head to head · open source
Jitsi vs bigbluebutton
Jitsi has 30,188 GitHub stars, 8,121 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bigbluebutton has 9,263 stars, 5,982 forks, 721 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jitsi leads on adoption by 226% (30,188 vs 9,263 stars). Jitsi is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; bigbluebutton is written in TypeScript under LGPL-3.0. Jitsi has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, bigbluebutton 65%. Jitsi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (video, video-conferencing, webrtc), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Jitsi | bigbluebutton | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.1K | ⑂ 6.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jitsi if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bigbluebutton if
- You want the bigbluebutton feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and bigbluebutton fits your workflow better
About Jitsi
Jitsi Meet Jitsi Meet is a set of Open Source projects which empower users to use and deploy video conferencing platforms with state of the art video quality and features. Amongst others here are the main features Jitsi Meet offers: Support for all current browsers Mobile applications Web and native SDKs for integration HD audio and video Content sharing Raise hand and reactions Chat with private conversations Polls Virtual backgrounds And many more! Using Jitsi Meet Using Jitsi Meet is straightforward, as it's browser based. Head over to meet.jit.si and give it a try. It's scalable and free to use. All you need…
read the full Jitsi overview →
About bigbluebutton
BigBlueButton ============= BigBlueButton is an open source virtual classroom designed to help teachers teach and learners learn. BigBlueButton supports real time sharing of audio, video, slides (with whiteboard annotations), chat, and the screen. Instructors can engage remote students with polling, emojis, multi user whiteboards, shared notes, and breakout rooms. During the session, BigBlueButton generates analytics that are visible to moderators in the Learning Analytics Dashboard. Presenters can record and playback content for later sharing with others. We designed BigBlueButton for online learning, it can be…
read the full bigbluebutton overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Collaboration & Communication projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Collaboration & Communication field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Jitsi or bigbluebutton more popular?
Jitsi has 30,188 GitHub stars and bigbluebutton has 9,263. Jitsi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jitsi and bigbluebutton free?
Both are open source. Jitsi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bigbluebutton under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jitsi and bigbluebutton?
Jitsi is written in TypeScript and bigbluebutton in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Jitsi or bigbluebutton?
Choose Jitsi if you want the larger community (30,188 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bigbluebutton if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.