Whereby

ALMOST

A weekend of work, and real gaps remain.

Video calls in a browser with no download and no account for guests, plus an embeddable version for putting calls inside your own product.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Build calling on an open media server.

STACK
- LiveKit or Jitsi as the media server, your own web interface

WHAT NOT TO WRITE
- The media server. Peer-to-peer WebRTC works for two people and collapses past four

THE ROOM
- A random URL is the only credential, with an optional passphrase
- No account for guests, ever: an account form loses half the participants

CONNECTING FROM ANYWHERE
- Run coturn. Without a relay, anyone behind a strict firewall simply cannot join
- Test from a mobile network and a corporate network before trusting it

CAPACITY
- Work out worst-case outbound bandwidth before choosing a server

RECORDING
- A separate machine running a browser that joins and captures. Never on the media server

Include the room tokens, the coturn setup and the bandwidth calculation.

What you lose

Connection reliability across corporate firewalls and mobile networks, which is where home-made calling fails
Participant-minute billing with no infrastructure to size
Recording and breakout rooms already built

If you would rather not build

A free meeting link, which is hard to beat

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

LiveKit

An open media server with SDKs for embedding calls in your own app.

livekit/livekitfree · open source

Jitsi Meet

A complete conferencing product you can host yourself.

jitsi/jitsi-meetfree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

58/100

Verdict kinda at 58. LiveKit makes the software feasible; the operational work of relays and bandwidth is what keeps this from being a yes.

History

tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 days

Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.

Questions about Whereby

answered from the record above

Is Whereby free?

No — the plan we track is $6.99 a month. Pro at around $6.99/month billed monthly; the embedded product is priced per participant minute.

Can you replace Whereby by building your own?

ALMOST. A weekend of work, and real gaps remain. Replacement score 58 out of 100, build time a weekend. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Whereby cost?

$6.99 a month on Pro — $83.88 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Whereby?

Connection reliability across corporate firewalls and mobile networks, which is where home-made calling fails; Participant-minute billing with no infrastructure to size; Recording and breakout rooms already built. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Whereby?

Yes: LiveKit, Jitsi Meet. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

Related entries

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All 16 in Screen recording & video

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