Apache OpenMeetings vs Proton Meet

Apache OpenMeetings is open-source groupware for video conferencing, instant messaging, whiteboards, and collaborative document work. Meeting participants can choose audio, video, audio-only, video-only, or picture-only modes, adjust quality and devices, record sessions for MP4 download, and share a desktop or window. Its multi-whiteboard supports drawing, writing, images, clip art, and imports such as PDF, DOC, ODT, and PPT. Conference rooms include a file explorer and shared public drive, while users have private drives. An integrated calendar handles invitations to internal or external attendees and emails meeting details. The project describes REST and SOAP APIs, LDAP/ADS connectors, VoIP/Asterisk modules, and plugins for Moodle, Drupal, and Joomla. OpenMeetings is free, with source and binary downloads; it is installed on a server and requires Java 21 and Kurento Media Server. The project lists a security fix in version 9.1.0 for an arbitrary file-read vulnerability affecting earlier versions from 5.0.0. Server setup requirements include a 2 GHz CPU and 4 GB RAM minimum under limited feature conditions, with 8 GB RAM recommended.

Proton Meet provides private video conferencing for teams, friends, and family, with apps for the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. It uses Messaging Layer Security to encrypt audio, video, screen shares, and chats end to end. External guests can join through a meeting link without a Proton account. Hosts can blur backgrounds, reduce noise, lock meetings, block new arrivals, mute audio, stop video, and remove attendees. Meet integrates with Proton Calendar for calls and appointment scheduling. Proton says its apps are fully open source for independent auditing and that it does not retain meeting passwords, audio, video, chat messages, or metadata linking participants after a call. The free plan is free, billed $0.00 every month, with meetings up to 60 minutes, 50 participants, and five meeting links per day. Paid pricing starts at $7.99/user/mo (annual). The Professional plan lists meetings up to 24 hours and 100 participants, plus screen sharing, chat, scheduling, and recording. Proton also states that Meet complies with GDPR, HIPAA, CJIS, and PCI.