TL;DR — when each one wins
Pick Screenly if you have a developer or DevOps person on staff, you're comfortable running signage on Raspberry Pi hardware, and you value the open-source heritage of Anthias (formerly Screenly OSE) alongside a polished commercial product. Screenly is one of the few signage vendors that genuinely treats technical users as a first-class audience — REST API, edge-side scripting, hardware customization, and a developer community that other commercial CMSs don't try to match. Their pricing is reasonable for what's effectively a developer-friendly Pi-based signage stack.
Pick CrownTV if you operate a customer-facing brand across multiple locations, you don't have AV or DevOps staff in every region, and you'd rather buy commercial displays, nationwide install, and the CMS under one contract than coordinate Screenly software with your own display procurement, your own Pi flashing, and a separate installer per location.
Consider both if you're piloting on Screenly's developer track for a tech-team back-of-house deployment, but the customer-facing rollout needs commercial-grade hardware and install. We've onboarded operators who kept Screenly running internal dashboards on Pi while bringing CrownTV in for the storefront and lobby network — different tools for different rooms.
Where Screenly is genuinely the better fit
We don't run a Screenly-bashing operation. Screenly has earned a real category position with a real audience. There are situations where their stack beats ours cleanly. If any of these describe you, go check Screenly directly — they're a defensible choice for the right team.
- You have a developer or DevOps team that wants to script signage. Screenly's REST API, hardware customization, and edge-side capabilities are designed for technical users. If your team treats signage as another endpoint in their infrastructure, Screenly fits a workflow most commercial CMSs don't support.
- You value the open-source heritage. Anthias (formerly Screenly OSE) is one of the most popular open-source digital signage projects on GitHub. If your procurement team prefers vendors with an OSS lineage, Screenly is the canonical choice in the category.
- You're standardising on Raspberry Pi for edge devices. Screenly's hardware story is Pi-first and unapologetic about it. If your IT team has already standardised on Pi for kiosks, sensors, and edge compute, signage on the same platform is operationally simpler than introducing a second hardware family.
- You're a single-location or internal-team deployment with technical staff on hand. Office dashboards, dev-team status boards, internal-comms screens in environments where Pi-class hardware is acceptable and a developer can swap an SD card when one corrupts. That's where Screenly's economics work.
If none of that fits — if you're a customer-facing brand running multi-location signage, you don't have DevOps staff in every market, and "build your own Pi-based signage stack" sounds like a project that distracts from your actual business — keep reading.
Where CrownTV is the better Screenly alternative
CrownTV doesn't compete with Screenly on developer experience. We sell the rollout — hardware, install, software, and support — under one contract. Four reasons multi-location operators move from Screenly to us, in order of how often we hear them on procurement calls:
1. Turnkey delivery — one contract, one PM, one number to call
When you sign with us, one project manager owns the entire deployment: site survey, display sizing per location, mount selection, shipping, regional installer dispatch, network configuration, content load, and sign-off. You get one quote, one invoice, and one phone number for support. Screenly handles the software and (optionally) the Pi-based player; everything else — display procurement, installer hiring, network setup, content design, ongoing field replacements — sits on you. For a back-of-house screen that's manageable. For 50 customer-facing stores across 12 states, it's a full-time job. See how our turnkey service works end-to-end.
2. Commercial-grade hardware shipped pre-configured
Every CrownTV deployment ships commercial displays (indoor 4K and high-brightness window specs) rated for 24/7 operation, paired with our own commercial media player. Displays land on site pre-paired to your CrownTV Dashboard tenant — the installer mounts, plugs in power and ethernet, and the screen pulls down your content. Screenly's edge hardware is Raspberry Pi-class. Pis work — the OSS community has put millions of them in the field — but they aren't engineered for sustained commercial duty in a sunlit storefront, a kitchen-adjacent menu bay, or a back-of-rack closet that hits 90°F in summer. The single biggest "screen is dark" pattern we see when migrating from Pi-based stacks is consumer hardware that didn't survive the environment. See the commercial display options.
3. Nationwide install network — same-week scheduling in 50 states
We operate a vetted, licensed, insured installer network across all 50 states. When you book a national rollout, our PM coordinates installer dispatch per market, shares the install playbook, and signs off remotely once the screen is live and the Dashboard sees it online. Screenly doesn't sell install. You hire your own AV contractor in every market, brief them, and hope they show up on time. For a 100-location rollout, that's 100 separate contractor relationships you're managing. See our installation service detail.
4. 13 years of operating experience and a blue-chip client roster
CrownTV has been deploying digital signage since 2013. We've shipped 16,000+ screens across the US for brands including Victoria's Secret, L'Occitane en Provence, Bonobos, Janie and Jack, Mercedes-Benz, and Westfield. That history matters when you're handing a national rollout to a vendor: we've already solved the field problems your AV team is about to encounter — content sync across timezones, role-based permissions for franchise vs corporate users, mall landlord install rules, RFP procurement workflows, ADA placement requirements. Read recent client deployments.
Pricing — what each one actually costs at scale
We won't restate Screenly's prices on this page because they change. Check screenly.io/pricing for current numbers — historically Screenly has offered tiered plans in the per-screen-per-month range, with the open-source Anthias project available for free for self-hosters who want to manage their own Pi fleet. Their pricing model is software-first: license × number of screens, with the Pi hardware on you.
CrownTV pricing has two paths, both published on our pricing page:
- Software-only (closest apples-to-apples with Screenly's commercial tier): $20 per screen per month with annual billing. Same CrownTV Dashboard, same 200+ apps and integrations, same role-based permissions. You bring your own commercial display and run our software on a compatible player.
- Turnkey, all-in (the model most multi-location brands buy): starts at $3,200 per screen for 32-inch indoor 4K deployments and scales to $19,600 per screen for 98-inch indoor 4K. High-brightness window displays run $3,850–$14,000 per screen. The all-in number includes the panel, commercial mount, CrownTV media player, professional install, on-site training, network setup, and the first year of CrownTV Dashboard. Multi-store rollouts get volume pricing and we'll match any signed competitive quote.
Honest math: if you have a developer who'd otherwise be writing Pi imaging scripts on company time, Screenly's commercial tier (or self-hosted Anthias) lands cheaper. At 20+ customer-facing locations where you'd otherwise spend the year managing displays, mounts, installers, and content separately, CrownTV's all-in price typically lands at or below the fully-loaded Screenly stack — and you avoid the operating overhead.
How to switch from Screenly to CrownTV
Screenly migrations are routine for us, especially when an operator started with a developer-led pilot and the rollout has outgrown the DIY model. Here's the actual sequence:
- Discovery call (30 min) — we walk through your current Screenly setup (commercial Screenly or self-hosted Anthias), screen count per location, content library, and what you want to change. No commitment.
- Site survey — remote for simple installs, on-site for window displays or video walls. We size displays per location based on viewing distance, ambient light, and your brand standards.
- Quote — one number covering hardware, mounts, install, training, and Year 1 software. Line-by-line breakdown shared.
- Content rebuild — your existing playlists, schedules, and assets transfer to the CrownTV Dashboard. Where Screenly's API or edge-side scripts handled custom logic, we map the equivalent into our integration library or document a workaround. Our content team rebuilds zones and adds any apps Screenly didn't cover.
- Install — pre-configured commercial displays ship to each location. Our installer dispatch handles 1 store or 100. Most single-location switches go live within 1–2 weeks of contract; multi-location rollouts run on a published cadence with the PM owning timeline.
- Ongoing — your account manager owns the relationship. Hardware failures route through us through the manufacturer commercial warranty; software changes go through our content team or your own admin users in the Dashboard.
You can keep Screenly or self-hosted Anthias running internal-team displays alongside CrownTV's customer-facing network. We don't insist on a clean cutover.
Questions we get on procurement calls
Can we keep our existing displays and just switch the CMS?
Yes. If you already own commercial-grade displays from major professional manufacturers, our software-only tier at $20/screen/month runs on most modern commercial panels via our managed media player. We'll audit your existing fleet first — if you've been running on Raspberry Pis driving consumer TVs, we'll flag the screens most likely to fail in commercial duty and quote replacements separately so you can decide what to keep.
What's the lead time on a multi-location rollout?
For 1–10 locations, four to six weeks from signed contract to last screen live. For 50+ locations, we publish a phased rollout calendar, typically 8–14 weeks depending on regional installer availability and your store-opening windows. Same-week installs are possible for single locations when displays are in stock — your PM will tell you on the discovery call.
Does CrownTV offer an API or developer access like Screenly does?
The CrownTV Dashboard exposes a REST API for content scheduling, screen status, and playlist management — usable by your team for custom integrations. We don't match Screenly's edge-side scripting story (which lets developers run code on the Pi itself); the trade-off is that our hardware abstraction means an installer doesn't need a developer on call when something needs to ship. If your use case requires edge-side scripting on the player, Screenly remains the right tool.
What happens if a screen fails in the field?
commercial displays we ship include a 3-year onsite warranty. If a panel fails, the warranty channel dispatches a certified technician to your location at no cost — you don't ship anything. For media player or mounting hardware issues, we send a replacement under our SLA (typically 48 hours). Your account manager coordinates the entire loop. With Screenly alone, you'd diagnose whether it's the Pi, the SD card, the display, or the network, then call each vendor separately — or fix it yourself if you have the staff.
Can you handle 100+ locations under one contract?
Yes — multi-location rollouts are the bulk of our business. Recent examples: 150+ L'Occitane en Provence boutiques across the US and Canada, 115+ Janie and Jack stores plus a London flagship, 100+ Victoria's Secret locations. One PM, one master service agreement, per-location work orders. RFP and procurement-friendly.
How do you compare to Yodeck, OptiSigns, and PiSignage?
The short version: Yodeck and OptiSigns are software-only Pi/Fire-TV-friendly CMSs at lower price points. PiSignage is another Pi-based open-source-friendly platform — more DIY than Screenly. None of them ship hardware bundled with displays and install. Yodeck, OptiSigns, PiSignage. All our head-to-head comparisons.
Where the turnkey alternative matters most
The Screenly-vs-CrownTV decision tilts hardest in industries where uptime, brand polish, and install consistency drive revenue — not where developer flexibility is the deciding factor. We see the strongest fit in multi-store retail (consistent brand presentation across hundreds of stores), corporate workplaces and lobbies (executive-grade install standards), and restaurants and QSR (24/7 menu boards in kitchen-adjacent heat where Pi-class hardware fails). For deeper background, see our digital signage software overview, commercial display options, and media players we ship under the turnkey package.
Talk to a CrownTV PM about your rollout
If developer-friendly software-only isn't getting your stores live the way you need, get a turnkey quote — displays, install, CMS, all under one contract.