NextTime vs Irisdown Countdown Timer 2.0
Irisdown's Countdown Timer 2.0 is respected show-operator software: a lean Windows desktop timer that AV techs have trusted for years. NextTime is a browser-based stage timer with synced screens over the internet. The comparison is really about where your show lives.
What Irisdown Countdown Timer is
A fair look at the tool on the other side of this page.
Irisdown Countdown Timer 2.0 is a Windows desktop timer with a long history backstage. It runs entirely on the show machine (no internet connection required) and drives the display on that machine's outputs, plus a web view and remote displays on the venue LAN. Operators trigger it locally or over the venue network, including from Bitfocus Companion control surfaces, and audio cues can fire as timers run down. It is lean, proven, and sold as a licence key you buy after a trial period. For a dedicated Windows machine on a closed show network, it is exactly the right kind of tool.
The core difference
Where the clock lives decides everything else.
Every row in the table below traces back to one architectural choice: where the clock lives. Irisdown's clock lives in an app on one Windows machine, so its world is that machine: its displays, its network, its room. NextTime's clock lives in the cloud, so its world is every browser that opens a link: a console on your laptop, a countdown on a phone taped to a podium, a lobby TV three floors away, all reading the same second.
| Irisdown Countdown Timer 2.0 | NextTime | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows desktop | Yes Any device with a browser, nothing to install |
| Displays | Partial The machine's display output, plus a LAN web view | Yes Unlimited display links, anywhere online |
| Remote control | Yes Network control on the LAN, including Companion | Yes Console on any device, over the internet |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Rundown with cascading times and locks | Partial Up to nine presets, no rundown | Yes |
| Messages to screens | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | Partial Trial period, then a capped timer length | Yes Unlimited displays, segments to 10 minutes |
| Pricing model | Paid licence key, price not published | $15 per event or $129 per year |
Why operators choose NextTime
Built for the rooms where screens multiply and nothing can be installed.
The short version
- Runs on any device with a browser: Mac, iPad, Android.
- Displays anywhere on the internet, not just one machine and its LAN.
- Run the console from a phone, anywhere online.
- Messages on every screen, and a rundown that cascades.
- A real free plan instead of a trial: unlimited displays, segments up to 10 minutes.
Need a fully offline timer on a dedicated Windows show machine, Companion network control, or audio triggers? Buy Irisdown. On a closed show network with no internet, it is the right tool and NextTime is not.
Different rooms, different tools
Most shows do not run in a broadcast truck. If yours runs in a hotel ballroom, a sanctuary, or a conference room with Wi-Fi, borrowed screens, and mixed devices, NextTime is built for that room.
Compare more: vs Stagetimer, vs CueTimer, vs Physical timers, Best stage timer apps. Or see it all on the NextTime homepage.
Run the show without a show machine
Free to start, nothing to install. A synced countdown on every screen in the building in two minutes.
NextTime vs Irisdown Countdown Timer FAQ
Is NextTime a Mac alternative to Irisdown Countdown Timer?
Yes. Irisdown is Windows-only; NextTime runs in the browser on Mac and everything else.
Can NextTime work with no internet like Irisdown?
No. NextTime needs a connection to sync screens. Fully offline rooms are Irisdown's home turf.
Which is cheaper?
Irisdown sells a licence key and does not publish a price on its own site; NextTime is free for short segments, $15 for an event, or $129 per year. Check their current terms at the point of sale for your case.
Does NextTime support Companion?
Yes, through control links. Every event mints a control link whose actions (play, pause, next, previous, add or remove time, jump to a segment) are plain web links you can bind to a Bitfocus Companion button. What NextTime does not have is an official Companion module or Irisdown’s deeper native network control, so if a Companion surface with full two-way feedback runs your show, Irisdown goes further today.
Which room is each built for?
Irisdown assumes a show computer driving its displays and LAN viewers on a controlled network, which is exactly right for broadcast trucks and locked-down corporate ballrooms. NextTime assumes the opposite: screens scattered across a venue or the internet, operators on phones, nothing installed anywhere. Neither assumption is wrong; match the tool to the room.