Greenlight vs BigBlueButton
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video conferencing options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Greenlight
Front-end for managing BigBlueButton meeting rooms
VS
BigBlueButton
Virtual classroom and web conferencing for education
| Feature | Greenlight | BigBlueButton |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Conferencing | Video Conferencing |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 8,192 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 848 | ★ 9,182 |
| First released | 2016 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Zoom, Google Meet | Zoom, Microsoft Teams |
Why pick each one
Choose Greenlight if…
- Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is Greenlight or BigBlueButton better?
Neither is universally better. BigBlueButton has the larger community, while Greenlight is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Greenlight and BigBlueButton free and open-source?
Yes. Greenlight is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and BigBlueButton under LGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Greenlight and BigBlueButton with Docker?
Greenlight: yes. BigBlueButton: check the project docs for container support.