Castio.live – WordPress Streaming Plugin with Chat (HLS) vs Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL)

Castio.live is a WordPress streaming plugin with chat that lets you go live directly from your admin — no OBS, no RTMP, no external platforms. Stream video, chat with your audience in real time, and monetize your content with Stripe or PayPal — all from your own WordPress site. Perfect for creators, educators, events, and premium content platforms. Castio.live is one of the few WordPress plugins that enables browser-based live streaming without OBS or RTMP. At a Glance WordPress streaming plugin (HLS) Go live directly from WordPress Admin Built-in real-time chat No OBS, no RTMP, no external platform Paywall: Stripe & PayPal Gutenberg blocks for easy embedding Auto-generated viewer pages Works on shared hosting and VPS Start streaming in minutes Install the plugin, click “Start Streaming” in WordPress Admin, and instantly share your live viewer page with your audience. No streaming SaaS. No vendor lock-in. Full control over your content. Live Streaming from WordPress Admin Castio.live adds a dedicated streaming interface directly inside the WordPress Admin area. You can: – Select your camera and microphone – Preview your stream before going live – Start and stop streaming with a single click Supported capture technologies: – MediaDevices API – MediaRecorder – WebCodecs (when available, for lower latency) Supported streaming browsers: – Chrome or Edge (desktop) – Chrome (Android) Viewer playback works on all modern browsers, including mobile devices. Viewer Page (Auto-Generated) For each live stream, Castio.live can automatically generate a viewer page. Viewer page features: – HLS video playback (native HLS on Safari, hls.js on other browsers) – Clean and lightweight interface – Mobile-friendly layout – Optional live chat panel The viewer page URL can be: – Public – Shared privately – Embedded into other pages – Protected via access control options Monetize Your Live Streams Castio.live includes built-in monetization features so you can generate revenue from your content: Pay-per-view access Subscriptions via Stripe PayPal payments (no webhooks required) Secure access via signed cookies Perfect for: – Premium live events – Online courses – Private communities – Exclusive content No external SaaS required — you keep full control over your revenue. Built-in Real-Time Chat Each live stream includes a built-in real-time chat system. Chat features: – AJAX-based live message polling – Username display – Automatic refresh – Message history stored in the WordPress database Moderation tools: – View all messages – Delete individual messages – Ban users by username – Ban users by IP address No external chat service is required. Privacy, Ownership, and Compliance Castio.live is designed with privacy and data ownership as a core principle. No third-party streaming services No external chat providers No analytics or tracking scripts included by default No cloud-based video or message processing All streaming and chat data remains on your own server: – HLS video segments – Chat messages – Stream metadata – Viewer page configuration This design helps simplify compliance with GDPR and similar data protection regulations. Technical Architecture Castio.live is a fully WordPress-native plugin. No dependencies on: – FFmpeg – Node.js – RTMP servers – External streaming APIs Core components: – Browser-based HLS generation – PHP for stream lifecycle and data storage – JavaScript for capture, playback, and chat – WordPress custom post types and options The plugin works on shared hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers. Key Features Summary Live stream directly from WordPress Admin No OBS, no RTMP, no external streaming platform Browser-generated HLS (.m3u8 + .ts) Automatic viewer page creation Built-in live chat Chat moderation tools Mobile-friendly viewer experience All streaming and chat data stored locally Lightweight and efficient Compatible with most CDNs, including Cloudflare Who Is This Plugin For? Castio.live is ideal for: – Educators and online trainers – Content creators – Community websites – Event organizers – Developers and agencies – Anyone who wants full control over live streaming without SaaS platforms Source Code and Third-Party Libraries This plugin includes both original source code and third-party JavaScript libraries. Original plugin code – Unminified, human-readable JavaScript files are included directly in the plugin. – No obfuscated or encrypted code is used. Third-party libraries (vendored, unmodified) MediaBunny File: assets/js/vendor/mediabunny/mediabunny.esm.js Source: https://github.com/Vanilagy/mediabunny License: MIT Used for browser-based media processing. hls.js File: assets/js/vendor/hls/hls.min.js Source: https://github.com/video-dev/hls.js License: Apache License 2.0 Used for HLS playback on non-Safari browsers. These libraries are included for performance and compatibility reasons. All libraries retain their original licenses and copyright notices. External Services This plugin connects to external third-party services to provide optional monetization and licensing features. Stripe Payments Castio.live can integrate with Stripe to allow site owners to sell access to live or recorded streams, including pay-per-view content and subscriptions. What the service is used for: Stripe is used to create checkout sessions, process payments, manage subscriptions, and retrieve payment reports related to paid video access. What data is sent and when: When a visitor purchases paid content or when the site owner views payment reports, the plugin sends the following data to Stripe: – Email address provided during checkout – Payment and checkout session identifiers – Purchased content or pricing identifiers – Subscription and payment status metadata No video streams, chat messages, or media content are transmitted to Stripe. Service provider: Stripe, Inc. Terms of Service: https://stripe.com/legal Privacy Policy: https://stripe.com/privacy PayPal Payments Castio.live can integrate with PayPal to allow site owners to sell access to live or recorded streams via pay-per-view. What the service is used for: PayPal is used to create and capture payment orders for paid video access using the PayPal Orders API v2. What data is sent and when: When a visitor purchases paid content, the plugin sends the following data to PayPal: – Order amount and currency – Return and cancel URLs – Stream identifier (used as order description) No video streams, chat messages, or personal user data beyond the above are transmitted to PayPal. Service provider: PayPal Holdings, Inc. Terms of Service: https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/useragreement-full Privacy Policy: https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/privacy-full Castio.live Licensing Server This plugin connects to the Castio.live licensing server to validate premium licenses and enable optional premium features. What the service is used for: The licensing server is used to verify license validity and determine which premium features are available. What data is sent and when: During license validation (for example on activation, admin access, or periodic checks), the plugin sends: – License key – Site domain name – Plugin version – WordPress version No user-generated content, video streams, or personal data are transmitted. Service provider: Castio.live Terms of Service: https://castio.live/terms Privacy Policy: https://castio.live/privacy Demo and Additional Features A public demo, documentation, and optional commercial features are available at: https://castio.live Commercial offerings may include: – Advanced access control – Enhanced chat moderation – Extended streaming options – Priority support The core live streaming and chat functionality works without requiring any external service. Author and Support Developed by proxymis Website: https://proxymis.com Contact: [email protected]

Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. Really simple, Effective and Performant WordPress Security Really Simple Security is the most lightweight and easy-to-use security plugin for WordPress. It secures your WordPress website with SSL certificate generation, including proper 301 https redirection and SSL enforcement, scanning for possible vulnerabilities, Login Protection and implementing essential WordPress hardening features. We believe that security should have the absolute minimum effect on website performance, user experience and maintainability. Therefore, Really Simple Security is: Lightweight: Every security feature is developed with a modular approach and with performance in mind. Disabled features won’t load any redundant code. Easy-to-use: 1-minute configuration with short onboarding setup. Security Features Easy SSL Migration Migrates your website to HTTPS and enforces SSL in just one click. 301 redirect via PHP or .htaccess Secure cookies Let’s Encrypt: Install an SSL Certificate if your hosting provider supports manual installation. Server Health Check: Your server configuration is every bit as important for your website security. WordPress Hardening Tweak your configuration and keep WordPress fortified and safe by tackling potential weaknesses. Prevent code execution in the uploads folder Prevent login feedback and disable user enumeration Disable XML-RPC Disable directory browsing Username restrictions (block ‘admin’ and public names) and much more.. Vulnerability Detection Get notified when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. Login Protection Allow or enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for specific user roles. Users receive a two-factor code via Email. Improve Security with Really Simple Security Pro Protect your site with all essential security features by upgrading to Really Simple Security Pro. Advanced SSL enforcement Mixed Content Scan & Fixer. Detect files that are requested over HTTP and fix them to HTTPS, both Front- and Back-end. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security and configure your site for the HSTS Preload list. Firewall Really Simple Security Pro includes a performant and efficient WordPress firewall, to stop bots, crawlers and bad actors with IP and username blocks. 404 blocking – Blocks crawlers as they trigger unusual numbers of 404 errors. Region blocking – Only allow/block access to your site from specific regions. Automated and customisable Firewall rules. IP blocklist and allowlist. Security Headers Security headers protect your site visitors against the risk of clickjacking, cross-site-forgery attacks, stealing login credentials and malware. Independent of your Server Configuration, works on Apache, LiteSpeed, NGINX, etc. Protect your website visitors with X-XSS Protection, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, a Referrer Policy and CORS headers. Automatically generate your WordPress-tailored Content Security Policy. Vulnerability Measures When a vulnerability is detected in a plugin, theme or WordPress core you will get notified accordingly. With Vulnerability Measures, you can configure simple but effective measures to make sure that a critical vulnerability won’t remain unattended. Force update: An update process will be tried multiple times until it can be assumed development of a theme or plugin is abandoned. You will be notified during these steps. Quarantine: When a plugin or theme can’t be updated to solve a vulnerability, Really Simple Security can quarantine the plugin. Advanced Site Hardening Choose a custom login URL Automated File Permissions check and fixer Rename and randomize your database prefix Change the debug.log file location to a non-public folder Disable application passwords Control admin creation Disable HTTP methods, reducing HTTP requests Login Protection Secure your website’s login process and user accounts with powerful security measures. Two-Step verification (Email login) 2FA (two factor authentication) with TOTP Passwordless login with passkey login Enforce strong passwords and frequent password change Limit Login Attempts With Limit Login Attempts you can configure a threshold to temporarily or permanently block IP addresses or (non-existing) usernames. You can also throw a CAPTCHA after a failed login (hCaptcha or Google reCaptcha) Access Control Restrict access to your site for specific regions. Add specific IP addresses or IP ranges to the Blocklist or Allowlist. Useful Links Documentation Security Definitions Translate Really Simple Security Issues & pull requests Feature requests Love Really Simple Security? If you want to support the continuing development of this plugin, please consider buying Really Simple Security Pro, which includes some excellent security features and premium support. About Really Simple Plugins Our mission is to make complex WordPress requirements really easy. Really Simple Security is developed by Really Simple Plugins. For generating SSL certificates, Really Simple Security uses the le acme2 PHP Let’s Encrypt client library, thanks to ‘fbett’ for providing it. Vulnerability Detection uses WP Vulnerability, an open-source initiative by Javier Casares. Want to join as a collaborator? We’re on GitHub as well!