Element vs Jitsi Meet
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Where they differ
- Element also covers team chat and file sharing.
In commonFree planWebmacOSWindowsLinuxiOSAndroidOpen sourceSelf-hostableEnd-to-end encryptedVideo calls
At a glance
| Element | Jitsi Meet | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | Not published | Free |
| Free plan | The Element app is free for personal use on a public server, and Element Server Suite Community is a free AGPL self-hosted edition for 1 to 100 users. | Free and open source, both as the hosted meet.jit.si service and as software to run on your own server. On meet.jit.si the person creating a room must sign in. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Element Creations Ltd | 8x8, Inc. |
| Price read from | element.io | jitsi.org |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Element
- Governments and regulated organizations that self-host encrypted chat
- Organizations that need air-gapped deployments
- Groups that want to federate with other Matrix servers
- Individuals and communities who want a free encrypted messenger
Jitsi Meet
- Quick video calls where guests should not need an account
- Organizations that want to self-host open-source video conferencing
- Developers who want to customize or embed the meeting client
Worth knowing
Element
- No prices are published: Enterprise is priced per seat per month and Sovereign per deployment, both through sales, and Enterprise starts from 100 users.
- The free Community server edition covers 1 to 100 users and, the vendor says, is not intended for production in commercial environments.
- For organizations, the pricing page lists only self-hosted and air-gapped deployments; it does not list a plan hosted by Element.
- Whitelabelled apps and the cross domain gateway are sold as add-ons.
Jitsi Meet
- Since August 24, 2023, the person creating a room on meet.jit.si must sign in with an account.
- End-to-end encryption is opt-in, needs a Chromium-based browser or the desktop client, and covers audio, video and screen sharing but not chat or polls.
- Neither the Jitsi team nor 8x8 sells commercial support; self-hosters rely on the community forum or outside providers.
- Embedding meetings in another app is directed to 8x8's separate Jitsi as a Service, which is free up to 25 endpoints and paid beyond that.
Key features
Element
- End-to-end encryption by default
- The platform is end-to-end encrypted by default, including voice and video, and devices are verified by QR code or an emoji string.
- Rooms and messaging
- Rooms organize team discussions, with threads, read receipts, attachments, voice messages, polls, reactions, invite-only private rooms and unlimited history.
- Element Call
- End-to-end encrypted voice and video for 1:1 and group conversations. Element Call is also included in the free Community server edition.
- Matrix federation
- Built on the Matrix open standard, so separate organizations can communicate across servers and frontends. Administrators can enable or block federation.
- Element Server Suite
- The self-hosted backend. Pro adds the Synapse Pro homeserver, auto-scaling, high availability, an admin interface, LDAP and SCIM integration, and auditing.
- Widgets and integrations
- Interactive apps can be embedded in rooms, including a whiteboard (NeoBoard) and project management tools such as OpenProject and Jira, alongside bots.
Jitsi Meet
- Meetings at a simple URL
- A meeting is a room name on a URL. On meet.jit.si the first participant signs in with a Google, Facebook or GitHub account; everyone else joins without one.
- Screen sharing and in-call tools
- Share a desktop or presentation, chat with emoji, raise a hand, edit a shared Etherpad document and play a YouTube video to all attendees.
- Self-hosting
- Stable and nightly Ubuntu and Debian packages and a Docker setup let you run your own instance, with your own authentication and moderation rules.
- Encryption
- Audio and video are encrypted in transit with DTLS-SRTP by default. End-to-end encryption can be switched on in Chromium-based browsers and the desktop client.
- Recording, streaming and dial-in
- Conferences can be live streamed to YouTube and recorded, and joined by phone. Self-hosted servers need the Jibri and Jigasi components for these.
- APIs and SDKs
- An external API embeds a meeting in a web page, and the app can be compiled as an SDK for Android and iOS. The code is 100% open source.
Plans
Element
Community$0
Self-hosted Element Server Suite Community: open source under AGPL, for 1 to 100 users, with Element Call. Not meant for commercial production use.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted Element Server Suite Pro from 100 users, priced per seat per month through sales: Synapse Pro, SSO, LDAP, auditing and SLA-backed support.
SovereignCustom
Air-gapped Element Server Suite Pro, priced per deployment, with a dedicated mobile push gateway and no dependence on internet connectivity.
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet$0
Free meetings on the hosted meet.jit.si service, and free open-source software for self-hosting. The project is funded by 8x8.
