Top 7 Free and Open Source Digital Signage Software Tools

Updated on :January 19, 2024
By :Paul Richards

Digital Signage is one of the primary forms of communication between customer and businesses today. Gone are the days when distributing pamphlets and sticking posters was the most important aspect when it comes to promoting your products or services. LED boards and computer screens have replaced posters and pamphlets as they are interactive and reusable. Digital Signage Software tools help manage and solve all your signage issues involving digital platforms and devices. Product placement and advertising are kingmakers in the sales and services world today. Digital Signage is the tool that makes you king. That makes a great Digital Signage Software tool at your disposal the ultimate weapon.

Digital Signage is very effectively used for public service and guiding as well. Digital signboards are being installed even by public authorities and governments to guide and inform people about certain important topics such as transport, healthcare and share market updates. Signboards for famous monuments and public places too have become quite popular, which are managed by authorities using large scale digital signage software tools. Digital Signage in this modern world is as important as manufacturing or marketing as if you cannot project and promote your product or service in the right way to the customers, and then there will not be a great market response.

Digital Signage is effective and attractive and catches the eyes of the customer or viewer in a single instance. This makes it one of the most critical message delivery mediums in today’s world, where visual appeal is king, and it takes a second for a person to judge your product or service.

Features of Digital Signage Software Tools:

  • Media Player: Digital Signage Software tools are used to cast, stream or project media formats on screens of all sizes and shapes. Videos and images are available in a range of formats these days and the digital signage software tools are capable enough to stream them in formats they are in. This saves time and enables seamless functioning.
  • Content Scheduling: Another convenient feature of Digital Signage Software tools is the scheduling of content and media. This saves a lot of time and resource for the business. This saves users from continuous updating and uploading of content and you can plan and schedule content according to your needs.
  • Content Management: A Digital Signage Software tool will categorize and manage your content according to your convenience and parameters. All modern software tools ensure the optimum utilization of resources. To achieve optimum utilization, you need to categorize and distribute content and task related to them accordingly. Digital Signage Software ensures these tasks are automated according to the parameters set by the user.
  • Device Management: When a task involves the use of multiple devices at one go, device management is essential. A Digital Signage Software tool manages devices in such a way that you get the most out of them even by utilizing the least amount of resources. A Digital Signage Software tool can manage an array of devices whether it is portable devices such as cell phones, tablets to large bulky displays such as LED screens and boards.
  • Product Placement: This feature is very vital for sales and service establishments. Digital Signage Software tools can very effectively place your products and services within sight of potential customers. Projection and promotion of your products is vital for sales businesses such as restaurants and stores. Menus and discount features are the most commonly promoted features in restaurants and stores. This helps in attracting more customers and even keeps the customers within the establishment have all the necessary information.

Before you go through the details about free and open source digital signage software, we would like to draw your attention towards one of the most popular digital signage tools - TelemetryTV.

TelemetryTV

TelemetryTV is a well-known, and an user-friendly cloud-based digital signage solution. The platform empowers users to easily manage from 1 to 1000s devices from a central location. Apart from uploading your own content in all popular media formats, you can use the built-in Canva editor or choose from 70+ turn-key apps that make displaying engaging content even easier. From the technical side, TelemetryTV offers a robust set of user and playlist permission settings and supports a variety of media players’ operating systems—Android, Linux, Windows, and ChromeOS, not to mention its proprietary digital-signage first operating system, TelemetryOS that simplifies device provisioning and reduces the total cost of ownership.

Telemetrytv
(Source: TelemetryTV)

Features

  • 70+ turn-key apps
  • Powerful & Intuitive UI
  • Enterprise-grade security
  • Media players agnostic
  • Multiple media support

The top 7 Free and Open Source Digital Signage Software Tools are:         

  1. Concerto
  2. Screenly OSE
  3. Xibo
  4. Rise Vision
  5. Display Monkey
  6. Pi Signage
  7. Info Beamer

Comparative Analysis

comparative analysis of digital signage software

Let’s discuss the listed software tools in further detail.

1. Concerto

concerto

(Source: Concerto)

Features

  • APT-based Linux system
  • Content scheduling
  • Multi-screen support
  • Simple and Fluid UI
  • Can cast multiple formats

Concerto is a web-based Linux Digital Signage Software tool that was developed in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by students and is constantly under development at the very same institute still. Concerto is perfect for small to medium businesses as it manages signage on a medium scale very effectively. Concerto has convenient features such as content scheduling to save time and workload. Concerto has support across multiple formats and cast most of them available on the internet. Concerto is one of the most compact and simple digital signage software in the market and its simple yet effective approach makes it one of the most popular software tools in this category.

 2. Screenly OSE

screenly ose

(Source: Screenly)

Features

  • Runs on resin.io
  • Simple UI
  • Extra Customizable
  • Multiple media support
  • SD card support

Screenly OSE is the Open Source Edition of Screenly, which is one of the most popular digital signage software tools on the internet. Screenly OSE is very simple and efficient and has most of the features of its premium version. Plus the open source feature makes it extremely customizable and user-friendly. Screenly OSE can support an array of media formats which makes it quite adaptive. It also supports SD cards which add to the convenience of the user. Screenly OSE is simple, yet powerful and one of the most user-friendly digital signage software tools on the market.

3. Xibo

xibo

(Source: Xibo)

Features

  • Simple Layout and Powerful Widgets
  • Content Scheduling
  • Wide range of players
  • Advanced diagnostics
  • Very Customizable

Xibo was started as a university project in 2004 but soon became a phenomenon due to its meteoric rise in popularity. Xibo is now managed by Spring Signage and made available across almost all platforms. Xibo today is available on Windows, Ubuntu, WebOS and even Android. The most popular of its versions is cloud-based as it is free and open source which makes it an extremely popular alternative right now. The layout and UI are very simplistic but this does not mean Xibo is devoid of advanced features and widgets. Xibo has convenient features such as content scheduling and analytics which make it efficient for the user.

4. Rise Vision

rise vision

(Source: Rise Vision)

Features

  • HTML Presentations
  • Public API’s
  • Multi-display support
  • Very Customizable
  • Multi-format support

Rise Vision is a web-based Digital Signage Software tool that is accessible across almost all platforms and devices. Rise Vision can be used to create HTML presentations and slideshows. All APIs of Rise Vision are public which make it very adaptable and efficient. It supports display across multiple screens and devices and displays can be logged and scheduled according to the user’s convenience. The layout and UI of Rise Vision is extremely customizable and the player supports an array of formats across all the devices. The simplicity and web-based accessibility is making Rise Vision a very popular proposition in the world of Digital Signage in today’s world.  

5. Display Monkey

display monkey

(Source: Display Monkey)

Features

  • Web-based
  • SQL Reporting Services
  • YouTube Support
  • Content Scheduling
  • Flexible Layout

Display Monkey is the modern digital signage software tool consisting of all the newest features on the internet. It’s completely web-based which makes it quite accessible across platforms. Being one of the newest software tools on the block, Display Monkey has YouTube integration along with streaming and video services. The layout and UI are very customizable and flexible, making it extremely user-friendly. Display Monkey schedules and logs content very effectively as well. Another major feature we have in hand is SQL reporting which is quite uncommon is digital signage software tools. The display can even be geo-tagged and can be arranged hierarchically.

6. Pi Signage

pi signage

(Source: Pi Signage)

Features

  • Intuitive UI
  • Content Scheduler
  • Multi-format support
  • Works Offline
  •  Multi-screen support

Pi signage is one of the premier Digital Signage Software tools for Raspberry Pi. It works seamlessly on its range of small processors and makes digital signage as efficient as ever. The UI is very compact and intuitive, making life easier for the user. Pi Signage logs and schedules content very conveniently, saving time and effort. It supports content across almost all formats including Ubuntu, Windows etc. It also works offline effortlessly making it very portable and accessible from anywhere. It also offers multiple screen support and can be cast from small displays to even the largest LED boards. Pi Signage is perfect for small to medium establishments using a great number of displays, and using Raspberry Pi decreases the cost a lot, without compensating on performance. Pi Signage is an absolute must if you use Raspberry Pi.

7. Info Beamer

info beamer

(Source: Info Beamer)

Features

  • Rapid Development
  • Lua-based
  • Nested Content
  • Real-time Control
  • File-format Support

Info Beamer is one of the most customizable Digital Signage Software tools on the internet. The source code is Lua-based and can be monitored and manipulated according to the user’s needs. It has a huge range of files it can support, some of them even unconventional, not supported by other digital signage software. The content is nested and accessible from almost anywhere on its platform. The processing, logging and scheduling can be monitored and controlled at real-time on all instances making the display and streaming service effortless. The casting can be done across multiple screens, and even though it is programmed with Lua, it is supported across almost all platforms.

Apart from the software discussed above, we have included one more Digital Signage Software-NoviSign. It is a popular digital signage software. Let us discuss it in detail:

NoviSign Digital Signage

Novisign Digital Signage Software

(Source-NoviSign)

Features

  • NoviSign allows users to manage digital signage content from any browser remotely. Users can send updates to screens.
  • Display exclusive new promotions and specials
  • Update screens from anywhere. 
  • Preview content and playlists before sending 
  • Easily access and modify content using any device and from any location
  • Send marketing advertisements and technological information
  • Customer targeted technology 
  • Sensor indication and advanced triggers 
  • Provide product recommendations and upsell services
  • NoviSign supports Windows, Chrome OS, and Android 
  • Preschedule playlists to auto-updates 

NoviSign Digital Signage Software lets you create your digital signage content with the help of pre-designed templates and a rich set of drag and drop widgets. It requires no technical or design skills to use NoviSign. It provides users with Dynamic slideshows, HD videos, RSS feeds, weather, and many more. This software allows you to integrate Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other networks into your content so that you can display live social media streams from your social feeds.

Conclusion

Digital Signage in the modern world can make or break your business strategy. A digital signage software tool is essential if you run a business involving any product or services. Digital signage has become a vital element in public service announcements and public service as well. With a range of different devices at your disposal, it becomes very difficult to manage them as different devices have different requirements. Along with different devices, we have different platforms as well today. Windows, Ubuntu, Mac OS is just to name a few. A Digital Signage Software goes on to solve all these issues and provides seamless integration from one device to another and also from one platform to another. Cloud integration is another important aspect when it comes to content management.

Almost all digital signage software tools today are cloud-based which provides a secure working environment for your enterprise, without the risk of losing content and data. All the mentioned digital signage software tools in the blog are very efficient when you are managing a small to medium businesses which have a medium amount of workload and not too much stream content. Some can work very effectively even for large enterprises and businesses. And the best part being, they are free and open source, enabling you to customize it according to the needs of your business. There are also paid and premium digital signage software tools available on the Internet, mainly used by big enterprises with extreme workload and an enormous amount of stream content. You can always go for premium services if you have greater requirements and capital in hand.

For more information regarding digital signage software tools, including premium options, you can click here.     

Paul Richards
Paul Richards

Paul Richards is a senior content writer at GoodFirms, a pioneering research and review firm for software development companies. Paul has over 10 years of experience in content writing and marketing and has made a name for himself in the IT research sector.

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