With video conferencing, you can hold single conversations, meetings, seminars, classes, and more. It’s very convenient because it allows people to communicate remotely. Individuals, businesses, corporations, and schools all make use of this technology.
Jitsi and Zoom are video conferencing platforms. If you have to choose between the two, which would you go for?
Here, I’ll be comparing Jitsi vs Zoom to help you decide which of them is better than the other.
What Is Jitsi?
Jitsi is a free video-conferencing platform.
As an open-source platform, Jitsi is continually maintained by a community of developers. It consists of two projects: Jitsi Meet and Jitsi Videobridge.
In addition to conducting conferences on the internet, Jitsi also lets you perform audio calls and messaging. The platform has several other advanced videos including different conferencing modes, pre-meeting tools, support for a variety of content, and several interactive tools.
Jitsi was initially developed in 2003 as a SIP communicator. The Videobrige and Meet function were included in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
What Is Zoom?
Launched in 2011, Zoom is currently the most popular video conferencing platform on the internet. It is freemium with so many features available at no cost.
Zoom can be used for video meetings, chat, phone, room chats, and more. Although the platform isn’t open-source, it features APIs and SDKs which developers use.
With a free Zoom account, you can host a video conference of about 100 participants for up to 40 minutes. You can hold one on one meetings for as long as you want.
Setup
Jitsi
On mobile, you can simply download and install the Jitsi Meet app from your application store. On desktop, installing Jitsi is relatively technical especially if you’re self-hosting.
With Jitsi Meet, it’s easier as you can start a meeting online via a browser. To start a meeting via the Jitsi Meet website, you don’t even need to register your email address.
If you’re self-hosting, you can follow their user guide to successfully install the package on your server. To make it easier, you can set up a room on the Jitsi website and embed it into your own website.
Zoom
Zoom is easy to install as it has apps for major devices. There are both desktop and mobile apps which are all free to install and you can start a meeting via any of them.
To host a meeting on Zoom, you have to own a Zoom account. After creating your meeting, you can share the link and send invites to anyone you want to join. People can join your Zoom meetings with or without a Zoom account.
Zoom is also available as a web app and accessible using a modern web browser.
Verdict
Beginning a meeting with Jitsi or Zoom is very easy but it’s easier with Zoom.
Video Quality
Jitsi
Jitsi features three major video quality resolutions. This includes 1280×720 HD, 640×360 SD, and 360×180 LD. Unfortunately, you cannot modify the video resolution from the web-based user interface or app.
You have to edit the video resolution from the config file which can be challenging if you’re not conversant with coding. You could easily make mistakes. Despite HD support, many Jitsi users complain that the video quality isn’t up to mark.
Some complain that the video quality automatically reduces by itself while conferencing. The browser you’re using can also affect your video quality.
Zoom
Zoom supports HD video up to 720p (standard HD) and 1080p (Full HD) resolutions. You need a Pro account to enjoy 720p while 1080p is only available in special cases.
From your Zoom client app, whether mobile or desktop, you can easily adjust your video quality settings.
A unique feature of Zoom is the Group HD. This activates HD video quality automatically depending on the number of people in a Zoom room. To enjoy HD video on Zoom, your device and network must meet certain bandwidth requirements.
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Verdict
With Zoom, you can enjoy stable HD video quality so long as you meet the requirements.
Meeting Limits
Jitsi
As a free video-conferencing platform, Jitsi doesn’t have any time limit. You can hold online meetings for an unlimited time. Since it’s also open-source, you can configure a time limit if you want.
In terms of participants, the highest number that can join a Jitsi meeting is 75. The platform recommends a maximum of 35 participants per meeting to maintain quality.
Once the participants exceeds 35, you could experience issues like poor video quality, video lagging, and even complete disconnection in some cases.
Zoom
As mentioned earlier, a free Zoom account lets you hold meetings for a maximum of 40 minutes but one on one calls are unlimited. The free meetings support about 100 participants.
With Zoom paid plans, up to 300 and 500 participants can join a meeting for the pro and business plan respectively. There’s a large meetings add-on that lets you increase participants to up to 1,000.
Zoom doesn’t support unlimited runtime for video meetings. The maximum runtime for meetings is 30 hours which is more than a day.
Verdict
Zoom supports a lot more participants than Jitsi and you can make meetings for more than a day so it’s the winner here.
Video Enhancements and Effects
Jitsi
Natively, Jitsi doesn’t feature many video enhancement options. Only basic enhancements like changing video quality and setting display names for each user are available.
Since Jitsi is open source, you can program bids on enhancements and effects of you’re a developer.
Zoom
With Zoom, there are many enhancements and effect options to improve the quality of your video. This includes the touch of my appearance feature, video filters, low light adjustments, virtual backgrounds, and studio effects.
The touch up my appearance feature will smoothen your face while on a video call. With the adjust for low light effect, you can make your video clearer if you’re in a low light environment.
Zoom has a lot of video filters you can apply to change your video appearance. These are very similar to the filters you get on Snapchat and you can apply them both on desktop and mobile.
You can change your video background by choosing any of the numerous virtual backgrounds featured on Zoom. Finally, the Studio effects let you apply fun effects like lip colors, eyebrows, mustache, beard, etc.
Verdict
Clearly, Zoom is the winner in this Jitsi vs Zoom comparison section.
Closed Captioning
Jitsi
Showing captions on Jitsi meetings is possible using Jigasi. Jigasi is a server-side gateway application for Jitsi Meet conferences. Jigasi transcribes audio in real-time as the conference is ongoing. You can also access the complete transcription after the meeting is over.
Using Jigasi to show captions on Jitsi requires Google Cloud speech-to-text API. Even after set up, closed captioning won’t appear at the guests’ end.
Zoom
Zoom has native support for closed captioning and live transcription. There are many options available. You can go with Zoom’s live transcription feature which will automatically provide closed captions for any live conference. This will only work for the English language, while background noise can affect the transcription process.
Alternatively, you can manually provide the captions. This is ideal if you’re hosting a webinar or class where guests just have to listen. As the host, you can provide the closed captions yourself or ask any guest to do so.
The last option you have is using third-party closed captioning services. There are several of these that Zoom natively integrates with and you can use the API as well.
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Verdict
With native closed captioning support, Zoom takes the lead over Jitsi.
Screen Sharing
Jitsi
With the Presenter Mode, Jitsi supports screen sharing with other users. You can either share a full screen, a particular window, or a particular browser tab.
As you share your screen, you can mute your video so you don’t show at all. If you unmute it, your video will be displayed at the bottom right corner of guest screens. Screen sharing is only available for desktop at the moment.
Like most other Jitsi features, setting up screen sharing is technical. The screen sharing will only work with WebRTC and you have to prepare a canvas layout and create a media stream. Alternatively, you can install a screen share extension if you use Google Chrome.
Zoom
With Zoom, you can share your screens on digital devices whether mobile or desktop. The platform allows you to share your entire screen, a particular application or Window, a portion of your screen, a video on your device, content from a different device, and a whiteboard.
Both hosts and guests can share their screens with Zoom. As a host, you can disable your guests from sharing their screens. By default, guests are unable to share their screens if it’s a webinar.
Sharing your screen with Zoom is relatively easy. Simply click the Share Screen icon from the meeting controls and select what you want to share.
Verdict
Zoom supports screen sharing for both desktop and mobile devices which makes it better than Jitsi.
Instant Messaging
Jitsi
Jitsi has an integrated chat feature for instant messaging. As you make your video calls, you can chat with others by sending messages and emojis.
You can’t message anyone outside of video conferences. You also cannot share files with the chat feature; just texts and emojis.
Zoom
One of the major features you get with Zoom is Zoom Chat. Zoom Chat allows you to text and communicate with other Zoom users without making a video call. You can easily switch to video calling with just a click.
Just like video conferencing, you can engage in either group chats or one-on-one chats. Zoom Chat allows you to share files and there’s a search feature so you can easily find any message or file.
There are also regular chat features like pining conversations, archiving messages, starring, messages, etc.
Conversely, you can set your status availability to notify others about your location or mood. With Zoom meetings, you can also send messages in real time.
Verdict
Unlike Jitsi, Zoom has an exclusive chat platform which makes it the better platform among the two.
Security And Privacy
Jitsi
Video conferencing with Jitsi is private and secure. You can host and join Jitsi meetings without creating an account so none of your data is collected or stored. Meetings are only retained as they’re live. Once the meeting ends, the discussions are destroyed.
Jitsi supports end-to-end encryption that you can flexibly toggle on or off. Once you turn on end-to-end encryption as the host, you’ll share the password with other participants.
However, E2EE works only with Chromium-based browsers. Supported browsers include Brave, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome.
Zoom
There are various tools to keep your meetings secure and private with Zoom. All video meetings, audio calls, and chats are encrypted with 256-bit TLS encryption meanwhile content you share is encrypted with AES-256 encryption.
Zoom also offers the option to turn on end-to-end encryption. With end-to-end encryption, communication between every guest in your meeting is protected using cryptographic keys. Even Zoom can’t access your conversations.
You can keep your meeting private with Zoom by requesting a passcode before participants can join or select exclusive guests as authenticated users. Other security options include an audio signature and a watermarked screenshot.
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Verdict
In this Zoom vs Jitsi comparison category, Zoom wins as it offers more encryption options.
Tracking And Analytics
Jitsi
Jitsi doesn’t have built-in analytics hence you can’t keep track of your meeting statistics. If you want to track your Jitsi analytics, you should set up Google Analytics.
To do that, you have to add your Analytics tracking ID to the Jitsi config file. Although this involves editing codes, it’s not a very difficult procedure.
Many Jitsi users complain of not getting any analytics data even after integrating with Google Analytics.
Zoom
Zoom gives you access to a rich analytics dashboard with statistics and graphs. From this dashboard, you can get data about your meetings and the participants. With the graphs, you get visual data that is easier to comprehend.
Once you move your mouse to any of the graph bars, you’ll get the correct data. You can easily adjust the time frame of the featured data from the date range bar.
Some of the statistics you can monitor from the Zoom analytics dashboard include top 10 users, top 10 locations, yearly meeting trend, customer satisfaction trend, meeting issues trend, devices, etc.
You can easily export any data from the Zoom analytics dashboard to a CSV file.
Verdict
With a built-in analytics dashboard, Zoom takes the lead over Jitsi.
Integrations
Jitsi
Jitsi supports a few web integrations. You can integrate the platform with Google Calendar and YouTube using the Google API Client. In addition, you can integrate Jitsi with Microsoft Outlook and also Dropbox with the Microsoft and Dropbox app respectively.
As an open-source platform, Jitsi can be configured to work with several other websites and web platforms. Therefore, integration options with Jitsi are almost limitless. Other platforms like Twist, Odoo, and Element support integration with Jitsi Meet.
Zoom
Due to Zoom’s popularity, it integrates with a lot of other platforms from the Zoom App Marketplace. This marketplace features integrations of various categories including Analytics, CRM, Collaboration, Education, Finance, Games, and Marketing to name a few.
There are also exclusive integrations for Zoom Meetings, Chat, Phone, Rooms, and Webinars. These apps are majorly free and you can quickly install them. For more integration options, you can make use of the Zoom API.
Verdict
Native integrations on Zoom are a lot more than what’s available on Jitsi so Zoom wins.
Customer Support
Jitsi
As a Jitsi user, there are different options for getting support. You can make use of the Documentation. The Documentation is available on GitHub and it covers a lot of topics about using Jitsi from installation to architecture and security.
Jitsi features a User, Developer, and Self-hosting guide. There’s a community forum where Jitsi users communicate. You can get help here by creating topics and asking questions.
Answers can be provided by anyone including other Jitsi users or any of the lead developers. There’s also a blog where you’ll find the latest news about the platform.
Zoom
The major option of getting support on Zoom is by using the Help Center.
The Help Center features topics about getting started with Zoom, messaging, audio and video sharing, managing accounts, and integrations.
If you want to speak to a Zoom staff member, you can make use of LiveChat on the website. Business and enterprise accounts can reach the Zoom support team via phone.
Zoom also provides help to users via social media on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
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Verdict
Both Zoom and Jitsi have quality customer support channels but Zoom has more options.
Jitsi vs Zoom Pricing
Jitsi
Jitsi is 100% free and open-source. You don’t pay to use it.
Zoom
Zoom features different pricing plans depending on what feature you want to use. The pricing plans for Zoom Meetings include:
- Free Plan: $0 per month
- Pro Plan: $14.99 per month for a monthly subscription, or $149.90 for an annual subscription
- Business Plan: $19.99 per month for a monthly subscription, or $199.90 for an annual subscription
- Enterprise Plan: $19.99 per month for a monthly subscription, or $240 for an annual subscription
Similarities
- Both Zoom and Jitsi are video conferencing tools.
- They are both web-based.
- With either Jitsi or Zoom, you get HD support.
- Both support screen sharing.
- With either Zoom or Jitsi, you can live chat.
- They both support encryption.
- Both Jitsi and Zoom support integrations.
Differences
- Jitsi is free while Zoom is freemium.
- Jitsi is open source while Zoom is proprietary.
- Zoom has better video quality than Jitsi.
- Zoom supports more participants than Jitsi.
- Zoom supports video effects and enhancements while Jitsi does not.
- Zoom provides auto-closed captions while Jitsi requires Google’s API.
- Zoom has an exclusive chat platform while Jitsi has just live chat.
- Jitsi doesn’t feature a native analytics dashboard like Zoom.
Pros and Cons
Jitsi Pros
- Free
- Open-source
- Unlimited runtime
- Screen sharing
- Live chat
- Integrations
- Quality support
Jitsi Cons
- Relatively poor video quality
- Low participant limit
- No video effects
- No native analytics
Zoom Pros
- Easy to set up
- HD video quality
- Closed captioning
- Video enhancements and effects
- Screen sharing
- Live chat and exclusive chat option
- Analytics
- Integrations
- Quality support
Zoom Cons
- 40-minute limit on free account
Wrapping Up Jitsi vs Zoom – Which Is Better?
No doubt, the better platform is Zoom. Jitsi’s major advantage is that it is free; hence, you don’t need to pay to access its full features.
On the other hand, Zoom integrates essential video conferencing features. Plus, Zoom’s free account option can conduct larger meetings than Jitsi. Not to mention, Zoom also incorporates enhancements, captioning, analytics, and integrations.
