# coturn

> BSD-3-Clause TURN/STUN NAT-traversal relay (not an SFU)

**Category:** DevOps  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://coturn.github.io/  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/coturn/coturn  
**Added:** 2026-09-11

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## The Hook

coturn is the TURN/STUN relay when LiveKit/Janus are rooms/SFUs and Pion/PeerJS are libraries — you still need NAT traversal infra.

## What's Good

BSD-3-Clause-style (3-clause). coturn/coturn. Free open-source TURN and STUN server for VoIP/WebRTC media NAT traversal — REST auth, TLS/DTLS, Docker images on Docker Hub/GHCR/Quay. Homepage coturn.github.io; source github.com/coturn/coturn.

## The Catch

Vs LiveKit / Janus (rooms/SFU products), Pion / PeerJS (WebRTC libs/signaling): coturn is the *relay*, not a room product and not a client SDK. You still open UDP/TCP ranges, set realm/secrets, and pay bandwidth on the box that relays. Distinct from mediasoup/LiveKit media routing.

## Verdict

BSD-3-Clause TURN/STUN. Free forever relay software; the bill is ports, RAM, and egress.