Open-source alternative to Google Meet live streaming

Open-source alternative to Google Meet live streaming: the short answer

If you stream all-hands meetings or lectures from Google Meet, you need to know that live streaming is tied to Google's edition structure, so staying on Meet means either buying a higher edition or changing how sessions are produced. The open-source path is self-hosted Jitsi Meet with Jibri, which records and streams meetings from inside your own infrastructure, or BigBlueButton, which is a classroom platform with its own recording and playback. For small internal sessions, either can stream directly. For large audiences, you will usually need a separate streaming server or video platform that receives the feed and delivers it to viewers, because a meeting bridge is not designed to serve thousands of watchers.

The decision is less about features and more about where the stream is produced and who runs it. With Jibri, the stream is generated by a Jibri container, a separate component of the Jitsi Docker setup that joins the conference and captures it, so you need to plan its capacity alongside the Jitsi containers for web, Prosody, Jicofo and Jitsi Videobridge. With BigBlueButton, the server handles sessions, recordings and playback, and the installer sizes it for its own load. In both cases your team owns the operation, including certificates, uptime and the outbound link that viewers depend on. Confirm with the vendor and your own network team how each stream is distributed before you commit to a design.

Which open-source option covers each live streaming capability

This table maps the live streaming capabilities that Google Meet live streaming provides to self-hosted Jitsi Meet with Jibri, BigBlueButton, and a separate streaming or video platform. Read each row against your own audience size, destinations and access rules, because streaming scale and destinations depend on the component you choose.

Capability	Jitsi Meet with Jibri	BigBlueButton 4.0	Separate streaming or video platform
Live stream to viewers	Jibri can stream a meeting, but the number of viewers depends on the streaming destination you configure. Confirm with the Jitsi project.	Viewing is built into the room, and the audience model suits classes and webinars. Confirm viewer limits with the BigBlueButton project.	Typically the main option for large audiences. Choose a self-hosted platform sized to your expected viewers.
Recording of the stream	Jibri handles recording and streaming in the Jitsi Docker setup, so recordings stay on your own server.	Recordings are stored on the BigBlueButton server, and disk needs depend on retention. Plan for 500 GB of disk for recordings, per the install docs.	Depends on the platform. Confirm whether it records the stream and where the files are stored.
RTMP output to external platforms	Jibri supports streaming to RTMP destinations. Confirm the supported destinations and key handling for your version.	Confirm whether RTMP output is supported in your BigBlueButton release before you plan around it.	Often supported for relaying to external services. Confirm the protocol and destination list with the vendor.
Room access control	Authentication options include internal XMPP accounts, JWT tokens, LDAP, Matrix and a hybrid mode, set in the .env file.	Greenlight v3 supports external login through OpenID Connect, and Keycloak can add other login methods.	Access depends on the platform. Confirm how it limits who can join or view the stream.
Audience size	The stream capacity depends on your videobridges and the Jibri setup. Size it with the Jitsi scalable setup guide.	Hardware needs are set by the BigBlueButton 4.0 install docs: at least 16 GB of memory and 8 CPU cores, plus 250 Mbit/s symmetrical bandwidth.	Audience scale depends on the separate platform you run, not on the meeting server. Confirm viewer limits before you commit.
Hosting prerequisite	HTTPS with a proper domain certificate is necessary for working audio and video. Self-signed certificates cause problems.	Requires a valid hostname for SSL, TCP ports 80 and 443, and UDP ports 16384 to 32768.	Requires its own hosting and network planning. Confirm firewall and certificate needs with the vendor.

When Jitsi with Jibri, BigBlueButton or a separate platform fits

Google Meet live streaming is a feature of Enterprise editions, so the replacement question is which self-hosted tool fits the audience and the room. Each option below trades setup effort, recording control and audience size against the others, and the right choice usually depends on who attends and how many people watch.

Jitsi Meet with Jibri for staff streams

Jitsi Meet with Jibri suits staff meetings and all-hands sessions where participants talk and a stream goes to a larger watch group. Jibri runs as its own container alongside web, prosody, jicofo, jvb and jigasi in the official Docker setup, so it adds a service to monitor, a recording or streaming host to size and a separate path to test. Confirm how many concurrent Jibri sessions your hardware supports and how the stream reaches your viewing platform before you commit.

BigBlueButton for lectures and classes

BigBlueButton is built for classroom-style sessions, with its own recording, slides, polling, breakout rooms and shared notes, so it fits lectures better than a general meeting tool. Its install needs a clean Ubuntu 24.04 server, at least 16 GB of memory with swap, 8 CPU cores, 500 GB of disk for recordings and 250 Mbit/s symmetrical bandwidth, and UDP ports 16384 to 32768 open. Direct upgrades from 2.6, 2.7 or 3.0 are not supported, so plan a fresh server for version 4.0.

Dedicated streaming server or video platform

Audiences far larger than a meeting room need a streaming server or video platform built for one-to-many delivery, separate from the conferencing tool that hosts the speakers. Choose the origin, the transcoding layer, the player and the CDN or edge capacity, and confirm that each one runs inside your own network or a host you control. Ask the team that will run it how it handles viewer spikes, access control and replay storage, because those costs grow with the audience rather than with the meeting.

Authentication and access for streamed sessions

A stream is only as private as the room behind it, so Jitsi and BigBlueButton need a plan for who can join and who can watch. Jitsi supports JWT tokens, LDAP and Matrix verification through the .env file, and the handbook recommends JWT over the deprecated secure domain method. Greenlight v3 accepts OpenID Connect for BigBlueButton. Decide who can start a stream, who can view it and how replays are restricted before you publish a link.

HTTPS and network prerequisites

Both Jitsi and BigBlueButton depend on working certificates and open ports before any stream starts. Jitsi needs HTTPS with a proper domain certificate, since self-signed certificates cause problems for audio and video, especially on mobile clients. Its quick start expects ports 80, 443 and 10000/UDP, and BigBlueButton needs ports 80 and 443 plus a valid hostname for SSL. Test from outside your network, and plan a TURN server for participants behind restrictive firewalls.

How the choice differs for all-hands and lectures

An all-hands usually has a small set of presenters, often executives, speaking to a large internal audience. Most attendees watch rather than speak, and the main requirements are reliable one-way delivery, a recording for staff who missed it, and access limited to employees. Jitsi Meet fits this pattern well because Jibri can record and stream a conference that is already running, and the room can be locked with JWT tokens so only authenticated staff join. Audience size is the number to plan around, since Jitsi scales by adding videobridges you run yourself. Use these points to scope the work:

Presenters: a few speakers with screen sharing, which Jitsi handles directly.
Audience: large and mostly passive, so the streaming path matters more than room capacity.
Interaction: limited to chat or Q&A, which Jitsi covers without extra components.
Access: authenticated staff only, configured through JWT tokens rather than open links.
Recording: Jibri output stays on your storage, so confirm retention rules with your records team.

Before committing, test a full-length rehearsal with the expected headcount and confirm the bandwidth and videobridge capacity with your network team.

Running streaming next to Google Workspace and existing tools

A self-hosted streaming stack does not replace your whole Workspace estate on day one. The cards below cover how Jitsi or BigBlueButton sits beside Google Calendar, your identity provider, your intranet or LMS and any Meet licenses you keep. Each card names a decision or check to settle before rollout.

Sign-in through JWT or existing identity

Jitsi's handbook recommends JWT token authentication over the older secure domain method, which it marks as deprecated for new installations. The Docker guide also lists LDAP, Matrix user verification and a hybrid Matrix plus JWT mode, all set in the .env file. Decide early whether presenters sign in with your corporate identity and whether guests join through a separate anonymous domain. Confirm how your identity provider will issue the tokens before you publish any stream link.

Meet Enterprise licenses kept for other uses

Meet live streaming depends on the Enterprise edition, but Meet may still serve calls and calendar links for staff who do not stream. Keep the Workspace license only where those other uses justify it, and map each user group to the tool it needs. Ask your Google account team which Workspace edition changes would be required if you drop Meet entirely, since the answer depends on your contract.

Calendar invites and stream links

Calendar entries are the main way attendees find a stream, so the Meet link in Google Calendar must change to a Jitsi or BigBlueButton room URL. Publish the link in the same invite as the event, and avoid sending presenter passwords or moderator tokens in plain calendar text. Test that invitees on mobile devices can open the stream, because self-signed certificates cause problems with mobile clients in Jitsi.

Sharing through the intranet or LMS

Most organizations will embed the stream on an intranet page, while schools and training teams often use a learning platform. BigBlueButton embeds in learning management systems such as Canvas and Moodle Cloud, and the project says these represent over 75% of the worldwide LMS market. Check which embed method your LMS supports before choosing BigBlueButton for lecture streams, and confirm the viewing audience can reach the server.

Recordings and archive storage

Live streams are often recorded for later viewing, which moves files out of Google Drive and into your own storage. Plan where the MP4 files go, who can download them and how long they stay, because those rules were previously set by Drive sharing. BigBlueButton 4.0 recommends 500 GB of disk for recordings, so size storage before the first all-hands. Confirm with your records team how recordings containing employee or student data must be retained.

Network and reachability for viewers

Viewers on corporate networks may be blocked from UDP traffic that streaming relies on. Jitsi needs 10000/UDP open, with 5349/TCP as a TCP fallback, and BigBlueButton needs UDP ports 16384 to 32768 reachable plus a TURN server for users behind restrictive firewalls. Ask your network team to confirm these paths from the office, remote and guest networks before the streaming schedule is published.

Moving live streams off Meet in planned phases

This sequence moves each live stream from Meet to a self-hosted platform in stages, so every event type has a tested path and a named owner before the Meet streaming setup is switched off.

Inventory current Meet streams and audiences
List every event that currently streams from Meet, including all-hands, lectures and external webinars. For each one, record the organizer, typical audience size, whether viewers join from outside your domain, where the stream is stored or archived, and how viewers find the link. Ask the admin who manages your Workspace edition to confirm which streaming and recording features your plan includes, since these depend on the edition. The step is done when you have one inventory sheet that a platform owner has signed off on.
Choose the platform for each event type
Match each event type from the inventory to a platform. Jitsi Meet with Jibri suits staff meetings and internal broadcasts that need recording or streaming from a meeting room. BigBlueButton suits lectures and training that need slides, polling and breakout rooms, with recording on the same server. Large public audiences need a separate streaming server or video platform, because neither product is designed to serve thousands of viewers directly. Confirm the expected concurrent viewer counts with the platform owner before deciding. The output is a written decision table that names one platform or stack per event type.
Stand up a test server with HTTPS and required ports
Build a non-production Jitsi or BigBlueButton server in your own cloud account or data center. For Jitsi, install with the Debian or Ubuntu quick start or the Docker setup and use a proper domain certificate, because the Jitsi handbook states HTTPS is necessary for audio and video to work and warns that self-signed certificates cause problems, especially on mobile. Open ports 80/TCP, 443/TCP and 10000/UDP for Jitsi. For BigBlueButton, use a valid hostname for SSL and open TCP 80 and 443 and UDP 16384 to 32768. Verify that a browser on an outside network can join a test room and that the server meets the stated hardware and bandwidth requirements. Done means a test room works from outside your network.
Plan the BigBlueButton 4.0 clean install
If BigBlueButton is in scope, do not plan an in-place upgrade from an existing 2.6, 2.7 or 3.0 server. The install documentation says direct upgrades from those versions are not supported and recommends a clean server installation on Ubuntu 24.04 64-bit. Treat the new server as a replacement, migrate content and users to it, and keep any old server running until the cutover is complete. Confirm the hardware requirements for 4.0 with the install documentation before ordering capacity, including memory with swap, CPU cores, and disk for recordings. Done means the new server is provisioned from a clean image and the old server is marked for retirement only after cutover.
Run a pilot stream with real viewers
Choose one low-risk recurring event and run it as a pilot on the new platform, with a small set of internal viewers and at least one viewer on an external network. Test the full chain: joining as presenter, starting the stream or recording, viewer access, audio and video quality, and where the recording lands. For Jitsi streaming, confirm that the recording service and streaming destination work end to end. Capture problems in a log with owner and fix date. The pilot is complete when the event has run without a blocking defect and the recording has been checked for playback.
Move recurring events and their recordings
Move the recurring events from the inventory one group at a time, starting with the lowest-risk. Update calendar invitations and any links on intranet or LMS pages, and tell presenters how to start the stream on the new platform. Move existing recordings out of Meet storage to the new archive, and record where each file now lives so viewers can find it. For external viewers, set access rules before the first event so the room is not left open. Done means each moved series has a confirmed host, a working link and a copied archive with a stored location.
Retire Meet streaming
Once every event type has run successfully on its new platform for an agreed period, remove Meet streaming from the event checklist and tell staff that Meet is no longer used for broadcasts. Confirm that no calendar templates, room bookings or LMS links still point to Meet streaming, and that the archive of old recordings is complete and accessible. Keep the inventory sheet as the record of what moved and where. Done means an owner has signed off that Meet streaming has no remaining users, and the decommission record is filed with the platform team.

What the streaming stack costs to run and who pays for it

The main cost of streaming from self-hosted meetings is not a license fee, because Jitsi Meet and BigBlueButton are open source. The cost is the infrastructure and the people who run it. Each component has a different owner: your cloud account or data center team pays for compute and bandwidth, your storage team pays for recordings, your platform team pays for operations, and the streaming or video platform you pick may carry its own fee. Ask for each line to be quoted separately so you can see which costs recur and which are one-time.

One-time costs cover the setup work: installing the Jitsi stack with Jibri or a BigBlueButton 4.0 server, configuring authentication, testing the stream end to end, and integrating with your calendar or LMS. A fixed-scope engagement with DeployOpen, or an internal project, would price these up front. Recurring costs are the server, the bandwidth, the recording storage, and staff time for upgrades, backups and support. BigBlueButton 4.0 sizing, as published in its install documentation, calls for at least 16 GB of RAM, 8 CPU cores, 500 GB of disk for recordings and 250 Mbit/s of symmetrical bandwidth. Confirm current sizing with the BigBlueButton documentation before you buy hardware, and note that the 50 GB figure applies only when recording is off.

The main drivers are audience size, the number of concurrent streams, recording retention and whether you send the stream through an external platform. Each extra concurrent stream adds outbound bandwidth and compute, and a larger audience multiplies that load on the egress path. Longer retention grows storage every term or quarter, so set a deletion policy early. Using an external streaming or video platform moves some bandwidth cost to a vendor but adds a subscription and a second system to operate. Ask any vendor or partner for a written quote that states unit assumptions, and include the time your own staff will spend on upgrades and incident response.

Questions buyers ask about replacing Meet live streaming

Does self-hosting fully replace Google Meet Enterprise live streaming?

Not on its own. Self-hosted Jitsi streams through Jibri, which records and streams a meeting from a headless browser, and BigBlueButton has its own recording and streaming path, but neither gives you the same managed broadcast service at large audience sizes. Meet streaming is tied to the Workspace edition and its viewer limits, so the honest comparison is feature by feature: viewer capacity, stream destinations, recording storage, moderation and playback for late viewers. For large audiences, plan a separate streaming server or video platform in front of the meeting. Confirm each limit against your own load tests, not the product brochure.

How much effort does a self-hosted streaming setup take?

The effort is driven by the number of components and the traffic they carry. A self-hosted Jitsi deployment combines a web front end, Prosody, Jicofo, Jitsi Videobridge and, for streaming, Jibri, and the official Docker setup runs these as separate containers. Jitsi requires HTTPS with a proper domain certificate for working audio and video, so certificate and DNS work is part of the first day. BigBlueButton 4.0 installs with bbb-install.sh on Ubuntu 24.04 and needs at least 16 GB of memory, 8 CPU cores, 500 GB of disk for recordings and 250 Mbit/s symmetrical bandwidth. Ask your implementation partner for a written scope that lists each component, the test cases and the handover items before any work starts.

What does the internal team need to provide?

Your team needs named owners for DNS, TLS certificates, the network (including UDP ports 10000 for Jitsi or 16384 to 32768 for BigBlueButton), identity and the streaming destinations. Someone must also own server capacity, backups and upgrades after handover. Jitsi's scalable setup guide notes that videobridges scale horizontally by adding more, so capacity planning needs an owner who can read load data. If you plan to use single sign-on, you also need an identity team to supply a JWT, LDAP or OpenID Connect integration. Ask your partner which of these tasks they run during the engagement and which move to your staff.

Can our own engineers build this in-house, or do we need a partner?

Your engineers can build a pilot in-house if they already run Linux servers, containers and certificate management, and if they have time for load testing and streaming tests. A partner adds value where the work is outside routine operations: hardening the deployment, integrating authentication, setting up backups and documenting controls for an assessment. DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted platforms inside your own infrastructure, and most engagements are fixed-scope with the scope agreed in writing before work starts. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers. DeployOpen does not publish a price list, and a quote follows from the written scope.

How long does a pilot take before we can decide?

The pilot length depends on how many streaming paths you test, how much capacity you need to prove and how much integration work is in scope. No fixed duration is set here, so ask for a timeline in the written scope rather than relying on a general figure. A useful pilot covers one live stream to your expected audience size, a recording that plays back, a streaming destination you actually use and a test of the restart and failover steps. Agree the pass criteria before the pilot begins, so the decision rests on test results.

What security and compliance work comes with a streaming server?

A streaming server holds meeting recordings, participant data and stream keys, so access control and transport security matter from the start. Jitsi's documentation recommends JWT token authentication over the deprecated secure domain method for new installations, and BigBlueButton's API requires checksums computed with a shared secret that must never appear in a web page. Recordings are stored on disk, so retention and access rules need an owner. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports or certifications, which independent auditors and certification bodies provide.

What does this cost, and what recurs after launch?

Cost falls into one-time work (design, deployment, integration, testing and documentation) and recurring costs (servers, bandwidth, storage for recordings, upgrades, monitoring and support). Bandwidth and recording storage grow with audience size and retention period, so both should be modeled from your own usage. Ask any quote to list each cost component, who pays for it and what is included after handover. Licensing is separate: Jitsi Meet is Apache 2.0 and BigBlueButton is LGPL-3.0, so confirm your own licensing and support needs with each vendor and your legal team.

Where open-source streaming falls short

The biggest gap is audience size. A Jitsi or BigBlueButton meeting is built for people who talk and share screens, not for thousands of passive viewers. Jitsi's scalable setup guide describes adding videobridges to handle more participants, but that scaling serves interactive media routing, and a live stream to a large all-hands audience usually needs a separate delivery path. Before you commit, confirm the peak concurrent viewer count, whether viewers must be able to join live or can watch a recording, and which streaming destinations you need, such as an internal portal, an RTMP endpoint or an existing video platform. Each destination changes the architecture.

Jibri handles recording and streaming for Jitsi, and BigBlueButton has its own recording pipeline, but neither is a managed broadcast service. Expect to run or buy an ingest and transcoding layer, a player or CDN for viewers, and a way to manage access. Latency is another open question: a stream built from a meeting room typically lags behind the speakers, which matters for Q and A and for captions synced to live speech. Ask your team to define an acceptable delay and test it with real network paths before the event. Captioning also needs a decision. Confirm whether you need live captions, post-event transcripts or both, and whether they come from a separate speech-to-text service.

Meet's Enterprise streaming includes managed features such as large-event limits, admin controls and vendor support. No single open-source component matches that bundle, so treat each feature as a requirement to map. Recurring costs come from recording storage (BigBlueButton 4.0 documentation calls for 500 GB of disk with recording, or 50 GB without), bandwidth, and the staff who patch, monitor and back up the servers. Those costs grow with event length and viewer count, and they recur with every event. Ask for a written scope that covers the streaming server, storage retention, access control, capacity testing and support hours, and compare it with your current Enterprise contract line by line.

How DeployOpen scopes and delivers a streaming replacement

DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For live streaming, that means a written scope covering the Jitsi or BigBlueButton meeting layer, the Jibri or streaming path, and the audience-facing delivery you choose.

How we scope

Confirm which meetings, all-hands or lectures, must be streamed and the expected audience size for each
Record where the streaming server or video platform will run, and who owns the network path to viewers
Agree in writing which recording, storage and retention rules apply, since recordings can need up to 500 GB on BigBlueButton 4.0

How we build

Deploy the meeting platform on Debian 12 or Ubuntu 24.04 with HTTPS and a valid domain certificate, which Jitsi requires for audio and video
Configure Jibri or the BigBlueButton streaming path, then test recording and live output with real presenters and viewers
Run security testing of the meeting endpoints, API checksums and authentication settings before go-live

How we hand over

Deliver runbooks for starting streams, rotating shared secrets and scaling Jitsi videobridges as attendance grows
Document the architecture, ports, bandwidth assumptions and backup procedures in your own environment
Walk your operations and communications teams through the streaming workflow and the fallback plan

How we support

Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer after handover
Upgrades can be planned around each new release, such as BigBlueButton 4.0 requiring a clean server installation
Quotes follow from the written scope, so ask for each cost component separately: servers, bandwidth, storage and operations

Open-source alternative to Google Meet live streaming