Open-source alternatives to Zoom and Microsoft Teams

At a glance

Open-source alternatives to Zoom and Microsoft Teams compared
Tool	Licence	Self-hosting difficulty	Who it suits	Strengths
Jitsi Meet	Apache-2.0	Moderate: a server with dedicated CPUs, ideally 4 cores and 8 GB of memory, plus a proper domain and certificate	Small teams wanting simple meetings by link	No account needed to join, works in a browser, phone apps, screen sharing, optional end-to-end encryption
BigBlueButton	LGPL-3.0	Hard: a dedicated Ubuntu 24.04 server with 8 cores, 16 GB of memory and plenty of disk	Training companies, schools and anyone running live classes	Multi-user whiteboard, breakout rooms, polls, shared notes, recording, Moodle and other learning system links

Jitsi Meet: Apache-2.0. Licence checked 31 October 2026.
BigBlueButton: LGPL-3.0. Licence checked 31 October 2026.

I'll start with the awkward bit. If you already pay for Microsoft 365, you've got Teams, and you should probably stop reading. Business Basic with Teams is £5.40 per user a month. Teams Essentials on its own is £3.10. Self-hosting a video server to save that makes very little sense.

It's a different story for Zoom. The free Basic plan cuts meetings off at 40 minutes, and Pro is $14.16 per user a month on an annual plan. For five people that's about $850 a year, if all you want is a decent meeting link.

So who's this page for? Businesses who aren't on Microsoft 365, who run a lot of calls with outside people, or who run training and want full control of it.

Jitsi Meet

Jitsi Meet is the simple one. You send a link, people click it, and they're in a meeting, with no account needed.

Browser-based, with phone apps for iPhone and Android as well.
No account needed to join, which is a real plus with customers.
Screen sharing and chat, plus shared document editing through Etherpad.
Moderator controls. On your own server you can set things up so only authorised people act as moderators.
Optional end-to-end encryption. Calls are encrypted on the network by default, and you can turn on full end-to-end encryption in supported browsers. It covers audio, video and screen sharing, not chat or polls.

There's a free public service at meet.jit.si, but whoever starts the meeting has to sign in, with a Google, Facebook or GitHub account. Fine for the odd call. It's not one to build a business on.

Running your own needs a bit of muscle, as video is hungry. The handbook suggests 4 dedicated cores for a basic server, and 8 GB of memory (4 GB can work for small meetings). Dedicated CPUs are better than shared VPS plans. You'll need a proper domain and certificate too, as phones often refuse self-signed ones.

Recording is the catch. It needs a separate component, Jibri, with its own system for each simultaneous recording and at least 8 GB of memory. If you record every meeting, the costs add up.

BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton was built for teaching, not office meetings, and that's its strength.

A multi-user whiteboard, so people can work together on the same screen.
Breakout rooms, polls and shared notes.
Recording of the presentation, chat, webcams and screen sharing.
Greenlight, its own front end for managing rooms.
Links to learning systems, including Moodle and Canvas.

If you run a training company, that's a far better fit than an ordinary meeting tool. For a weekly team catch-up, it's a sledgehammer.

The hardware is serious. BigBlueButton 4.0 needs a clean Ubuntu 24.04 server used for little else, with 8 cores, 16 GB of memory, 500 GB of disk if you're recording (50 GB if not) and 250 Mbit/s of bandwidth. The project says a server meeting those minimums should handle about 200 simultaneous users, and it doesn't recommend single sessions over 200.

What it costs

Zoom and Microsoft Teams

Zoom Pro: £10.73 per user a month, billed annually (converted from $14.16 at the European Central Bank reference rate on 2 October 2026). Checked 31 October 2026 (source).
Microsoft Teams Essentials: £3.10 per user a month, billed annually. Checked 31 October 2026 (source).
Microsoft 365 Business Basic (with Teams): £5.40 per user a month, billed annually. Checked 31 October 2026 (source).

Self-hosted, run for you

No per-user fees. Adding people doesn't add licence costs.
Setup: a one-off fee to set it up and move your data across.
Hosting and care: a fixed monthly fee covering every app on your server.
I'll quote once I know what you need.

Paid tool prices exclude VAT unless stated.

The UK angle

Zoom and Teams are fine for most small firms. Plenty of UK businesses use them all day, and I wouldn't switch because of where a US company's servers sit.

Self-hosting is worth considering if your calls are especially sensitive, such as health or legal conversations, or if you record them. A recording is personal data, and it needs to be stored, protected and deleted like any other. With your own server, those recordings stay on hardware you control, in the UK if you wish.

Do tell people when you're recording, whichever tool you use.

Honest drawbacks

Video quality depends on your server. There's no global network behind you, and people on poor connections suffer first.
Big meetings need big servers. You pay for that capacity all month, even if you only use it on Thursdays.
Fewer calendar and office links. Don't expect what Teams has with Outlook.
Recording costs more than you'd expect, especially on Jitsi.
If it fails ten minutes before a customer call, it's your problem. Have a fallback.

Which one?

My pick is Jitsi Meet. It's simple for guests, needs no accounts, and runs on a sensible server. The main drawback is that server cost and upkeep can easily outweigh what Zoom would charge a small team.

BigBlueButton is the realistic alternative for training. And if you're already paying for Microsoft 365, the honest answer is to use Teams.

Need it built or customised?

If you want video calls built into your own booking system or customer portal, the team at Dev Partners can help you with that.