Jitsi Meet

Overview

Jitsi Meet is one of the most respected names in the privacy community, offering a powerful, full-featured video conferencing suite that acts as a direct, drop-in replacement for Google Meet. Unlike mainstream alternatives that require you to stay logged into a massive data-tracking ecosystem, Jitsi Meet allows you to spin up a meeting in seconds without ever sharing your name or email address.

The platform is built on a foundation of transparency. Because it is 100% open-source, the global developer community continuously audits and improves the code. For individuals and organizations that handle sensitive information, Jitsi offers the unique ability to “self-host” the software on their own private servers, ensuring that video and audio data never pass through a third-party server.

Key Features

No Account Necessary

The biggest barrier to privacy in modern tools is the “sign-in” requirement. Jitsi Meet removes this entirely. You can simply navigate to the website, type in a unique room name, and share the URL. There are no passwords to manage (unless you want to add one to your room) and no profiles being built on your usage habits.

Total Control (Self-Hosting)

For users who don’t trust any cloud provider, Jitsi Meet can be installed on your own hardware. This gives you 100% ownership of your communication infrastructure. You control the logs, the security certificates, and the data flow, making it the gold standard for internal corporate or activist communications.

End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)

While many platforms claim to be secure, Jitsi Meet provides a toggle for true End-to-End Encryption. When enabled, your video and audio are encrypted on your device and only decrypted on the devices of other participants, meaning even the server hosting the meeting cannot “see” or “hear” the content of the call.

Privacy & Security

Privacy isn’t just an afterthought for Jitsi; it is the core architecture. By default, Jitsi uses WebRTC to facilitate communication. On the public meet.jit.si instance, data is encrypted in transit. Furthermore, Jitsi does not store any recordings on their servers unless you manually link a storage provider like Dropbox.

Unlike Google Meet, Jitsi does not use your meeting metadata to serve ads or train AI models. The ephemeral nature of Jitsi rooms—which disappear as soon as the last person leaves—ensures that no digital footprint is left behind.

Getting Started

1. Visit the Site: Go to meet.jit.si in any modern web browser.
2. Name Your Room: Type a unique, complex name for your meeting room to avoid accidental guests.
3. Grant Permissions: Allow your browser to access your microphone and camera when prompted.
4. Share the Link: Copy the URL and send it to your participants. They can click it and join instantly—no downloads or sign-ups required.

Who Is It Best For?

Jitsi Meet is ideal for privacy-conscious individuals, journalists, activists, and small-to-medium businesses that want professional video conferencing without the baggage of big-tech surveillance. It is also perfect for “one-off” meetings with clients or friends who don’t want to go through the hassle of creating an account just for a single call.

Final Verdict

Jitsi Meet is the rare privacy tool that doesn’t sacrifice usability for security. It matches Google Meet feature-for-feature with screen sharing, chat, and hand-raising, but does so while respecting user anonymity.

If you are looking to de-Google your life, Jitsi Meet is perhaps the easiest switch you can make. It is fast, free, and puts the power of secure communication back into the hands of the users.