Jitsi Meet vs BigBlueButton

Both products let you host video meetings on your own server without a licence fee, but they ask for quite different things in return. Jitsi Meet publishes an install guide for Debian 12 or newer and Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, and also runs a hosted service at meet.jit.si that needs no account. BigBlueButton documents a dedicated Ubuntu 24.04 server with 16 GB of memory and 8 CPU cores, and presents itself as a virtual classroom. Ownership differs as well, and so does the starting point, since 8x8 owns Jitsi while BigBlueButton Inc. holds its own trademark.

Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.

Both are reviewed in full in our video conferencing software ranking: Jitsi Meet and BigBlueButton.

1. 01

   Hardware you must find before the first call

   BigBlueButton's installation guide asks for a dedicated, clean Ubuntu 24.04 server with at least 16 GB of memory and 8 CPU cores. Jitsi's handbook describes a package install on Debian 12 or newer or Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, and nothing we saw there gives a minimum memory or core count. So the documented entry cost is clear for BigBlueButton and unstated for Jitsi. Jitsi also offers a hosted route that skips the server question altogether, which BigBlueButton's pages do not.

   Edge: Jitsi Meet

2. 02

   Recording and the 500 GB disk line

   BigBlueButton's guide lists a minimum of 500 GB of disk, and states that 50 GB is enough if you do not keep recordings. That tells you plainly what storing sessions costs in space. Jitsi's pages give no disk figure and do not describe recording in the facts we checked, so we cannot score that side of it fairly. A school planning to archive lessons gets a concrete sizing number from BigBlueButton, while a Jitsi buyer must ask elsewhere.

   Edge: BigBlueButton

3. 03

   Apache 2.0 against LGPL-3.0

   The jitsi-meet repository carries the Apache License 2.0, and Jitsi describes itself as 100% open source. BigBlueButton's components fall under the GNU Lesser General Public License, and its GitHub repository shows LGPL-3.0. Both permit running the software on your own machines with no per-seat fee, which keeps licence cost out of the budget. The licences differ in their terms and neither vendor compares them, so the right choice depends on what your lawyer wants to do with the code.

   Depends on the buyer

4. 04

   Who owns the name and the roadmap

   Jitsi is a trademark of 8x8, Inc., which acquired the technology and team from Atlassian in 2018 and launched Jitsi as a Service in 2020. The terms of service name 8x8 as a Delaware corporation in Campbell, California. BigBlueButton Inc. holds the BigBlueButton trademark, and the project began in the TIM programme at Carleton University in Ottawa, launching in 2007. A university-rooted project suits some buyers better than one whose owner also sells a hosted product, which is a matter of taste rather than a stated flaw.

   Edge: BigBlueButton

5. 05

   Starting without any server at all

   Jitsi's own page says meet.jit.si is free to use with no account needed, and calls the product fully encrypted. A team can open a room in a browser today and decide on self-hosting afterwards. BigBlueButton's home page shows no hosted service price and no free public room, so you would start by building the server described in its guide. For a quick trial with no setup at all, Jitsi is clearly the easier first step.

   Edge: Jitsi Meet

6. 06

   Classroom tools against general meetings

   BigBlueButton's home page calls it a purpose-built virtual classroom for teachers and learners, with whiteboards, assessment tools and live analytics. Jitsi's page describes general meetings and lists none of those teaching features in the facts we checked. A business running client calls would be fitting a classroom product to an office job with BigBlueButton, while a teacher wanting built-in assessment would find less listed on Jitsi's pages. The fit depends on who is in the room.

   Depends on the buyer

Is there a free version I can try without installing anything?

Jitsi Meet has one, since its page says meet.jit.si is free and needs no account. BigBlueButton shows no hosted price or free public room on the pages we checked. To try BigBlueButton you would follow the Ubuntu 24.04 install guide on your own server.

What server do I need to run BigBlueButton?

The installation guide asks for a dedicated, clean Ubuntu 24.04 server. The minimum is 16 GB of memory, 8 CPU cores and 500 GB of disk, or 50 GB if you skip recordings. Sharing the machine with other services is not what the guide describes.

Which one has the more open licence terms?

Jitsi Meet's repository uses Apache 2.0 and BigBlueButton's uses LGPL-3.0. Both are open source and neither charges a licence fee for self-hosting. Neither vendor compares the two licences, so check their terms against your own plans.

• Jitsi Meet product page: free use with no account, meet.jit.si as the hosted service, and the 100% open source and fully encrypted claims.
• Jitsi Meet GitHub repository: the Apache License 2.0 on the code.
• Jitsi handbook quickstart: the self-hosting guide for Debian 12 or newer and Ubuntu 24.04 or newer.
• About Jitsi: the 2018 acquisition by 8x8, the 2020 Jitsi as a Service launch, and the 8x8 trademark.
• Jitsi terms of service: 8x8, Inc. as a Delaware corporation in Campbell, California.
• BigBlueButton licence page: LGPL components and the BigBlueButton Inc. trademark.
• BigBlueButton GitHub repository: the LGPL-3.0 licence on the repository.
• BigBlueButton installation guide: Ubuntu 24.04, 16 GB memory, 8 cores, 500 GB disk or 50 GB without recordings.
• BigBlueButton home page: the virtual classroom description with whiteboards, assessment tools and live analytics.
• About BigBlueButton: the Carleton University TIM programme origin and 2007 launch.