Alternatives in real-time video and voice span everything from API-first infrastructure for building embedded experiences to familiar meeting apps optimized for non-technical guests. Some lean hard into telephony and AI agent workflows, while others win on simple browser access, UI kits, or sheer meeting reliability.
Daily.co
Daily.co stands out as a developer platform that treats real-time transport, telephony, and AI-agent plumbing as first-class building blocks. It’s especially compelling when you need PSTN connectivity: you can
buy phone numbers and attach to a Dial-in or Dial-out workflow, or use SIP interconnect to bring your own numbers into Daily.
Daily’s team is also unusually explicit about the operational realities of voice agents—highlighting that
hosting and scaling the voice bot was non-trivial and that latency can hinge on how you place bot servers relative to media and partner infrastructure.
Best for
- AI voice agent teams that need SIP/PSTN workflows (inbound + outbound)
- Builders who want a managed RTC layer but still care deeply about latency engineering
- Products that need enterprise-ready capabilities (compliance, permissions, recordings) alongside programmable APIs
Video SDK
Video SDK positions itself as a “complete platform” for real-time communication: core WebRTC calling plus interactive live streaming, transcription, and telephony integration—aimed at teams that want one vendor for both meetings-style RTC and broadcast-style experiences.
Its biggest differentiator is breadth across platforms and use cases: you can build in-app 1:1 calling, group calls, livestreams with interactivity, and connect telephony via SIP—without stitching together multiple providers. It’s a pragmatic choice when your roadmap includes both “Zoom-like moments” and product-native realtime features.
Best for
- Product teams building embedded RTC (not a standalone meeting tool)
- Apps that need calls + interactive streaming under one roof
- Teams shipping across many surfaces (web/mobile, and potentially gaming/Unity-style environments)
ZEGOCLOUD
ZEGOCLOUD’s calling card is speed: developers consistently highlight the
easy to use pre build ui kits and how quickly you can get a video calling app into a project. The integration story is repeatedly framed as low effort, with reviewers describing
easy to integrate low code.
That “get to a polished experience fast” approach makes ZEGOCLOUD a strong alternative when you want to ship something customer-ready without spending weeks on custom UI and edge-case handling from scratch.
Best for
- Teams that want UI kits to accelerate time-to-market
- MVPs and startups optimizing for low-code integration
- Apps that need a broad RTC feature set (calls, streaming, recording) with minimal assembly work
Whereby
Whereby is built around frictionless joining: browser-first calls with simple room links, plus an Embedded API for integrating video into your product. It’s the kind of tool that fits teams who care as much about guest experience as they do about features.
Best for
- Customer calls where guests shouldn’t install anything
- Platforms that want a simple embedded video room experience
- Teams that value clean UX over deep RTC customization knobs
Zoom
The tradeoff is complexity creep: users note the
interface has become a bit crowded and that important settings are scattered across menus, which can be frustrating when you’re trying to adjust things mid-call.
Best for
- Client-facing meetings with mixed technical ability
- Teams that rely on breakouts + recording for enablement and training
- Organizations that want a familiar, widely adopted default
