Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Comparison · Meetings
HOMER vs Jitsi
A side-by-side editorial comparison of HOMER and Jitsi — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:observability
HOMER vs Jitsi: at a glance
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.
What is Jitsi?
Jitsi rearchitects transcription and adds Document PiP as GSoC 2026 projects ship
Jitsi is modernizing its core infrastructure through Google Summer of Code 2026 contributions: distributed tracing now spans backend components, transcription has been rearchitected after nearly a decade on the Jigasi-based system, and Document Picture-in-Picture is available in browser meetings. The product is absorbing substantive capability work through its open-source contributor pipeline rather than a dedicated product team.
HOMER vs Jitsi: editorial side-by-side
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.
Jitsi
5.0MEETINGS
Jitsi rearchitects transcription and adds Document PiP as GSoC 2026 projects ship
◆ Current state
Jitsi is modernizing its core infrastructure through Google Summer of Code 2026 contributions: distributed tracing now spans backend components, transcription has been rearchitected after nearly a decade on the Jigasi-based system, and Document Picture-in-Picture is available in browser meetings. The product is absorbing substantive capability work through its open-source contributor pipeline rather than a dedicated product team.
◆ Where it's heading
The transcription rearchitecture and distributed tracing suggest Jitsi is investing in the backend foundations needed to scale or extend to new use cases — potentially AI-assisted meeting features that require more reliable speech input. Document PiP extends the multi-window collaboration surface. The GSoC model means capabilities arrive in bursts aligned with academic timelines.
◆ Prediction
AI transcription or summarization features are a likely application of the new transcription architecture, given the investment in rebuilding it from scratch and the AI-meeting category trend.
Alternatives to HOMER and Jitsi
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 HOMER or Jitsi.
Element Call
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
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.
Recent activity from HOMER and Jitsi
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.371: B2BUA legs in exports, Smart Search fix
- 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
- 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
- 14d agoHOMERBlocks DuckDB file reads and rejects placeholder JWT secrets
- 1mo agoJitsiIntroducing Document PiP for browser meetings
- 2mo agoJitsiTracing calls through backend components
- 3mo agoJitsiA new architecture for transcription (and more)
- 3mo agoJitsiGoogle Summer of Code 2026 – Meet This Year’s Projects!!
- 1y agoJitsiIntroducing Receiver Audio Subscriptions
- 1y agoJitsiGSoC 2025, let’s do this!
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between HOMER and Jitsi?
Both compete on the same themes — observability — within Meetings. HOMER and Jitsi 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 HOMER better than Jitsi?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. HOMER and Jitsi 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to Jitsi?
Top Jitsi alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Jitsi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jitsi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.