Greenlight vs Jitsi Meet
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video conferencing options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Jitsi Meet
Secure, fully featured video conferencing
| Feature | Greenlight | Jitsi Meet |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 98 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Conferencing | Video Conferencing |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 852 | ★ 29,977 |
| First released | 2016 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Zoom, Google Meet | Zoom, Google Meet |
What are Greenlight and Jitsi Meet?
Greenlight
Greenlight is the official simple front-end for BigBlueButton that lets users create accounts and manage their own persistent meeting rooms. It makes BigBlueButton accessible without custom integration.
- Persistent meeting rooms
- User self-service accounts
- Recording management
- BigBlueButton front-end
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet is an open-source video conferencing solution that runs in the browser with no account required. It targets users and teams wanting self-hosted video calls. It is deployed via Docker.
- Browser-based video calls
- No account needed
- Screen sharing and recording
- Scalable with extra components
Greenlight vs Jitsi Meet: key differences
Greenlight is written in Ruby, while Jitsi Meet is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Greenlight versus Apache-2.0 for Jitsi Meet. Greenlight is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Jitsi Meet. Jitsi Meet is the more established project (first released 2013), while Greenlight arrived in 2016. Jitsi Meet has the considerably larger community, at 29,977 GitHub stars versus 852.
Why pick each one
Choose Greenlight if…
- Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Choose Jitsi Meet if…
- No account required
- Good call quality
- Open source
Watch out for
- Scaling needs tuning
- Many moving components
Frequently asked questions
Is Greenlight or Jitsi Meet better?
Neither is universally better. Jitsi Meet 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 Jitsi Meet free and open-source?
Yes. Greenlight is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Jitsi Meet under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Greenlight and Jitsi Meet with Docker?
Greenlight: yes. Jitsi Meet: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Greenlight or Jitsi Meet?
Greenlight has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Jitsi Meet. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.