What is Galène used for?

Galène is a lightweight videoconferencing server written in Go that is easy to deploy and needs only modest server resources. It is a good fit for running private video meetings for a small organization, hosting online classes on modest hardware and embedding conferencing into a custom client.

Is Galène open source?

Yes. Galène is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at jech/galene and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Galène is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Galène?

Yes. Galène can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Galène an alternative to?

Galène is an open-source alternative to Zoom, Whereby, Google Meet and Webex. Other open-source alternatives to Zoom include Jitsi Meet, La Suite Meet and plugNmeet.

Is Galène actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Galène was on 25 September 2026. The project has 1.4k stars on GitHub.

Galène: open-source alternative to Zoom, Whereby

About Galène

Galene is a videoconferencing system that aims to be easy to deploy and to run on very moderate server resources. It is a WebRTC-based SFU, meaning the server forwards participants' media streams to each other instead of mixing them, which keeps CPU use low while supporting group calls from a web browser.

Beyond video calls it supports file sharing, as its topics indicate, and ships with documentation covering installation, usage and administration, writing clients, the client protocol and an administrative API. People join through a browser, and the quick start explains how to try it locally with a self-signed certificate. Questions and common issues are answered on the project website.

Galene is written in Go by Juliusz Chroboczek and is licensed under MIT. You run it on your own server, which suits universities, small organizations and groups that want a private conferencing system without a large infrastructure. Discussion and patches go through a mailing list, though pull requests on GitHub are also accepted.

Key features

Browser-based group video calls
WebRTC selective forwarding unit
Low server resource requirements
File sharing between participants
Administrative API
Documentation for custom clients

Good fit for

→Running private video meetings for a small organization
→Hosting online classes on modest hardware
→Embedding conferencing into a custom client

Built with: Go
Tags: videoconferencing; webrtc; sfu; self-hosted; go; video-chat; file-sharing; lightweight

Galène: questions and answers

What is Galène used for?: Galène is a lightweight videoconferencing server written in Go that is easy to deploy and needs only modest server resources. It is a good fit for running private video meetings for a small organization, hosting online classes on modest hardware and embedding conferencing into a custom client.
Is Galène open source?: Yes. Galène is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at jech/galene and is written mainly in Go.
Is Galène free?: Yes. Galène is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Galène?: Yes. Galène can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Galène an alternative to?: Galène is an open-source alternative to Zoom, Whereby, Google Meet and Webex. Other open-source alternatives to Zoom include Jitsi Meet, La Suite Meet and plugNmeet.
Is Galène actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Galène was on 25 September 2026. The project has 1.4k stars on GitHub.