All three are free, self-hosted, open-source WebRTC tools for teams that want to avoid dependence on Zoom, Meet, or Teams, but they sit at different layers of…
Open Source · From Free
Best for: Engineering teams that want to build a fully custom video, live-streaming, or SIP-telephony product on top of a proven, modular, low-level WebRTC gateway rather than deploy a finished app.
Open Source · From Free
Best for: Small teams and privacy-focused users who want a free, ready-to-use self-hosted video app for small-group calls, roughly two to eight participants, with the lowest possible latency since media never touches a relay server.
Open Source · From Free
Best for: Organizations that need a turnkey, self-hosted alternative to Zoom or Meet for larger meetings, webinars, or streamed events with unlimited participants and extras like RTMP broadcast and AI avatars.
| Janus | MiroTalk P2P | MiroTalk SFU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Video Conferencing | Video Conferencing | Video Conferencing |
| Rating | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| Pricing model | Open Source | Open Source | Open Source |
| Starting price | Free | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| Free trial | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| Platforms | Not documented | Web | Web |
| Team collaboration | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| AI features | Not documented | Yes | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Janus is infrastructure, not a finished app
Janus exposes a low-level, plugin-based WebRTC core (VideoRoom SFU, AudioBridge, Streaming, Recordplay, SIP) with a JSON signaling API, and developers write their own client and often server logic around it to assemble a finished product, unlike the MiroTalk editions which ship a complete browser UI ready to use.
Janus
MiroTalk P2P trades scale for latency and simplicity
By connecting participants directly to each other instead of routing through a relay server, MiroTalk P2P minimizes latency and keeps call media off any central server, but performance degrades as more people join, so the project itself recommends it only for small groups of roughly two to eight participants.
MiroTalk P2P
MiroTalk SFU is built for bigger, richer meetings
MiroTalk SFU replaces peer-to-peer transport with a mediasoup-based Selective Forwarding Unit, removing the small-group ceiling and adding RTMP streaming, virtual backgrounds, ChatGPT integration, and AI avatars that neither Janus nor MiroTalk P2P document.
MiroTalk SFU
The two MiroTalk editions share one codebase and UI
MiroTalk P2P and MiroTalk SFU come from the same creator and offer the same browser-based interface, whiteboard, chat, screen sharing up to 8K/60fps, and recording, so switching between them is mainly a question of which transport architecture fits your expected room sizes.
MiroTalk P2P, MiroTalk SFU
Janus's native SIP gateway is a differentiator
Janus ships an official SIP plugin that bridges WebRTC clients to traditional SIP telephony, a capability that lets a browser place and receive calls through a standard SIP provider and that is not documented for either MiroTalk edition.
Janus
| Feature | Janus | MiroTalk P2P | MiroTalk SFU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnkey video conferencing UI ready to deploy | Unavailable | Available | Available |
| Peer-to-peer transport for small, low-latency calls | Not documented | Available | Unavailable |
| SFU relay architecture for unlimited/large-group scaling | Available | Unavailable | Available |
| Feature | Janus | MiroTalk P2P | MiroTalk SFU |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIP telephony bridging | Available | Not documented | Not documented |
| RTMP live broadcast streaming | Available | Not documented | Available |
| AI avatars and ChatGPT integration | Not documented | Not documented | Available |
| Feature | Janus | MiroTalk P2P | MiroTalk SFU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free, self-hosted open-source core | Available | Available | Available |
| Commercial support or alternative licensing option | Available | Unavailable | Available |
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Pros
Cons
Pros
Cons
Pros
Cons
Janus is a low-level, plugin-based WebRTC gateway that developers use to build custom video, streaming, or telephony applications, while MiroTalk P2P and MiroTalk SFU are complete, ready-to-use self-hosted video conferencing apps with a browser interface already built for you.
MiroTalk P2P fits small groups of roughly two to eight participants where you want the lowest latency and no media passing through a relay server. Once you need larger meetings, webinars, or features like RTMP streaming and AI avatars, MiroTalk SFU's mediasoup-based architecture is the better fit.
No. Janus provides the WebRTC core and official plugins such as VideoRoom, AudioBridge, and SIP, but application-specific logic and the user interface are left to the developer to build on top of it.
Yes for two of the three. Meetecho, the team behind Janus, offers consulting, custom plugin development, and support contracts, and MiroTalk SFU has an optional one-time-fee commercial license sold through marketplaces for organizations that want terms outside AGPLv3. MiroTalk P2P has no official paid tier.
Yes. Janus is released under the GPL and both MiroTalk editions under AGPLv3, so all three can be self-hosted at no licensing cost; you only pay for your own server infrastructure unless you opt into Meetecho's paid support or MiroTalk SFU's optional commercial license.
Yes. MiroTalk SFU documents RTMP streaming to external platforms, virtual backgrounds, ChatGPT integration, and AI avatars, none of which are documented for MiroTalk P2P, reflecting SFU's focus on larger, richer meetings and broadcasts.
Read the full Janus review · Read the full MiroTalk P2P review · Read the full MiroTalk SFU review