Wowza

Active

Country: United States (US)
Founded: 2005
Developer: Wowza Media Systems
Pricing: Subscription-based monthly or annual plans starting at $25/mo
Open source: No
Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Cloud

Indexes

Live Streaming

Overview

Wowza Streaming Engine is server software for live and on-demand video and audio streaming to any device. It supports deployment on on-premises hardware or in the cloud, with features for scaling across regions, origin-edge replication, and delivery via CDNs using unicast or multicast. The software handles inputs from encoders like OBS Studio via RTMP and outputs to protocols including HLS, MPEG-DASH, and RTSP for applications such as events, news, surveillance, and training.

Key Features

Multi-protocol Support - Accepts inputs via RTMP, SRT, WebRTC, MPEG-TS, ICY; outputs to HLS, MPEG-DASH, RTSP/RTP, Smooth Streaming.
Live Stream Repeater - Origin-edge functionality for mirroring streams to multiple servers to reach large audiences.
Transcoding - Real-time adaptive bitrate transcoding for delivery to various devices and bandwidths.
Scalability - Multi-threaded architecture for on-premises or cloud deployment with regional scaling.
Stream Health Monitoring - Real-time statistics on connections, transcoding, and delivery metrics.
Security Features - Secure stream authentication and encryption options.
CDN Integration - Push streams to content delivery networks for global distribution.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Includes
Monthly Subscription	$25/mo per instance	Basic live streaming, transcoding, single server instance.
Annual Subscription	$250/year per instance	Same as monthly with annual discount, support included.
Enterprise	Custom quote	Unlimited scaling, advanced support, custom integrations.

Platforms & Requirements

Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS servers; deployable via Docker for cloud environments like AWS or on-premises hardware. Minimum requirements include multi-core CPU, 8GB RAM, and sufficient storage for caching. No native mobile app; web-based management interface.

Integrations & Ecosystem

OBS Studio (RTMP push)
Content Delivery Networks (Akamai, Cloudflare)
WebRTC for low-latency streaming
SRT protocol for secure transport
REST API for automation
VLC Media Player (playback)
Wowza Video cloud service

Alternatives

App	Difference
Nginx with RTMP module	Free open-source option but requires manual configuration and lacks built-in transcoding or UI management.
Ant Media Server	Focuses on WebRTC ultra-low latency; community edition free but enterprise features paid similarly.
Red5	Open-source Java-based server with RTMP focus; less protocol support and scalability than Wowza.
AWS MediaLive	Fully managed cloud service with auto-scaling; higher cost for large-scale use without on-premises option.

Reputation

Wowza Streaming Engine is recognized for reliability in professional live streaming setups, with strong support for protocols and scalability praised by broadcasters and developers. Users appreciate the customizable server software and integration flexibility. Criticisms include a steeper learning curve for configuration compared to cloud-only services and higher costs for multi-instance deployments.

Sources (10)