# Jitsi vs LiveKit

> Jitsi Meet is a complete, ready-to-use video meeting application with its own interface, recording and transcription, that you can self-host and embed today. LiveKit is an open source WebRTC media server plus SDKs for building your own real-time app, including AI voice agents. Pick Jitsi when you need meetings working this week; pick LiveKit when you are building a custom real-time product and have the developers for it.

Source: https://jitsi.help/compare/jitsi-vs-livekit/
Updated: September 26, 2026
Publisher: Jitsi Help (https://jitsi.help/)

Both are open source, both are built on WebRTC, and both use a selective forwarding unit to route video. The difference is what you get out of the box.

## At a glance

| | Jitsi Meet | LiveKit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A complete meeting application | A media server plus client SDKs |
| User interface | Included, full-featured | You build it (example apps exist) |
| Time to first meeting | Minutes to hours | Days to weeks for a custom app |
| Embedding | IFrame API, JWT | Native SDKs for web, iOS, Android, more |
| Recording | Jibri, included | Egress service, included |
| Transcription | Jigasi with Vosk or Google | Via agents and third-party speech APIs |
| AI voice agents | Not a focus | A core use case |
| Licensing | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Hosted option | 8x8 JaaS | LiveKit Cloud |

## Choose Jitsi when

- You need video meetings for a team, school, clinic or community, with a proven UI.
- You want to embed meetings in an existing app with little frontend work.
- You want features like lobbies, moderation, breakout rooms, polls and whiteboard without building them.
- You want to self-host with a well-known Docker setup.

## Choose LiveKit when

- You are building a product where the real-time experience is the product: live shopping, interactive streaming, multiplayer, AI voice assistants.
- You need fine control over tracks, layouts and data channels in native apps.
- You have frontend and mobile developers to build and maintain the interface.

## Operating them

Both self-host well with Docker and scale horizontally by adding media servers. Jitsi has more moving parts (Prosody, Jicofo, the videobridge) but a fixed recipe that has not changed much in years. LiveKit is a smaller set of services with a newer, API-first design.

## Our view

If the goal is "our people need private, branded video meetings", Jitsi gets you there fastest, and our [one-click hosting](/jitsi-hosting/) removes the setup. If the goal is "we are building a new real-time product", LiveKit is worth evaluating seriously.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is LiveKit better than Jitsi?

They target different jobs. LiveKit is a better foundation for building a custom real-time product or AI voice agents with its SDKs. Jitsi is better when you need a finished meeting app with a UI, lobbies, recording and transcription without building a frontend.

### Can I embed Jitsi in my app like LiveKit?

Yes. The Jitsi IFrame API embeds a full meeting in any web page, and JWT authentication lets your backend control who joins. You customize through configuration rather than building the interface component by component.


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Jitsi Help is an independent service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by 8x8, Inc. or the Jitsi project. Jitsi and Jitsi Meet are trademarks of 8x8, Inc., used here only to describe the software we host and support.