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BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton · Ottawa, Ontario, Canada · founded 2007
What it is
BigBlueButton is a free, open-source virtual classroom for teaching, office hours, and group collaboration. Its classroom tools include document uploads, an interactive whiteboard, breakout rooms, chat, polls, shared notes, hand raising, webcam video, and screen sharing. Classes can be recorded, and the platform supports up to 200 participants. Instructors can use the Learning Analytics Dashboard to review attendance, participation, and poll responses. BigBlueButton integrates with learning platforms such as Moodle, Canvas, Schoology, Open edX, and Sakai, among others. Its API lets applications create, join, and end meetings, manage recordings, insert documents, and perform other meeting actions. Web, iOS, Android, Linux, and self-hosted options are listed. Organizations hosting it themselves are advised to use a dedicated Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit server with specified memory, CPU, disk, and network requirements. Security measures described include HTTPS, API checksum validation, and encryption for real-time media, but the company says it cannot guarantee absolute security. Permanent sessions that retain slides and chat after users leave are not supported.
For and against
For
- Free and open-source.
- Supports up to 200 participants.
- Includes recording, breakout rooms, and screen sharing.
- Dashboard reports attendance, participation, and poll responses.
- Integrates with several learning platforms.
Against
- Permanent sessions preserving slides and chat are unsupported.
- Self-hosting calls for a dedicated Ubuntu server.
- Absolute security cannot be guaranteed.
The verdict
BigBlueButton brings classroom interaction, recordings, and learning analytics into a free open-source platform. Organizations considering self-hosting should account for its dedicated-server recommendations and session-persistence limitation.
Who it suits
BigBlueButton is intended for K–12 schools, higher education, and government, as well as online teaching, office hours, and group collaboration. Self-hosting may suit organizations able to provide the recommended dedicated server.
On the record
- API
- Its API lets applications create, join and end meetings, manage recordings, insert documents and perform other meeting actions.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Breakout rooms
- Yesbigbluebutton.org · read 20 Sep 2026
- Deployment
- The maker’s installation guide supports self-hosting on a dedicated Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit Linux server and recommends production resources including 16 GB memory and 8 CPU cores.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Integrations
- The product lists integrations with learning platforms including Moodle, Canvas, Schoology, Open edX and Sakai.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Intended users
- The maker says BigBlueButton is designed for K–12 schools, higher education, and government as well as online teaching, office hours, and group collaboration.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Learning analytics
- The Learning Analytics Dashboard helps instructors see attendance, participation and responses to polls.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Max participants
- 200bigbluebutton.org · read 20 Sep 2026
- Open source
- The project says BigBlueButton is completely open source and developed by an international community.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Origin
- BigBlueButton was developed through Carleton University’s Technology Innovation Management program in Ottawa and launched externally in 2007.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Privacy
- BigBlueButton Inc. says it takes reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect personal information, while acknowledging it cannot eliminate all security risks.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Privacy limitation
- BigBlueButton says it takes reasonable measures to protect personal information but cannot guarantee absolute security.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Purpose
- BigBlueButton is an open-source virtual classroom designed to help teachers teach and learners learn.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Meeting recording
- Yesbigbluebutton.org · read 20 Sep 2026
- Screen sharing
- Yesbigbluebutton.org · read 20 Sep 2026
- Security
- The documentation describes HTTPS connections, checksum validation for API requests, and DTLS and SRTP encryption for real-time media.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Self-hosting
- The installation guide recommends a dedicated Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit Linux server for production installation.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Server requirements
- The production recommendations include 16 GB memory, 8 CPU cores and 500 GB of free disk space, or 50 GB when server-side session recording is disabled.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Session persistence
- The server does not support permanent sessions where users can leave and return later with slides and chat messages preserved.docs.bigbluebutton.org · read 30 Sep 2026
