head to head · open source
Jitsi vs LiveKit
Jitsi has 29,935 GitHub stars, 8,028 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped today. LiveKit has 20,980 stars, 2,347 forks, 189 open issues and last shipped today. Jitsi leads on adoption by 43% (29,935 vs 20,980 stars). Jitsi is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; LiveKit is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Jitsi has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, LiveKit 11%. Jitsi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (sfu, video, 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.
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Side by side
| Jitsi | LiveKit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.0K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 LiveKit if
- You want the LiveKit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and LiveKit fits your workflow better
About Jitsi
Jitsi Meet is an open source video conferencing platform built on WebRTC standards, designed for privacy focused, account free video calls. It operates as a standalone web application or embeddable component, supporting both browser based and native mobile usage without requiring user accounts to join meetings. The project lives in the video communication ecosystem, competing directly with proprietary services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack’s built in calling.
read the full Jitsi overview →
About LiveKit
LiveKit is an open source realtime infrastructure project for voice, video, and physical AI agents, and it lives in the WebRTC, media server, and voice AI ecosystem. The repository contains the LiveKit server, a scalable distributed WebRTC SFU written in Go and built on Pion WebRTC. It moves realtime audio, video, and data between people, devices, and AI models, while SDKs, agent frameworks, and companion services are provided separately.
read the full LiveKit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jitsi or LiveKit more popular?
Jitsi has 29,935 GitHub stars and LiveKit has 20,980. Jitsi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jitsi and LiveKit free?
Both are open source. Jitsi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and LiveKit under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jitsi and LiveKit?
Jitsi is written in TypeScript and LiveKit in Go. 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 LiveKit?
Choose Jitsi if you want the larger community (29,935 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose LiveKit if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.