5 Secure video conferencing and collaboration tools for Linux

July 29, 2024

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Video conferencing removes geographical limitations and is an essential part of any workflow today. More and more companies have both in-office and remote teams all over the globe and thus they require secure video conferencing and collaboration tools to communicate and stay productive.

At the same time Linux OS is one of the most popular operating systems in the corporate world:

• 47% of professional developers use Linux-based operating systems
• Linux powers 85% of smartphones
• Linux is the primary operating system for 70% of web servers globally
• The cloud computing landscape heavily relies on Linux, with over 90% of public cloud workloads being Linux-based
• Linux's reputation for security is strong, being considered 10 times more secure than some other operating systems

Desktop Linux market share is 4.04% as of June 2024. This proves that Linux is quite popular among users who take care of their security. In this blog post we will discuss secure video conferencing and collaboration tools for Linux, paying attention to software reliability rather than popularity among users.

Virola corporate messenger

Though Virola is not designed exclusively for video conferencing, but it has video and audio meetings feature and offers a wide range of tools for secure collaboration and communication:

• Video and audio meetings
• Meetings recording
• Noise suppression
• Screen sharing
• Remote control
• Live avatars
• Unlimited files sharing and chat history storage
• Private and group conversations
• Flexible permissions
• LDAP integration

Virola is available to be hosted on premises or on a virtual cloud server. Both Virola server and Virola client are available for Linux. It is possible to run Virola server as a daemon and in a docker container. Free version of Virola corporate messenger is available for small teams and generous discounts are offered to large corporations.

Jitsi

Jitsi offers high quality secure video meetings. It's an open-source video conferencing app which has become popular among Linux users. The user interface is simple enough to accommodate even the least experienced Linux user and the application itself is secure and fast in deployment. The following features are available with Jitsi:

• Desktop and presentations sharing
• Jitsi Videobridge passes everyone's video and audio to all participants, rather than mixing them first
• Whiteboarding
• Meetings recording
• Scheduling
• Live chat
• Users invitation through a simple URL
• Editing documents using Etherpad

Jitsi is a privacy-focused platform where no user information is stored or shared. Users don't need to register to start using the solution. It can be installed on company's servers and is designed for privacy-conscious people.

Signal

Signal is one of the most secure messaging platforms. All communications on Signal - private messages, group messages, file transfers, photos, voice calls, and video calls - are end-to-end encrypted. Since Signal is free, this makes it popular among Linux users and those ones who care about their security. The following features for video conferencing are available with Signal:

• Video calls for groups up to 40 participants
• End-to-end encryption for video and audio calls
• Screen sharing
• GDPR compliance

Though Signal does not have as many features as its competitors do, it is quite popular among privacy-conscious people and can be used for communication and secure video conferencing in small companies.

OpenMeetings

OpenMeetings is an open-source Apache-based video conferencing and instant messaging app. It has a wide range of features, and this makes this tool suitable both for individuals and large companies which are looking for a secure video conferencing app for their daily meetings and employees collaboration. OpenMeeting offers such features as:

• Audio and video conferencing
• Instant messaging
• Meetings recording
• Screen sharing
• Whiteboard
• Flexible user permissions for video conferencing
• File explorer
• Meetings scheduling
• Polls and votes

If you are looking for an open-source feature-rich tool for video conferencing and collaboration, OpenMeeting will satisfy your needs and will become a secure and free alternative to Zoom or Webex.

Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting is an online secure video conferencing platform. You can start and join meetings directly from your browser or download and install a dedicated video conferencing app for Linux. Zoho Meeting is available for free in a limited version (up to 60 minutes per meeting or webinar) and is available in meeting and webinar editions. The choice of the subscription package depends on whether you are planning to run online conferences or use the application mostly for webinars. You can test all available features during the free trial and decide what kind of subscription package you require. With free Zoho Meeting version the following functionality is available:

• Screen sharing
• Files sending
• Meeting chat
• Meeting analytics
• Raise hand and reactions
• Collaboration whiteboard
• Webinar series and moderation

Zoho Meeting is perfect both for free and commercial usage. It can be either utilized for small educational projects or used to host multiple webinars and manage a great number of participants.