by CEF Comparison
The Nimble Streamer alternative
Their core server is free and it is good. Ours is a turnkey gateway: preconfigured, with per-program failover and alerts, and a fleet panel in the licence.
This is the hardest comparison on our site, so we will start with the awkward part: Nimble Streamer's core server is free, it runs on ARM, and Softvelum has a fleet panel. Anyone telling you we are the obvious choice has not read their website.
The honest difference is what you are buying. Theirs is a media server you configure for your case, with far more protocols than ours. Ours is a finished gateway: SRT and HLS in, UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program out, preconfigured on a Raspberry Pi or a Linux server, with primary and backup per program, email alerts and every device on one panel — from $750 once per device.
Read this first
When Nimble Streamer is the better choice
There are cases where we are not what you need, and you deserve to know before you spend a month testing.
Their core server is free
Nimble Streamer is freemium: a wide feature set costs nothing, and you pay for add-ons like the transcoder. If your budget is the deciding factor and you are happy configuring a media server yourself, start there — we would.
You need protocols we do not have
They publish RTMP, WebRTC with WHIP and WHEP, NDI, SDI, RTSP, DASH, HTTP/3 with QUIC, Zixi and RIST, plus a transcoder add-on. We do SRT and HLS in, UDP and HLS out. That is the whole list.
Your source can only push to a listener
Nimble takes SRT in caller, listener and rendezvous. We do caller only, on purpose — the reason is in the next section. If your source cannot dial out, they cover that case and we do not.
Where we fit
When Stream Gateway by CEF fits better
Cable operators, hotels, IPTV and OTT platforms, telcos, WISPs and integrators rolling out the same box at many sites.
A gateway, not a media server to configure
Ours arrives preconfigured, with a one-line installer and a local panel where a program slot is a form: source, backup, outputs, done. Nimble is a general media server you assemble for your case. If you have the skills and the time, that flexibility is a feature. If you are rolling out thirty hotels, it is thirty configurations to maintain.
Failover and alerts per program, built in
Primary and backup source per program with automatic switchover and reconnection, and email alerts for signal loss, black screen and pixelation on each program. Not a module to add: it is what the product is for.
Every incoming signal, on the record
Live RTT, jitter and bandwidth in and out, plus a full report of everything that happens on each incoming signal. When a channel drops at 3am you have the record, not a guess.
The fleet panel comes with the licence
A local panel on each device and a cloud panel over the whole fleet — online/offline, version, licence, and remote start, stop, restart, update and reboot. Softvelum manages fleets through WMSPanel, which is a separate subscription from the server licence. Ours is one licence per device and the panel is in it.
HDMI out for local monitoring
On a Raspberry Pi 5 or a Linux machine there is an HDMI output (H.264 / AAC) to put a program on a screen in the rack room, plus browser preview of any program. On site, that is often the fastest way to answer "is it on air?".
One-time licensing exists
A free 30-day trial, then $59 per device per month, $590 per year, or $750 once and it is yours. For a hotel that buys equipment rather than subscriptions, a one-time per-device licence is easier to sign off than a monthly server fee.
Side by side
What you can check for yourself
Only facts you can verify from both public websites today, including the ones that do not favour us.
| What you can check | Stream Gateway by CEF | Nimble Streamer |
|---|---|---|
| Free core server | No — 30-day trial, then paid | ✔ Freemium, paid add-ons |
| Price published on the website | ✔ $59/mo · $590/yr · $750 once | ✔ On their site |
| SRT input modes | Caller only, by design | Caller, listener and rendezvous |
| Runs on ARM / Raspberry Pi | ✔ | ✔ arm64 build |
| Transcoding | ✘ demux and remux only | ✔ paid add-on |
| Per-program failover and email alerts | ✔ included | Check their feature list for your case |
| Fleet panel | ✔ included in the licence | WMSPanel, licensed separately |
| One-time licence | ✔ $750 per device | Subscription |
Based on the public websites of both vendors, 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 for you, we are not your tool, and it saves us both time that you find out on this page.
- Their core server is free and ours is not. If licence cost is the deciding factor and you are comfortable configuring a media server, that is a real argument in their favour.
- We do not transcode and there is no ABR ladder — we demux and remux what arrives.
- We take SRT and HLS in, nothing else: no RTMP, no WebRTC, no NDI, no SDI, no RTSP, no RIST, no Zixi.
- SRT input is caller only, and that is deliberate: a receiver in listener mode has to publish an IP and wait on it, which is the single point you cannot fail away from.
- There is no recording and no DVR, and alerts are sent by email only.
- 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
Nimble Streamer is free. Why would I pay for this?
You would not, if what you need is a media server and you enjoy configuring one — that is a fair answer and we would rather give it than pretend otherwise. You would pay for ours when you are deploying gateways at many sites and want them identical: preconfigured, installed in one line, with per-program primary and backup, email alerts, HDMI monitoring and every device on one cloud panel that comes with the licence. What you are buying is the setup and the operation, not the packets.
What does Stream Gateway by CEF cost?
A free 30-day trial, then $59 per device per month, $590 per year, or $750 once, per device and tied to the hardware. Softvelum publishes its own figures on its site — check them there rather than here, because prices change and a stale number helps nobody.
Does it run on a Raspberry Pi, like Nimble?
Yes, and so does theirs — they publish an arm64 build. Ours runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for up to 20 streams and on Ubuntu / Linux x86 for up to 250, and both are managed from the same cloud panel. The difference is not the board, it is what you get preconfigured on it.
Can it receive SRT in listener mode?
No, and that is a design decision rather than a gap. A receiver in listener mode has to publish a public address and wait on it — a single point you cannot fail away from. In caller mode the gateway dials out to the source or to a CDN, where the redundancy already lives, so a broken path is a reconnection instead of an outage. If your source can only push to a listening address, Nimble covers that and we do not.
Can I test it before paying?
Yes. The 30-day trial is free and complete, with no sales call required. Install it with the one-line installer, point it at your own SRT or HLS sources, and compare it against whatever else you are testing.