Most of the new live video SDKs are leveraging WebRTC technology and its popularity these days. The reason why WebRTC is preferred is that it allows for an interactive user experience. However, these same SDKs can also have their limitations which developers need to be aware of at the onset. This can help them avoid some headaches down the road if they choose to use WebRTC-based SDKs frequently.
I have worked with live video SDKs such as Agora, Twilio, and Zoom and each of these comes with functionalities and features that may differ from one another. All of these SDKs can be integrated into an app just by adding a few lines of code so which makes everything easier for a developer.
All of these SDKs can be compared based on their feature-set as well as how they function. That’s my goal with this post. While I will be brief with my comparisons, if you want to read a really in-depth comparison, I suggest you take a look at this comparison over at 100ms Blog where they compare a lot of these CPaaS companies and they go deep - Agora vs Twilio vs Jitsi vs Zoom vs 100ms.
Agora.io
- Agora SDK can be integrated into an app built for iOS, Android, Web, macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- UIKit libraries allow developers to create and embed a live video UI just with a few lines of code.
- Agora has its own SD-RTN which is an acronym for Software Defined Real-time Network. This is a network of over 250 data centers that Agora uses for all its product availability.
- Agora has an Extensions Marketplace where you can find extensions you can integrate with a live video app you create with the service.
- Agora allows your app to have up to 17 hosts and 10,000 participants which also includes the hosts.
Twilio
- You can go beyond live video use cases and use their Communications API to implement messaging, video conversations, and voice chats into any UI.
- Apart from live video, you can also use Twilio and its API to generate virtual phone numbers, SIP trunking, and also messaging.
- Unlike other services and products, Twilio’s live video SDK can only be integrated with apps built for iOS, Android, and Web. No support for native Windows or macOS apps or any other platforms and frameworks such as React Native or Flutter.
- Twilio can allow you to have 50 hosts and a total of 50 participants which also includes the hosts.
Zoom Meetings SDK
Zoom’s video conferencing SDK can be integrated with the Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and React Native apps.
The Zoom Video SDK can be customized to its full extent and developers can modify the UI as per their requirements.
Zoom can have up to 300 hosts and a maximum of 1000 participants which also includes the hosts.
Signing off
This was a pretty brief comparison for these services and make sure to check out the hyperlinked post in order to read an in-depth comparison.
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