10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted
10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted. After lockdown universities, schools, organizations and enterprises were forced to adopt remote meetings and classes. This led to the rise of several open source video conferencing software.
A remote working was perfect solution as it provided the liberty and easy ways to participate. It gives freedom and conduct meetings safely. With paramount safety, it delivers measures of guarantee or assurance of end user data privacy and security.
Moreover, using this type of software reduces the total cost of ownership as an organization can implement custom solutions at zero upfront cost.
There are variety of video conferencing software for enterprise out there. But which services are free and open source platform that are easily customizable? In this article, we will look at the 10 best open source video conferencing software self hosted. Let’s discuss some of the best open source video conferencing software in detail.
10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted
1. Jitsi Meet
Jitsi is an advanced open source video conferencing tool. It is free and does not require any user accounts or setup. You can invite team members to a meeting quite effortlessly. It also has high standard video and audio quality.
People like most about this software most because it provides features like YouTube playback in meeting and secure live streaming. It makes Jitsi highly beneficial for educators who stream live classes or regular everyday users who like chatting with their friends with no hassle.
Since it is a web based application, it works on all devices, be it mobile or desktop. The app also comes with Android and iOS apps and it is one of the effortless ways to connect with your friends and colleagues.
Jitsi Meet Features
- Collaborate on documents using Etherpad features.
- Content sharing: Powerpoint presentations, documents and other types of files can be shared during a meeting.
- Business Meetings.
- It includes customizable URLs for any meeting.
- It supports up to 100 meeting participants.
- End-to-End encryption.
- YouTube video sharing.
- Chat feature.
- Screen sharing
- Low bandwidth mode option.
- Encrypted password storage.
- Support for LDAP directories.
- It is an integrated chat app for video meetings.
Pros of Jitsi Meet
- A guest immediately joins the meeting room with just an invitation link. It does not require any sign ups or downloads.
- It allows several users to share their screens simultaneously.
- Being open source software, it is developer friendly and customizable.
Cons of Jitsi Meet
- Users usually face stability and bandwidth issues.
- Stability of core.
- Video quality while load generates and during screen sharing.
- It does not record meetings.
- While the screen is shared, it restricts you from your camera or your meeting members’ cameras as well.
- Security Issues.
- Large storage space required.
2. Rocket.Chat
Rocket.Chat is an open source communication platform for teams as it delivers enterprise communication services. It even allows you to download and run your own installation. It includes features like channel support, voice, and video calls, attachments, live chats for website integration, guest messages, etc.
Pros of Rocket.Chat
- It is developer friendly.
- File Sharing and File Transfer.
- Employee Activity Monitoring.
- Remote Support.
- It has a variety of configuration options.
- Allows us to create both private and public channels.
- It is appropriately maintained and supported.
- Screen Sharing.
- Single Sign On.
Cons of Rocket.Chat
- Its highly extensive nature makes it less worthy for small projects that do not require complex group messaging options.
- It causes an issue in data synchronization.
- It is also relatively arduous to integrate.
3. Zulip
Zulip is a powerful open source chat application that focuses on groups. It is designed to combine the importance of real time chats with all the benefits of threaded communications. Its email threading model enables you to catch up on the most relevant conversation while ignoring the less relevant chats. It is developed as a modern app for every central mobile platform, including Apple, Android and the Web. Zulip allows busy managers and others in meetings all day to participate in their teams chats.
Pros of Zulip
- The onboarding and implementation of Zulip for enterprises are relatively straightforward.
- Easy asynchronous conversations.
- File Sharing.
- Audio and Video Conferencing.
- In terms of messaging, it constitutes multiple messaging features that lead the collaboration in a very intuitive manner.
- It supports several native integrations with third party applications and simultaneously allows users to integrate services.
- It offers a plan that suits the requirements of several teams.
- It allows users to seamlessly switch to different devices, operating software, and web based operations.
- It provides highly configurable and easily ordered notifications.
Cons of Zulip
- The usability and interface of Zulip is quite challenging.
- No End-to-End Encryption.
- There are a couple of issues with media uploads in the IOS application.
4. BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton is another choice of our 10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted. It is open source video conferencing software that focuses on the integration part. Its built in integration supports content management systems and learning management systems. built specifically for online learning platforms(opens in new tab). Great tool for students as they don’t need to install an application to join webinars and you can share your screen in real time and participants can collaborate ( virtual whiteboards and shared notes). Great for remote learning.
Pros of BigBlueButton
- Since it is open source software, no capital is incurred in its deployment.
- Online learning webinars and online learning via web conferencing.
- Video Call Recording and Video Conferencing.
- Virtual classroom and online learning.
- Security- WebRTC libraries transmit real time protocol packets (RTP) over user datagram protocol (UDP).
- For collaboration, users can share documents, audio, and video files.
- It enables you to showcase any PDF or Microsoft Office document with the help of its whiteboard features.
- It enables users to record webinars and lectures for later feedback and better understanding.
Cons of BigBlueButton
- The recording changes the orientation of the slide images, hence making all the notes useless and confusing.
- Commercial support only available through third parties.
- It causes difficulty in signing in.
- The installation should be done by a person who is experienced.
5. Element
Another Matrix Network based software, Element is a free video conferencing solution that is highly secure and configurable with several chat apps, including Slack. It also provides encrypted video/audio communication and cross sign device verification. Furthermore, it comes with self hosted capabilities, and users can host it on their own servers. It also gives you control over textual communication.
Some of the key features of Element are:
- It contains end to end encryption.
- It makes file sharing and group chats effortless.
- It supports unlimited participants.
- It also supports cross signed device verification.
Pros of Element
- It provides its users the same privacy levels they have for conversations in their homes.
- It supports multiple device environments, including Windows, MacOSX, and Linux.
- It is open sourced, decentralized, and matrix based.
Cons of Element
- Logging in to our SaaS instance through the desktop isn’t super intuitive, as it requires the end user to manually input our server hostname.
- Does not allows us to change the colour and font style.
6. Tox
Today, all digital workers perform all kinds of activities online. Tox is an open source platform that is highly encrypted and comes with enterprise features like voice mail, file sharing, file transfer, and screen sharing. Other benefits of Tox are voice and video chat but the feature that really stands out on Tox is the security. Everything that passes through Tox is encrypted at both ends with open source libraries. There is no central servers .
It also includes desktop clients for every platform, including Linux, Mac, and Windows. It also constitutes iOS clients and Android versions.
Pros of Tox
- It provides one to one conversations and end to end encryptions.
- Privacy focused.
- Constitutes social features like integrated link preview, messages likes, online video and music playing.
- Offers customizable sets of emojis, stickers, and Animated GIFs.
- Free and easy to use audio calls.
- Provides perfect video quality for video conferencing.
Cons of Tox
- Group video conferencing feature not available.
- Poor quality when screensharing
- Slow file sharing speed.
- Early stages of development.
7. Mattermost
Mattermost is next tool of our 10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted. It is the premier communication and chat platform for teams that supports both video and voice calls. It is built on top of reliable technologies like Golang, PostgreSQL, and ReactJS. Hence, it can either be self hosted or self deployed. The application supports Push Notification, full text search, private messaging, channels, file and image sharing, etc.
Mattermost also offers bot development and webhook tools to developers for extending functionality. It provides its users with both trial and free versions. Other useful features provided by Mattermost are brainstorming, project management, built in version control and task management.
Pros of Mattermost
- Mattermost some of the Integrations: Jenkins, jira, gitlab, nagios core and zoom.
- Mattermost provides the best security features to its users.
- Automation of workflows with advanced tools.
- It develops reliable workflow features.
- It provides both a free trial and a premium version.
Cons of Mattermost
- The refresh rate of Mattermost is slow and time consuming.
- It does not include premium consulting and integration services.
- Its current features are not well organized.
8. Jami
Jami is another free video conferencing software that enables you to get on a conference call within a minute. It allows you to make audio calls, screen share, send files and group chats on a single platform. It is completely decentralized, meaning it doesn’t include any server to store conversations or user data. The features Jami include are storage, bandwidth, number of accounts, or users. It is also ad free, stable, fast, and runs on Linux, Android, Windows, macOS, and iOS.
Pros of Jami
- It is entirely free video conferencing software.
- Provides unlimited service without restriction on file size, speed, bandwidth, features, number of accounts, storage or anything else.
- Autonomous and anonymous.
- Ad free.
- Chat history shared across devices.
- Custom download location.
Cons of Jami
- The disadvantage of Jami is that it does not include features like brainstorming, calender management, contact management, discussion forums, etc.
- You have to add contacts individually before connecting a video conference.
9. Retroshare
Retroshare is an open source, peer to peer application that provides encrypted instant messaging, voice and video chats, channels and file sharing. Additionally, it can be configured effortlessly to enable traffic to pass through I2P and Tor networks for enhanced user data and privacy. It also offers encrypted VoIP and Transport Layer Security using SSL.
Pros of Retroshare
- The crucial benefit of Retroshare is that it lies in its open source, peer to peer nature that protects user data from corporate and government surveillance.
- Supports many operating systems including, Windows, MacOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
- Supports OpenPGP encryption.
Cons of Retroshare
- Setup process is very difficult for average user.
- The major downside is that you will need to create your own network.
- To use RetroShare, we must recruit friends and exchange certificates with them, or join an existing network of friends.
10. Apache OpenMeetings
Last on our list of 10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted is Apache OpenMeetings . It is an open source video conferencing software that contains four options of audio/video functions. During video conferencing, it allows you to change the quality of audio/video and select multiple camera resolutions.
You can also send messages about scheduled meetings, and invitees can get them directly in their inboxes. Other features of Apache OpenMeeting include multi whiteboards, user and room management, plan meetings with an integrated calendar, conduct polls and surveys, a private message center and backup user generated data in a single zip file.
It also allows you to record video conferencing sessions and download them as AVI/FLV files. The best part about it is that it does not lose the quality of the video.
Pros of Apache OpenMeetings
- It enables you to conduct meetings, online training, conferencing, and a lot more.
- It provides an interactive whiteboard where you can perform collaboration concerning document editing, drawing, writing, dragging, and dropping.
- It is a completely free and self hosted open source platform.
- You can integrate CRM and custom forms into this software.
- Supports multiple languages, recording and playback, third party recording tools, and two way audio and video.
Cons of Apache OpenMeetings
- Since the software is not upgraded, it is less effective and user friendly.
- You need training before using this software.
- Users usually face issues in video recording and screen sharing, moderator roles, and user permission.
Good work. We have learned 10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted .
10 Best Open Source Video Conferencing Software Self Hosted Conclusion
These are some of the open source solutions that you can use to get started with video conferencing. These tools provide features like screen sharing, host controls, live-streaming and mobile access. They are well designed and provide higher security and privacy. Users can effortlessly install this open source platform on premises both for small businesses and larger enterprises. Hence, you can choose any software based on your requirements.
