OSI-licensed open source
A video conferencing server routes audio and video between participants, usually through WebRTC. Hosting your own gives control over privacy and cost, and lets you embed calling into products.
This page splits the field into ready-made meeting apps (Jitsi Meet, BigBlueButton, Galene, Nextcloud Talk) and building blocks for developers (LiveKit, OpenVidu, Janus, mediasoup). All are OSI-licensed with the licence verified on the repository this run.
Tools, licences and pricing checked against vendor and repository pages on November 7, 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jitsi Meet | General-purpose self-hosted meetings | Free, open source | Apache-2.0 |
| BigBlueButton | Online teaching | Free, open source | LGPL-3.0 |
| LiveKit | Developers building realtime audio and video | Free, open source; hosted plans exist | Apache-2.0 |
| OpenVidu | Embedding video into apps | Free, open source (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 |
| Janus | Custom WebRTC architectures | Free, open source | GPL-3.0 |
| mediasoup | SFU building block for custom apps | Free, open source | ISC |
| Galene | Self-hosted video meetings on your own server | Free, open source | MIT |
| Nextcloud Talk | Teams already using Nextcloud | Free, open source | AGPL-3.0 |
Best for: General-purpose self-hosted meetings · Free, open source
Jitsi Meet provides secure, simple and scalable video conferences that can be used standalone or embedded in web applications.
Best for: Online teaching · Free, open source
BigBlueButton is a complete web conferencing system for virtual classes and more.
Best for: Developers building realtime audio and video · Free, open source; hosted plans exist
LiveKit is an end-to-end realtime stack for connecting people and AI, with a server under Apache-2.0.
Best for: Embedding video into apps · Free, open source (self-hosted)
OpenVidu is a self-hosted real-time video and audio platform built on LiveKit and mediasoup.
Best for: Custom WebRTC architectures · Free, open source
Janus is a general-purpose open-source WebRTC server developed by Meetecho.
Best for: SFU building block for custom apps · Free, open source
mediasoup is a cutting-edge WebRTC video conferencing library under the ISC licence.
Best for: Self-hosted video meetings on your own server · Free, open source
Galene is a videoconference server written by Juliusz Chroboczek, MIT licensed.
Best for: Teams already using Nextcloud · Free, open source
Nextcloud Talk provides chat, video and audio calls for Nextcloud.
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| If you need… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Ready-made meetings | Jitsi Meet |
| Online classes | BigBlueButton |
| Build realtime apps | LiveKit, OpenVidu |
| Custom WebRTC infrastructure | Janus, mediasoup |
| A simple dedicated meeting server | Galene |
| Nextcloud | Nextcloud Talk |
Quick answers to common questions
Jitsi Meet is the common starting point; BigBlueButton suits classes.
A Selective Forwarding Unit relays participant streams without mixing them. mediasoup and LiveKit use this approach.
Galene is a dedicated, MIT-licensed videoconference server. Evaluate it against Jitsi Meet for your group size.
WebRTC deployments typically need TURN to handle restrictive networks. Check each project's deployment guide.
List it on TechLogHub and we'll review it for this guide.
