Zoom emerged as a popular video conferencing tool amidst the pandemic. It is still a decent choice to go with even with all the privacy and security concerns revolving around it.
However, there are potentially better options to Zoom that are also free-to-use, and you might want to consider them for a better user experience and privacy. In this article, I’m going to mention the best free alternatives to Zoom.
Top Free Zoom Alternatives That You Can Try
The list here only considers the ability of video conferencing as the key highlight for alternatives. But, you may find many additional features or miss something specific compared to Zoom.
We would advise you to go through the key highlights and then decide to give the options a try for yourself.
1. Jitsi Meet
Key Highlights:
- Open Source
- Free to use
- End-to-End encryption
- Self-hosting option
- Useful features
- Up to 50 participants supported
Jitsi Meet is a fantastic Zoom alternative that is also an open-source software. You can easily browse through the source code or rely on hundreds of developers looking at the code to ensure that it respects your privacy and works as intended.
Not just that, it is also end-to-end encrypted, which is great for security!
It offers some unique features such as the ability to see the network status for individuals, kick users out of your session, and password-protect your conference sessions.
Technically, Jitsi Meet is the hosted version that you can use for free and can support up to 50 participants. You can also host it on your server and tweak it to adjust your requirements as a custom video conferencing solution. To know more about it, you can check out their GitHub page.
2. Skype
Key Highlights:
- Rich user experience
- Great experience with Windows systems
- Up to 100 participants supported
Skype is yet another impressive Zoom alternative if you are a Windows user signed in to a Microsoft Account.
With Skype, you don’t need to download anything additional, Skype comes pre-installed in Windows. You just have to sign in using the Microsoft account, and it’s done!
Even if you’re not using Windows as your primary platform, it is still a great option considering that it offers a rich user experience and a good quality video session.
3. Google Meet
Key Highlights:
- Simple and Easy to use
- Participants need a Google Account
- Up to 100 participants
Google Meet is a free to use video conferencing solution that is particularly simple and easy to use.
You may not notice many features in it, but it works fast and is quite reliable for up to 100 participants. They also offer an easy-to-follow help guide if you want to know more about it.
4. Discord
Key Highlights:
- Feature-rich
- Voice channels
- Screen/Application Streaming with video quality adjustment
- Supports bots
Discord is a feature-rich voice-tailored communication app aimed for Gamers. However, it is being used by a lot of professionals and groups who love the extra functionalities offered in Discord.
Not just limited to the video conferencing feature, you can stream your screen and adjust the quality of your stream as well. It supports adding bots to the server to help manage all the texts.
Overall, you can utilize it as a mixture of Slack, Zoom, and many unique features to easily collaborate for learning or work. Discord is not just a simple alternative to Zoom but a better option to it if you are someone who likes to have more features with a rich user experience.
5. Jami
Key Highlights:
- Decentralized Zoom alternative
- Highly depends on the connectivity of the users connected
- May not offer a great user experience
If you are someone who just needs something exciting and possibly more privacy conscious, Jami is an option to try. It does not depend on any centralized server but the users.
It takes the approach of a peer-to-peer connection and creates the video session accordingly. As good as it is for privacy-concerned users, it is equally inconvenient if the network of users (or the host) has a poor connectivity.
Also, the user experience is elementary. So, with that in mind, you may go ahead and give it a try.
6. BigBlueButton
Key Highlights:
- Tailored for online classes
- Ability to integrate with websites
- Open-Source
BigBlueButton is particularly aimed at teachers/students to get an exciting experience in online classes by providing some useful features like whiteboards. You may utilize it for general use as well, but there are better options to have professional conferences or casual conversations.
They also offer a demo version on their official website for you to try and then deploy it for your own use-case.
7. Cisco Webex
Key Highlights:
- Scalable for professional use
- Simple and easy to use
Cisco Webex is a good alternative to Zoom for universities or professional conferences. You can sign up for free and then upgrade the plan to accommodate more users and host if required.
Unlike some other options, you do not need to do anything yourself, it’s a hosted service that is managed by Cisco and all you have to do is utilize the features offered in the service. The user interface is modern and yet simple and easy to use.
Filed in . Read more about Productivity, Video Calls and Zoom.