Signboard and Yodeck solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $49, the other is a subscription at $8/screen/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| Signboard | Yodeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once, unlimited screens | $8/screen/mo ($96/yr per screen) |
| 5-screen annual cost | $0 after purchase | $480/yr |
| Cost over 3 years (5 screens) | $49 | $1,440 |
| Player | Any browser, 6-char pairing code | Dedicated player app |
| Dayparting | Server-side, per-screen timezone | Yes |
| Emergency takeover | Built in | Paid tier |
| Your data | Your SQLite file, your box | Their servers |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
What Signboard does well
- Content library — Images, videos (mp4/webm), web-page URLs, and announcement slides built from 5 layout templates — a "Closed Friday" slide takes 20 seconds, no designer required.
- Playlists — Ordered items with per-entry duration overrides, drag-to-reorder, cut/fade transitions, in-browser preview.
- 6-character pairing — The player page shows a code; type it into the dashboard, name the screen, assign a playlist. Any smart-TV browser, a Pi in kiosk Chromium, or an old tablet all work — no player app.
- Server-side dayparting — "Mon-Fri 07:00-11:00 → Breakfast Menu" — evaluated in the screen's own IANA timezone, not the kiosk's often-wrong clock. Priority-ordered rules, visual weekly grid.
What Yodeck still does better
There's a real reason Yodeck costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on Yodeck's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying $8/screen/mo for a job your own hardware can do, Signboard pays for itself and then some: on a single screen Signboard pays for itself vs Yodeck in about 6 months. On five screens, 5 weeks — then it's $0 a year, forever.
Try Signboard — $49, once
Playlists, scheduling, screen health and emergency takeover — any browser is a player, no per-screen rent.