Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Comparison · Meetings
Element Call vs Pexip
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Element Call and Pexip — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Element Call vs Pexip: 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 Pexip?
Pexip Infinity v40 lands as a maintenance-grade release.
The recent feed is dominated by the Pexip Infinity v40 release notes — upgrade procedure, changelog, resolved issues, known limitations — alongside the prior v39.1 release. The v40 release itself notes 'no significant changes' in functionality, suggesting this is a stability/security cut rather than a feature push.
Element Call vs Pexip: 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.
Pexip
5.0MEETINGS
Pexip Infinity v40 lands as a maintenance-grade release.
◆ Current state
The recent feed is dominated by the Pexip Infinity v40 release notes — upgrade procedure, changelog, resolved issues, known limitations — alongside the prior v39.1 release. The v40 release itself notes 'no significant changes' in functionality, suggesting this is a stability/security cut rather than a feature push.
◆ Where it's heading
Pexip is operating in classic enterprise-on-prem mode: regular versioned releases with multi-step upgrade paths, security bulletins, and detailed end-of-life announcements. There is no visible AI or cloud-native pivot in the current notes. The product is being maintained for the install base it already has, not reshaped for a new buyer.
◆ Prediction
Expect a v40.x point release within 4–6 weeks addressing v40 known limitations, and continued biannual major versions. The next directional signal would be either an AI-meeting feature inside the web app or a cloud-managed deployment option — neither is hinted at in this batch.
Alternatives to Element Call and Pexip
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 Pexip.
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 Pexip alternatives →
Recent activity from Element Call and Pexip
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 ⚡
- 6mo agoPexipPexip Infinity v40 upgrade guide published
- 6mo agoPexipv40 ships with no significant functional changes
- 6mo agoPexipInstallation guide updated for v40
- 6mo agoPexipResolved issues in v40
- 7mo agoPexipv40 known limitations published
- 7mo agoPexipPexip Infinity v39.1 release notes
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Element Call and Pexip?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Element Call and Pexip are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). 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 Pexip?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Element Call and Pexip are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). 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 Pexip?
Top Pexip alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Pexip alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/pexip for the full list with editorial commentary on each.