by CEF Comparison
The Wowza alternative for SRT to UDP
If you are running a transcoding platform just to move a feed from SRT to UDP, this is the smaller tool for that job — on a Raspberry Pi or a Linux server, licensed per device.
Wowza Streaming Engine is a platform built around transcoding, licensed per server instance. Stream Gateway by CEF receives SRT and HLS and delivers UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program, on a Raspberry Pi or a Linux server, from $750 once per device.
These are not the same size of product, and the rest of this page says where theirs is the right one. Everything below about Wowza comes from their public website.
Read this first
When Wowza 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.
You need transcoding and ABR
Wowza Streaming Engine is built around transcoding: their plans are counted in concurrent transcoded channels. We do not transcode at all. If your workflow produces renditions, that is them.
You need the whole delivery stack
Players, SDKs, WebRTC, DRM, RTMP ingest, cloud services and a long-established ecosystem around them. Ours is a gateway: SRT and HLS in, UDP and HLS out. Different size of problem.
You want one vendor for everything
They cover self-hosted software and cloud services with enterprise plans and formal support. If you are consolidating vendors and need that in writing, ask them for it.
Where we fit
When Stream Gateway by CEF fits better
Cable operators, hotels, IPTV and OTT platforms, telcos, WISPs and integrators, where the job is delivery and the platform is overkill.
It fits the site, not the data centre
Wowza licenses per instance — one copy of the server software on one physical or virtual computer. Ours runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for up to 20 streams at a site, or on Ubuntu / Linux x86 for up to 250 on one machine. Twenty simultaneous streams and an HDMI output on a single board is a lot of work for that hardware, and it is what lets one small box cover a hotel or a headend.
Many sites, one screen
A local panel per device plus a cloud panel over the whole fleet: online/offline, version, licence, and remote start, stop, restart, update and reboot. Thirty properties is one screen, not thirty logins.
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. It is the product, not an add-on.
A price you can read, and a one-time option
A free 30-day trial, then $59 per device per month, $590 per year, or $750 once. Wowza publishes prices for its base plans and quotes the enterprise tier; read theirs on their site and compare it against ours here. What you will not find there is a one-time per-device licence.
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, per program. When a channel drops at 3am you have the record, not a guess.
You can try it without a sales call
A one-line installer and a 30-day trial. You point it at your own SRT or HLS sources and decide.
Side by side
What you can check for yourself
Only facts you can verify from both public websites today. We have deliberately left out any claim about Wowza that we cannot back up.
| What you can check | Stream Gateway by CEF | Wowza Streaming Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing unit | Per device, tied to the hardware | Per instance — one copy on one physical or virtual computer |
| One-time licence | ✔ $750 per device | Subscription plans |
| Price published on the website | ✔ $59/mo · $590/yr · $750 once | ✔ base plans; enterprise by quote |
| Transcoding | ✘ demux and remux only | ✔ plans counted in transcoded channels |
| Runs on a Raspberry Pi | ✔ Pi 4 / 5, up to 20 streams | Server hardware or cloud instances |
| Fleet panel over many sites | ✔ included in the licence | Instances, clusters and edge servers |
| Site and docs in ES / PT-BR | ✔ | English and other languages |
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.
- We do not transcode. No renditions, no ABR ladder — we demux and remux what arrives. This is the main thing Wowza does that we do not.
- We take SRT and HLS in, nothing else: no RTMP, no WebRTC, no SDI, no cameras.
- There are no players, no SDKs and no DRM. We hand you UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program, and your system takes it from there.
- 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
Is Stream Gateway by CEF a replacement for Wowza Streaming Engine?
Not in general, and we will not pretend otherwise. Wowza is a full streaming platform built around transcoding, with players, SDKs, WebRTC and DRM. Ours does one job: receive SRT and HLS, deliver UDP unicast, UDP multicast and HLS per program, 24/7. If you are running Wowza only to move a feed from SRT to UDP for a headend or a hotel, then yes — compare them on that job and trial ours against your real sources.
What does each one cost?
Ours is public and per device: a free 30-day trial, $59/month, $590/year or $750 one-time. Wowza publishes prices for its base plans on its own site and quotes the enterprise tier; read them there rather than here, because prices change and a stale figure helps nobody. The structural difference is the unit: they license per server instance, we license per device, and we have a one-time option.
Does it transcode?
No. It demuxes and remuxes: the video that comes in is the video that goes out, per program. Wowza counts its plans in concurrent transcoded channels, which tells you how central transcoding is to their product and how absent it is from ours.
How many streams does it handle?
Up to 20 on a Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 5, and up to 250 on Ubuntu / Linux x86, depending on the hardware you run it on. Licensing is per device, tied to the hardware.
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 check it against the outputs you actually need.