Digital Samba Plans: Comparing Free vs. Paid Options for Video Conferencing
Tags: webdev, beginners, productivity, opensource
Published: 2024-02-08 19:29:38

The significance of video conferencing has increased in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. It has transformed communication across diverse sectors, including Telehealth, e-learning, sales and marketing, etc.

> In 2023, video conferencing software achieved a market penetration of approximately 68%. ~ Statista

As more and more organisations focus on working together online, the demand for good video conferencing tools is going up. Digital Samba is a leader in this area, offering pre-built video conferencing solutions and using an easy-to-use low-code approach. With just a few lines of code, you can easily add high-quality video conferencing to your system, complete with all the features you need. Digital Samba makes it simple to improve how you collaborate online.

Behind its simple embedding, Digital Samba automatically handles all video infrastructure, capacity scaling, transmission protocols, and quality management. With Digital Samba’s intuitive and modern UI, it's as simple as 'grab and embed' — that ensures a user-friendly experience. Developers don't need any specialised video knowledge.

Our innovative offerings enhance the seamless integration of video conferencing capabilities, facilitating improved communication and collaboration for businesses and individuals alike.

In this article, we will explore [Digital Samba plans](https://www.digitalsamba.com/pricing), examining free and paid plans, their advantages and limitations and their scope of use. 

## Understanding Digital Samba Plans
Digital Samba offers a comprehensive video conferencing pricing structure that caters to diverse user needs. Users can explore several features, including HD video, cloud recordings, whiteboard, group chat, waiting room, and more, to streamline their virtual collaboration experiences. 

Though the Free plan has limitations, it is the best option for individual users. The “Create” and “Create S” plans serve as foundational options, providing essential tools for effective communication. 

Digital Samba understands the diverse needs of its users, and that's why we're introducing our "Volume Pricing" plans. These plans are designed to meet the demands of large-scale operations, ensuring that our services align perfectly with your business needs. Upgrade to a solution that grows with you—choose Digital Samba's Volume Pricing for seamless scalability and cost-effectiveness.

## How to decide which package is best for you 
Several factors should guide your decision-making process when determining the most suitable Digital Samba plan for your needs.

- **Scope of usage & use case**: The “Free” plan may suffice for individual users with sporadic video conferencing needs. While the “Create” plan is ideal for hosting large video conferences with up to 100 participants, the “Create S” plan is tailored for users requiring multiple 1-1 video calls simultaneously. However, enterprises or public services requiring frequent and extensive collaboration may find the “Volume Pricing” plans more beneficial.

- **Feature set**: Evaluate the features offered in each plan. “Free” plan covers essentials, while paid plans like “Create” and “Create S” provide additional advanced tools. The “Volume Pricing” plans are tailored for extensive collaboration needs with extra benefits.

- **Customisation options**: If branding and UI customisation are crucial for your brand identity, the “Create” and “Create S” plans offer comprehensive branding options, such as colour and logo branding, virtual backgrounds, SDKs, etc. Meanwhile, the “Volume Pricing” plans have advanced features like CNAME/white-labelling.

- **Scalability**: Individuals may find the “Free” plan sufficient, but businesses requiring scalability should explore the paid plans, especially the “Volume Pricing” plans for large-scale operations.

- **Technical support**: Paid plans often provide priority technical support, a critical factor for businesses with complex requirements, ensuring prompt assistance. 

- **Security measures**: Evaluate the level of security required for your communications. While all plans offer secure features, the “Volume Pricing” plans go further with E2EE and private Slack channel.

- **Collaboration tools**: Identify the collaboration features you require in your Digital Samba plan to enhance communication effectively. The paid plans have features like transcriptions and roles & permissions for enhanced collaboration.
Storage capacity: Assess your storage needs for recorded meetings. The “Free” plan has limitations, while the “Create” and “Create S” plans offer increased storage facilities. The “Volume Pricing” plans provide huge discounts for cost-effective storage solutions.

- **Bandwidth limits**: Understanding the bandwidth limits associated with each plan is crucial. Paid plans often offer more generous bandwidth allowances.

- **Plugins and connection**: Consider the convenience of integration with popular platforms like WordPress and Google Calendar. All our plans include WordPress and Google Calendar plugins, allowing you to connect and enhance your virtual collaboration experience.

## Digital Samba Free vs. Paid 
Whether opting for the free plan or the enhanced capabilities offered in the paid options, users can expect Digital Samba's commitment to delivering reliable, secure and cutting-edge video conferencing solutions. 

But before we discuss the features of each Digital Samba plan in detail, here’s a comparison table to show all our plans side-by-side.

Read more - [Digital Samba Plans: Comparing Free vs. Paid Options for Video Conferencing](https://www.digitalsamba.com/blog/digital-samba-plans-comparing-free-vs-paid-options-for-video-conferencing)

Let's explore the Digital Samba online meeting pricing structure, features and diverse options that empower individuals and organisations to connect, collaborate and communicate seamlessly.

### 1. Free plan version
Here, we discuss the different features and limitations of the Free plan. 

- **Participation minutes**: The Digital Samba Free plan provides users with 10,000 participation minutes, allowing ample time for virtual meetings, discussions and collaborative sessions.
- **Cloud recordings**: Users of the Free plan can receive 60 minutes of monthly cloud recordings. This feature facilitates capturing and revisiting critical moments of the virtual meetings. The maximum recording length for users on the Free plan is limited to 15 minutes per session.
- **Collaboration features**: The Free plan offers a range of collaboration features, including cloud recordings, group chat, screen share, video/audio muting, waiting room functionality, hand raise feature and many more. 
- **Branding & UI**: For branding and user interface (UI) customisation, the Free plan includes support for video SDK, friendly and vanity URLs, colour branding, virtual backgrounds, favicon and dark mode. 
- **Security & privacy features**: In terms of security and privacy, the Free plan includes transport layer security (TLS), datagram transport layer security encryption (DTLS ), token-based security and anonymised user IDs.
- **Pricing**: The Digital Samba Free Plan, as the name suggests, is completely free, providing a valuable entry point for individual users seeking basic video conferencing capabilities.

#### Limitations
While the Free plan offers a solid set of features, there are some limitations. Notable exclusions include logo branding and CNAME/white labelling for enhanced customisation. The Free Plan excludes advanced security features like end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and priority integration support.

### 2. Create & Create S plans - 99 Euro
The Create plan is ideal for individuals looking to integrate video call functionality into event platforms or webinar software solutions. With 25,000 participation minutes per month and advanced features like transcriptions, logo and colour branding, roles and permissions, this plan caters to more specific requirements. The Create plan supports 100 concurrent participants and 5 concurrent sessions. 
Create S plan, tailored for small meetings, provides the same features as the Create plan, including 25,000 participation minutes, but it also accommodates 40 concurrent participants and supports 20 concurrent sessions. Thus, the Create S and S-group plans are an ideal choice when businesses need to host numerous one-on-one calls within the app at the same time.
Let’s discuss the different features of the Create plans.

- **Participation minutes**: The Create plan substantially increases participation minutes, providing users with 25,000 minutes. Additionally, users can acquire extra participation minutes at a rate of €0.004/minute.
- **Cloud recordings**: Recordings under the Create and Create S plans are securely stored within Digital Samba's infrastructure. Digital Samba applies charges for cumulative recording minutes at the end of the billing cycle, with a rate of €0.013/minute. Also, the charge for cloud storage/minute is €0.003. Users can download and remove recordings before the billing period concludes to manage costs.
- **Collaboration features**: Building upon the Free plan's features, the Create plans also offer roles & permissions and transcriptions (captions). Pricing for captions is €0.060 per minute. This array of collaboration tools enhances the overall experience and supports diverse communication needs. 
- **Branding & UI**: The Create plans allow for extensive branding and UI customisation, featuring all Free plan features, logo branding and the option to remove the Digital Samba badge. 
- **Security & privacy features**: Regarding video conferencing security and privacy, the Create plans include token-based security, TLS/DTLS encryption, and anonymised user IDs.
- **Pricing**: The Digital Samba Create Plans are available at a monthly subscription fee of €99, offering an enhanced set of features and increased participation minutes compared to the Free plan.

#### Limitations
While the Create plans provide robust features, there are some limitations, too. The Create plan supports up to 5 concurrent sessions, while with the Create S plan users can conduct up to 20 concurrent sessions with 40 participants. Advanced features, such as CNAME/white-labelling and specific security enhancements, are not included. For more details about our advanced S plans, please feel free to contact us.

### 4. Volume pricing (paid)
Let’s explore the features of this plan. 

Concurrent participants per session: Volume pricing offers up to 500 Concurrent participants per session, while lower plans offer up to 100 participants.

- **Participation minutes**: The volume pricing plans offer unlimited participation minutes at the lowest rate of €0.0026/min, offering a volume discount to businesses.
- **Cloud recordings**: Cloud recordings in Volume Pricing are similar to other plans and are stored within Digital Samba’s infrastructure. It applies charges at the end of each billing cycle with the added benefit of volume discounts. The lowest price per minute for cloud recordings and storage in these plans is €0.0085 and €0.0020, respectively.
- **Collaboration features**: The Volume Pricing plans entail all the features available in the Free, Create, and Create S plans,  such as roles &permissions, AI-powered captions, etc. This plan's lowest transcription (caption) price is €0.0390/minute. 
- **Branding & UI**: The Volume Pricing plans offer all the features available in the Free, Create, and Create S plans, such as colour and logo branding, virtual backgrounds, SDKs, etc. It also provides CNAME/white-labelling for enhanced brand integration.
- **Security & privacy features**: The Volume Pricing plans incorporate the security and privacy features of all other plans and go a step further. They include optional EE2E, private Slack channel and priority integration support, ensuring a secured and tailored environment for organisations with heightened security needs.
- **Input into roadmap**: This feature is exclusively available in our volume plans. With these plans, you can actively contribute to developing new products and features through feedback and suggestions. This ensures your needs and priorities are acknowledged in transforming Digital Samba.
- **Pricing**: For detailed pricing information on the Volume Pricing plans, please get in touch with [Digital Samba’s sales team](https://www.digitalsamba.com/contact-sales). This personalised approach allows for tailored solutions based on each business's unique requirements and scale. Digital Samba offers discounts for participation minutes and cloud storage in its volume plans, which are available with annual subscriptions. 

#### Limitations
One notable feature of the Volume Pricing plans is that they don’t have any limitations. These plans are designed to accommodate the diverse needs of large-scale operations, providing a flexible and feature-rich solution without imposing restrictions on usage.

## Choose the perfect Digital Samba Plan for ultimate connectivity 
Experience effortless collaboration customised just for you with Digital Samba. Whether you're an individual looking for essential features or a business seeking advanced customisation and scalability, [Digital Samba's plans](https://www.digitalsamba.com/pricing) - Free, Create, Create S and Volume Pricing - cater to your needs. Easily upgrade through the [dashboard](https://dashboard.digitalsamba.com/signup) or [reach out to our dedicated sales team](https://www.digitalsamba.com/contact-sales) for more information on volume pricing. Elevate your collaboration game with Digital Samba!

Select the Digital Samba plan that aligns with your connectivity requirements, ensuring a superior video conferencing experience. 

Explore our plans now and enhance your virtual collaboration journey with Digital Samba!