Google Meet is free, works in any browser and shows up in every calendar invite. It also runs through your Google account, and calls aren’t end-to-end encrypted unless an organization pays for Google’s client-side encryption.
Video calls are one of the easiest things to move. There’s no data to migrate, only links to replace. Most people finish in an evening.
Quick Comparison
| Alternative | Best for | Price (Oct 2026) | Encryption | Based in | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton Meet | Meet-style calls with guests | Free (60 min, 50 people); Professional about $7.99/month yearly | End-to-end (MLS) | Switzerland | Not stated |
| Jitsi Meet | Free calls and self-hosting | Free | In transit; optional end-to-end | US (meet.jit.si) or your server | Yes |
| Signal | Family and friends | Free | End-to-end | US non-profit | Yes |
| Element | Groups already on Matrix | Free app; organizations pay per seat | End-to-end | UK | Yes |
| Nextcloud Talk | Organizations with their own server | Free to self-host | End-to-end calls supported | Germany, or your server | Yes |
| Google Meet (for reference) | Calls with Google users | Free (60 min for groups, 100 people) | In transit | US | No |
Which One Fits Your Calls
- Meetings with people outside your circle, such as clients, landlords, a school or a club, need a link anyone can open. Use Proton Meet.
- Weekly calls with family, where everyone has a phone, work best on Signal. If your family already has a Signal group, the call button is right there.
- A community, open-source project or team that chats on Matrix should use Element’s built-in calls. The call lives next to the chat.
- An organization with an IT person can run Jitsi Meet or Nextcloud Talk on its own server, so no outside company handles the calls.
- Online classes need whiteboards, polls and breakout rooms. Look at BigBlueButton, covered on our Google Classroom alternatives page.
The Alternatives, One by One
Proton Meet
Proton Meet comes from Proton, the Swiss company behind Proton Mail. Every account gets a personal meeting room with a permanent link, and you can create extra rooms for different groups. It has apps for the web, iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux, and it connects to Proton Calendar.
- Pick it because it’s the most Meet-like option here. Calls, screen sharing and chat are end-to-end encrypted with Messaging Layer Security (MLS). Guests need no account, and you can even start an instant meeting without one, for yourself and three other people.
- Possible deal-breakers are the free plan’s limits. Calls end at 60 minutes, you can run one meeting at a time, and you can create five new meeting links a day. Recording needs Meet Professional. It’s also the newest service on this list, so test it with your usual group before a call that matters.
- Prices (Oct 2026) start at free. Meet Professional is about $7.99/month billed yearly ($95.88) for 100 people, 24-hour calls and recording. It’s also included in Proton Visionary, and Proton’s Workspace Premium business plan raises calls to 250 people.
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet is the best-known open-source video call app. You can use the free public server at meet.jit.si, run by 8x8, or host your own copy.
- Pick it because it’s free, open source and well tested. On your own server, no outside company sees your calls. Jitsi says a private server can be running in as little as 15 minutes with its Docker setup or quick-install guide.
- A possible deal-breaker is sign-in on meet.jit.si. Since August 2023, whoever creates a room there has to log in with an account. Jitsi launched this with Google, GitHub and Facebook. Everyone else can wait in the room until a moderator joins. If you’re leaving Google, sign in with GitHub, or self-host.
- Encryption works in two layers. All calls are encrypted on the network, but the server removes that outer layer to route the video. End-to-end encryption is an option you turn on per meeting, in browsers that support it. It covers audio, video and screen sharing. Chat and polls stay outside it.
- It runs on the web, iPhone and Android, and there’s a desktop app. Recordings on meet.jit.si go to Dropbox.
Signal Group Calls
If the people you call already use Signal, you don’t need anything else. Group calls are end-to-end encrypted and hold up to 75 people.
- Pick it because it’s free, open source, run by a non-profit and already on many phones. For a call outside a group chat, open the Calls tab, choose Create a Call link and share it. Turn on Require admin approval if you want to let people in one by one. A link expires after 90 days without use.
- Possible deal-breakers are that everyone needs the Signal app, and there’s no way to join from a browser. That rules it out for calls with strangers or customers. You can share your screen from Signal Desktop.
- It costs nothing. See our Google Messages alternatives page for getting family onto Signal.
Element (Matrix)
Element is the main app for Matrix, an open, federated chat network. Its calls feature, Element Call, adds end-to-end encrypted voice and video to one-to-one and group chats.
- Pick it because your community, team or project already chats on Matrix, so the call sits right next to the conversation. Organizations can self-host the free Community edition, which includes Element Call, for up to 100 users.
- A possible deal-breaker is that everyone needs a Matrix account. It’s more to learn than a link-and-go service, and it isn’t the tool for a one-off call with your accountant.
- The app is free. Element’s Enterprise plan is priced per seat, and Element doesn’t publish the price.
Nextcloud Talk
Talk is the chat and video call app inside Nextcloud, the self-hosted file and collaboration platform. It’s fully open source and runs on your own server.
- Pick it because your organization already runs Nextcloud (see Google Drive alternatives). Guests can join public rooms from a link, and Nextcloud says Talk now supports end-to-end encrypted calls in the browser and its desktop app.
- A possible deal-breaker is that webinars, public meetings with a waiting lobby and phone dial-in need Nextcloud’s separate High Performance Backend. Someone has to install and maintain all of it.
What About Zoom or Microsoft Teams?
Both work well and many people already have them. They move you from one large US platform to another, though. Zoom’s free Basic plan stops meetings at 40 minutes with up to 100 participants. Free Microsoft Teams allows group calls of up to 60 minutes with 100 participants. Use them when an employer or client insists, and use the tools above for your own calls.
How to Switch From Google Meet
Save Your Meet Recordings
Only paid Google plans can record, so many people have nothing to save. If you do have recordings, they’re in the Google Drive of whoever organized the meeting. Since July 2026, Google has been moving them into a Google Meet folder, with older ones in Legacy Meet Recordings inside it. Accounts not yet switched still have a Meet Recordings folder.
- Open drive.google.com and find the Google Meet or Meet Recordings folder in My Drive.
- Open the subfolder for each meeting you want to keep, select the recordings and download them. For many recordings at once, export Drive with Google Takeout instead.
- Keep the chat files too, if any. When continuous chat was off, Meet saved the chat in the organizer’s Drive as a .SBV file.
Set up Your New Meeting Link
These steps use Proton Meet. The idea is the same in any service. Get one permanent link for regular calls and create new links for one-off meetings.
- Go to meet.proton.me and sign in with a free Proton account, or create one.
- Open My rooms. Your personal meeting room has a permanent link. Click Copy to share it with people you trust.
- For a separate link per group, such as the book club or the weekly work call, select Create new room, name it and choose Create and copy link.
- For a one-off call, click Create meeting, then Start an instant meeting or Schedule a meeting.
Replace Meet Links in Your Calendar
Every recurring event you organize still carries a Google Meet link. People will keep clicking it until you change it.
- In Google Calendar on a computer, click the gear icon, then Settings, then Event settings. Turn off Automatically add Google Meet video conferences to events I create.
- Open each recurring event you organize. Remove the Google Meet conference, paste your new link into the location or description, and save the change for all events in the series.
- Send regular attendees a short note with the new link, so nobody waits in an empty Meet room.
If you’re moving your calendar as well, do that first and add the new links as you go. Proton Calendar can attach a Proton Meet call to an event. Our Google Calendar alternatives page covers the move.
When People Still Send You Meet Invites
You can keep joining other people’s Meet calls without a Google account. On a computer, open the link, type your name, click Ask to join and wait to be let in. Some workplace and school admins block guests who aren’t signed in. For those calls, use a separate browser profile signed in to the account they require, and keep it away from your personal browsing.
If you keep a Google account for now, turn off Gmail’s smart features. In Gmail’s settings, untick Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet. Our tracking guide walks through it.
To see which other Google services your account still feeds, run our free scan. It works on files you download, and nothing is uploaded.
What You Lose
Partial is fine. You can host your own calls on Proton Meet or Signal and still join Meet when a client sends a link.