SIPdia vs Bria: A Fair Comparison

Bria Solo, from CounterPath, is a commercial softphone sold as an annual subscription, with desktop and mobile apps, a hosted push service and a web portal for configuration. It suits people who need Windows or Android as well as Apple devices, who want incoming calls on a phone while the app is in the background, or who want a vendor-managed service with a support desk. SIPdia is a freemium SIP client for macOS, iPhone and iPad that stores settings on the device, offers TLS and SRTP on its free plan, and sells Premium through Apple with monthly, yearly and lifetime options. It suits Apple-only users who prefer a local, single-purpose client and can accept that there are no push notifications and that the app has not shipped yet. The right choice depends on your platforms and on how much you value background calling.

Side by side

SIPdia facts come from the SIPdia product fact sheet. Bria facts come from the official pages linked in each cell and refer to Bria Solo unless stated. "Not documented" means the official pages we reviewed do not state it.

	SIPdia	Bria Solo
Platforms	macOS 14+, iOS/iPadOS 17+	Windows 10 (Creators Update) and 11, macOS 14+, iOS 15+, Android 10+ (system requirements, devices)
Pricing model	Freemium. Free: one account. Premium: recording, more accounts, forwarding and DND. No prices published yet.	Subscription: USD 2.95 per month billed annually (USD 35.40 per year) on 8 Nov 2026; Bria Solo Free at USD 0 with 1 device, 1 account and a weekly call limit (pricing, subscribe)
Open source	No. Closed-source app built on baresip (BSD licence)	No. Proprietary
Transports	UDP, TCP, TLS	UDP, TCP, TLS, Automatic (transport settings)
Media encryption	SRTP, Optional or Required. No ZRTP	SRTP over TLS with a "make and accept only encrypted calls" option; ZRTP not documented (transport settings)
Codecs	Opus, G.711 ulaw and alaw	G.711, G.722, G.729, Opus, SILK named in support docs (bandwidth requirements)
Multiple accounts	Yes, all registered at once. Free: one account. Premium: unlimited	5 calling accounts on Solo, synced across 3 devices; 1 on Solo Free (pricing, subscribe)
Transfer	Blind and attended	Attended and unattended (blind) (transfer guide)
Hold	Yes	Yes; Bria places the current call on hold during transfer (transfer guide)
Call recording	Local WAV recording, Premium	Yes, saved locally on the device, included in Solo (recording guide, pricing)
Push notifications on mobile	No. App must be open	Yes, Bria Push Service via APNs and FCM through CounterPath's push server; IPv4 SIP servers only (push service)
Release status	In release preparation, not yet downloadable	Shipping, downloadable with a free trial (Bria Solo)

Where Bria is stronger

Platforms. Bria Solo runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and one subscription covers three devices. SIPdia has no Windows or Android app.

Background calls on a phone. The Bria Push Service keeps your SIP registration alive through CounterPath's push server and wakes the app with an APNs or FCM notification. The documentation is candid about the trade-offs: your account configuration is stored on the vendor's server, the SIP server must accept registrations from it, only IPv4 SIP servers are supported, and some registration modes can leave short gaps. SIPdia has no push at all, so on iPhone the app must be in the foreground and it unregisters about 20 seconds after you leave it.

Codecs. Bria's support pages name G.722 and G.729 alongside G.711, Opus and SILK. SIPdia ships Opus and G.711 only.

Cross-device sync and a web portal. Bria Solo advertises call history synced across apps and configuration through the Bria Solo Portal. SIPdia keeps settings on each device and has no central portal.

Recording is included in the paid Solo plan rather than being a separate tier, and the free trial includes all paid features.

Where SIPdia is stronger

Free encryption and a free commercial-use plan. SIPdia's free plan includes one account with UDP, TCP or TLS transport and SRTP in Optional or Required mode, and the fact sheet lists no personal-use restriction. Bria Solo Free is described as a non-commercial, personal-use tier with one device, one account and a weekly call cap.

Payment options. SIPdia Premium is sold through Apple in-app purchase as Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime (one-time) plans, and one purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac on the same Apple Account. Bria Solo is billed annually. Prices for SIPdia are not published yet, so this row compares structure, not cost.

No vendor server in the call path. SIPdia registers directly from the device to your PBX and stores the SIP password in the Keychain. Bria Solo's push mode, and its portal-based provisioning, route account configuration through CounterPath's servers. For some administrators that is a convenience; for others it is a reason to prefer a client that talks only to their own PBX.

Local, portable recordings. SIPdia writes WAV files to Music/Call Recordings on the Mac or to Files on the iPhone. Bria's docs say recordings are saved locally on the device too, so this is a near tie; SIPdia's advantage is only that the file format and folder are documented.

Things both do

• Register against standard SIP servers such as Asterisk, FreePBX and Issabel.
• Offer UDP, TCP and TLS signalling.
• Encrypt media with SRTP and offer a mode that insists on encryption.
• Support Opus and G.711.
• Provide hold, attended transfer and blind transfer.
• Record calls to the local device (SIPdia in Premium; Bria in Solo).
• Support more than one account (SIPdia in Premium; Bria Solo up to five).
• Run on macOS and iOS.

Who should choose which

Choose Bria Solo if you need Windows or Android, if your phone must ring while the app is closed, if you want G.722 or G.729, or if you want a vendor-managed service with a portal and support. Also choose Bria if you need a product you can install today.

Consider SIPdia if you are Apple-only, want a client that talks only to your own PBX, want TLS and SRTP without a subscription, or prefer a lifetime purchase option. Keep the app open for incoming calls, and pay for Premium only if you need recording, more than one account, or forwarding and DND through feature codes.

Before deciding, run both against your PBX with your real transport and NAT settings. Our guide to choosing a SIP softphone lists what to check.

Next steps

• Review the SIPdia feature list and pricing.
• Check the download center for release status.
• Bria's official pages and user guides are linked in the sources below.