FreeConference.com vs Galene

FreeConference.com provides audio and video conferencing, screen sharing, and online meeting rooms for businesses and individuals. Meetings can include chat, document sharing, moderator controls, whiteboards, breakout rooms, and smart meeting summaries. Scheduling features include invitations, reminders, recurring calls, and time zone scheduling; listed calendar options are Microsoft Outlook invitations and Google Calendar syncing. Hosts and participants can join in a browser without downloading software, and participants do not need an account. The Free plan allows up to 100 call participants and five web participants, with unlimited calls on local numbers and email support. Starter costs $9.99 a month and includes up to 100 web participants, 100 premium minutes monthly, audio recording with 5GB storage, and phone and email support. Pro costs $29.99 a month and includes up to 250 call and web participants, 750 premium minutes monthly, and audio and video recording with 10GB storage. FreeConference says its service is encrypted via WebRTC. Screen sharing is available through Chrome or Windows and Mac desktop apps, not smartphones or tablets.

Galene is a free videoconference system with a browser client and self-hosted server, designed for lectures, conferences, and tutorials as well as meetings. Its server handles audio and video streams, multiple codecs, simulcast, and scalable video coding for VP8 and VP9. In the browser, participants can chat, share screens or windows, blur backgrounds, use activity detection and moderation, and transfer files peer to peer. The client can also broadcast audio and video from files on disk. Authentication options include usernames and passwords or token authorization, and an HTTP administrative API manages groups and users. Galene supports WHIP and lists an RTMP frontend for OBS Studio, an experimental SIP bridge, LDAP integration, and a sample third-party authorization server. Traffic is encrypted and authenticated between senders and the server, and between the server and receivers; however, media is decrypted by the server, so the system does not provide end-to-end encryption. The project estimates about 300 lecture participants per CPU core, or around 20 participants in a many-to-many meeting on one core. Its default client does not contact third-party servers or CDNs.