HOMER review
A self-hosted HOMER 11 stack for SIP capture, call flows and telecom observability.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
HOMER is an open-source telecom observability and packet-capture system for SIP, VoIP and RTC environments. It is designed for teams that need to collect signaling and packet data, investigate call behavior, inspect call flows and export SIP captures as PCAP files. The current HOMER 11 architecture combines HEP ingestion, DuckLake storage, a query node, a REST coordinator and a built-in web interface. Capture agents can forward traffic from voice platforms or mirrored interfaces, making HOMER a fit for self-hosted communications infrastructure.
Its strongest case is the combination of protocol capture and analysis features. HEP packets can be ingested over UDP, TCP, TLS, HTTP and HTTPS, then stored using DuckLake with Parquet and a catalog. Operators can search through the command-line interface, use the REST API for the interface and external applications, generate call-flow diagrams, export SIP captures to PCAP files and collect VQRTCP SIP quality reports. SIPREC signaling session-recording-server support adds another option for session-recording environments. Grafana integration through Arrow FlightSQL, alongside Prometheus and Loki integrations, supports broader observability workflows.
Deployment is configurable rather than hosted: HOMER can run as an all-in-one server or as separate ingest, storage, node and coordinator components. Its ecosystem includes Kamailio, OpenSIPS, Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, RTPengine, Grafana and Kubernetes. That modularity suits organizations with existing VoIP infrastructure and the capacity to manage a self-hosted system. HOMER is less suitable when the priority is a hosted SaaS experience, built-in decryption support or analysis beyond SIP, VoIP and RTC traffic. Choose it for open-source capture, searchable call analysis and telecom-focused observability; consider an alternative for broader protocol coverage or managed deployment.
HOMER pros and cons
- Where it wins
- HEP ingestion across UDP, TCP, TLS, HTTP and HTTPS
- Call-flow diagrams, SIP quality reporting and PCAP export
- Integrations with Kamailio, Asterisk, Grafana and Kubernetes
- Where it doesn't
- Self-hosted deployment requires server and infrastructure management
- No decryption support
- Its focus is SIP, VoIP and RTC rather than general network analysis
HOMER fact sheet, pricing and score →
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