Sorenson Squeeze alternative

[SyberWraith]

Hey everyone, 

 

I've started a project with 2 other guys and i'm the techie for the team,

I'm looking for something like sorenson squeeze, but either free, or a whole lot cheaper.  I liked how LTT did their workflow and i'd like to do something similar for our video editor that has an underpowered laptop he's using for video editing/rendering.  I've looked around and i haven't found much, was thinking of handbrake, but the dropfolders/watchfolders projects are not being worked on anymore.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Or maybe a similar way of doing the workflow where we have a dedicated rendering machine?

 

Trying to stick to windows for the desktops, but i'm willing to look into linux for the server.