Building from scratch can be a painful and rewarding experience, but why build from scratch when you can get the same result with a lower investment and less time? Yes, that’s when video call API or SDKs comes in.
A video chat application programming interface (API) is a prepackaged module that executes a collection of functions that are important. For instance, it might have the primary functionality (the actual act of video calling) or it could include additional features (e.g. background replacement, voice effects, etc.).
It is usual practice to employ them in order to save initial expenditure and time needed to bring a product to market. Creating the same technology from scratch requires a lot of time and money.
In comparison, the license payments for video chat software development kits (SDKs) are relatively modest, and it takes less than a week, and even less time than that, to integrate one.
Top 5 Video Chat APIs for iOS, Android, and Web
Searching for video call SDKs on Google or any other search engine is going to return a dozen lists of video chat APIs, ranging from free video call APIs to paid ones. The question now becomes, “which one should I choose out of these?” I’ll offer a comprehensive ranking of the top 5 video chat APIs in 2023.
Below is a short list of the best APIs for video chat:
1. ZEGOCLOUD
ZEGOCLOUD provides free video chat APIs for building engaging, real-time video chat experiences in your apps. Begin with four lines of code to enable enriched interactions with additional features.
It allows you to create the exact communication features your users require to connect, share, and interact with one another at any time and from any location. A rich set of add-ons, including emotionally responsive avatars, AI-powered video effects, whiteboards, and more, will liven up interactions and elevate the vibes of your users.
Get started with ZEGOCLOUD today and take advantage of our 10,000 free minutes to build your real-time video and audio applications.
Features:
- HD audio and video
- Impressive video and audio filters
- Enterprise-grade security
- Animations and virtual video backgrounds
- Detailed and easy-to-understand documentation.
- Integrate SDK and API in minutes
- Video and audio call analytics
Pricing: ZEGOCLOUD offers 10,000 free minutes. After that, pricing starts at $0.99/1000 participant minutes. A free version is available as well.
2. Agora
Agora video chat API can add fun features like AR facial masks and sound effects to social apps. Business and education apps, on the other hand, can benefit from screen sharing, whiteboards, and other features. Agora’s advanced in-house algorithms offer adaptive resolution ranging from 96p to 1080p, ensuring better video quality for your app users while using less bandwidth. It uses adaptive video resolution based on the user’s network conditions to provide the best possible user experience to each person on the call—free of stutters, jitters, or lag—even in the most difficult network conditions.
Features:
- Effects on the voice
- Noise cancellation powered by AI
- Visual filters and custom masks
- Supplemental Enhancement Information for HD Video
Pricing: Agora starts at $0.99 /1,000 participant minutes. A free trial is available as well.
3. Twilio
Twilio video chat APIs and SDKs, which work across all major browsers and devices, allow users to create custom video chat experiences with custom layouts and virtual backgrounds. Twilio provides quality control tools for developers such as the Network Quality API, which monitors network performance, and the Network Bandwidth Profile API, which prioritizes video track bandwidth across participants. Twilio’s application programming interface (API) provides a dependable video conferencing interface that can scale along with the growing user base of your app because it is built on top of enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure.
Features:
- Virtual backdrops
- API for recording rules (select whom to record)
- Analytics for video
- HD video support with a customizable user interface
- GDPR adherence
Pricing: begins at $0.0015 per participant, per minute. There is a no-cost option.
4. Cometchat
From text messaging to group video chats, Cometchat supports a wide range of online communication methods. Its SDKs work with both web-based and mobile video chat apps. With best-in-class documentation, detailed tutorials, and demo apps for every platform, adding voice and video calling for one-on-one and groups to your app is easier than ever.
Features:
- Real-time text translation
- Customizable User Interface
- Whiteboards for collaboration
- Automatic scaling based on user count
- Call tracking analytics
- Compliant with HIPAA
Pricing: starts at $139/month. There is a no-cost option.
5. Apphitect
Apphitect is a top provider of video chat and telepresence solutions for businesses of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses to large corporations. Its API for video chat can be changed in any way to fit the needs of any chat app. The video calling solution gives you multiple ways to talk, like one-on-one video calling, group video calling, and video and audio conferencing, so you can scale your business meetings, webinars, presentations, and other virtual communication needs.
Features:
- HD voice and video quality on just about any WiFi/3G/WiMax/LTE device
- Advanced video quality adaptation to network flaws
- Media server with scalability
- A video conference can have up to 100 interactive video participants.
Pricing: on demand.
Conclusion
Video chat APIs remains the fastest and easiest way to build real-time video and audio application. There are numerous options available out there, you can always try out our 10,000 minutes to get your idea to life.
The ZEGOCLOUD SDK/API is completely customizable and simple to integrate. They also provide prebuilt UI kits to help you create engaging video and audio call apps in the shortest amount of time possible rather than starting from scratch.
