Riverside

KEEP IT

The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying.

Records remote interviews at full quality by capturing each participant locally rather than over the call, then uploading the tracks and aligning them into one session.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Do not rebuild Riverside. Build a local-first recorder for a call you host yourself, and be honest about the hard part.

STACK
- A static page using MediaRecorder in the browser, plus WebRTC for the live conversation
- Node with Fastify for signalling and upload, S3-compatible storage

THE IDEA
- The call is over WebRTC and may be poor quality; that is fine, it is only for talking
- Each participant records their own microphone and camera locally at full quality
- Chunks are uploaded every few seconds while recording continues, so nothing depends on a final upload

SYNCHRONISATION, THE HARD PART
- Each recorder writes a start timestamp from a server clock fetched at the beginning, plus periodic drift samples
- Store those samples with the track; alignment is a post-process, not something the browser gets right live
- Document the expected drift over an hour and how the offsets are applied

RESILIENCE
- Chunks written to IndexedDB before upload and cleared only on acknowledgement
- Reload the page mid-session and recover the in-progress recording
- A visible indicator per participant showing how many chunks are still to upload

ASSEMBLY
- Server-side ffmpeg concatenates chunks per track, applies the offset, and produces one file per speaker

WHAT IS NOT HERE
- Transcription, clips, captions, 4K, and any guarantee about Safari

Include a README on browser support, the storage cost per hour per participant, and the drift you measured.

What you lose

Local recording on every participant’s machine, uploaded progressively, so a bad connection does not ruin the take
Separate tracks per speaker, aligned to the same clock
Automatic reconnection and recovery when someone drops mid-session
Transcription, clip generation and captions on the same recording
A guest experience that works in a browser with no install and no account

If you would rather not build

Zencastr — paid, the closest competitor for audio

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

Jitsi Meet

Self-hosted video conferencing with server-side recording.

jitsi/jitsi-meetfree · open source

OBS Studio

Local recording and streaming; the free half of this, without the remote guests.

obsproject/obs-studiofree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

25/100

Verdict no at 25: the recording is achievable, the alignment is where builds fail, and browser inconsistency in MediaRecorder is a permanent tax. For anyone whose income depends on the take surviving, renting this is the rational choice.

History

tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 days

Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.

Questions about Riverside

answered from the record above

Is Riverside free?

No — the plan we track is $29 a month. Standard at $29/month billed monthly, around $19 annually; recording hours and 4K export sit on higher tiers.

Can you replace Riverside by building your own?

KEEP IT. The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying. Replacement score 25 out of 100, build time longer than it saves. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Riverside cost?

$29 a month on Standard — $348 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Riverside?

Local recording on every participant’s machine, uploaded progressively, so a bad connection does not ruin the take; Separate tracks per speaker, aligned to the same clock; Automatic reconnection and recovery when someone drops mid-session; Transcription, clip generation and captions on the same recording; A guest experience that works in a browser with no install and no account. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Riverside?

Yes: Jitsi Meet, OBS Studio. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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