integrators.
You can see the price right now
Our price is on the page: a free 30-day trial, then $59 per device per month, $590 per year, or $750 once. Cesbo does not publish figures on its site — the buy link takes you into their order portal. You can compare our cost against your budget before speaking to anyone.
You choose the shape: Pi or server
The same software runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for up to 20 streams at a site, and on Ubuntu / Linux x86 for up to 250 on one machine — the same centralised model as Astra. Twenty simultaneous streams plus an HDMI output on a single board is a lot of work for that hardware, and it is what lets one small machine cover a whole site. You are not forced into either architecture, and you can mix both under one panel.
Many sites, one screen
When delivery is spread out, this is the difference. Thirty hotels means thirty separate installs to visit. Our cloud panel shows every device — online/offline, version, licence — and lets you start and stop streams, restart, update or reboot remotely, without connecting to each one. The system also produces a full report of everything that happens on the incoming signals, so an outage is something you read, not something you reconstruct.
Deploy in minutes, per site
A one-line installer and a 30-day trial you can start on your own. Point it at your SRT or HLS source, set the UDP or HLS output, done.
Caller by design, and failover included
Primary and backup source per program, with automatic switchover, reconnection and email alerts. And SRT input is caller on purpose: the gateway dials out to the source or the CDN, where the redundancy already lives, instead of publishing an IP and waiting on it. An address you sit on is the one point you cannot fail away from.
A screen at the site, no extra tools
HDMI output for local monitoring on the Raspberry Pi 5 and on Linux: plug a monitor in at the headend and watch any program on the spot, on top of the browser preview. Astra runs on Linux servers and has no HDMI output. (Neither does the Raspberry Pi 4.)
Side by side
What you can check for yourself
Only facts verifiable on both public websites on 1 September 2026 — including the ones where they are ahead.
| What you can check | Stream Gateway by CEF | Cesbo Astra |
|---|---|---|
| Price published on the website | ✔ $59/mo · $590/yr · $750 once | Order portal, no public figures |
| Hardware it runs on | Raspberry Pi 4 / 5 (up to 20 streams) or Ubuntu / Linux x86 (up to 250) | Linux servers |
| SRT input | Caller only (by design) | ✔ Caller and listener |
| DVB-S / DVB-T / DVB-C input | ✘ | ✔ |
| UDP multicast output | ✔ | ✔ |
| HDMI output for local monitoring | ✔ Pi 5 and Linux (not Pi 4) | ✘ |
| Trial without contacting sales | ✔ 30 days | Through their portal |
Based on cesbo.com and astra.cesbo.com, checked on 1 September 2026. For anything not listed here, ask each vendor directly — including us.
No surprises
What Stream Gateway by CEF does not do
If any of these is a requirement, we are not your tool, and it saves us both time that you find out here.
- SRT input is caller only, by design. Astra also does listener; if your source can only push to a listening address, they are the right choice for that case.
- There is no DVB input: no satellite, no terrestrial, no cable tuner cards. We take SRT and HLS over IP, nothing else.
- There is no recording and no DVR. It passes signal through; it does not store it.
- Alerts are sent by email only — no webhook, no messaging integration.
- The lifetime licence does not include later updates or technical support. The subscription does include updates while it is active.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Is Stream Gateway by CEF a replacement for Cesbo Astra?
Not a full replacement — Astra is a software headend that also handles satellite, terrestrial and cable input, and we do not. For the specific job of taking SRT or HLS in and delivering UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program, we do that job on one compact machine — a Raspberry Pi 5 carries 20 simultaneous streams and drives an HDMI monitor — and add fleet management across sites. If your Astra install is doing DVB work, keep it.
What does Cesbo Astra cost?
Cesbo does not publish prices on its website. The buy link leads to their order portal, so we cannot tell you what you would pay and we are not going to guess. Ask them directly, and compare it with our figures, which are on our pricing page.
Why is there no SRT listener mode?
Because for continuous delivery it works against you. A gateway in listener mode has to publish a public IP and wait on it: that address is a single point you cannot fail away from, and it is exposed to whatever reaches it. In caller mode the gateway dials out to the source, or to a CDN that already handles redundancy, so a broken path becomes a reconnect instead of an outage. For a hotel or a headend that has to stay on air, that is the whole point. Astra supports both modes, so if your source can only push to a listener, they cover that case.
Do I have to run several small devices, or can I centralise?
Either. On Ubuntu / Linux x86 one machine handles up to 250 streams, which is the centralised model. But delivery often is not centralised: A hotel chain, a cable operator with several headends or an integrator with many client sites needs equipment at each location. One compact machine per site, all visible from a single cloud panel, is often more resilient than backhauling every signal to one place. It is the same software either way, so you can also mix both.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. The 30-day trial is free and complete, with no sales call. Install it with the one-line installer and test it against your own sources.