Real-time video is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance communication, improve collaboration, and drive engagement. It is no wonder that video has become an integral part of many organizations' operations, particularly in a post-COVID world. However, organizations' needs differ widely regarding video conferencing tools and what they expect from the video SDK they choose to go for.
When it comes to choosing a video SDK, the decision-making factors can usually be whittled down to four: the features that are important, the customization that you want, how scalable it is, and the price it’s offered at.
Vonage, a cloud platform, acquired TokBox in 2018 that provides live video, voice, and messaging to enable real-time communication. Although officially called Vonage Video API, even as it continues to be referred to as TokBox, the API is one of the options available to you when choosing to create video experiences. The platform includes audio, messaging, screen sharing, and server-side SDKs.
What do you miss out on
Despite Vonage's API being an established platform, it does have some shortcomings.
- The first problem may arise with Vonage’s documentation itself, which in and of itself may hinder integration into your product.
- It also doesn’t offer any UI support, which might increase your time to production.
- Depending on your use case, Vonage’s roles and permissions being limited to host and participant roles could be a limiting factor.
- Plug-ins too are unavailable on Vonage.
- When it comes to AI/ML Middleware, Vonage doesn’t give you any options here either.
Vonage Video pricing, the critical decision
Perhaps the customer's most crucial decision before choosing a video SDK is how the charges stack up.
It starts with the trial period itself — while Vonage only gives you $10 in free credit, Dyte offers you 10,000 free minutes each month.
Both are pay-as-you-go platforms, but the charges vary widely.
Even though Vonage is effective for enterprise use cases, it can be expensive for high-volume usage.
Let’s see how.
1. Video
Vonage Video's pricing is based on the usage per user per minute. Plans start at $9.99, with 2,000 minutes included in all plans.
It charges $0.00395 per user per minute — and a participant is any user who is connected to a session.
This includes users who publish their video and audio, as well as users who only subscribe to other users' video and audio. Participants are charged for the time they are connected to a session, regardless of whether they are publishing or subscribing. If a person is logged in from multiple devices, they will be counted as multiple devices.
💡 Dyte offers fast, custom, secure, and Full HD video at a flat $4 per participant per 1,000 minutes.
2. Audio
Vonage Video doesn’t have separate pricing for audio-based calls or rooms, charged the same way that video is, making it more expensive to use.
💡 Dyte charges $1/1,000 minutes for clear, low-latency live audio, making this a cheaper alternative when video isn’t key to the conversation in question.
3. Plug-ins
The ability to add plug-ins, such as AR Filters and virtual backgrounds, to increase participants’ engagement is an area where Vonage falls woefully short since it doesn’t support the function at all.
💡 Supported, as well as free, on Dyte.
4. Recording
Vonage charges $0.0125 per archive minute for individual stream archives, $0.025 per archive minute for SD-composed archives, $0.035 per archive minute for HD, and $0.045 per archive minute for full HD.
💡 Dyte has Full HD cloud recording without any segregation at $0.10 per min, with no hidden charges.
5. RTMP output
Vonage Video API’s live streaming feature lets you broadcast using HLS or RTMP.
While it does allow you to stream out to RTMP, the price is $ 0.00395 per user minute.
💡 Dyte charges a flat $15 for 1,000 minutes of HD video.
6. Analytics
Monitoring usage, quality, and performance can help understand and solve problems, ensuring a better user experience. Vonage Video charges $500 for this service.
💡 Analytics is available and absolutely free on Dyte.
7. HIPAA compliance
The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is used to protect the privacy of patients and requires any software to comply with uncompromising security standards.
As telehealth becomes more common and accepted, the stringent standards that keep patient safety at the forefront are important for a patient to be able to share their concerns freely. On Vonage, HIPAA compliance is an advanced feature for which one must contact sales to obtain pricing information.
💡 Dyte is HIPAA compliant and offers a certificate at $500/month.
8. Support
Support plays a pivotal role in the selection of a video SDK-- to help during the integration, troubleshoot any issues that may arise, aid in customization, and more. It ensures a smoother development journey, quicker issue resolution, and the ability to make the most out of the SDK's capabilities for the project's success.
Vonage Video's pricing for support is upwards of $3000, which is on the higher side and might not be a good fit for a lot of companies.
💡 Support is absolutely free on Dyte till one goes live on production and is available round the clock on weekdays.
End note
If you are looking for Tokbox/Vonage alternative check out Dyte. Dyte offers quick integration, easy customization, and extensibility. In addition to the video/audio calling SDK, it also has a plugin SDK for creating interactive experiences on top of video calls. User-friendly features you would expect from a video chatting platform, such as virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, chat, polls, analytics, and more are available.
- Quick integration: Dyte's SDK is easy to integrate into your existing applications, giving you the ability with just a few lines of code
- Easy customization: You can change the look and feel of your video conferencing experience to match your brand
- Extensibility through real-time interactive plugins: Add real-time interactive plugins to your video conferencing sessions to add features such as polls, chat, and whiteboard
Start building and experience enhanced video conferencing with Dyte.io's seamless integration and interactive plugins 🚀.
