Jitsi Meet vs Mumble (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Jitsi Meet grades higher than Mumble: 3.0 against 2.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Jitsi Meet grades higher on platforms. Mumble grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Jitsi Meet if
- Fits if you want video calls where guests join from a link with no account
- Works for organizations that want to run open-source video conferencing on their own server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want someone to call when it breaks, as neither the Jitsi team nor 8x8 sells commercial support
- Not for you if you need end-to-end encryption on by default: it's opt-in, needs Chromium or the desktop app, and skips chat and polls
- Too light for a team that wants channels and messaging between calls, as this is a meeting tool
- Watch out: whoever creates a room on meet.jit.si must sign in with Google, Facebook or GitHub
- Tight if you want meetings inside your own app, as that's 8x8's separate service, paid beyond 25 endpoints
Pick Mumble if
- Fits if you want voice chat with low delay for a gaming group
- Works for admins who want to run their own voice server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want rich text chat, as it is basic
- Not for you if you don't want to run or find a server, since one is needed
- Watch out: the mobile apps are third-party and not maintained by the team
- Watch out: development is by volunteers, and the 1.6 series is still a release candidate
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAJitsi MeetVery good | 2.8GPAMumbleGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ANo paid plan exists. The hosted meet.jit.si service costs nothing and the same software is open source to run on your own server, against the $7 a month this category typically starts at. Embedding, if you need it, is 8x8's separate paid service. | AThe client and server are free and open source with no licence cost. You need a server to talk on: a public one, or one you host. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright, with no paid tier: screen sharing, chat, raised hands, a shared Etherpad document and recording are all in. The one condition is that whoever creates a room on meet.jit.si signs in with a Google, Facebook or GitHub account. | ANo paid tier and no cap on record: nothing to pay for. |
| Features | CThe call covers a room name on a URL, screen sharing, chat, YouTube playback, streaming and dial-in. It's a meeting tool and no more, with no channels or messaging between calls, and the listing says end-to-end encryption is opt-in and skips chat and polls. | CLow-latency voice, positional audio, an overlay, permissions, encryption and a recorder. Text chat is basic compared with team messengers. |
| Ease of use | D3.55 from 492 App Store ratings, below the line on our ladder: about a quarter of those reviewers left one star. Joining a call takes a room name on a URL, but running your own instance means Debian packages or Docker, and nobody sells support. | CNo store rating on record. Joining a public server is simple, though running your own takes setup and a learning curve. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. An external API embeds a meeting in a web page, there are SDKs for Android and iOS, and the code is open source, so you can take it further yourself. Etherpad, YouTube and Dropbox connect. | CWindows, Mac and Linux clients. Mobile apps are third-party projects the Mumble team says it does not maintain. |
| Best for | free video calls where guests need no account | low-latency voice chat on a server you control |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Jitsi Meet and Mumble. How we grade
Price against what you get
Jitsi Meet has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mumble has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
Jitsi Meet scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other team communication apps on the chart, none scores higher than Jitsi Meet for less, and none scores higher than Mumble for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Jitsi Meet also covers video calls.
- Mumble also covers team chat.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceSelf-hostableEnd-to-end encrypted
At a glance
| Jitsi Meet | Mumble | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | 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. | Mumble is free and open source, with no licensing cost for the client or the server. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | 8x8, Inc. | The Mumble project |
| Price read from | jitsi.org | mumble.info |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Mumble
- Mumble is voice chat first, and text chat is basic compared with team messengers.
- You or a hosting provider must run the server; public servers are another way to connect.
- Mobile apps are third-party projects the Mumble team says it does not maintain, and the latest macOS 1.5 build is 1.5.901.
- Development is by a team of volunteers, with a release candidate of the 1.6 series available.
Key features
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.
Mumble
- Low-latency voice
- Mumble describes itself as the first VoIP application to establish true low-latency voice communication, and targets talking while gaming.
- Positional audio and overlay
- In supported games you hear players from where they are located in the game, and an overlay shows who is talking.
- Permission system
- An extensive access control list sets who can speak, listen or enter which channels, for example letting leaders talk to two groups.
- Self-hosted server
- The server program runs on your own hardware, with administration through the Ice protocol, authenticators and community web interfaces.
- Encrypted communication
- The site says communication is always encrypted and uses public/private-key authentication by default.
- Multi-channel recorder
- Users record podcasts with the built-in multi-channel audio recorder, according to the project site.
Plans
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.
Mumble
Free$0
Open-source client and server, free to download and host yourself, with no paid tiers.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Jitsi Meet or Mumble?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Jitsi Meet and Mumble are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Jitsi Meet or Mumble?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Jitsi Meet and Mumble have a free plan.
Which platforms do Jitsi Meet and Mumble run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Jitsi Meet lists a web app and iOS and Android apps. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.