Virtual Classroom (BigBlueButton, Jitsi)
Live-class video infra purpose-built for teaching — not generic video conferencing.
A "virtual classroom" is more than a Zoom call: shared whiteboard, polls, breakout rooms, raise-hand, emoji reactions, lecture-mode layout, recording. For generic video infrastructure see Real-time Video. For class chat see Self-hosted Chat. For a LMS, most of these plug in via LTI.
Purpose-built for teaching, FOSS
- ★ ★ BigBlueButton (BBB) — LGPL; the default FOSS pick for live online classes since ~2010. Built around the teacher: shared notes, multi-user whiteboard with annotation, polls, breakouts, emoji + raise-hand, "presenter" role, public + private chat, captions, recording. Tight Moodle and Canvas / Open edX / Sakai integrations via LTI. Self-host on Ubuntu LTS; commercial hosting via Blindside Networks.
- ★ Jitsi Meet — Apache 2.0; generic conferencing — not classroom-specific, but free and brand-able. Use it when "Zoom but FOSS" is enough. See Real-time Video.
- Apache OpenMeetings — Apache 2.0; older; whiteboard + meetings; still maintained.
- Galene — small, single-binary FOSS SFU; popular with French universities.
Generic conferencing pressed into class duty
- ★ Zoom Education — paid; 40-min cap on free tier ended classroom use; institutional plans add Education-specific features (waiting rooms, attention tracking deprecated 2020, polls, breakouts). Most universities have a site-licence in 2026.
- ★ Microsoft Teams — free with Teams for Education; classroom-flavoured features layered on the paid Teams base.
- ★ Google Meet — free with Google Workspace for Education; class-friendly polls, Q&A, breakouts.
- Adobe Connect — paid; one of the original virtual-classroom platforms; whiteboard / pods are still strong.
- Webex Education — paid; similar to Zoom Education.
Specialised "virtual classroom" SaaS
- ClassIn — Chinese-origin; popular in tutoring / cram-school market; very classroom-shaped.
- Engageli — purpose-built; "tables" model for small-group breakouts.
- Class (Class Technologies) — paid Zoom-built classroom layer (rosters, gradebook, attendance).
- Top Hat, Nearpod, Pear Deck, Mentimeter — see Quizzes & Assessment; layer on top of any conferencing tool.
Recording / streaming the lecture
- BBB, Zoom, Teams, Meet all record natively.
- For long-term hosting see Video lecture hosting.
- For broadcast-style live streaming (one-to-many) see Owncast / Peertube on video lecture hosting.
Capacity sanity check (2026)
- BBB self-host: ~25-50 active webcams per server is the realistic ceiling; scale horizontally.
- Jitsi self-host: with Jibri for recording and JVB SFUs, ~75 cams per server.
- Zoom Education: 300-1,000 attendees on standard tiers; Webinar add-ons go to 10k+.
- For massive cohorts (thousands), broadcast as livestream on video lecture hosting instead of conference.
Pick this if…
- Default FOSS virtual classroom: BigBlueButton.
- Generic FOSS conferencing, want full Zoom UI: Jitsi.
- K-12 already on Google: Meet.
- Already on Microsoft 365 A1: Teams.
- Polished paid live-class with breakouts at scale: Zoom Education.
- Asia / cram-school market: ClassIn.
- Lecture broadcast, thousands of viewers: stream via Owncast / PeerTube — see video lecture hosting.