How is plugNmeet different from BigBlueButton, and can I switch?
Both are open-source virtual classrooms that run in the browser and integrate with Moodle and other learning platforms. Disclosure: plugNmeet is maintained by MynaParrot. Here are the factual differences, taken from each project's documentation:
| BigBlueButton | plugNmeet | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | LGPL v3 | MIT |
| Media server | Its own stack, built on FreeSWITCH and other open-source components | LiveKit |
| Recordings | Interactive HTML5 playback by default; single video file is an optional format | MP4 |
| Live streaming to YouTube etc. | Not built in (long-standing open request) | Built in (RTMP) |
| Encryption | In transit (TLS, DTLS-SRTP) | In transit; optional end-to-end encryption |
| AI captions/translation | Browser-based live captions | AI captions, translation, transcripts, summaries |
| Moodle | Standard activity in Moodle core | Separate plugin (mod_plugnmeet), plus LTI |
| Maturity | Large community, many years of use in education | Younger project, smaller community |
Where BigBlueButton is strong: it is built into Moodle, has many years of use in education, extensive documentation and a large community, and many hosting options.
Where plugNmeet differs: MP4 recordings, built-in streaming, optional E2EE, AI features and a permissive licence.
Switching: plugNmeet provides a BigBlueButton-compatible API. In many cases you keep the BigBlueButton activity in Moodle (or another platform's BBB integration) and point it to plugNmeet by changing the server URL and shared secret. Things to check before switching: existing recordings stay on the old server, some BBB-specific features or API parameters may behave differently, and teachers will see a different interface. Run a pilot with one course first.
Last reviewed: 19 Oct 2026