SHSelfHostIndex

Greenlight vs plugNmeet

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?
GR Greenlight Front-end for managing BigBlueButton meeting rooms VS PL plugNmeet Scalable, open-source web conferencing system
FeatureGreenlightplugNmeet
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score82 · Excellent80 · Excellent
CategoryVideo ConferencingVideo Conferencing
LicenseLGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRubyGo
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 852★ 540
First released20162022
ReplacesZoom, Google MeetZoom, BigBlueButton

What are Greenlight and plugNmeet?

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

plugNmeet

plugNmeet is a high-performance web conferencing platform built on LiveKit. It offers virtual classrooms, breakout rooms, polls, whiteboard, and recording for self-hosted online meetings.

  • Built on LiveKit SFU
  • Virtual classroom features
  • Recording and RTMP broadcasting
  • Breakout rooms and polls

Greenlight vs plugNmeet: key differences

Greenlight is written in Ruby, while plugNmeet is built with Go. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Greenlight versus MIT for plugNmeet. Greenlight is the more established project (first released 2016), while plugNmeet arrived in 2022.

Why pick each one

Choose Greenlight if…

  • Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Ruby
Greenlight details

Choose plugNmeet if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Go

Watch out for

  • Multi-component deployment
  • Requires LiveKit setup
plugNmeet details

Frequently asked questions

Is Greenlight or plugNmeet better?

Greenlight is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider plugNmeet if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Greenlight and plugNmeet free and open-source?

Yes. Greenlight is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and plugNmeet under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Greenlight and plugNmeet with Docker?

Greenlight: yes. plugNmeet: yes.

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