At a glance
| Category | Example | How it's priced | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| OmniBridge | — | Usage-based by capacity (sources/destinations), not cloud metering — flat annual/multi-year term payment, unlimited installs | Self-hosted, on your own network |
| Software competitor | SRT Mini Server | Per-event licenses, or modular permanent-license packs | Self-hosted (Windows only) |
| Broad media server | Nimble Streamer | $50/month per server instance | Self-hosted, config/API-driven |
| Hardware-tied management software | Magewell Control Hub | Device/channel-tiered software fee, on top of owning the hardware | Manages Magewell devices specifically |
| Broadcast hardware appliances / enterprise gateways | Haivision Makito X/X4, Haivision SRT Gateway/Hub, Magewell Pro Convert | Capital purchase or custom quote — no published pricing | Dedicated physical hardware or a sold-the-same-way VM |
| Cloud-managed / metered platforms | swXtch.io, TVU Grid, Vajracast, AWS Elemental MediaConnect | Usage-metered — per stream/month or per flow-hour + GB transferred | Third-party cloud infrastructure |
| Open-source tools | FFmpeg, srt-live-server | Free | Self-hosted, script/CLI-driven, no dashboard |
Feature-by-feature
Checked directly against each vendor's own site, docs, and published pricing before writing this — not from memory. "Cloud-managed platforms" and "Open-source tools" are categories covering more than one product each (see the notes below the table); everything else is one specific product.
| OmniBridge | SRT Mini Server | Nimble Streamer | Magewell Control Hub | Haivision SRT Gateway / Hub | Cloud-managed platforms | Open-source tools | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted, no mandatory vendor hardware | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Web dashboard included (not just config files/CLI) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Live source/destination thumbnail previews | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Cross-platform (Linux and Windows, same dashboard) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-service pricing, no sales quote required | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flat license — no per-stream/bandwidth metering | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SRT, RTMP, RIST, and NDI all available (any combination) | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
✓Supported · ~Partial, indirect, or varies by tier/product · ✗Not offered
Cloud-managed platforms: swXtch.io (SRTx Router, from $45/stream/mo), TVU Grid, and Vajracast (Cloud tiers from $49–$599/mo, plus a contract-only on-premise option) — grouped since they share the same "your feeds route through our infrastructure, billed by usage" shape, not because they're identical products. Open-source tools: FFmpeg, srt-live-server, and similar — free, capable, and entirely script/CLI-driven; none of them ship an operator-facing routing dashboard, thumbnails, or connection health monitoring out of the box.
vs. SRT Mini Server
The closest software comparison — also a self-hosted SRT routing tool. Re-verified against SRT Mini Server's own site and documentation before publishing this page.
| SRT Mini Server | OmniBridge | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Per-event licenses (e.g. a 7-day, 6-stream, 1-host tier around $20, one-off, no auto-renewal), plus separate modular permanent-license packs (Full, NDI/OMT Pack, Routing Pack) and an SDI output add-on for hardware capture cards | Flat annual license by capacity, not cloud metering — $399/yr for 3 sources + 1 destination, +$50/yr per additional; see Pricing for the full breakdown |
| Install count | Licensed per host/event | Unlimited concurrent installs under one key — run it on as many machines as you want |
| Protocol scope | SRT-focused, with NDI/OMT and SDI-out as separate packs/add-ons | SRT and UDP MPEG-TS included; RTMP, RIST, and NDI as individually priced add-ons |
| Host platform | Windows only (Windows 10/11, Windows Server) — confirmed in their own system requirements | Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) or Windows — same dashboard either way |
| Remote management | Primarily a local Windows application; a web-based remote control interface exists but is off by default and has to be manually activated (Tools → Remote Control) | The dashboard is the only interface, always reachable over the network from any browser — nothing to enable separately |
| Best fit | A one-off event or a specific pack's use case (e.g. pure SRT-to-NDI conversion) | An ongoing production operation with recurring shows, where per-event licensing would mean re-buying access every time |
This isn't a claim that SRT Mini Server is worse at what it does — it's a genuinely different licensing shape (per-event and modular packs) aimed at a different usage pattern than OmniBridge's ongoing, usage-based model.
No per-install fee for a hot-standby node
One license key activates on as many machines as you want — a primary ingest server and a hot-standby secondary on a separate network path, with no separate license to buy just for the second install. Usage is what's licensed, not install count, though: if both instances mirror the same sources/destinations live at once, that's usage on both, so the license needs enough authorized capacity to cover the combined total, not just what one instance alone would need. SRT Mini Server licenses per host regardless of usage — a real second server for redundancy means a real second license there, full stop.
vs. Nimble Streamer
Softvelum's Nimble Streamer is a genuinely broad media server — SRT, RTMP, NDI, RIST, WebRTC, HLS, DASH, and more, plus transcoding and DVR that OmniBridge doesn't attempt. The difference is what it's built for.
- Config-and-API first, not operator-first.Nimble Streamer itself is controlled via config files and APIs; WMSPanel adds a web dashboard for centralized management, monitoring, and statistics across a server fleet — but it's an admin/monitoring panel, not a click-to-route switcher-style matrix for a live show.
- Priced per server instance.$50/month per Nimble Streamer instance, with a separate WMSPanel trial — a different shape than OmniBridge's per-source/destination usage pricing.
- OmniBridge's tradeoff.Narrower protocol scope (no transcoding, no DVR, no WebRTC) in exchange for a dashboard built specifically for routing a live show — thumbnails, tally-style status, and presets an operator drives directly, not through config files.
- A single compiled binary, not a media-server stack.OmniBridge ships as one executable with its web UI built in — no separate app server, database, or runtime to install alongside it. Light enough to run next to a live switcher on the same box, on a small Linux VM, or inside a hypervisor without competing for resources with transcoding-heavy workloads the way a full media server does. Written in Rust, too — no garbage-collector pauses, no crash-prone memory bugs while it's supposed to just be routing.
vs. Magewell Control Hub
Magewell's Control Hub can convert and route streams across multiple protocols — but it exists to manage Magewell's own hardware line (Ultra Stream, Ultra Encode, Pro Convert, USB Fusion), not as a standalone routing tool for any encoder.
- Hardware-tied by design.Control Hub manages Magewell devices specifically — it's not something you point at a third-party SRT encoder the way OmniBridge is.
- Licensed by device and channel count.Basic/Plus/Pro tiers cap both the number of Magewell devices managed and the number of stream-conversion channels (5/25/50), on top of already owning the hardware.
- OmniBridge's tradeoff.Works with whatever already sends SRT/RTMP/RIST/NDI — no requirement to buy a specific vendor's capture or conversion hardware first.
vs. broadcast hardware appliances and enterprise gateways
Dedicated encoder/decoder hardware — Haivision's Makito X/X4 line, Magewell's Pro Convert series, and similar — is the traditional way broadcast facilities have handled SRT contribution. Haivision's own SRT Gateway/Hub product also comes as a virtual machine, not just an appliance, but stays in the same category: no published pricing, a "speak to an expert" contact form instead of self-service checkout.
- One physical unit per channel (or a VM sold the same way).Each encoder or decoder appliance typically handles a fixed number of channels — scaling up means buying more hardware, not just changing a software license. The VM option removes the physical box but not the enterprise sales process.
- Capital purchase or custom quote, not self-service.These are enterprise products sold through resellers or direct sales with request-a-quote pricing — a real cost and lead-time commitment before you're routing your first stream.
- OmniBridge's tradeoff.Software running on hardware you already have (or a small cloud/on-prem VM) — no per-channel hardware purchase, published pricing, and adding capacity is a license change, not a sales call.
vs. cloud-managed contribution platforms
swXtch.io, TVU Grid, and Vajracast all route video through their own cloud infrastructure rather than yours, billed on an ongoing basis by usage — the same shape as AWS Elemental MediaConnect (billed by the flow-hour plus a per-gigabyte transfer rate), just aimed specifically at broadcast contribution rather than general media workflows.
- Real, verified pricing.swXtch.io's SRTx Router starts at $45/stream/month with no separate bandwidth charge; Vajracast's cloud tiers run $49–$599/month depending on route count and features (it also offers a contract-only on-premise license for teams needing NDI/ST 2110 or full infrastructure control). TVU Grid's pricing is quote-based.
- Recurring cost that scales with usage, not a one-time term.Every stream routed is a line item every month, for as long as it's live — the tradeoff for not running or maintaining any infrastructure yourself.
- Your video leaves your network.Routing happens on the provider's infrastructure, not yours — a real consideration for anyone who needs to keep contribution feeds on infrastructure they control.
- OmniBridge's tradeoff.A flat term license and your own hardware — feeds never leave your network, and adding more sources/destinations is a one-time license change, not a new recurring line item.
vs. open-source tools (FFmpeg, srt-live-server, and similar)
Free, capable, and genuinely used in production — but as libraries and command-line tools, not an operator-facing product. Building a live routing setup means writing and maintaining your own scripts, with no dashboard, no live thumbnails, and no built-in connection health/reconnect visibility — you get exactly what you script, nothing more.
OmniBridge's own bundled ffmpeg build is one of these tools under the hood, for the protocols it doesn't implement natively (see the Features page) — the difference is everything wrapped around it: the dashboard, routing, diagnostics, and presets, so nobody on show night needs to touch a config file or a terminal. And unlike a hand-rolled FFmpeg/srt-live-server stack, it's still just one compiled binary with the UI built in — nothing extra to install, patch, or keep running alongside it.
See it for yourself
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