Zoom vs BigBlueButton Pricing (2025): Cost Comparison Across 5 Real Scenarios
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Platforms: Zoom vs BigBlueButton(BBB)
Choosing the right platform for your virtual classes is one of the most critical decisions for any educational institution or online learning platform.
Zoom has long been the go-to platform for online meetings and classes, but its per-host pricing can quickly add up when you need multiple concurrent sessions.
BigBlueButton (BBB), a self-hosted open-source solution, scales differently—costs grow with server infrastructure instead of per-user licenses. In this article, we compare Zoom and BigBlueButton side by side, showing realistic monthly cost estimates for 100 to 2000 concurrent users so you can decide which solution delivers the best value for your online teaching or training needs.
But how do their costs stack up in the real world?
The answer isn’t a simple sticker price. It depends entirely on how you use it. In this article, we’ll break down the monthly costs of Zoom vs BigBlueButton solution across several common scenarios to help you make an informed financial decision.
Total registered users on your LMS platform are NOT concurrent users.
Total users logged into your LMS at the same time are NOT concurrent users.
Concurrent Users are the number of users actively participating in a live video session (making requests to the server) at the exact same time.
This number is the single most important factor that will determine the server power you need for BigBlueButton.
The Cost Breakdown: Scenario by Scenario
For our BigBlueButton analysis, we’ll base our costs on a self-hosted solution using a reliable AWS c5a.2xlarge EC2 instance in North Virginia. We’ll also make a smart cost-saving assumption: the server only needs to run during operational hours (e.g., 10 hours a day, 26 days a month), significantly reducing compute costs compared to a 24/7 setup.
BigBlueButton Base Monthly Cost (Single Server):
Compute (260 hours): $80.08
EBS Storage (100GB): $8.00
Snapshots (30GB): $1.50
Application Load Balancer (ALB): $24.24
Base Total (before data transfer): $113.82
Note: Data Transfer Out (DTO) costs will be added, which vary by usage.
The term “Zoom vs BigBlueButton” in this article refers only to a comparison of pricing models. We are not comparing or evaluating features, performance, reliability, or user experience of either platform. For detailed information on features and capabilities, please refer to the official documentation of Zoom and BigBlueButton.
Scenario 1 & 2: Low-Concurrency, Multiple Classes
Zoom Cost:
Zoom’s pricing is tied to the number of hosts who need to run meetings simultaneously.
Scenario 1 (4 classes): 4 Business Licenses x ~$22/license = $88 / month
Scenario 2 (8 classes): 8 Business Licenses x ~$22/license = $176 / month
BigBlueButton Cost:
Since the peak load is 200 users in both cases, a single server is sufficient. The cost is the same for both scenarios.
Low Data Usage (50 GB): $113.82 (base) + $4.50 = ~$118 / month
Medium Data Usage (500 GB): $113.82 (base) + $45.00 = ~$159 / month
High Data Usage (2,000 GB): $113.82 (base) + $180.00 = ~$294 / month
In these scenarios, the total peak load is 200 concurrent users. The only difference is how the classes are structured.
Scenario 1: 4 simultaneous classes of 50 users.
Scenario 2: 8 simultaneous classes of 25 users.
Winner of Round 1 of Zoom vs BigBlueButton?
For a small number of simultaneous classes (around 4), Zoom is slightly more affordable. However, as soon as you need more hosts, BigBlueButton’s single-server cost becomes significantly cheaper.
Scenario 3: Low-Concurrency, Large Classes
Zoom Cost:
Zoom’s pricing is tied to the number of hosts who need to run meetings simultaneously.
- 2 classes: 2 Business Licenses x ~$22/license = $44 / month
BigBlueButton Cost:
The peak load is still 200 users, so the cost is identical to the scenarios above, ranging from ~$118 to ~$294 per month based on data usage.
Parameters: 2 simultaneous meetings of 100 users each (Peak load: 200 concurrent users).
Winner of Round 2 of Zoom vs BigBlueButton?
In a situation with very few, large classes, Zoom is the clear budget-friendly winner.
Scenario 4 & 5: Scaling Up to 1,000 Concurrent Users
Zoom Cost:
The license requirement explodes as the number of simultaneous classes grows.
Scenario 4 (20 classes): 20 Licenses x ~$22/license = $440 / month
Scenario 5 (50 classes): 50 Licenses x ~$22/license = $1,100 / month
BigBlueButton Cost:
To handle 1,000 users, a 5-server cluster with a load balancer is required. The cost is the same for both scenarios as it’s based on peak load, not class structure.
Compute, Storage, Data (5 servers): ~$672.50
Load Balancer Overhead: ~$24.00
Total Estimated Cost: ~$696.50 / month
Here’s where the financial models really start to diverge. Let’s examine a peak load of 1,000 concurrent users split into different class sizes. This requires a clustered, multi-server setup for BigBlueButton.
Scenario 4: 20 simultaneous classes of 50 users.
Scenario 5: 50 simultaneous classes of 20 users.
Winner of Round 2 of Zoom vs BigBlueButton?
At the 1,000-user scale, the tables turn dramatically. For 20 simultaneous classes, Zoom is still cheaper. But for 50 classes, BigBlueButton is significantly more cost-effective, saving over $400 per month.
Final Verdict for Zoom vs BigBlueButton: Which Platform is Right for You?
Zoom
Pros:
Simplicity: The monthly subscription costs are straightforward and predictable.
Zero Maintenance: No need to worry about managing servers, updates, or cloud resources. It just works.
Cons:
Expensive at Scale: The cost scales linearly with the number of hosts. It can become prohibitively expensive if you need 40-50 or more simultaneous classes.
Limited Control: You are dependent on Zoom’s infrastructure and have less control over data compliance and customization.
BigBlueButton (Self-Hosted)
Pros:
Massive Savings at Scale: Extremely cost-effective when you need to run a high number of simultaneous classes.
Full Control & Data Compliance: You own the server and the data, making it a great option for institutions with strict data privacy requirements.
Customizable: As an open-source platform, it can be deeply integrated into your Learning Management System (LMS).
Cons:
Higher Initial Cost: Can be more expensive for a small number of classes.
Requires Technical Expertise: You need a dedicated DevOps professional or a knowledgeable team to set up, manage, and maintain the cloud infrastructure. This hidden operational cost is crucial to consider.
