Ant Media Server vs Red5 (2026): which should you pick?

As of Nov 13, 2026, Ant Media Server and Red5 share a 1.8 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Red5 starts cheaper, at $29.99 a month against $109 a month.

Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA

They get the same grade on all five counts.

Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.

Ant Media Server

Low-latency WebRTC streaming server you run or rent by the hour

Free trial · from $109/mo

Full details antmedia.io

Red5

Self-hosted ultra-low latency streaming server and SDKs

Free trial · from $29.99/mo

Full details red5.net

Which one is for you

Pick Ant Media Server if

Fits if you have developers who will build their own streaming product
Works for teams that want a license with no viewer cap

Look elsewhere if

Not for you if you want a finished webinar tool, as there are no rooms or reminders
Pricey if you run it all month: $0.35 an hour is about $255 a month
Watch out: cloud marketplace prices cover the license only, from $0.49 an hour on AWS
Watch out: a Black Friday offer of 25% off runs until 27 November 2026
Too heavy for non-developers, who must run the server

Pick Red5 if

Fits if you have developers building a live product
Works for teams that need autoscaling on their own cloud

Look elsewhere if

Not for you if you want a ready webinar tool, as there is no registration
Tight on Developer Pro: 100 connections with no clustering or autoscaling
Watch out: hosting and data transfer are billed by your cloud provider
Pricey if you want mobile SDKs: $349 a month per launched project
Watch out: extra fees may apply for Castaway, custom SLAs and custom development

How we grade them

	1.8GPAAnt Media ServerWeak	1.8GPARed5Weak
Value for money	D$109 per instance a month on annual billing, above the $99 dearer-quarter mark. Cloud compute and bandwidth are billed on top.	DDeveloper Pro is $29.99 for 100 connections with no clustering; unlimited connections start at $109, over the $99 dearer-quarter mark.
Free plan and trial	C14-day trial with no card, and no free plan.	C30-day trial of Red5 Pro. The listing does not say whether it needs a card.
Features	CWebRTC and other protocols, transcoding, REST API and SDKs. No registration pages, rooms or reminders out of the box.	CLow-latency streaming, autoscaling, SDKs and an open-source server. No registration or reminders.
Ease of use	DYou deploy and configure a server yourself, which is developer work.	DIt is developer infrastructure that you deploy and configure.
Platforms and integrations	BWeb and SDKs for Unity, React Native and Flutter, with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.	BWeb and mobile SDKs, with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean and Akamai.
Best for	low-latency WebRTC streaming you run yourself	developers building low-latency streaming

The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Ant Media Server and Red5. How we grade

Price against what you get

Ant Media Server starts at $109 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Red5 starts at $29.99 a month and scores 2.0.

They score the same, and Red5 starts $79.01 a month lower. Of the other webinar and live streaming tools on the chart, 25 score higher than Ant Media Server for less, and 10 score higher than Red5 for less.

Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged

What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →

The best score at each price
Has a free plan
No free plan

The full chart of webinar and live streaming tools, and the best at every price

Where they differ

In commonWebSelf-hostablePublic APIVideo callsWebinars

At a glance

	Ant Media Server	Red5
Pricing	Free trial	Free trial
Starts at	$109 per instance / month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)	$29.99 per month for 100 connections
Free plan	None	None
Free trial	14-day free trial, no credit card required	30-day free trial of Red5 Pro
Web
Made by	Ant Media, Inc.	Infrared5, Inc.
Price read from	antmedia.io	red5.net
Checked	Nov 13, 2026	Nov 13, 2026

Worth knowing

Ant Media Server

It is server software: there are no registration pages, webinar rooms or email reminders out of the box.
Cloud marketplace prices cover the license only; compute, storage and bandwidth are billed by the cloud provider.
Marketplace listings start from $0.49/hr on AWS, $0.44/hr on Azure and $0.56/hr on Google, with a free trial of 5 to 7 days.
A Black Friday offer of 25% off the first month or first year runs until November 27, 2026.

Red5

It is developer infrastructure, not a finished webinar product with registration or email reminders.
Hosting is separate: you pay your cloud provider for servers and data transfer.
Developer Pro is capped at 100 connections with no clustering or autoscaling.
Pricing says additional fees may apply for services such as Castaway, custom SLAs and custom development.

Key features

Ant Media Server

WebRTC and other protocols: Lists WebRTC, LL-HLS/DASH, CMAF, HLS, RTMP, RTSP, SRT, WHIP/WHEP and Zixi, with about 300 ms latency claimed for WebRTC.
Transcoding: Adaptive-bitrate transcoding is included in every paid license listed on the pricing page.
REST API and SDKs: REST APIs plus SDKs for iOS, Android, Unity, React Native, Flutter and JavaScript for building your own viewer or publisher apps.
Flexible deployment: Runs on-premises, in a private or public cloud, or in air-gapped networks; cloud marketplace images exist for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
No viewer cap in the license: The FAQ says licensing sets no fixed limit on connections or concurrent viewers; capacity depends on your own infrastructure.

Red5

Low-latency streaming: Delivers live video over WebRTC, RTMP, RTSP and HLS, with recording and video on demand on every listed plan.
Autoscaling: Startup and above autoscale across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure or DigitalOcean; Developer Pro has no clustering.
Instance-based licensing: The FAQ says there is no charge per minute, viewer or bandwidth; price follows the license and number of running instances.
Client SDKs: SDKs for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Unreal Engine and Unity are sold per launched project.
Open-source server: Red5 also publishes an open-source media server and TrueTime tools such as WatchParty and Studio, including a webinar variant.

Plans

Ant Media Server

Flex$0.35
per instance-hour, metered while the server runs
No signup fee or monthly commitment; idle running time is billed. Transcoding and SDKs included.
Monthly$129
per instance / month, billed monthly
One Enterprise instance with standard support and updates. A 25% first-month promotion is running.
Annual$109
per instance / month, billed annually ($1,308)
One Enterprise instance with standard support and updates for the term.
Perpetual$3,499
per instance, one-time
One-time license with year-one support and updates; support then $499 a year. Offline licensing available.
EnterpriseCustom
Volume and cluster licensing, architecture planning, SLA and managed services by agreement.

Red5

Developer Pro$29.99
per month, up to 100 connections
Live streaming, recordings and VOD with no clustering or autoscaling; email support.
Startup$109
per month, billed annually ($119 billed monthly)
Unlimited connections, adaptive bitrate and autoscaling on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure or DigitalOcean.
Growth Pro$279
per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
Adds transcoding and a private Slack channel to the Startup features.
Enterprise$3,499
per month and up
Adds offline deployments, 24/7 support and phone support to Growth Pro.
Mobile SDKs$349
per month per launched project, billed annually ($419 monthly)
One fee covers the iOS, Android and Linux SDKs for a single project.

Ways to pay less

Ant Media Server

Other savings
Black Friday: 25% off first term
Ant Media's site advertises 25% off the first month of the Monthly plan or the first year of an Annual plan, with the offer ending November 27, 2026.

Red5

No public discounts listed.

Common questions

Which is cheaper, Ant Media Server or Red5?

As of Nov 13, 2026, Red5 is cheaper to start with: $29.99 a month, against $109 a month for Ant Media Server. Ant Media Server starts at $109 per instance / month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly), and Red5 starts at $29.99 per month for 100 connections.

Which has a free plan, Ant Media Server or Red5?

As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Ant Media Server nor Red5 has a free plan. Both have a free trial.

More comparisons

How this page was made

The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.

How we review and grade