Searching for the best video calling APIs and SDKs?
Spend 5 minutes with this list and you’ll know exactly which one to choose.
In this article, we’ve covered the 10 Best Embed Video Calling APIs and SDKs that developers prefer to use in their web and mobile apps.
Without any further ado, let’s get started!
Embed Video Calling APIs & SDKs: What Are They?
Not everyone loves to write code.
Some do, but they do not have the time.
If you belong to any of these above-mentioned categories, pre-built APIs and SDKs would be a game-changer right at this moment.
So, what are APIs and SDKs, especially when building a video calling feature in an app?
Here’s what you need to know:
A Video Calling API (Application Programming Interface) are pre-written codes (referred to as a software) that contain protocols, libraries and tools to add video calling functionalities and features into web and mobile apps.
A Video Calling SDK (Software Development Kit) is a complete set as the name indicates. It contains APIs, compiler, debugger, and software framework, typically everything you need to create a full video calling app or just integrate a video conferencing API into a website or apps.
APIs and SDKs altogether make the building blocks of a video calling app, if businesses prefer to purchase pre-written codes to build their apps, rather than writing it all by themselves. In most cases, these solutions are built to flexibly work on iOS, Android, web and desktop platforms and can run on any technology like JavaScript, React Native, Flutter, Android and Swift.
Although these solutions are built by a third-party vendor, businesses prefer them for quick development while achieving peak performance and quality of video calls, that’s sometimes not possible to meet even when built in-house.
If you are still not sure if you have to go with an embed video conference API or a SDK, here is a quick list of the benefits they could possibly offer to your platform.
Benefits of Using a Embed Video Chat SDK
We are going to list out the benefits of embedding video chat. But first, let’s talk about the challenges of building a video calling feature from scratch. This will give an understanding of why APIs and SDKs became so popular among businesses and turned out to be a great tool for developers:
- Huge capital investment on infrastructure and bandwidth
- Complex project management
- Heavy spend on implementing security protocols
- Compliance and industry regulatory challenges
- Flexibility of customisation
- Performance issues on self-managed servers
- Development and maintenance costs
- Risk of data leaks
Now, all of this heavy-lifting is transferred to the providers who have professional teams and experts to handle them all pitch perfect. All you’ll need to do is pick the features you need, purchase the SDK and API, embed into your app (or hire a dedicated developer for the SDK integration), and go live within minutes.
Clearly, you’ll overcome almost all the shortcomings of building from scratch and here’s how you’ll benefit from using APIs and SDKs:
- Full Customization: The foremost concern of any business is worrying if APIs can be customized as much as when building from scratch. The good news is – Yes! Providers like MirrorFly and Apphitect are well-known to offer 100% customisable video calling APIs and SDKs. You can add, remove or modify any features and make the video calling perfectly align with your business workflow.
- Budget-friendly [Startups to Enterprises]: Assume we have 2 teams. Team A is planning to build a video calling app from scratch for Client A. Team B is planning to embed a video conferencing API for the development of Client B.
Both clients have the same requirements:
- Platform: Web + Mobile (Android/iOS)
- Users: 10000 MAUs
- Usage: 20 minutes of video calling per user/month
- Duration: 1 year
This is the quotation the teams will produce:
Sample Quotation [Team A vs Team B]
| Criteria | Team A | Team B |
|---|---|---|
| Method of Development | From Scratch | Using API |
| Initial Development | $100000 (team of 4-6 for 6+ months) | $3000 (integration + basic UI customizations) |
| Time to Market | 6 – 9 months | 10 mins – 3 weeks |
| Infrastructure Setup | $5000 (signaling servers, TURN/STUN setup) | $0 (included with provider) |
| Backend & DevOps | $15000 (setup + ongoing for 12 months) | $0 – $1000/year (if using provider’s backend & infra) |
| Video Call Usage Cost | $10000/year (self-hosted bandwidth, scaling infra) | $2400/year (10K users × 20 min × $0.01/min) |
| Ongoing Maintenance | $25000/year (updates, bugs, new features) | $0 – $5000/year (minor updates or subscription) |
| Security & Compliance | $5000 – $15000 (HIPAA/GDPR audit, encryption) | $0 – $2000 (included or add-on) |
| Total Yearly Cost | $160000 – $170000 | $5000 – $10000 |
This example quotation says a lot about the pattern of spend you’ll make when and when not using APIs for your video calling app.
- Launch Quicker
APIs and SDKs are ready-made softwares. All you need to do is just plug and play with them. Evidently, building a video calling app from scratch will take a minimum of 6 months whereas an API integration can be done and dusted in your coffee break.
- Uncompromising Quality & Performance
A video call with lags and jitter is not a call, it is a waste of time. With pre-built APIs and SDKs you secure the sessions with adaptive bit rate.
Whether it is a rainy day or a slow internet at the ISPs, users will get to enjoy video calls without any interruptions or delays, as the APIs will check for the perfect bandwidth and quality to connect the calls on. Honestly, it’s all taken care of!
- Super-scalable
Even if an user’s webinar has an unexpected increase in the guest count of over 100-500 more participants, APIs can handle them better than manually developed apps.
They are built for scalability!
- Works on all devices
By the time you complete writing codes for the web and start with Android, a platform built on APIs could already be handling their 100th video call. APIs are generally built to be compatible with all the devices and platforms.
- Security and Compliance
It takes almost a combined total of 25 – 75 hours to implement basic encryptions and would cost somewhere around $1200 – $3800. This is a straight-forward process but doing it wrong can expose vulnerabilities to your platform.
On the other hand, implementing HIPAA and GDPR are mandatory for most apps and you’ll need logging, access control and key rotation, which might be a bit complex to set up.
Instead, an API comes with it all built-in and compatible. Plus, providers like MirrorFly and Apphitect allow you to customise the security features and are flexible to adapt region-specific compliances.
- Maintenance is taken care of
There’s a whole team working round the clock to make sure your video calls are up and running all the time. They make necessary iterations and upgrades when needed to keep the performance of your platform at its best.
No, the list of benefits is not this short! There are a lot more we could write on. But this glimpse captures the best of the advantages and that sums up how rich the experience of your users will be when you build with an embedded video conferencing SDK or API.
Key Features In A Video Conferencing API
The features in a video calling APIs can be classified based on their functionalities. In this section, we will list out the capabilities under the main feature for better understanding.
- Call & Video: One-to-one/ group video calls, one-to-one/ group voice calls, join via meeting link, mute/unmute, call logs, missed call alerts, speaking indicators, SIP/VoIP support, screen sharing.
- Messaging: 1:1 and group real-time messaging, messaging status, read receipts, typing indicators, starred/archived messages, pinned chats, mentions, chat history, chat export, email chat transcript, delete/edit messages, and mute/unmute user.
- Media: File/media sharing, location sharing, voice notes, message reactions/emojis, custom metadata/tags, and chat backup/restore.
- Advanced Engagement Features: Live streaming, whiteboard, live transcription, polls & Q&A, activity feeds, visual filters, virtual backgrounds, and real-time translation.
- Collaboration Tools: Threaded conversations, shared whiteboards, co-annotation, file co-browsing, group scheduling, and meeting room links.
- Notifications & Presence Indicators: Presence indicators (online/offline), push & VoIP notifications, message delivery indicators, unread count, and last seen.
- Security & Compliance: End-to-end encryption, message encryption, media encryption, user or chat moderation, block/ban users or groups, compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, profanity filters, and message auditing.
- AI Capabilities: Chatbot integration, AI agents, ChatGPT support, automated replies, and moderation bots.
- Analytics & Tracking: Real-time analytics, user reports, call stats, quality metrics, and chat activity tracking.
- User Management Tools: User authentication & authorisation, roles & permissions, create/delete groups, add/remove users, make admin, and update user/device info.
These are the tools you’ll need to build modern meeting apps with a reliable embed video chat API/ SDK. Use the extensive list of video calling features in this collective and make a checklist to see if the provider you shortlist has these features, so your app users will not be left behind in having a great virtual meeting experience.
Alright, it’s time to get into the main section of this article.
10 Best Embed Video Calling API & SDK Providers
The 10 Best Embed Video calling APIs are MirrorFly, Apphitect, Agora, GoogleMeetAPI, AmazonChime, ZoomVideoSDK, VonagevideoAPI, JitsiMeetAPI, Sinch & DyteAPI.
This section discusses 10 different video chat API and SDK providers, their features, pros and cons to help you pick a suitable partner for building video calling into your app. Please note that the review is not in any particular order and all of the 10 providers listed here are our careful hand-picks.
Let’s get started!
1. MirrorFly
MirrorFly is a CPaaS leader for over 17+ years offering real-time communication solutions including video calling, voice and instant messaging. This product by CONTUS TECH has been at the top of almost all the lists as it is the only solution offering complete customisation, while supporting self-managed hosting, besides hosting on its own infrastructure.
The security of the video solution can also be customised above the encryption layers and region-specific compliances supported by the provider.
2. Apphitect
This white-label video SDK is also a product of CONTUS TECH, supporting 1000s of video capabilities and 100s of third-party integration. The solution is designed for quickly embedding video calling into apps with the overall integration time ranging from 10 mins to 48 hrs.
If you do not have a team to back the video conferencing integration, you can hire a dedicated team of experts from the provider who’ll take care of embedding the video solution, along with security and maintenance of the complete infrastructure.
3. Agora
If you are looking for a video solution with no-code and full-code development workflow, Agora might be suitable for your requirements. This flexible video API can be embedded into any app and can be hosted across Agora’s global infrastructure seamlessly.
4. Google Meet API
If your organisation is already using Google Workspace and not in the idea of building your own branded app anytime soon, it would be a wise choice to go with Google Meet solution to embed video conferencing API in a snap.
5. Amazon Chime
This unified communication platform by Amazon comes with video calling capabilities along with voice, messaging, and screen sharing.
If you are using a custom app already, you can embed the video API into it or use the managed Chime meetings platform. Since the solution is built on AWS infrastructure, you can integrate any AWS service to upgrade the performance of your app enterprise-grade.
6. Zoom Video SDK
The Zoom Video SDK is as popular as its own app. The solution is built on Zoom’s reliable infrastructure enabling developers to create custom video experiences for businesses. The UI/UX design of Zoom’s embeddable video conferencing API is notably flexible, making it easier to embed on any app.
7. Vonage video API
Vonage Video API, built on the powerful OpenTok platform, supports scalable and interactive video communications. Its feature set is well-suited if your business requires detailed session control and broad reach.
8. Jitsi Meet API
Jitsi Meet API is an open-source, freely available solution that enables fast and flexible integration of video conferencing into apps. It’s fully customizable and can be self-hosted, giving developers complete control over the features and workflow.
9. Sinch
Sinch’s video calling API delivers reliable, carrier-grade video capabilities for users across the globe. It supports omnichannel communication making your app available on all devices and platforms.
10. Dyte API
Dyte’s video calling API is built on scalable architectures that support large numbers of participants without compromising performance. Whichever device or platforms your app users are on, they’ll have a consistent, uninterrupted calling experience backed by Dyte’s adaptive bandwidth management.
Editor’s Recommendation
After reviewing the top 10 video calling API and SDK providers in 2025, two standout solutions – MirrorFly and Apphitect clearly emerge as the most developer-friendly and future-ready options for developers and businesses.
- MirrorFly is an excellent option for enterprises looking for full control over their video communication stack. With 100% customizable SDKs, support for self-hosting or cloud deployment, and a white-label framework, it offers unmatched flexibility for industries with strict compliance and branding requirements.
- Apphitect, is a strong alternative that supports quick integration and a low-code approach to embedding video into apps. It’s especially suited for teams with limited dev resources, as integration support and infrastructure management can be handled directly by Apphitect’s team.
If you’re seeking long-term scalability, total control over your tech stack, and the ability to truly make the video experience your own – MirrorFly and Apphitect are the providers we recommend above all.