Other video conferencing software options

[strypey]

As far as I’m aware, meet.coop has firmly committed to BBB as the video conferencing server software, with a fork of Greenlight as the front-end. While it’s wise to standardize the UI early on and change it as little as possible, to avoid confusing users, it may be possible and indeed desirable to swap in a different back-end at some point in the future. So I think it’s worth having an ongoing conversation about other free code video conferencing software options, their pros and cons when compared to BBB, and so on.

Known alternatives:

• Apache OpenMeetings: https://github.com/apache/openmeetings/
• eduMeet: https://github.com/edumeet/edumeet
• Jitsi Meet/ Videobridge: https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet
• Kopano Meet: https://github.com/Kopano-dev/meet
• Mediasoup: https://github.com/versatica/mediasoup
• Meething: https://github.com/meething/meething
• NextCloud Talk: https://nextcloud.com/talk/
• Palava.tv: https://github.com/palavatv/
• Spreed: https://github.com/strukturag/spreed-webrtc/
• Sylk Suite: https://sylkserver.com/
• unHangout: https://gitlab.com/unhangout
• Wire: https://github.com/wireapp

FYI I have been curating a more thorough list of free code related to voice and video chat here:
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Free_Code_Chat_Software

[jdaviescoates]

A couple not on either of your lists yet

Multiparty Meeting

edumeet/edumeet

https://hub.docker.com/r/misi/mm/
demo - https://letsmeet.no/

Kopano Meet

Kopano-dev/meet

https://meet-app.io/
https://kopano.com/meet-open-source-video-calling/
https://documentation.kopano.io/kopano_meet_manual/

[strypey]

Thanks for these, I’ll add them to both lists. EduMeet also mentions Mediasoup, which I didn’t know about either: https://github.com/versatica/mediasoup

[wouter]

thanks @strypey! Here’s another free software video conf server project that recently got highlighted by NLnet and NGI: Sylk Suite, it combines open standards like SIP, XMPP abnd WebRTC:

Sylk Suite

In comparison with BBB/meet.coop I understand it is catered for smaller groups.

It’d be nice to maintain a wiki page with these backend options.

[patcon]

Came across this and realized I should share here as FYI of keeping tabs on “competitive landscape” (not a “you should switch” comment!): Jitsi fork with breakout groups and some other neat features like embedded cryptpad office tools:

Docs: Breakout Meeting Rooms · igniterealtime/openfire-pade-plugin Wiki · GitHub

Demo: https://inspired-futures.github.io/ipade/index.html (breaksouts might at first blush seem to not work, but just since the frontend is hosted purely on GitHub Pages, so need to convert link as nginx might do on prod):

• from: https://inspired-futures.github.io/ipade/boredcombatspreparestrongly-room1-ujeg8wcy1-room1-xhsnw8in2#subject=Bored%20Combats%20Prepare%20Strongly%20-%20Room%201%20-%20Room%201
• to: https://inspired-futures.github.io/ipade/index.html?room=boredcombatspreparestrongly-room1-ujeg8wcy1-room1-xhsnw8in2#subject=Bored%20Combats%20Prepare%20Strongly%20-%20Room%201%20-%20Room%201

Jitsi Meet issue: Feature Request: Breakout Rooms · Issue #5550 · jitsi/jitsi-meet · GitHub