The Best 6 Free and Open Source Webinar Software Solutions

The Best 6 Free and Open Source Webinar Software Solutions

Webinars connect users to their audiences in a powerful way. Instantly, users tailor their messages to individual preferences. Holding the audience via the internet is a must to run a business, website, or blog as it allows communicating with the participants effectively. Webinars help users and participants to interact instantly, respond, and conduct a session seamlessly. After webinars, the live Q&A sessions elucidate and personalize the said messages.

You can conveniently schedule online meetings or conferences as per your requirement if your best webinar software is appropriate. If you work remotely, then it costs a lot to hold recurrent proceedings.

The best way is to make use of free and open source webinar software that provides you ample opportunity to team up with your colleagues, host training events virtually, without hefty monthly fees.

Below, you can find the list of the best free and open source webinar software that can make your online webinars useful.

But before that, let’s have a basic understanding of the Webinar and Webinar Presentation Software solutions.

What is a Webinar?

An online meeting or presentation in real-time via the internet is known as a webinar.

Across the world, individuals get connected with viewers through this online event.

Features of Webinars ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Interactive Ability to discuss Send and receive information Multidirectional conference Download and watch videos & presentations Text chat Digital board Polls & Surveys Desktop sharing Recording broadcasts

Webinars are also known as web events, webcasts, web lectures, virtual events, and online seminars.

The Market for Webinars

The webinar market is enjoying strong annual growth as they are considered adequate and can produce significant cost savings. The webinars are engaging as they are personal, live, and interactive. Year on year the average viewing time for webinars is increasing as it helps the participants to learn and understand more quickly.

What is a Webinar software?

Participants can share audio, documents, and applications with webinar attendees by making use of one of the best webinar platforms. While speaking, the presenter can share desktop applications and documents through software for webinar. It offers video file sharing, live chat for attendees, screen sharing, support for multiple presenters, option of pre-recorded video and conference, calendar scheduling, and invites. You will find live Q&A tools, feedback forms, and polls.

Key Features of Webinar

How to use a webinar software solution?

In modern business and communication, webinars are powerful tools that open significant opportunities. The free webinar tools can be used in education, training, promotion of the business, and discussion. ● Education - The educator does not have to spend time and money on travel to get in touch with the broader audience of students. Quietly sitting at home or from anywhere else, the participants can tune into the webinar. ● Business - Almost all types of companies use webinars to train and empower their employees. In marketing, webinars are beneficial. If you showcase the product in an online meeting, then it will draw more attention as video content is more engaging. It helps in building brand authority and trust. Moreover, businesses can improve search engine rankings and can generate more leads.

It works as an educational tool. You can give maximum visibility to your product by making use of webinars. ● Discussion - You can build long-term personal relationships with the customers. You can demo your product in real-time and can answer questions and follow up. It shows that you care a lot. ● Training- You can train the members of the organizations through web conferencing technology that will allow companies to save money and time in travel expenses. Furthermore, webinars can offer a collaborative environment where you can keep everyone on the same page and engage effortlessly. It will help you in the presentation of products, software training courses, meetings, online interviews with multiple people, and press conferences.

Why are webinars important for every business?

Webinars are valuable for every business as it can deliver tremendous value. Without selling hard, you can make sales. You can speed up your sales process and get an ROI faster. ● It keeps the audience engaged. You can invite guests to your webinar that helps in leveraging the audience. Attracting affiliates with a proven-to-convert webinar is easy. From anywhere in the world, you can communicate with hundreds of people. ● It is powerful as it helps in lead generation, sales, and training. You can have direct contact with your target group and can reach them both live and afterward. It saves time and money and helps in maintaining interaction with your target group. ● The open source webinar applications are convenient to use. They can help with your promotions and can establish your credibility without burning your pockets. ● On training and education, webinars have vast applications. It can create and increase brand awareness that helps in building a bigger audience and contact list. These cost-effective solutions will make your business task stress-free and prolific.

How to choose the best Webinar software?

In the market, you will come across different versions of software for webinar – commercial, free, freemium, cloud, and open source. ● Commercial webinar software - The software or program that is designed for licensing or sale to end-users. It serves the business purpose. ● Free webinar software- In the free webinar software, you can create a free account and can host your webinar. ● Freemium webinar software- The business owners or service providers allow the user to use the basic features of a service or product at free of charge but for a limited period. ● Open source- It allows to host virtual training events, work together with colleagues, and provide learners personalized support without any hefty monthly fees. ● Cloud-based webinar software – this type of software provides security, mobility, flexibility, insight, quality control, sustainability, and cost savings.

The free and open source webinar software provides lots of options for your business. Let’s discuss regarding the free and open source webinar software in detail.

The Best 6 Free And Open Source Webinar Software Comparison Chart

The Best 6 Free And Open Source Webinar Software 1 BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton is one of the best open source webinar software that centers on modularity, utility, and clean design both for the developers and users. It is hosted at Google Code and encompasses more than fourteen different open source components. It is flexible and scalable, that you will find it easy to use.

This free webinar tool is built for higher education. It enables universities and colleges to deliver a high-quality learning experience to the students staying in remote areas. You will find it perfect for virtual learning. It facilitates online video meetings. Enjoy this efficient conferencing tool for your external clients.

(Source: BigBlueButton)

Key features: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Parent/Student Portal Real-time sharing of audio, video Built into learning Management systems Meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards Commercial support and hosting Existing integrations to seamless access eLearning moderators control the audio tools Ideas from online learners and collaborators Annotation tools Integrated whiteboard to zoom in Highlight key concepts Direct notes on virtual presentation

2 Apache OpenMeetings

Apache OpenMeetings is considered one of the most popular open source webinar conferencing software tools that are hosted on an own user server. The number of users can participate in this session as there is no limit on it. It can handle user load as its scale is dependent on your servers. This free browser-based software lets you set up a conference on the web instantly.

For remoting and streaming, it makes use of the API functions of Media Server.

OpenMeetings is a project of Apache that is the old project website at GoogleCode.

The only place that receives updates is the website at Apache. The version 5.0.0-M1 is released that provides WebRTC audio/video/screen sharing in the room.

(Source: OpenMeetings)

Key features: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Instant messaging Document sharing and editing Webcam and recording support Microphone and screen sharing Red5 streaming server Multi-Whiteboard and chat

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Server-side technology Audio and Video Conferencing Meeting recording and screen sharing File explorer Moderating System User and room management Private message center Plan meetings with integrated calendar Polls and Votes Backup

3 Mikogo

Mikogo is the free webinar software solution that assists you in carrying out the tremendous online meeting or web conference with its full-fledged features. While sitting at your desk, you can share any screen content or application over the internet. With up to 10 participants, you can take advantage of this opportunity in real color quality.

This free screen sharing solution is intended to simplify web conferencing and online meetings. It offers a wide range of interactive tools along with exclusive features.

Simultaneously 25 people can share the screen content. Both the host and attendees will see the same screen. It incorporates the award-winning HTML viewer. Within a web browser on any computer or mobile device, this HTML viewer allows participants to join. You will find Mikogo free remote access software handy for small phone conferences.

(Source: Mikogo)

Key features: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Switch Presenter Screen sharing Remote Control Mobile apps Cross-Platform Voice & Video Conferencing Session Scheduler Session Recording File Transfer & chat Profile Manager Application Selection & multi-monitor

4 Yugma

Here comes the leading provider of SaaS web conferencing solutions-Yugma.

Whatever you require, you will find in this free webinar software. For Mac, Windows, and Linux it includes online meetings and web collaboration services. This open source webinar conferencing software is ideal for businesses, online communities, and education as it is easy, secure, and interactive-to-use.

You can use this software in webinar hosting, training sessions, and product demonstrations. It is quite easy and quick to get started with Yugma. Its scalable technology makes hosting a 500 person attendee conference as accessible as hosting a 1-to-1 conference. Due to the flexibility and ease of use, you can effortlessly join and participate in this webinar software. In your business meetings, you will enjoy both speed and reliability.

(Source: Yugma)

Key features: ● ● ● ●

Chatting Skype Integration Annotation Tools Desktop and Application Sharing

● Widget customization ● Meeting recording & playback

5 MConf

MConf is the open source webinar software built on top of BigBlueButton. It is fully customized. To boost online attendance rates, you can share documents, communicate with other team members, and schedule events. Mconf-Live, Mconf-web, and Mconf-mobile are the components of M-conf.

The Mconf-Live is installed on the Windows platform. The new version of Mconf-Live – Mconf-Live 0.3 introduces two new features. One is a network monitor, and the other is a new kind of participant that visualizes the conference. The Mconf-web is a web portal where people can work together asynchronously, plan, and participate in web conferences. The Mconf-mobile was started as a native Android application by the Mconf mobile client. It is the old version as a new application was developed that supports both Android and iOS.

(Source: MConf)

Key features

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mconf-web Electronic hand raising Real-time Chat Presentation streaming Record & playback ability Guest feature Controlled moderator

6 Jitsi

Jitsi is a multi-platform open source video conferencing software. It is considered one of the best webinar platforms. On all operating systems, along with Mac and Linux, it runs smoothly. Their site provides an extensive FAQ that includes many valuable topics. If anyone is new to the world of online video conferencing, then this unique benefit will undoubtedly help. On iOS and Android Jitsi Meet apps, this open source webinar conference software offers mobile capabilities.

The customized URLs will allow you to transfer files and send professional webinars and video conferencing invites to your attendees. It holds an active support community. Its integration includes Google Hangouts, Microsoft Outlook, and Facebook. If you are looking for a high-quality broadcasting solution, then this software is apt for any conference or event firm. It concentrates on video conferencing capabilities and security features that include echo cancellation, encrypted passwords/ messages, and noise suppression. The software is best suitable for larger groups.

(Source: Jitsi)

Key features ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

HD audio with Opus Full security encryption Desktop sharing Integrated chat support Media library Video relaying Mobile access Record and share meeting File exploring & sharing Moderating system User and room management

● Private instant messaging ● Mobile access

JetWebinar, ClickMeeting, Readytalk, ON24 are some of the popular webinar conference software solutions that are available in the market. These days, WebinarNinja is also gaining more popularity under this category. Have a look at some of the key benefits of this software.

WebinarNinja

If you are looking for an all-in-one webinar solution, then WebinarNinja will meet your expectations. In a short time, it helps you to design and process a webinar. For hosting interactive webinars and online events, this app is considered a handy tool. It is a powerful webinar for training and coaching.

You can access the options to customize the various webinar pages with the help of the integrated editor. The automated email feature facilitates users to send the registration, reminders, and confirmation instantly without any hassle.

You can effortlessly create, customize registration pages and email notifications.

The attendees can run live, automated, series, or hybrid webinars. With the automatic recording and archiving, you can view statistics, send follow-up emails, and offer a replay after your webinar.

(Source: WebinarNinja)

Key Features: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Video Conferencing Audio Calls and chat Scheduling Screen sharing Alerts/Notifications Social Media Promotion Live Chat system Event Management Mobile friendly Multi-presenter

Wrapping up

It is essential to choose the best free webinar software as per the requirement of your business proceedings. By picking the best free online webinar software, you can generate interest in your product or service. If your webinar tool is appropriate, then you can hold your audience and can create a meaningful connection with the webinar participants.

The list of top-quality open source and free webinar software will save time and money and allow you to interact with your target group without any difficulty.

I hope this piece of writing has made you familiar with the basic features of open source webinar applications. If you have come across any of the webinar software as mentioned above, then feel free to share your valuable views and feedback on the same.

If you are looking for other applications for other business sectors, just browse all software categories and find a perfect solutions compatible with your needs.