Fourwaves
Fourwaves is closing the gaps around its payments layer and its form editor at the same time.
Comparison · Meetings
BigBlueButton vs Eventzilla
A side-by-side editorial comparison of BigBlueButton and Eventzilla — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
BigBlueButton vs Eventzilla: at a glance
What is BigBlueButton?
BigBlueButton is polishing the 4.0 beta it already committed to LiveKit, while 3.0 stays the production line.
The 4.0 beta series is in its fifth iteration and the hard architectural decisions are behind it — LiveKit became the default media stack in beta.4 with the legacy SIP.js bridge deleted, BlockNote became the default shared notes engine, and the JVM moved to Java 21. Beta.5 is consolidation: a mobile layout overhaul with paginated webcams and landscape side-by-side camera and presentation, automatic light/dark switching, a dedicated Audio settings tab with push-to-talk, and better BBB-to-LiveKit state reconciliation on reconnect. Packaging gained a bbbctl admin tool and a bbb-coturn package, with bbb-etherpad and bbb-pads now optional. The project still recommends 3.0.x for production.
What is Eventzilla?
One real theme release amid stale event-planning content
Eventzilla's feed pairs a single product update — five new event-landing-page themes — with a backlog of evergreen event-planning strategy posts. The entries run from mid-2024 to March 2025, so the crawled feed is stale by more than a year.
BigBlueButton vs Eventzilla: editorial side-by-side
BigBlueButton
6.3MEETINGS
BigBlueButton is polishing the 4.0 beta it already committed to LiveKit, while 3.0 stays the production line.
◆ Current state
The 4.0 beta series is in its fifth iteration and the hard architectural decisions are behind it — LiveKit became the default media stack in beta.4 with the legacy SIP.js bridge deleted, BlockNote became the default shared notes engine, and the JVM moved to Java 21. Beta.5 is consolidation: a mobile layout overhaul with paginated webcams and landscape side-by-side camera and presentation, automatic light/dark switching, a dedicated Audio settings tab with push-to-talk, and better BBB-to-LiveKit state reconciliation on reconnect. Packaging gained a bbbctl admin tool and a bbb-coturn package, with bbb-etherpad and bbb-pads now optional. The project still recommends 3.0.x for production.
◆ Where it's heading
The 4.0 line is converging toward a release candidate, and the work has shifted from replacing subsystems to making the new ones survive real conditions — reconnects, phones, and administrator tooling. Making etherpad and pads optional alongside a security advisory that urges API secret rotation points at shrinking the default install's attack surface. The parallel 3.0.x train continues shipping security patches, so the ecosystem is carrying two branches until 4.0 stabilises.
◆ Prediction
Expect beta.6 or a release candidate to focus on the LiveKit reconnection and mobile paths that beta.5 only started, since those are the areas where a self-hosted media migration typically breaks. The optional-package work suggests a slimmer default deployment is being prepared for the 4.0 release.
Eventzilla
0.0MEETINGS
One real theme release amid stale event-planning content
◆ Current state
Eventzilla's feed pairs a single product update — five new event-landing-page themes — with a backlog of evergreen event-planning strategy posts. The entries run from mid-2024 to March 2025, so the crawled feed is stale by more than a year.
◆ Where it's heading
The lone product move is cosmetic (landing-page themes), and everything newer is absent, so the trajectory is not observable — the blog appears to have stopped updating or the crawler is on an archived feed.
◆ Prediction
Without recent entries, no confident prediction; the feed source likely needs re-pointing to confirm whether product work continues.
Alternatives to BigBlueButton and Eventzilla
Other Meetings products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either BigBlueButton or Eventzilla.
HOMER
Homer's storage churn pauses long enough to ship a catalog backup CLI.
mediasoup
mediasoup has moved off data-channel plumbing and into the media path — timing first, now layer selection.
Wowza
Wowza keeps arguing its case for detection inside the streaming pipeline
Vimeo
Vimeo ships another batched product post: six changes to embeds and the player
Switcher Studio
Switcher Studio's feed is a livestreaming how-to blog, not a changelog
See all BigBlueButton alternatives → · See all Eventzilla alternatives →
Recent activity from BigBlueButton and Eventzilla
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5d agoBigBlueButton4.0 beta.5: mobile layout overhaul, audio settings, bbbctl admin tool
- 26d agoBigBlueButton4.0 beta.4: LiveKit becomes the default media stack, SIP.js bridge removed ⚡
- 2mo agoBigBlueButton4.0 beta.3: layout system rebuilt, Unified layout becomes default
- 5mo agoBigBlueButton3.0.23: breakout-room fixes, security patches, renamed bbb-web properties
- 6mo agoBigBlueButton3.0.22: client and core fixes, security patches
- 6mo agoBigBlueButton3.0.21: security fixes and minor client improvements
- 1y agoEventzillaEventzilla Introduces a Lineup of 5 New and Stunning Themes for Event Landing Pages
- 2y agoEventzillaEnhancing Attendee Experiences Through Advanced Registration Process
- 2y agoEventzillaKey Components of a Successful Hybrid Conference Strategy
- 2y agoEventzillaEffective Strategies for Successful Conference Planning
- 2y agoEventzillaElevate Your Events with Data-driven Strategies
- 2y agoEventzillaSucceeding in Conference Management with a Practical Approach
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between BigBlueButton and Eventzilla?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. BigBlueButton is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is BigBlueButton better than Eventzilla?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. BigBlueButton is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Meetings products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to BigBlueButton?
Top BigBlueButton alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "BigBlueButton alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bigbluebutton for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Eventzilla?
Top Eventzilla alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Eventzilla alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/eventzilla for the full list with editorial commentary on each.