Jitsi Meet

Jitsi Meet is an open-source video meeting service with browser, mobile, and self-hosted options. It is best suited to teams that want to embed conferencing or operate their own deployment. Its flexibility is a strength, but the public service’s usage cap and open moderator policy are material trade-offs.

Overview

Jitsi brings meetings, sharing, chat, and Etherpad collaboration together, with recording and breakout rooms for more structured sessions. Teams can use the public meet.jit.si service or self-host; the latter offers control over moderator access, but requires an organization willing to take responsibility for deployment. The public service is positioned for testing API integrations, not production applications.

On meet.jit.si, chat and speaker statistics last only for the meeting and are destroyed when it ends. That short retention may suit privacy-conscious groups, but does not provide a lasting meeting record. All participants are moderators on the public service, which makes it a poor fit when hosts need exclusive control; self-hosted deployments can use strong authentication to restrict moderator roles.

Key features

• Meeting collaboration: Participants can share desktops and presentations, use chat and emoji, and work together on Etherpad documents. Recording and breakout rooms support follow-up and smaller group sessions, while HD audio uses Opus. These tools cover common collaboration needs without requiring a separate document pad.
• Embedding and integrations: The External API supports embedding meetings in webpages, and Jitsi's FAQ describes SDK embedding in Android and iOS apps. Integrations include YouTube Live, Dropbox, callstats.io, and SIP telephony. This makes Jitsi relevant to teams building meetings into an existing product or workflow, rather than only looking for a standalone meeting app.
• JaaS and encryption: Jitsi as a Service offers an iFrame API, webhooks, recordings, analytics, and transcriptions, with free unlimited minutes for up to 25 endpoints. Audio and video are encrypted in transit with DTLS-SRTP; optional end-to-end encryption also covers screen sharing, but not chat or polls. Teams needing end-to-end protection for all meeting content should account for that gap.
• Self-hosting: Stable and nightly packages are available for Ubuntu and Debian. Self-hosting can let an organization configure moderator authentication, but it also shifts deployment responsibility to that organization.

Pricing

Jitsi Meet — free. The free plan provides video conferences through meet.jit.si. Its limit is 25 monthly active endpoints in aggregate across a user's accounts, so it is better suited to modest or occasional use than broad ongoing deployment. The service is not intended for production API applications.

JaaS includes free unlimited minutes for up to 25 endpoints. Jitsi and 8x8 do not provide commercial support for Jitsi; organizations seeking paid help are directed to community providers.

Platforms

Jitsi Meet supports web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, API, and self-hosted deployments. Mobile apps are available through the App Store, Google Play, and F-Droid. The breadth suits mixed-device teams, while the API and self-hosted options serve developers and operators with integration needs.

Who it's for

Jitsi Meet is a strong fit for teams that value open-source conferencing, want to embed meetings in a webpage or mobile app, or can operate a self-hosted deployment. It is less suitable for organizations that need commercial support, strict host control on a shared public service, or a production API deployment on meet.jit.si.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Self-hosting and webpage or app embedding give technical teams meaningful deployment flexibility.
• Pro: Recording, breakout rooms, Etherpad collaboration, and multiple integrations make it more than a basic video call.
• Pro: Public-service chat and speaker statistics are deleted when the meeting ends.
• Con: meet.jit.si is capped at 25 monthly active endpoints across accounts and is not intended for production API integrations.
• Con: Every user is a moderator on meet.jit.si, limiting host control unless the organization self-hosts and configures authentication.
• Con: Optional end-to-end encryption excludes chat and polls, and commercial support is not provided by Jitsi or 8x8.

Alternatives

Choose Microsoft Teams if its free plan's 100 participants, 60-minute group meetings, and 5 GB of cloud storage better suit a bounded meeting and storage need. VSee is another freemium option with a free plan for one provider. Consider TeamLink if its free tier's 20 participants, 45-minute meetings, and one meeting room fit your sessions.

TrueConf is an alternative with a perpetual-license free server plan. Webex App offers free meetings for up to 100 attendees with a 40-minute limit. Zoho Meeting has a free plan for 100 participants and 60-minute meetings. 8x8 Meet is a free alternative with a 500-participant plan. Daily provides a free monthly allowance of 10,000 participant minutes.

Browse more options in Video Conferencing Software or Secure Video Conferencing Software.

Verdict

Choose Jitsi Meet if you want flexible, open-source conferencing that can be embedded or self-hosted, and you can manage the deployment trade-offs. Its main draw is control over how meetings fit into your stack; look elsewhere if you need a production-ready public API service, tighter moderation on the hosted service, or commercial support.