Castreon and Flussonic Media Server
Flussonic Media Server is a mature media server with a great many features. As of version 26.08, the vendor announces that the active development phase has ended: the product remains supported, with minimal security updates, and new features go into its new products.
Public information verified on October 23, 2026.
In short
- Flussonic Media Server no longer receives new features; the vendor invites customers to plan their move to the new products.
- For new clusters, the documentation says not to build them on Flussonic Media Server anymore, but on Catena.
- Intel Quick Sync has not been supported for a long time, according to its documentation.
- Flussonic documents things Castreon does not have: SDI, ASI, NDI, ST-2110, unlimited DVR, SSAI.
Features, side by side
| Feature | Castreon | Flussonic |
|---|---|---|
| Video transcoding | yes — CPU, NVIDIA, Intel Quick Sync, VA-API | yes — CPU, NVIDIA (Intel Quick Sync not supported) |
| AV1 encoding | yes | yes (NVIDIA Ada or newer) |
| DVB reception (cards, SAT>IP) | DVB-C, DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, plus SAT>IP, T2-MI and BISS | DVB-T, DVB-C, DVB-S, plus T2-MI |
| 24/7 channels from files (playout) | yes — library, playlists, EPG (Pro); day-and-time schedule, live takeover, SCTE-35 (Enterprise) | yes — server-side playlist, looped or on a schedule |
| RIST | input and output | not publicly documented |
| LL-HLS (low latency) | yes | yes |
| MPEG-DASH | yes | yes |
| WebRTC (playback) | yes (Enterprise) | yes |
| AES-128 encrypted HLS | yes, with a key server included, in all plans | yes |
| DRM Widevine · PlayReady · FairPlay | yes, through your DRM provider (Enterprise) | yes, with many DRM providers |
| SCTE-35 (ad breaks) | from live sources into HLS (Enterprise) | yes, including server-side ad insertion (SSAI) |
| Backup source (failover) | yes, in all plans | yes |
| Several servers from one panel | yes — servers and channels from one panel, channel taken from another server (Enterprise) | yes, but for new clusters the vendor points to Catena |
| Two-factor authentication in the panel | yes | not publicly documented |
| Audit log (who changed what) | yes | not publicly documented |
Prices, from the public price lists
Flussonic Media Server
- Public price: only “developer limited license from $100”; all other offers are on request.
- Licenses are counted per server running at the same time.
Castreon
Starter €25 · Pro €49 · Enterprise €99 — per server per month, plus VAT; 50 / 150 / unlimited channels; free 14-day trial, no card needed.
Pricing →Cost example: 1 server, 20 channels transcoded on the GPU, one month
- Castreon
- €49 (Pro: 150 channels, GPU transcoding)
- Flussonic
- cannot be calculated: there is no public price list for this scenario
Our calculation, from the list prices published by each vendor, without discounts and excluding VAT. Check the current price with the vendor before you decide.
When Flussonic is the better choice
- You need SDI, ASI, NDI or ST-2110, unlimited DVR or server-side ad insertion (SSAI).
- You already use the vendor's new products.
When Castreon is the better fit
- You want a product in active development, with new features in every version.
- You want public prices, per server per month, with no quote on request.
- You transcode on Intel Quick Sync or need RIST, two-factor authentication and an audit log.
Sources
Public information verified on October 23, 2026.
- Flussonic Media Server flussonic.com
- Changelog 26.08 flussonic.com
- Changelog 22.11 flussonic.com
- Cluster flussonic.com
- Server-side playlist flussonic.com
- Intel Quick Sync flussonic.com
- DRM flussonic.com
- Licensing flussonic.com
- Description flussonic.com
Comparison made by Web Tools IT, which develops Castreon, based on information published by the vendors and verified on October 23, 2026. Prices and features may change — check them with the vendor. “Not publicly documented” means we did not find the feature in the vendor's public documentation on the verification date, not that it is missing. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners; Castreon is not affiliated with them. If something is no longer correct, write to us at [email protected] and we will correct it.