Element Call vs Zoom
On the evidence we track, Zoom leads this comparison with a composite score of 64/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for video conferencing. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Element Call
An open-source messaging, voice, and video communication platform designed for complete data sovereignty with self-hosted or air-gapped deployment options.
Zoom
LeaderA comprehensive unified communications solution offering video conferencing, instant messaging, cloud-based phone service, webinars, and workplace collaboration features, deployable in cloud or on-premises environments.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Element Call
Free Community edition; Enterprise and Sovereign available on quote
- CommunityFree
- Self-hosted
- Open source AGPL
- Free frontend and backend
- Includes Element Call
- EnterpriseContact sales
- Synapse Pro
- Enhanced security
- Advanced monitoring
- Dynamic scaling
- 4-hour response SLA
- SovereignContact sales
Zoom
Leader- School and Campus-
- Meetings up to 300 participants for 30 hours
- Team Chat with direct, channel, and group messaging
- Unlimited whiteboards
- Screen sharing with co-annotation
- Breakout rooms and polling
- +9 more
- School and Campus Plus-
- All School and Campus features plus:
- Zoom Phone with unlimited internal calling
- Metered outbound calling within US & Canada
- 10GB cloud storage per user
- LTI integration
- +5 more
- EnterpriseContact sales
- Meetings up to 500+ participants
- Webinars up to 500 attendees
- Unlimited cloud storage
- Zoom Phone with unlimited calling
- Conference Room Connector
- +3 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
Element Call
- GitHub
- JIRA
- OpenProject
- LDAP
- Active Directory
- SCIM
- OIDC
- OAuth
- Webhooks
Zoom
Leader- Skype for Business (Lync)
- Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)
- Third-party applications via App Marketplace
- Microsoft 365
Element Call or Zoom: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.