Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Comparison · Meetings
Element Call vs FusionPBX
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element Call and FusionPBX — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Element Call vs FusionPBX: at a glance
What is Element Call?
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
Element Call ships a release candidate roughly every two to three weeks. v0.28.1-rc.1 adds a breaking change that falls back to publishing media on a remote SFU when possible, supports migrating to new LiveKit transport types and endpoints, and fixes room v12 power-level compatibility. It also brings in a MatrixRTC SDK and patches several dependency security advisories. The previous rc added a quick audio menu and redacted analytics IDs from rageshakes.
What is FusionPBX?
The release feed stops in 2018, so nothing here describes the current product
Every visible entry predates 2019. The newest is 4.4.1, a minor bug-fix release covering call centre login, device password propagation and call detail record naming. Below it sit 4.4.0 with user change logs, call recording management, QR-code provisioning and added translations, and two 4.2.x releases focused on bug fixes and SQL injection hardening in LUA scripts.
Element Call vs FusionPBX: editorial side-by-side
Element Call
5.0MEETINGS
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
◆ Current state
Element Call ships a release candidate roughly every two to three weeks. v0.28.1-rc.1 adds a breaking change that falls back to publishing media on a remote SFU when possible, supports migrating to new LiveKit transport types and endpoints, and fixes room v12 power-level compatibility. It also brings in a MatrixRTC SDK and patches several dependency security advisories. The previous rc added a quick audio menu and redacted analytics IDs from rageshakes.
◆ Where it's heading
With the MatrixRTC protocol cutover finished in August, the team is now working on the media transport layer itself: how calls find and publish to SFUs and how LiveKit endpoints change underneath them. Packaging the RTC logic as an SDK suggests it is meant to be reused beyond the Element Call app.
◆ Prediction
Expect a 0.28.1 final and follow-ups to the LiveKit transport migration; whether the MatrixRTC SDK gets its own release isn't clear from the entries.
FusionPBX
0.0MEETINGS
The release feed stops in 2018, so nothing here describes the current product
◆ Current state
Every visible entry predates 2019. The newest is 4.4.1, a minor bug-fix release covering call centre login, device password propagation and call detail record naming. Below it sit 4.4.0 with user change logs, call recording management, QR-code provisioning and added translations, and two 4.2.x releases focused on bug fixes and SQL injection hardening in LUA scripts.
◆ Where it's heading
What the archive shows is a project that treated security hardening as release-worthy in its own right and steadily broadened administrative tooling around FreeSWITCH. What it cannot show is anything about the last several years — the feed has been silent since 2018, so no current direction is observable.
◆ Prediction
There is not enough recent data to predict a next move. Until this feed carries releases again, the product's current state is unreadable from here.
Alternatives to Element Call and FusionPBX
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 Element Call or FusionPBX.
HOMER
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
JW Player
JW Player moves CMAF VOD into the dashboard, adds AV1, and opens Broadcast Live to audio-only feeds.
rtpengine
rtpengine opens the mr26.3 branch with a rollback message and leaner call state.
Nextcloud Talk Desktop
Nextcloud Talk Desktop 2.3.3 adds accessibility options and bundles Talk v25.0.6.
Nextcloud Talk
Nextcloud Talk patches v22 and v23 while v25 stable sits five weeks past its last RC.
See all Element Call alternatives → · See all FusionPBX alternatives →
Recent activity from Element Call and FusionPBX
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2d agoElement CallElement Call 0.28.1 rc adds remote-SFU fallback and LiveKit migration
- 23d agoElement CallQuick audio menu, bell reaction sound and redacted analytics IDs
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.1-rc.1
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.0-rc.2
- 1mo agoElement Callv0.26.0-rc.1
- 2mo agoElement CallMatrixRTC legacy mode removed — all calls now run on the new protocol ⚡
- 8y agoFusionPBXFusionPBX 4.4.1: call centre, device and CDR fixes
- 8y agoFusionPBXFusionPBX 4.4: recordings management, QR provisioning, email templates
- 9y agoFusionPBXFusionPBX 4.2.2: default settings and SIP alias fixes
- 9y agoFusionPBXFusionPBX 4.2.1 hardens every database-touching LUA script
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Element Call and FusionPBX?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Element Call is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 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 Element Call better than FusionPBX?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Element Call is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 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 Element Call?
Top Element Call alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Element Call alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/element-call for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to FusionPBX?
Top FusionPBX alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "FusionPBX alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fusionpbx for the full list with editorial commentary on each.