Top 10 Twilio Video Alternatives for 2023
Tags: twilio, webdev, videosdk
Published: 2023-03-16 08:04:57

Twilio Video is a live video software development kit (SDK) that enables developers to embed real-time communication in their apps. The tool facilitates it through signaling, user access management, media processing, and delivery. Media exchange occurs directly between peers or through Twilio's servers, depending on the Video Room type.

However, there is a catch. If you want to make something new using Twilio, they don't have any ready-made tools (plugins) that you can use — you need to build everything from scratch. You can host up to 50 people in a room. If you want to add more people, you must integrate Twilio Live into your app [other than the video SDK].

These hiccups make a lot of difference in the quality of your video conferences. Although Twilio's video SDK is still popular, new tools outshine the platform. To fill in the gaps left by Twilio, emerging platforms like Dyte have seized the opportunity to offer a fresh perspective on live video.

If you're still using Twilio and want to opt for something more robust, you should keep reading to discover what you're missing out on by not exploring new options.

## **Why looking for a Twilio Video alternative is a good idea**

Live video is quickly becoming a go-to tool for businesses across industries, but building a live video app can be daunting. Twilio, in particular, has garnered attention for its complex standalone SDKs, which require multiple integrations and additional fees just to build a basic live video app.

But you don’t have to worry about it because we have done the heavy lifting for you. When searching for Twilio alternatives, there are key features to remember that can make your life much easier.

- The SDK should offer collaborative features straight out of the box.
- It should offer pre-built UI elements that you can use to quickly build the interface for your live video solution.
- A single SDK should offer everything you need — from video calling to streaming and everything in between.
- There should be a way for you to check per meeting usage, user on time, interactions, and more advanced analytics.
- The SDK should be able to manage publish/subscribe logic and network degradation in the backend.

With so many video SDKs on the market, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one. That's why we've rounded up the leading players worth your consideration. So keep reading to find your perfect Twilio alternative.

## **The top 10 Twilio Video alternatives**

1. Jitsi
2. Zoom Video SDK
3. Dyte
4. Whereby
5. EnableX
6. Vonage TokBox
7. Agora
8. Mux
9. AWS chime
10. Daily

### **Let's dive into the world of live video-calling experiences and explore some of the top-notch Twilio Video alternatives.**

This section will give you a bird's eye view of each solution and how they stack against Twilio. Our reviews are based on our research and feedback from real users so that you can make an informed decision for your business.

## Jitsi

Jitsi is a collection of open-source projects that provides the tools to create and implement video conferencing solutions within applications. The platform consists of Jitsi Meet, a client-side JavaScript application that enables users to engage in real-time video chats, collaborate, and screen share.

The platform also includes Jitsi Videobridge, an XMPP server (Prosody) that supports hosting many video conferences.

### Jitsi in a nutshell

Jitsi Videobridge uses WebRTC technology that supports encryption by default. The Jitsi Meet application can be accessed through web browsers or Android/iOS applications.

It is a free and open-source platform that provides end-to-end encryption, allowing users to inspect and modify the code to meet their specific requirements.

Additional setup is required to record calls. Users must either live stream their conference to YouTube and access the recording there or configure Jibri to do so.

Moreover, scalability in terms of participation is still an issue for Jitsi users. The tools still need to master end-point hardware optimization to provide more stability in the video quality. The SDK can’t manage user network changes on its own — you need to manually configure it in the system.

Users also point out issues like jitters during screen sharing or text sharing, as the platform consumes a lot of bandwidth.

### **Jitsi pricing**

Although Jitsi is fully open-source for unrestricted use and development, users must obtain their own servers and design their user interface from the ground up. Additionally, product support requires a supplementary fee.

## Zoom Video SDK

The Zoom Video SDK empowers you to create tailored video-based applications with their technology. As Zoom's classic client was unsuitable for many customer use cases, the Video SDK was introduced to provide customers with access to the tech behind Zoom.

The SDK delivers video, audio, screen sharing, chat, data streams, and more as a service, allowing you to select the features you want to use. It has server-side APIs and webhooks, giving you complete control. In brief, it lets you design custom video layouts for up to 1,000 participants/co-hosts per session.

It is multilingual, supporting seven significant languages and enabling open translation extensibility for global growth and better user experience. However, customization is limited to in-session chat, screen sharing, third-party live streaming, and call layout management. The tool also has a basic bandwidth management feature built in.

Please note that the SDK allows only predetermined roles of hosts and participants, making it difficult for use cases requiring modified permissions for peers.

### **Zoom Video SDK pricing**

Zoom offers 10,000 free minutes every month, with pricing starting at $0.31 per user minute after that. In addition, recordings cost $500 per month for 1TB of storage, and telephony costs $100.

Zoom offers four developer support plans: Developer, Bronze, Silver, and Gold for free, $675, $1,300, and $1,900 respectively.

## Dyte

Dyte provides a real-time video and voice SDK that facilitates seamless integration of customized, secured, high-quality live video and voice into your web, mobile, and desktop applications and websites with minimal code.

Their significant advantage is the automated audio/video publish and subscribe logic management, which allows developers to concentrate on designing innovative features that enhance user retention.
![dyte is the alternative to Twilio video](https://dyte.io/blog/content/images/2023/03/Asset-2--1-.gif)
Here is a quick overview of Dyte's offerings:

1. Dyte's Core SDKs and prebuilt UI kit components enable the easy creation of fully branded live experiences tailored to the product.
2. Their advanced technology ensures dependable video quality with smart bandwidth switching, minimal lag, and frame drops.
3. Out-of-the-box interactive collaboration features like rich chat, emoji reactions, whiteboard, screen share, and plugins to create engaging events.
4. First-class API support and one-click configuration enable effortless integration of live video into any mobile, web, or desktop application.
5. They provide detailed analytics on video call metrics like participant interactions and duration for data-driven decision-making.
6. Built-in bandwidth management and an automatic publish/subscribe strategy for users.
7. With built-in RTMP, they enable cross-platform streaming to millions of viewers across multiple platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
8. They ensure seamless live audio and video scaling from a few users to over 10,000 with reliable RTMP output.

Dyte SDK supports multiple platforms, including Flutter, Android (Java/Kotlin), iOS (Objective-C/Swift), React Native, Javascript Core SDK + UI Kit for React JS, Angular, and Web Components for other platforms, and Electron for desktop.

Here's a detailed comparison between [Twilio and Dyte SDKs](https://dyte.io/twilio-video-competitor).  

### **Dyte pricing**

Dyte's pricing starts with free 10,000 minutes of usage every month, after which users are charged $0.004 per user per minute for product pricing, $0.010 per minute for recordings, and $0.015 per minute for RTMP out.

Users can also estimate their costs [here](https://dyte.io/pricing#pricing-calculator). In addition, they offer 24/7 free support to customers via different channels for essential queries, technical heavy lifting, and assistance with big events.

## Whereby

Whereby is a web-based platform that offers custom meetings through every user's unique, permanent room. With no downloads or registration, guests can quickly join meetings by clicking on the respective link.

Additionally, their Embedded feature provides a simple way to add video chat to your platform, requiring only a few lines of code.

In short, Whereby offers a personalized video interface that allows you to make calls from anywhere, offers data security to an extent, and enables collaboration.

However, there are a few points of concern. We’ve seen users complain about the fact that Whereby allows there be to only 1 host, as everyone has their own unique room, and can only host up to 45 minute meetings in the free tier, which is a big letdown compared to other tools. On top of that, it doesn’t give you access to multiple apps and is often blocked by users due to poor security settings. The tool fares badly when it comes to managing changing network conditions.

Moreover, you cannot use the available screen area properly as there is still scope to enable more integrations during the screen-share mode.

### **Whereby pricing**

Whereby's pricing model begins at $9.99/month and allows for up to 2,000 user minutes that are renewed monthly. If additional time is required, the service charges $0.004 per minute, enabling users to expand their usage as needed easily. These features are available for cloud recording and live streaming users at $0.01 per minute.

All Whereby accounts come with free email and chat support, allowing users to access technical assistance as required.

## EnableX

EnableX provides live video, voice, and messaging SDKs as foundational building blocks for creating live application experiences. This communication platform is designed for service providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators (SIs), and developers.

In a nutshell, EnableX offers a video builder for custom video-calling solutions and live video streams. Its self-service portal provides reporting and live analytics capabilities. It supports major coding languages and allows direct live streaming on apps, websites, YouTube, or Facebook. The tool can’t handle fluctuations in the network.

However, users often suggest EnableX should have a better code structure for easy implementation. Also, there is a lack of UI customization, thus, reducing the branding opportunities for a business, and a lack of editing templates in the API.

### **EnableX pricing**

EnableX has a usage-based pricing model of $0.004 per participant minute for rooms of up to 50 participants. Pricing for over 50 participants is available upon contacting the sales team. Additional charges include recording at $0.10 per participant per minute, transcoding at $0.10 per minute, and storage at $0.05 per GB per month. RTMP streaming incurs a cost of $0.10 per minute.

## Vonage TokBox

Vonage's Video API, TokBox, offers various benefits for organizations that rely heavily on video to conduct their business.

Although TokBox provides fully customizable video solutions that can be embedded directly into applications or websites, there are some drawbacks to using this tool.

For example, the TokBox dashboard is difficult to use and doesn’t feature real-time user usage details. While it works well in many countries, deliverability is a concern in places like South Eastern countries.

On top of that, users often suggest that TokBox can build a better GUI and make written documentation and discovery in the platform easier. In addition, the tool doesn’t manage network changes on its own, requiring you to do the heavy lifting.

### **TokBox pricing**

TokBox pricing starts at $9.99 monthly (plus applicable taxes and fees) and includes 2,000 minutes in all plans. They also offer flexibility in designing high-quality video experiences by eliminating bandwidth limitations.

Its core features include video, voice, screen-sharing, signaling and chat, TURN relay, developer portal, management tools, reporting, and use of all SDKs. It supports up to 15,000 participants and 25 active publishers, including multi-party and broadcast use cases.

## Agora

Agora video SDK helps developers implement video calls and live streams in their websites and iOS/Android applications. It provides APIs and development tools that can be integrated into your applications and web services. In addition, it offers easy customization options that let you play around with the UX.

However, Agora's numerous SDK options with similar titles can get confusing, and the absence of webhooks makes complete workflow integration impossible. Plus the tool doesn’t automatically manage user bandwidth in case their network goes bust — leaving them with a blank screen.

So, while enterprise developer teams favor Agora for its low-level nature that gives them tons of control, agile development teams prefer Dyte for its live video SDK. Dyte is developed for the developers, by the developers. It is dedicated to provide exceptional end-user experience — the ideal solution for seamlessly integrating a video SDK with minimum time investment.

### **Agora pricing**

The total audio and video usage duration across all projects under the Agora account is calculated at the end of each month. Video usage is divided into four types based on resolution and individually priced.

After subtracting the 10,000 free-of-charge monthly minutes, the remaining usage is multiplied by its corresponding unit price to determine the monthly cost, which can be calculated using the basic formula: monthly cost = audio minutes × audio unit price + video minutes of each type × video unit price of each type.

**Standard pricing **($/1,000 participant minutes) is as follows: Audio - $0.99, HD Video - $3.99, Full HD Video - $8.99 2K Video - $15.99 2K+ Video - $35.99

## Mux

Mux provides developers with an API to incorporate live and on-demand video experiences into their applications. This tool lets users broadcast a real-time session to an audience of millions through live streaming and immediately stream an on-demand version upon completion.

### **Mux SDK overview**

The SDK provided by Mux allows for integrating real-time video and live streams into various applications. For example, developers can utilize it to include live video in web-based, iOS-based, and Android-based applications.

Each call supported by the platform can host up to 100 participants in a real-time WebRTC environment, with each participant streaming video content.

However, users often suggest that Mux can improve its UI significantly by introducing different ways of data presentation, like charts, and making their reports more inclusive.

In addition, the price point for Mux encoding is high, and users recommend having different pricing tiers for encoding videos across different quantities. Also, the tool can’t help automate publish/subscribe strategies, you need to manually make them for each set of users.

### **Mux pricing**

Mux provides a one-time credit of $20 for new registrations and charges $0.004 per minute for real-time video, $0.04 per minute for encoding, $0.003 per minute for storage, and $0.0012 per minute for streaming.

Additionally, the platform offers simulcast capabilities for $0.02 per minute and auto-generated captions at $0.024 per minute after the initial 6,000 minutes.

## AWS Chime

AWS Chime is a video conferencing tool for business users, available through Amazon Web Services. In addition to its VoIP calling and video messaging capabilities, Chime includes virtual meetings, allowing users to host or participate in meetings through the platform remotely. It allows users to schedule online meetings and engage with others via audio or visual services.

### **Quick look at AWS Chime**

In brief, Amazon Chime is a video conferencing solution that supports conducting and attending online meetings through its HD video, audio, dial-in numbers, and in-room video conference features.

Amazon Chime also offers collaborative features such as screen-sharing, remote desktop control, and text-based chat for individuals or groups. While Amazon Chime supports audio recording in .m4a format and video recording for screen shares in .mp4 format, it does not provide a way to record attendees. The tool has basic bandwidth management capabilities.

A point worth flagging is that Chime doesn’t have an easy interface, and users have difficulty adapting to its complex structure. User feedback suggests that Chime should be more intuitive in terms of navigation.

Present-day customer support for Chime is also not up to the mark, and it takes multiple calls just to resolve a single issue (as reported by users of different review sites).

### **AWS Chime pricing**

Amazon Chime charges $0.0017/user/minute for video calls, $0.0007/message per message sent, $5.00/GB-month for storage, and $0.01 per minute for HD (720p) and $0.0125 per minute for FHD (1080p) for capturing composite media.

## Daily

Daily is a platform that provides an SDK to enable developers to integrate real-time video and audio calls directly into their web applications. The SDK simplifies the development process for video call functionality by taking care of common back-end video call use cases across different platforms.

They offer two approaches for building real-time video and audio calls: Daily Client SDKs, which provide the core APIs for creating custom user interfaces, and Daily Prebuilt, a pre-built, embeddable video chat widget that can be easily added to any web application with minimal code.

Daily users' primary complaint is around the technical support. The process is slow, and resolving your queries might take a while. Plus the tool isn’t great when the user’s network conditions change.

Other areas of concern when using Daily include an unstable website during renewals and discontinuity in the video and audio during a conference call.

### **Daily pricing**

It starts at $0.004/participant minute with 10,000 free monthly refreshed minutes. Audio usage is charged at $0.00099/user/minute, streaming at $0.0012/minute, RTMP at $0.015/minute, and recording at $0.01349/GB. Additionally, you receive free email and chat support for all accounts, while advanced support features can be added with add-on packages starting from $250/month.

## **Final thoughts**

Despite the numerous video conferencing SDKs available, promises of low-code experience fall short for most. But you need not worry, Dyte delivers live experiences in under 10 minutes.

You don't have to take our word for it; check out our [Quickstart guide](https://docs.dyte.io/getting-started) and [sample apps](https://github.com/dyte-io) to put us to the test. Get started today and enjoy 10,000 free minutes. Need further assistance? Connect with our team by [clicking here](https://dyte.io/contact). Looking forward to seeing what you'll be building with Dyte!