BigBlueButton
Ranked 5 of 9 video conferencing apps by recommenders
People recommend it as a free, open-source video conferencing option that works as an alternative to Zoom and Teams, especially for webinars and schools. Critics say it is good enough rather than perfect and that self-hosting it is hard.
People recommend it as a free, open-source video conferencing option that works as an alternative to Zoom and Teams, especially for webinars and schools. Critics say it is good enough rather than perfect and that self-hosting it is hard.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free alternative to Zoom
“In my part of Germany we used BigBlueButton after a short time when Zoom was used.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Danish Gov agency to ditch Microsoft software in push for digital independence” “Video / screen sharing and voice chat: Zoom, BigBlueButton, Jitsi”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Discord/Twitch/Snapchat age verification bypass”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hosting it is difficult
“Hosting BBB or Jitsi is even worse”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Running My Own XMPP Server” Dated software stack
“is a non starter due to elderly software in the stack”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux”
Other video conferencing apps people recommend
The four most recommended other video conferencing apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | 99 | 155 | 39% | 12 | 5 yrs5 owners | — |
| Jitsi Meet | 42 | 15 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Google Meet | 39 | 48 | 45% | 10 | — | — |
| Proton Meet | 17 | 23 | 43% | 5 | — | — |
| BigBlueButtonThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“watch the project go through multiple big tech changes and still keep going”
“In my part of Germany we used BigBlueButton after a short time when Zoom was used.”
“Hosting BBB or Jitsi is even worse”
“Video / screen sharing and voice chat: Zoom, BigBlueButton, Jitsi”
“It's not perfect, but good enough, and Zoom/Hangouts/Teams all have their quirks.”
“If you are hosting webinars there's also bigbluebutton”
“is a non starter due to elderly software in the stack”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.