nps is a powerful, lightweight, and high-performance intranet penetration proxy server. It supports various protocols such as TCP, UDP, SOCKS5, and HTTP, allowing for flexible and efficient traffic forwarding.
SRS (Simple Realtime Server) is a high-efficiency open-source media server for live video. It ingests and delivers streams over RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV, HTTP-TS, SRT, MPEG-DASH and GB28181, with codec support for H.264, H.265, AV1, VP9, AAC, Opus and G.711. The server is highly configurable, clusters well for large audiences, and integrates with existing workflows through its broad protocol support.
- High-performance and lightweight solution
- Supports multiple protocols for flexible traffic forwarding
- Easy to configure and manage
- Free and open-source solution
- Free and open‑source
- Supports a wide range of streaming protocols
- Low latency suitable for interactive use cases
- Active community support via GitHub and forums
- Limited documentation and support resources
- May require technical expertise to set up and configure
- Limited scalability and performance in large-scale deployments
- Requires manual self‑hosting and configuration
- Documentation can be fragmented for beginners
- Limited official commercial support options
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataBoth NPS and SRS are free, open‑source, self‑hosted solutions, but NPS is a lightweight proxy for intranet penetration, while SRS is a full‑featured real‑time video streaming server; choose based on whether you need network tunneling or media streaming.
Key differences
- •Protocol focus: NPS handles TCP/UDP/SOCKS5/HTTP(S)/P2P traffic; SRS handles RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, MPEG‑DASH, SRT, GB28181.
- •Primary use case: NPS provides intranet penetration and secure remote access; SRS provides real‑time video ingest, transcoding, and delivery.
- •Management interface: NPS offers a web terminal for client/tunnel configuration; SRS offers an HTTP API, callbacks, and Prometheus metrics.
- •Language/runtime: NPS is written in Go; SRS is written in C++.
- •Community support: NPS support limited to GitHub Issues; SRS adds a community forum in addition to GitHub Issues.
Pricing & value
Both are free, open‑source tools with no licensing cost.
Ease of use / learning curve
NPS provides a web management terminal, making configuration simpler than SRS's fragmented docs and CLI setup.
Features & depth
SRS supports many streaming protocols, transcoding, load‑balancing, and monitoring, far beyond NPS's proxy capabilities.
Integrations & ecosystem
SRS offers HTTP API, callbacks, Prometheus exporter, and SRT/GB28181 support; NPS only offers basic proxy integration.
Support
SRS provides both GitHub Issues and a community forum, whereas NPS relies solely on GitHub Issues.
Scalability
SRS includes built‑in load‑balancing and clustering for thousands of viewers; NPS notes limited scalability for large deployments.
Security & privacy
NPS emphasizes HTTPS conversion, secure SSH/remote‑desktop tunneling, and DNS resolution; SRS focuses on streaming security via SRT.
Choose NPS if…
Developers or sysadmins needing lightweight, multi‑protocol intranet tunneling and remote access.
Choose SRS if…
Media engineers needing a versatile, low‑latency video streaming platform.
Common questions
Is there any cost to use either product?
Both NPS and SRS are free and open‑source.
Which tool is easier to set up for a non‑expert?
NPS offers a web management terminal, making initial setup simpler than SRS's more fragmented documentation.
Can either solution handle thousands of concurrent users?
SRS includes built‑in load‑balancing and clustering for high concurrency; NPS notes limited scalability in large deployments.