Element Call
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
Comparison · Meetings
Fourwaves vs HOMER
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Fourwaves and HOMER — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:security
Fourwaves vs HOMER: at a glance
What is Fourwaves?
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Fourwaves ships small daily updates. After the Oct 19 participant DM inbox came: admins of organizations with a delegated payment gateway can connect it to events without waiting for approval, sessions without times can have presentations reordered, and a second round of fixes from an internal security audit. One entry is a header-divider style change.
What is HOMER?
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
HOMER's 11.0 line is still hardening its DuckDB tiered-storage layer. 11.0.368 retries incomplete tier moves and fixes tiered queries that missed lake tables. The 11.0.369 pre-release stops sending the AWS session token with static S3 keys, which broke Vultr/Ceph RGW, and keeps DuckDB's file cache off on write paths so compaction memory plateaus. Security fixes (bound tiered lookup parameters, hono bump) ride alongside.
Fourwaves vs HOMER: editorial side-by-side
Fourwaves
5.0MEETINGS
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
◆ Current state
Fourwaves ships small daily updates. After the Oct 19 participant DM inbox came: admins of organizations with a delegated payment gateway can connect it to events without waiting for approval, sessions without times can have presentations reordered, and a second round of fixes from an internal security audit. One entry is a header-divider style change.
◆ Where it's heading
The product moves in two lanes: networking features for participants (DM alerts, then the inbox) and less organizer friction around payments, data tables and session scheduling. The security-audit follow-ups suggest more hardening releases are coming.
◆ Prediction
Expect more small organizer-workflow fixes and further security-audit releases. Participant messaging may get moderation or notification controls next.
HOMER
5.0MEETINGS
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
◆ Current state
HOMER's 11.0 line is still hardening its DuckDB tiered-storage layer. 11.0.368 retries incomplete tier moves and fixes tiered queries that missed lake tables. The 11.0.369 pre-release stops sending the AWS session token with static S3 keys, which broke Vultr/Ceph RGW, and keeps DuckDB's file cache off on write paths so compaction memory plateaus. Security fixes (bound tiered lookup parameters, hono bump) ride alongside.
◆ Where it's heading
Almost every release since early October fixes the parquet lake: compaction, cache behaviour, tiering and S3 compatibility. The storage rewrite is being shaken out in production on more varied object stores. Feature work, such as OTLP log events on the call ladder, has paused while this stabilises.
◆ Prediction
Expect 11.0.369 to be promoted from pre-release, followed by more storage fixes for non-AWS object stores before feature work picks up again.
Alternatives to Fourwaves and HOMER
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 Fourwaves or HOMER.
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.
Kamailio
Kamailio's feed shows quiet, migration-free upkeep across two stable branches.
See all Fourwaves alternatives → · See all HOMER alternatives →
Recent activity from Fourwaves and HOMER
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.371: B2BUA legs in exports, Smart Search fix
- 2d agoFourwavesRegistration emails now include a calendar file
- 3d agoFourwavesEvent assistant now reviews all event website text
- 3d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.369 fixes Ceph S3 auth and compaction memory growth
- 6d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.368 fixes tier moves and tiered-query table coverage
- 6d agoFourwavesDelegated payment gateways connect to events without approval
- 7d agoFourwavesHeader divider now vertical on desktop
- 8d agoFourwavesReorder presentations in sessions without set times
- 8d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.367 disables DuckDB file cache for local lakes
- 9d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.366 bumps DuckDB to 1.5.6, pins Go build
- 9d agoFourwavesMore security fixes from the internal audit
- 14d agoHOMERBlocks DuckDB file reads and rejects placeholder JWT secrets
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Fourwaves and HOMER?
Both compete on the same themes — security — within Meetings. Fourwaves and HOMER 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 Fourwaves better than HOMER?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Fourwaves and HOMER 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 Fourwaves?
Top Fourwaves alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Fourwaves alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fourwaves for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to HOMER?
Top HOMER alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HOMER alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/homer-voip for the full list with editorial commentary on each.