Jitsi Meet vs Zoom: Privacy Comparison

Jitsi Meet and Zoom are both video conferencing platforms, but they approach privacy in fundamentally different ways. Jitsi Meet is an open-source, self-hostable video conferencing solution that can be used without creating an account, while Zoom is a proprietary, cloud-based platform that collects extensive user data. For organizations and individuals who prioritize privacy, Jitsi Meet is the superior choice. Jitsi Meet is fully open source under the Apache License, meaning anyone can inspect the code, contribute improvements, and self-host their own Jitsi server for complete control over their data. When using the public Jitsi Meet instance at meet.jit.si, no account is required, no personal information is collected, and all meeting data is ephemeral, deleted when the meeting ends. Jitsi supports end-to-end encryption for video calls, lobby and password-protected rooms, and does not record meetings unless explicitly configured to do so on a self-hosted instance. The platform stores no user data between sessions on the public instance. Zoom's data practices have been well documented as concerning. The platform collects email addresses, phone numbers, device information, location data, IP addresses, and usage analytics. Cloud recordings are stored on Zoom's servers, and Zoom's terms of service grant the company broad rights to use customer data. The 2023 controversy over Zoom's updated terms allowing the use of customer data for AI training highlighted the risks of entrusting sensitive meeting content to a proprietary platform. Zoom has also experienced multiple security incidents, including the Zoombombing phenomenon, vulnerabilities in its encryption implementation, and the exposure of recorded meetings. Feature-wise, Zoom is more polished and feature-rich. It offers breakout rooms, virtual backgrounds, whiteboarding, polls, extensive integrations with business tools like Slack and Salesforce, and reliable performance for large meetings. Jitsi Meet covers the core needs well, including screen sharing, chat, recording (on self-hosted instances), and integrations with calendar tools. Jitsi supports fewer participants in a single call compared to Zoom's enterprise tiers, but is adequate for most team and personal use cases. Usability is comparable for basic use cases. Both platforms allow joining meetings via a browser link without installing software. Zoom's desktop and mobile apps are more polished, while Jitsi's browser-based approach reduces friction and avoids installing proprietary software. Jitsi Meet wins on privacy. For organizations that can self-host, Jitsi offers unmatched control over meeting data. Even using the public instance, Jitsi's no-account, no-data-retention approach is vastly more private than Zoom. Privacy-conscious teams should strongly consider Jitsi Meet as their primary video conferencing tool.