BigBlueButton vs eturnal
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?
BigBlueButton
Virtual classroom and web conferencing for education
VS
eturnal
STUN and TURN server for real-time applications
| Feature | BigBlueButton | eturnal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Conferencing | Video Conferencing |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Erlang |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,182 | ★ 340 |
| First released | 2009 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Zoom, Microsoft Teams | Twilio STUN/TURN |
Why pick each one
Choose eturnal if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Erlang
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is BigBlueButton or eturnal better?
Neither is universally better. BigBlueButton has the larger community, while eturnal is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are BigBlueButton and eturnal free and open-source?
Yes. BigBlueButton is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and eturnal under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BigBlueButton and eturnal with Docker?
BigBlueButton: check the project docs for container support. eturnal: yes.