A team or agency that talks to clients via video conferencing will sooner or later hit the limits of Zoom's free plan or start paying for a business plan, which costs $15per month, or $176per year. On top of that, an account and app are required on the organizer's side, and often on the participants' side too if they need to join without restrictions. Jitsi Meet is an open-source video conferencing platform where participants join through a link in the browser, without creating an account or installing anything, and you host it on your own Box without a monthly bill. Below, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to set up Jitsi Meet on Saplo.
Why Jitsi Meet instead of paid Zoom
Paid video conferencing makes sense as long as the number of meetings and participants is small. Problems begin when a team or customer base grows:
- the call time limit in the free plan forces you to pay for a subscription - to hold longer group meetings without cutting the call short halfway through, you have to switch to a paid plan, which on Zoom costs $15per month, or $176per year,
- the organizer, and often the participants, need an account and the provider's app - a client outside the company who receives a meeting link must create an account or install the app before they can even join the meeting,
- recordings and meeting history are kept by an external provider, with no way to transfer them when you switch providers or full control over where that data is stored.
Jitsi Meet has none of these limitations because you deploy it as your own application on Box, under your own domain or subdomain, with no call time limit and no requirement for an account on either side.
Requirements
To run Jitsi Meet on Saplo, you need:
- a Box with Docker running (the engine enables it automatically when you install from the catalog, container nesting is required, which Saplo enables by default),
- at least 2 GB of free RAM on the Box and 8 GB of disk space, so the cheapest plan that can handle it is Box M at $69 per year,
- a domain or subdomain
*.saploapp.plincluded in the price of every plan, under which the meeting site will be hosted, - you do NOT need a separate database, Jitsi Meet does not set up any database and keeps the entire meeting state in memory for its duration.
You can find a full description of the application and its place in the catalog on the Jitsi Meet on Saplo page.
Step-by-step installation
- In the Saplo panel, open the Application Catalog and select Jitsi Meet (category "Business tools").
- Select a Box with at least 2 GB of free RAM to run the application, and a domain or subdomain for the meeting website.
- Confirm the installation. The engine deploys four Docker containers using the official
ghcr.io/jitsiimages (web, prosody, jicofo, jvb), connects them in a single network, and exposes only the website externally via nginx on the Box with free SSL. - Once the installation is complete, the Jitsi Meet website is available at the selected domain.
Calls with three or more people: what you need to know
Two-person calls connect browsers directly and work as soon as you install the app, with no additional configuration. Calls with three or more participants go through the built-in Jitsi Meet video bridge, which requires UDP port 10000 to be publicly accessible over the internet to transmit video and audio. The current "additional port" add-on in the Saplo panel supports TCP traffic only, so unless the port is manually forwarded by an administrator, larger meetings may not transmit video or audio. If you plan to host meetings with more than two people, contact Saplo support after installation, and we will forward UDP port 10000 to your Box.
First meeting
Jitsi Meet does not require an account, so you can create a meeting as soon as you open the site.
- Go to the domain address, enter any room name and create a meeting without logging in or registering.
- Send the link to the participants. They do not need an account or plugin either, just a browser with camera and microphone access.
- In the room settings, you can enable an access password, screen sharing, text chat and local recording in your browser.
- By default, anyone with the link can join and create a room, just like on the public meet.jit.si. If you want to require login or a waiting room for guests, contact Saplo support.
Jitsi Meet on Saplo vs paid Zoom
| Zoom (paid plan) | Jitsi Meet on Saplo | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $176 ($15/month) | $69 (Box M) |
| Call time limit | removed only with a paid plan | none, regardless of the number of participants |
| Participant account | usually required for longer meetings | not needed, just a link and browser |
| Where meeting data is stored | Zoom infrastructure | your Box |
| Three-person calls | work right away | require a one-time UDP 10000 port forwarding through Saplo support |
Frequently asked questions
Do participants need to install the Jitsi app? No, all you need is a browser with access to a camera and microphone, without installing anything on the participant's or organizer's side.
Does Jitsi Meet need a separate database? No, the application does not use any database. The meeting state is kept solely in memory for the duration of the meeting.
Do one-to-one calls also go through the video bridge? No, one-to-one calls connect directly between browsers and work immediately, with no need to forward any ports.
Can you restrict who joins a room? You can set a room password directly from the Jitsi interface. To require authentication or enable a waiting room for guests, contact Saplo support.
Does Jitsi Meet record meetings? A participant can record the meeting locally using the browser. This installation is not connected to external storage for automatic cloud recordings.
If your bill for paid video conferences grows with every meeting or participant, contact us and we will help you choose the right Box and set up Jitsi Meet.
- #Docker
- #Jitsi
- #Guide
- #Video conferencing
