Whereby vs Daily.co vs Jitsi for Embedded Video on Your Readings Site

Most practitioners send clients a Zoom link. The client leaves your booking page, opens Zoom, and lands in a generic meeting room. Embedded video is different: the client clicks a button on your site, and the video session opens inside your own page - your logo, your domain, no third-party branding. For readings, this keeps the atmosphere you've built around your practice intact from the first moment of contact through the session itself.

The three tools here are specifically for embedding video into your own website via API. This is a different use case from Zoom or Google Meet - those are standalone meeting platforms, not embeddable infrastructure.

All pricing verified against official sources as of June 2026.

The Embedded Video Use Case

A client books a natal chart reading. Your booking confirmation includes a link to a session page on your site. At the scheduled time, they click "Join Session" - the video call opens in your site's layout, full-screen, with your name and logo visible. No Zoom app required, no account needed, no generic meeting room URL in their browser history.

This setup requires an embeddable video API - a tool that gives you a room URL and JavaScript to drop into your page. Whereby Embedded, Daily.co, and Jitsi all provide this. The differences are in pricing model, feature set, and how much technical setup they require.

Platform Comparison

Source: whereby.com/information/embedded/pricing (official); whereby.com/information/pricing (official); forasoft.com/blog/article/daily-co-alternative; jitsi.guide/blog/jitsi-vs-whereby/ (2026)

Participant Minutes: How the Math Works

"Participant minutes" counts every participant's time in a room. A 1-on-1 session (2 participants) lasting 60 minutes = 120 participant minutes. A group session with 5 participants for 90 minutes = 450 participant minutes.

For solo-practitioner readings (exclusively 1-on-1 sessions):

`monthly_participant_minutes = sessions * 2 * duration_minutes`

30 sessions x 2 participants x 60 minutes = 3,600 participant minutes per month.

Whereby Embedded Free: 2,000 included - not enough for 30 sessions.

Whereby Build ($9.99/month):
- Included: 2,000 participant minutes
- Overage: (3,600 - 2,000) x $0.004 = 1,600 x $0.004 = $6.40
- Total: $9.99 + $6.40 = $16.39/month

For 20 sessions/month instead: 20 x 2 x 60 = 2,400 participant minutes.
- Overage: (2,400 - 2,000) x $0.004 = 400 x $0.004 = $1.60
- Total: $9.99 + $1.60 = $11.59/month

For 15 sessions/month: 15 x 2 x 60 = 1,800 participant minutes - under the 2,000 included. Total: $9.99/month.

Whereby Embedded: Best Fit for Most Practitioners

Whereby's embedded product gives you a permanent room URL that you can embed in your site with a small JavaScript snippet. Clients join by clicking a link - no download, no account, works in any modern browser. The room persists between sessions, or you can generate unique rooms per booking through the API.

The Build tier at $9.99/month includes 2,000 participant minutes, plus overage at $0.004/minute. Optional add-ons: live transcription at $0.0065/minute, cloud recording at $0.01/minute, live streaming at $0.01/minute. HIPAA-compliant configuration is available for an additional $16.99/month - relevant if you store client health information alongside session records.

The room supports up to 200 participants and 24 simultaneous video streams. For individual readings, these limits are irrelevant. For group workshops with up to 30 participants, Whereby handles the use case without upgrading.

Whereby Meetings (the non-embedded product) is simpler: Free for unlimited 1-on-1 sessions, Pro at $6.99/month for group meetings with custom room names and basic branding. This is the right choice if you just want to stop using Zoom without the development overhead of embedding - your clients get a Whereby link instead of a Zoom link.

Source: whereby.com/information/embedded/pricing (official, 2026)

Daily.co: Shifted Focus in 2026

Daily.co moved its primary development focus toward AI voice agents in 2025-2026, with the base video API becoming a secondary emphasis. The platform remains available and functional, but current 2026 pricing details are not prominently published - Daily uses a pay-per-use model. Verify current rates at daily.co/pricing before building a workflow around it.

For practitioners who need a stable, well-documented embeddable video API without keeping track of platform strategy shifts, Whereby's public and predictable pricing makes it the safer default. Daily made sense as a Whereby alternative when its feature set was more actively developed; the current situation warrants verification.

Source: forasoft.com/blog/article/daily-co-alternative (2026)

Jitsi: Free, But You're Running the Server

Jitsi Meet is open source (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted on any VPS. A Hetzner CX11 or equivalent server running Jitsi costs roughly $5-6/month and handles multiple simultaneous 1-on-1 sessions without performance issues on a standard connection.

`monthly_cost = vps_cost = ~$5-6/month` (no per-minute charges, no participant limits at that scale)

Jitsi embeds into your site via an iFrame or JavaScript API, exactly like Whereby. The room can carry your page's branding because it's running on your domain.

The real cost is setup time and ongoing maintenance. Installing Jitsi on a VPS from scratch requires familiarity with Linux terminal commands, DNS configuration, and SSL certificate setup. It takes a few hours for someone comfortable with servers. It takes longer - or requires hiring someone - for a practitioner without that background. Updates and security patches need manual attention.

Jitsi as a Service (JaaS) - the commercial hosted version - starts at around $1,500/month. That's enterprise territory and not relevant for individual practitioners.

For practitioners who want the $5/month cost and have basic server comfort: Jitsi self-hosted is the cheapest functional option by a significant margin. For practitioners who want to focus entirely on readings without touching server infrastructure: Whereby Build at $9.99/month plus overage is the right call.

Source: jitsi.guide/blog/jitsi-vs-whereby/ (2026)

Comparing the Two Realistic Options

For most practitioners, the decision comes down to Whereby Build versus Jitsi self-hosted:

Annual cost comparison:
- Whereby Build (30 sessions/month average): $16.39 x 12 = $196.68/year
- Jitsi self-hosted (VPS at $6/month): $72/year
- Annual saving with Jitsi: $124.68/year

At $124/year in savings for 3-5 hours of initial setup plus occasional maintenance: the math favors Whereby for practitioners who value their time over the cost difference. For those comfortable with servers, Jitsi's full control and zero overage charges make it the better long-term infrastructure choice.

Which Should You Choose

Want embedded video, don't want to touch a server: Whereby Embedded Build ($9.99/month + overage). Well-documented API, predictable pricing, no maintenance.

Already doing Zoom-style direct links, want a simple upgrade: Whereby Meetings Free (unlimited 1-on-1) or Pro ($6.99/month for group sessions and custom room names). No embedding required.

Comfortable with servers, want lowest ongoing cost: Jitsi self-hosted on a $5-6/month VPS. Full control, no per-minute charges, open source.

Need to understand all video consultation options including Zoom and Meet: See Zoom vs Google Meet. For tools to sell the readings themselves, see sell readings online.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do clients need to download anything to join a Whereby session?

No. Whereby runs entirely in the browser on desktop and mobile. The client clicks your session link and joins immediately - no app install, no account creation. This reduces drop-off compared to Zoom, where some clients encounter the app install prompt. On iOS, browser-based video calls use WebRTC - fully supported in Safari and Chrome.

What is a participant minute and how do I calculate my usage?

Participant minutes = number of participants x duration in minutes. A 60-minute 1-on-1 session uses 2 x 60 = 120 participant minutes. A 90-minute group session with 4 clients uses 4 x 90 = 360 participant minutes. Track your monthly session count and average duration to estimate total usage. Whereby's free tier gives 2,000 participant minutes - about 16 one-hour 1-on-1 sessions.

Can I record sessions with Whereby?

Cloud recording is available on Whereby Embedded as an add-on at $0.01/minute per recording. A 60-minute session costs $0.60 to record and store. Local recording (where the recording saves to the host's computer) is a free alternative that doesn't use Whereby's cloud storage. For full recording and transcription workflows, see Loom vs Descript vs Riverside.

Is embedded video safe for confidential client sessions?

Whereby Embedded uses encrypted connections (DTLS-SRTP). HIPAA-compliant configuration is available at $16.99/month extra - this covers a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and enforces additional security controls. For most practitioners whose sessions don't fall under HIPAA (US health data regulations apply to healthcare providers, not to spiritual practitioners specifically), the standard encrypted connection is appropriate. EU GDPR considerations are separate from HIPAA - check where Whereby's servers process data if that's relevant to your client base.