Compared to Xibo
A self-hosted alternative to Xibo
Xibo is open source and self-hostable, so the usual argument on this page does not apply - on where the data lives, Xibo and Signvero want the same thing. People compare the two on setup, on the emergency path, and on how much of the administration falls to one person.
What Xibo is good at
The case for staying put, first
A comparison where the other product has no advantages is marketing, and everybody can tell. These are real, and most of them are things we have deliberately chosen not to be.
- Being genuinely open source, with the freedoms that brings. If the licence is the deciding factor, that is a real answer and we are not it.
- A long history, a large installed base and a community that has seen most problems before.
- Deep scheduling and layout control for somebody willing to learn it.
What changes if you move
Getting it running
Deployment scripts for shared hosting, a VPS or Docker, and a paired screen in a few minutes rather than an afternoon. The same result either way; the difference is how much of the week it costs you.
Reaching a screen that is busy
An emergency notice covers whatever is on the screen in two to five seconds, including a screen running somebody else's application. On Android that needs the overlay permission and it is the thing most often missing when a building already has screens showing a news channel nobody can change.
When the network drops
Playback runs from a local cache, so a dropped connection is not a dark screen. Eight hours offline is a supported state rather than a failure, and the player catches up by itself when the link returns.
Who you call
A community forum is a good thing and it is not the same as somebody answerable to you. Signvero is commercial and supported, which is a trade: you pay for it, and there is a person on the other end.
How each one is billed
Xibo
Open source and free to self-host; Xibo Cloud is the hosted option and is billed per display. Check their page for the current figure.
Their pricing pageSignvero
Self-hosted, licensed per estate. You buy a band for the number of screens you have and the screens inside it are free.
Our pricingWe do not print their price here. Any vendor can change one this afternoon, and a comparison carrying last year’s figure is worse than one carrying none.
Straight answer
When you should stay with Xibo
- An OSI-approved licence is a requirement rather than a preference. Signvero is proprietary, and no amount of self-hosting changes that.
- You already run Xibo, it works, and your team knows it. Working software is worth more than a better argument.
- You would rather have no licence cost at all and spend the time instead. That is a legitimate trade and plenty of estates make it.
If you recognised yourself in any of those, buy the other thing. You will be happier, and we would rather say so on this page than six weeks into a pilot.
Also compared
The rest of the field
ScreenCloud
Same job, on your own server, without the per-screen line on the invoice.
Yodeck
For estates that outgrew per-screen billing, or cannot send content off site.
OptiSigns
The same estate, licensed per site rather than per screen, on infrastructure you own.
Rise Vision
Strong in schools. The question is where the data sits and what the alert path is.
NoviSign
Same capability, on your own infrastructure, priced by estate rather than by screen.
See it beside Xibo
We will set up a live system with your own login so you can put the two next to each other, rather than taking a comparison page's word for it.
No open demo, no sign-up wall, a person reads every request.