Castreon and Nimble Streamer
Nimble Streamer is a streaming server with a great many protocols, managed from WMSPanel, the vendor's cloud panel. Transcoding, DRM and other features are separate licenses, added per server.
Public information verified on October 23, 2026.
In short
- Nimble is not free: an instance costs $50 per month, the minimum account $20 per month; Live Transcoder and Addenda (DRM, ads) cost $50 per month per server each.
- Management is done from WMSPanel, in the cloud; the server must be registered there.
- Failover to a backup source and playout require Live Transcoder.
- Nimble documents things Castreon does not have: Zixi, NDI, SDI, HTTP/3, SLDP.
Features, side by side
| Feature | Castreon | Nimble |
|---|---|---|
| Video transcoding | yes — CPU, NVIDIA, Intel Quick Sync, VA-API | yes — CPU, NVIDIA, Intel Quick Sync, VA-API, with Live Transcoder (separate license) |
| AV1 encoding | yes | yes (NVIDIA) |
| DVB reception (cards, SAT>IP) | DVB-C, DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, plus SAT>IP, T2-MI and BISS | not publicly documented |
| 24/7 channels from files (playout) | yes — library, playlists, EPG (Pro); day-and-time schedule, live takeover, SCTE-35 (Enterprise) | with Live Transcoder (separate license) |
| RIST | input and output | input and output |
| LL-HLS (low latency) | yes | yes |
| MPEG-DASH | yes | yes |
| WebRTC (playback) | yes (Enterprise) | yes (WHEP) |
| 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, in Addenda (separate license) |
| SCTE-35 (ad breaks) | from live sources into HLS (Enterprise) | passed through |
| Backup source (failover) | yes, in all plans | with Live Transcoder (separate license) |
| Several servers from one panel | yes — servers and channels from one panel, channel taken from another server (Enterprise) | yes — from WMSPanel, in the cloud |
| Two-factor authentication in the panel | yes | yes (WMSPanel) |
| Audit log (who changed what) | yes | not publicly documented |
Prices, from the public price lists
Nimble Streamer
- Nimble instance: $50 per month; minimum account $20 per month.
- Live Transcoder: $50 per month per server; Addenda (DRM, ads): $50 per month per server.
- 2-week trial, without Live Transcoder and Addenda; payments are non-refundable.
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)
- Nimble
- $120 ($20 account + $50 instance + $50 Live Transcoder)
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 Nimble is the better choice
- You need Zixi, NDI, SDI, HTTP/3 or SLDP.
- You want to manage many servers from a cloud panel.
- You already use other products from the same vendor.
When Castreon is the better fit
- You want transcoding, failover and playout included, without add-on licenses.
- You want the panel on your own server, not in a vendor's cloud.
- You receive directly from DVB cards.
Sources
Public information verified on October 23, 2026.
- WMSPanel prices wmspanel.com
- Live Transcoder price softvelum.com
- Live Transcoder softvelum.com
- Addenda softvelum.com
- DRM softvelum.com
- Paywall softvelum.com
- Installation softvelum.com
- Playout softvelum.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.