If you’ve ever looked for a video SDK to integrate real-time video into your application, I’m pretty sure you’ve run by Agora.

Founded in 2013, Agora was one of the first companies that set out to build a developer platform that provides broadcast, voice, and video calls for mobile and web applications through their software development kit (SDK).

But while Agora’s platform was ground-breaking in the early 2010s, over the years, the SDK provider has lagged in releasing meaningful updates, leaving the room open for new platforms, like Dyte, to offer a refreshing take on live video.

PS: if you’re an Agora customer, I urge you to read along to know about the things you are missing out on by sticking with the platform.


Why look for an Agora Alternative?

While Agora's video SDK provides some good features for real-time voice and video communications, it has certain limitations, particularly when compared to alternatives like Dyte.

Development and Customization Limitations: Agora's low-level publish-subscribe events complicate development, consuming a significant portion of developer time. Additionally, its static UI kit offers limited customization options, primarily restricted to colors.

SDK and Functional Limitations: Agora requires separate SDKs for different functionalities such as video calling, streaming, chat, etc., unlike Dyte, which uses a single SDK for multiple features. Furthermore, it lacks certain features such as auto-reconnect, polls, and inbuilt error handling.

Roles and Permissions Limitations: The roles in Agora are mainly confined to host and participant, offering less flexibility for custom role creation specific to your use-case.

Stream Handling Limitations: Agora supports only 17 concurrent streams and does not have inbuilt active speaker switching, limiting its usability for larger scale applications.

Configuration Limitations: Multiple audio inputs/outputs, HLS streaming, RTMP streaming and adaptive bitrate all require manual configuration in Agora. This could be a deterrent for organizations seeking ready-to-use solutions.

Plugin Limitations: Agora only supports a Whiteboard plugin, whereas Dyte offers one-click add-ons or the option to build your own, such as YouTube, Remote browser, Code Editor, Quiz, etc.

Advanced Features Limitations: For features like virtual background, live transcription, and ML middleware, Agora requires complex integration. Breakout rooms are available in a separate Classroom SDK in Agora.

Support Limitations: While Dyte provides webhooks and high, optimized default video quality, Agora only offers webhooks for recording states and requires high coding effort to achieve resilient audio-video quality across network and device conditions.

These limitations could potentially make Agora a less attractive option for certain use cases, especially for businesses seeking a comprehensive, easy-to-use communication solution.

Here's a feature-wise honest comparison between Agora and Dyte Video SDK


What to look for in an Agora alternative?

Live video is hard, and Agora makes it harder. To just build a basic live experience in your app with Agora, you need to integrate [and pay for!] the different SDKs it provides. So when you set out to look for a live video solution, look for -

  1. Customization
    Any SDK that you choose should give the developers complete control over the UI and the experience; at the same time, it should also offer low-code prebuilt UI options to help you get started quickly and not spend weeks in initial UI bootstrapping.
  2. Network management
    You shouldn’t worry about hard coding the different edge cases that can disrupt a video call while building live in your product. It should be the platform that automatically takes care of the backend, leaving you with more time to focus on building new features.
  3. Collaborative features
    You should expect the SDK to offer in-built collaboration features like screen share, chat, polls, emojis, etc. so that you don't have to go around looking for a bunch of other SDKs to integrate with to add these features to your live video calls.
  4. Single SDK
    You shouldn’t need to mix and match 10s of SDKs to build a live service in your application. A single SDK should offer everything you need, from video calling to voice calling to live streaming and more.

With that said, in this guide, we’ll look at the leading players that deserve your consideration in the video SDK market.


The 20 Best Alternatives to Agora

The top 20 Agora alternatives are Dyte, Jisti, Twilio, EnableX, Zoom Video SDK, TokBox [Opentok or Vonage Video], Whereby, AWS Chime, Daily, Mux, PubNub, LiveKit, Mirrorfly, Apphitect, 100ms, Sinch, Digital Samba, Quickbox, Signalwire and API RTC.

This will give you a taste of what to expect when you're in the market for a live video SDK.

  1. Dyte
  2. Jitsi
  3. Twilio
  4. Enablex
  5. Zoom Video SDK
  6. TokBox [Vonage Video]
  7. Whereby
  8. AWS chime
  9. Daily
  10. Mux
  11. PubNub
  12. LiveKit
  13. MirrorFly
  14. Apphitect
  15. 100ms
  16. Sinch
  17. Digital Samba
  18. QuickBox
  19. Signalwire
  20. API RTC

Reviews of Agora alternatives for building live video call experiences in your product

Below we’ll do a quick review of each alternative solution to give you a better overview of Agora's competitors. All reviews highlight our own findings and the considerations of real users.


Dyte

Dyte offers a real-time video and voice SDK that helps you integrate custom, secure, high-quality live video conferencing SDK and voice SDK to your web, mobile, and desktop applications and websites in just a few lines of code.

The key benefit of using dyte is that the product does the heavylifting when it comes to managing the audio/video publish and subscribe logic — giving you more time to build innovative features to improve user retention.

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With Dyte you get:

Custom experience: Build branded live experiences inside your product from the ground up with our Core SDKs or use our UI kit of prebuilt components for a low-code experience.

Reliable video: Ensure your user's live video always runs smoothly with minimal lag and frame drops, no matter the network conditions, with smart bandwidth switching.

Collaborative features: Make your user's live experiences interactive with out-of-box features like chat, emoji reactions, whiteboard, and screen share. Add extra features on top of the live video with plugins.

Easy integration: Embed live video to your product in minutes with our first-class API support and one-click configuration across platforms.

Detailed analytics: Access detailed analytics on video call metrics like participant interactions, duration, and more to analyze participant interest throughout the session.

Cross-platform streaming: Stream live events to millions of viewers across YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more with RTMP built-in the platform.

Seamless Scaling: Scale live audio/video in your web app from just a couple of users to over 10,000 and stream to millions of viewers via RTMP output.

Support across platforms: Build your live video app for one platform and have it seamlessly run across browsers, devices, and operating systems with minimal development work.

  • Mobile: Flutter, Android (Java/Kotlin), iOS(Objective-C/Swift), React Native
  • Web: Javascript Core SDK + UI Kit for React JS, Angular, Web Components for everything else
  • Desktop: Electron

Here's a detailed comparison between Agora and Dyte SDKs.

Dyte pricing

Dyte offers free 10,000 minutes that get refreshed every month. Aka, you only pay after you exhaust the free minutes, then product pricing starts at $0.004 per user per minute, with recordings cost at $0.010 per minute and RTMP out at $0.015 per minute. Estimate cost here.

Dyte offers free 24*7 support to all customers. You can reach out to the team through the channel of your choice anytime you need to get a few basic queries answered, have a big event coming up, or need technical heavylifting.

We recently wrote a blog about Agora's pricing plans and how it differentiates from Dyte's pricing.

Jitsi

Jitsi is a set of open-source projects that allows you to build and deploy video conferencing solutions in your applications. They are best known for Jitsi Meet and Jitsi Videobridge.

Jitsi Meet – a JavaScript-based client application that lets you video chat. You can share your screen, collaborate in real time, invite users, and more. You can join the conference using a web browser or Android/iOS apps.

Jitsi Videobridge – an XMPP server (Prosody) capable of hosting thousands of video chats. Its WebRTC is compatible and offers encryption by default.

Jitsi in short

  • Jitsi is free, open-source, and offers end-to-end encryption meaning you can review how the platform works and modify the code to fit your needs.
  • The live experience offers active speakers, Text chatting (web only), room locking, screen sharing, raise/Lower hand, push-to-talk mode, audio-only option, and more.
  • But many key features like shared text document based on Etherpad, Streaming, Telephone dial-in to a conference, Dial-out to a telephone participant, and more only work if Jibri is configured.
  • Recording call requires more work. You need to live stream your conference to YouTube and access the recording there or set up Jibri to do this.
  • Getting support to fix your issue can take over 48 hours.
  • The tool doesn’t automatically manage user bandwidth in case their network goes bust—leaving them with a blank screen.

Jitsi pricing

Jitsi is 100% open source and freely available to use and develop with. But you need to get your own servers and create UI from scratch. You need to pay extra to get product support.

Twilio

Twilio started by helping people automate phone calls and SMSes. But now, it offers developers a bunch of APIs to build business communication across channels.

You can use Twilio to create an app from scratch or add communication features to an existing solution. The SDK supports a variety of languages, from Java to Ruby.

Twilio in short

  1. Twilio provides web, iOS, and Android SDKs. When using multiple audio and video inputs, devs must manually configure them, for which they have to write extra code.
  2. If your user’s call ends up dropping or user faces any issues in the call, you can use Twilio’s call insights to track and analyze the errors.
  3. Twilio supports a maximum of 50 hosts within a call and a maximum of 50 participants, including hosts.
  4. Twilio doesn't offer any plugins for ease of product development.
  5. With the SDK you need to invest engineering resources in hard coding the different edge cases that can disrupt a user’s video call.

Twilio pricing

Its pricing starts at $4 per 1,000 minutes, with recordings costing $0.004 per participant minute, recording compositions for $0.01 per composed minute, and $0.00167 GB/day for storage after the first 10 GBs.

Twilio’s free support plan offers API status notifications and email support during business hours. Users have to pay for more services like 24/7 live chat support, support escalation line, quarterly status review, and guaranteed response times. The price depends on the support plan, usually a percentage of the monthly plan or a certain minimum amount (lowest being $250/month and highest being $5000/month).

Read more about Twilio Video pricing and check out this feature-wise comparison between Agora vs Twilio.

If you haven't yet heard, Twilio is sunsetting Twilio Video soon. So, we've prepared a handy list of the top 20 Twilio Video alternatives and a Twilio Video migration guide.

EnableX

EnableX offers live video, voice, and messaging SDKs as building blocks that let you develop live experiences in your apps faster. It's targeted at service providers, ISV, SI, and developers.

EnableX in short

  1. The SDK offers a video builder to deploy a custom video-calling solution into your application. Or lets you build custom live video streams with tailor-made UI, hosting, billing, and other core functionalities.
  2. You can access its self-service portal, which provides reporting capabilities and live analytics to track quality and leverage online payments from clients.
  3. The SDK supports limited coding languages - Javascript, PHP, and Python.
  4. It lets your users stream live directly from your app or sites or stream directly on YouTube or Facebook for an unlimited reach.
  5. The support team can take up to 72 hours to respond to your help request.
  6. The SDK takes weeks to integrate into your application.
  7. The SDK doesn’t optimize users’ videos in case they face device or network issues.

EnableX pricing

The SDK charges $0.004/ participant minute for up to 50 participants/room. For pricing with over 50 participants, you need to contact their sales. The recording is charged at $0.10/participant per minute, transcoding at $0.10/minute, and storage at $0.05/GB/month. RTMP streaming costs $0.10/minute.


Zoom Video SDK

The SDK helps you build custom live video-based applications powered by Zoom’s technology.

Zoom introduced Video SDK when they realized that the classic Zoom client couldn't serve many customer use cases, and customers would notice more benefits if they could just access the tech behind Zoom.

The SDK provides video, audio, screen sharing, chat, data streams, and more, as a service. You can build with all of these features or pick and choose. The Video SDK also has full server-side APIs and webhooks.

Zoom Video SDK in short

  1. With Zoom Video SDK, you can build customizable video compositions with up to 1,000 co-hosts/participants per session.
  2. The SDK offers limited customization to the live video. It only lets you add screen sharing, 3rd-party live streaming, and in-session chat to the call and manage its layout.
  3. Zoom supports seven major languages and provides open translation extensibility which opens any app to international growth and improved user experience.
  4. The SDK only allows the use of predetermined roles of a host and participant. For use cases that require modified permissions for peers, Zoom may pose difficulties.
  5. You only get slow email support unless you pay for the support plans.
  6. The SDK partially helps manage the user’s bandwidth consumption in case of network degradation.

Zoom Video SDK pricing

Zoom offers 10,000 minutes free every month, and you have to pay only after you consume it. Then the Zoom Video SDK pricing starts at $0.31 per user minute, with recordings costing $100 per month for 1 TB of storage, and telephony at $100 per month.

Zoom offers three customer support plans: Access, Premier, and Premier+. Pricing for these plans has to be obtained by contacting Zoom.

TokBox [Vonage Video]

The TokBox — now known as Vonage Video API, is another option to consider when building custom video experiences for mobile, web, or desktop applications.

TokBox was founded in 2008 when the management decided to change business strategies from offering a struggling consumer video conference product to offering the tech behind it, allowing companies to embed a video conference component into their website.

Besides live video, the API offers voice, messaging, and screen-sharing capabilities and includes client libraries for web, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux, server-side SDKs, and a REST API.

TokBox in short

  1. The SDK lets you build custom audio/video streams on mobile devices with effects, filters, and AR/VR. It supports use cases ranging from 1:1 video, group video chat, or large-scale broadcast sessions. The calls can be video and voice, voice-only, or mixed.
  2. In the call, participants can share screens, send data, and chat messages between all participants.
  3. The SDK offers performance data for detailed session review through the account dashboard or by using its insights API.
  4. It encrypts all voice, video, and signaling traffic with AES-128 or AES-256 encryption. Optionally, all video recordings can be AES-256 encrypted as well. The SDK is GDPR and HIPAA-compliant.
  5. It only supports 55 participants per call.
  6. The company offers chat based support that can take up to 72 hours to respond to your request.
  7. You can only have up to 2,000 concurrent room participants during a stream.
  8. The platform doesn’t take care of the live video backend, leaving you to invest resources in building edge case management capabilities.

TokBox pricing

Tokbox offers usage-based pricing based on the number of participants in a video session, dynamically calculated each minute. Plans start from $9.99/month with free 2,000 minutes/month included in all plans. It charges $ 0.00395 per participant/minute after you've consumed the free minutes. With recording starting at $0.10/minute and HLS streaming at $0.15/minute.

Read more about TokBox pricing here.

Whereby

Whereby offers browser-based meetings through a permanent room owned by each user that guests can join simply by clicking the link without any downloads or registration required. They recently started offering a hybrid meeting solution for distributed teams that reduces echo and doesn’t need expensive meeting hardware.

Whereby in short

  1. The tool lets you customize the video interface across logos, colors, and buttons with their no-code interface editor. But the customizations are very basic and you can’t make a completely custom experience with Whereby.
  2. It lets you offer video calls anywhere—from your website, and mobile apps to web products. No need to open external links or apps.
  3. Whereby doesn’t mine or sell user data. The product is GDPR-compliant, and all content is encrypted.
  4. The SDK only offers a basic set of collaborative features like screen sharing, recording, picture-in-picture, and text chat. But doesn’t offer the ability to add more interactive elements through APIs.
  5. It doesn’t automatically manage user-host publish-subscribe logic — leaving you to add them manually.

Whereby pricing

Whereby starts at $9.99/month for up to 2,000 user minutes renewed monthly, then charges $0.004 per additional minute, with cloud recording & live streaming at $0.01 per minute.

Email and chat support is available free for all accounts. Technical onboarding, customer success manager, and HIPAA compliance are available for enterprise plans.

AWS Chime

Chime is a video conferencing tool from Amazon Web Services focused on business users. Beyond VoIP calling and video messaging, Chime includes virtual meetings, allowing users to host or join a remote meeting through the service.

Amazon Chime enables users to schedule online meetings and attend them using audio or visual services. The service does not offer an SDK which would allow you to embed Chime inside your application nor does it allow you to customize the user interface.

Amazon Chime in short

  1. The product lets you conduct and attend online meetings with HD video, audio, dial-in numbers, and in-room video conference support.
  2. Amazon Chime includes collaborative features like screen-sharing, remote desktop control, and individual/group text-based chats.
  3. It can host team meetings (up to 250 participants), record, schedule, assign delegates, give meeting controls, etc.
  4. Amazon Chime uses AWS Identity and Access Management policies for enhanced security and lets you administer users, manage policies, and set up SSO.
  5. Amazon Chime only supports recording audio content in .m4a format. And the recording turns into a video (.mp4) for screen shares. However, there is no means to record attendees.
  6. The tool doesn't offer session analytics unless you opt for the pricey enterprise plan.
  7. It has a basic bandwidth management capability baked in and can manage minor disruptions to the user’s network.
  8. The platform doesn’t have edge case management capabilities leaves you with more on your plate.

Amazon Chime pricing

The product offers a basic tier for free and includes one-on-one audio and video calls and group chat. Moving up, the plus tier costs $2.50 per user per month and includes all basic features along with screen sharing, remote desktop control, 1 GB of message history per user and integrates with Active Directory. The pro tier costs $15 per user per month and includes all Plus features. Pro also enables business professionals to schedule and host meetings for three or more people -- up to 100 attendees -- record meetings, integrate with Outlook and use other features.

Daily

Daily allows developers to build real-time video and audio calls that work directly in the browser. The SDK handles the common backend video call use cases across different platforms with sensible defaults.

With Daily, there are two main approaches for building real-time video and audio calls: Daily Client SDKs, which can be used to build custom UIs by interacting with Daily's core APIs, and Daily Prebuilt, an embeddable video chat widget that can be added to any web app with fewer lines of code.

Daily in short

  1. You can add collaborative features like HD screen sharing, breakout rooms, raise hand, live transcription, whiteboard, and customizable text chat to enhance the user experience.
  2. With Daily, you can embed prerecorded video, host interactive real-time calls with 1,000 people, live stream to millions with minimal latency, and get real-time call data for debugging and optimization.
  3. Understand users' interaction with your live video by accessing logs around events and media quality metrics from every client in every session, and get detailed usage statistics in the Daily dashboard.
  4. The project’s mobile SDKs are still in the beta phase of development, meaning you can’t be certain how it’ll evolve and whether it will be able to solve your use cases.
  5. Support can take up to 72 hours to resolve your issues.
  6. The tool can’t manage users’ live video interactions on its own. You need to add publish-subscribe logic to it.
  7. The platform doesn’t have edge case management capabilities.

Daily pricing

Daily charges $0.004/ participant minute with free 10,000 minutes refreshed/month. With audio charged at $0.00099/user/minute, streaming at $0.0012/minute, RTMP out at $0.015/minute, and recording at $0.01349/GB

Email and chat support is available free for all accounts. You can select an add-on package starting from $250/m for advanced support features.

Mux

Mux offers an API that enables developers to build live and on-demand video experiences into your application. The tool lets you broadcast a real-time session to millions via a live stream, then immediately stream an on-demand version when it’s done.

Mux aims to take the guesswork out of video encodings, delivery, and renditions.

Mux in short

  1. The SDK lets you embed real-time video and live streams in your application. You can use the SDK to add live video across web, iOS, and Android SDKs based applications.
  2. Each call supports up to 100 participants in a real-time webRTC environment with their video on.
  3. You can get advanced video analytics by using Mux Data — which is a separate offering that lets you deep dive into how your users are consuming content.
  4. The SDK offers no in-built support to help you manage video call disruptions or to manage the publish-subscribe logic of meeting users.

Mux pricing

The tool offers a one-time $20 in credits for new sign-ups and then charges $0.004/minute for real-time video, $0.04/min for encoding, $0.003/min for storage, and $0.0012/min for streaming.

It additionally offers simulcast at $0.02/minute, and auto-generated captions at $0.024/minute after the first 6,000 minutes.

PubNub

PubNub offers SDKs for establishing real-time online interactions between applications, devices, and users. These SDKs can incorporate features such as live chat, notifications, streaming, and video conferencing into applications.

Using a publish-subscribe model, PubNub SDKs facilitate real-time messaging, chat, live updates, and collaborative tools. They also claim to provide presence detection, push notifications, and data streaming capabilities.

PubNub in short

  • Like other Video SDK platforms it offers analytics and monitoring tools
  • Support for multiple programming languages and platforms
  • Cost can be a limiting factor, which may be an issue for some.
  • Users have reported that the infrastructure could be more responsive, which can be a bit frustrating.
  • There have been complaints about lack of advance notices of changes.
  • The support function isn't always real-time, which can be a hassle.

PubNub Pricing

There's a free trial that allows up to 200 MAUs OR 1M total transactions per month. The Starter Plan is $49/month and allows up to 1000 MAUs and up to 3000 transactions per MAU. The Pro plan is a pay-as-you-go model, so you'll pay for what you use in terms of MAUs and transactions. It's always important to read the fine print.

LiveKit

LiveKit Video SDK is an open-source software development kit that allows developers to incorporate live video and audio capabilities into their applications. Built around an end-to-end WebRTC stack, it offers a scalable, robust solution for applications requiring real-time communication features.

LiveKit in short:

  • Supports live streaming and video calls in a single SDK, similar to Dyte
  • Allows for UI customization but lacks built-in UI support
  • Offers role-based access (host & participant)
  • Features auto-reconnect capability
  • Requires a higher degree of coding effort
  • Does not include built-in plugins, chat, polls
  • Manual configuration required for features like virtual backgrounds and breakout rooms
  • Lacks built-in media player, AI/ML Middleware, and support for multiple audio I/O

LiveKit Pricing:

As for the pricing, LiveKit being an open-source tool, is free to use. However, costs might be incurred for hosting the server, whether cloud-based or self-hosted and the development resources might be higher.

Here's an in-depth feature wise comparison between Jitsi vs LiveKit.

MirrorFly

MirrorFly Video SDK is a software development kit that equips applications with in-app communication features, including video, voice, and chat capabilities.

MirrorFly in short

  • Compatible with Android, iOS, and Web platforms.
  • Includes APIs, SDKS & UI components for building chat, voice, and video calls into applications.
  • The speed of integration can vary based on the complexity of the project.
  • The degree of customization and flexibility offered by the SDK is not explicitly detailed.
  • No clear mention of support for advanced features like virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, or AI/ML Middleware.

MirrorFly Pricing:

When it comes to pricing, MirrorFly Video SDK does not provide straightforward information. The cost might depend on the specific needs of the application and the scale of its deployment. For precise pricing details, direct contact with MirrorFly would be necessary.

Apphitect

Apphitect Video SDK allows developers to integrate video, voice, and messaging functionalities into their applications.

Apphitect in short:

  • Supports integration into Android, iOS, and Web applications.
  • Detailed information about the SDK's capabilities, such as support for advanced features or ease of integration, is not readily available.
  • The extent of customization and flexibility provided by the SDK is not explicitly outlined.
  • Direct comparisons with other SDKs on parameters like performance, reliability, and scalability are not provided.

Apphitect pricing:

The pricing of Apphitect Video SDK is not clearly stated. The cost may vary based on the features utilized and the scale of deployment. For accurate pricing details, direct contact with Apphitect or a visit to their official website would be necessary.

100ms

100ms Video SDK is a standard toolset for developers, aiming to streamline the integration of live video conferencing into apps. While it touts simplicity and efficiency, suggesting fewer coding lines than its counterparts, it's just another product with its own set of features and potential drawbacks. Its usability and effectiveness may vary based on the application's needs and the developer's proficiency.

100ms in short:

  • Offers callbacks to the client app about changes or updates in the room after a user has joined. Pretty standard feature.
  • It supports a maximum of 100 participants for full-duplex audio/video communication.
  • The SDK only covers pre-defined roles such as the host and participant.
  • The documentation provided for the 100ms SDK is not as extensive as other video conferencing SDKs.

100ms pricing:

100ms utilizes a pricing structure that bills per participant per minute for conferencing. After the initial 10,000 minutes, the cost becomes $0.004 per minute per participant. There are also fees for live streaming and recording, with the rate being $0.0135 per minute after the first 300 minutes. 100ms offers two pricing versions starting at $99. On average, the cost of a basic Video Conferencing Software plan is approximately $9 per month. It's important to note that 100ms prices its services not just by the participant but also by encoding per minute. For the most accurate and current information, it's suggested to visit their website.

Here's a detailed comparison between 100ms and Agora.

Sinch

The Sinch Video SDK provides developers with a set of tools for adding video calling functionalities to their apps. It includes capabilities such as live video calls, screen sharing, chat, etc. Although the Sinch Video SDK is loaded with decent features, developers are advised to thoroughly assess its compatibility with their project needs and explore other options to guarantee an optimal match for their development objectives.

Sinch in short

  1. Facilitates real-time app-to-app and app-to-phone communication.
  2. Compatible across different devices and operating systems.
  3. Adjusts quality based on network conditions for optimal performance.
  4. Enables calls to regular phone numbers for wider reach.
  5. Supports communication across multiple channels for enhanced engagement.
  6. Provides resources for easy SDK integration and utilization.
  7. Offers limited customization, which may not suit all projects or businesses.
  8. Reports of poor customer support experiences exist, with unhelpful support team feedback.
  9. Cross-platform support with potential limitations and requirements from specific platforms.

Sinch Pricing

Sinch SDK offers a free tier for lower usage levels, such as 0-2500 minutes per month, making it a perfect choice for startups. For higher usage needs, reaching out to their sales team is the recommended approach.

Digital Samba

Digital Samba stands as a good agora alternative for integrating video conferencing features into apps and websites. This tool claims to be ideal for developers and companies aiming to enhance their digital services with live communication capabilities. It enables the creation of personalized and adaptable video conferencing solutions for virtual meetings, webinars, telehealth, and online education.

Digital Samba in Short

  • The SDK works on various platforms for a consistent user experience on desktop, tablet, or mobile.
  • Whiteboard feature available
  • Users can share screens
  • Digital Samba's customization has limits in aligning the video conferencing interface with business identities, affecting user experience.
  • Some industries may find Digital Samba features irrelevant, leading to underutilization.
  • Highly regulated sectors might face challenges in complying with specific privacy and security regulations when implementing Digital Samba, adding complexity to deployment.
  • Performance of Digital Samba's video conferencing varies by location, affecting international operations.
  • Timely support from Digital Samba is vital for businesses relying on real-time communication.

Digital Samba Pricing

Digital Samba's Video SDK offers a clear pricing model. The Create plan, priced at €99 per month. Users get 10,000 free minutes monthly to discover features before making a commitment. Customized pricing choices are available to suit individual needs.

QuickBlox

QuickBlox is a cloud communication backend offering an SDK for integrating video calling, messaging, and push notifications into apps. Compatible with iOS, Android, and the web for seamless multi-device operation.

QuickBlox in Short

  • QuickBlox Video SDK can be challenging to implement, especially for beginners or those unfamiliar with video technologies.
  • It may have a steep learning curve and require a significant time investment to fully utilize its features.
  • While QuickBlox has a free tier, advanced functionalities like support for more users and messages come with extra charges.
  • The pricing model could pose a barrier, particularly for small enterprises or individual developers.
  • Some users find QuickBlox's documentation lacking depth and clarity.
  • Inadequate documentation can hinder SDK utilization, causing developers to struggle with troubleshooting or understanding specific features.

QuickBlox Pricing

QuickBlox's Video SDK pricing varies. The 'Basic' plan is free for 500 users/month. The 'Starter' plan supports 10,000 users for 3 months. The 'Growth' plan is for 25,000 users over 6 months. Custom needs can be met with the 'HIPAA Cloud' and 'Enterprise' plans, supporting up to 20,000 users. While video calling minutes are free, extensive use may lead to costs. A separate subscription is needed for the video conferencing solution.

SignalWire Video SDK

SignalWire Video SDK is a development kit with features for app development, including real-time video communication. It works across platforms, expanding app reach. Developers can customize the interface to align with their brand or design.

SignalWire in short

  • Development kit with key features for real-time video app creation.
  • Ensures cross-platform functionality, expanding app access.
  • Customize UI to match brand preferences.
  • Understand software dev principles for SignalWire Video SDK.
  • Video call quality is affected by user location and internet.
  • Compatibility challenges may arise.
  • Pricing may challenge smaller projects or startups.

SignalWire Pricing

The SignalWire Video SDK has a tiered and usage-based pricing structure, with rates starting at $0.0060 per minute for HD video calls. Detailed pricing tiers can be found on the SignalWire website, catering to different usage levels. Initial 25,000 units are priced at $0.0045 to $0.0050 each, followed by the next 75,000 units at reduced rates. Prices decrease beyond 100,000 units. For accurate pricing information, visit the SignalWire website or contact support.

ApiRTC

ApiRTC is a cloud-driven WebRTC API service offering real-time communication capabilities to application developers. It enables the incorporation of video, voice, and messaging features within applications. With standard functionalities, it serves as an ideal solution for businesses in search of basic real-time communication tools.

ApiRTC in short

  • Real-time communication through video, audio, and text
  • Ability to share screens
  • Whiteboard functionality included
  • Support for multi-party conference calls
  • Integration may necessitate technical know-how
  • Customization options are more restricted than those offered by certain competitors
  • Absence of built-in analytics features

ApiRTC Pricing

ApiRTC has pricing plans starting at $71/month, with a 20% annual subscription discount. They offer a free version and trial for users to explore features. Paid plans include 1,000 monthly minutes, 10K chat messages, and support for 50 simultaneous users. Features include voice, video, chat API, and conferencing API. Additional storage can be bought as needed.


Wrapping Up

There are many video conferencing SDKs available in the market. Most if not all promise a low-code experience with most tasks managed by the SDK, but that's simply not the case. Dyte is the only SDK in the list that truly allows you to create live experiences in under 10 minutes.

Don't believe us?

Check out Dyte's Quickstart guide and explore the sample app of build on top of Dyte to see if our claim sticks.

Sign up today and claim your free 10,000 minutes to get started. Need more help? Click here to talk with our team.

Can't wait to see what you build using Dyte.

With all due respect

Dyte beats
replace_this anyday