Vorpal Board - A tabletop specific video app

Zoom

I’m sure you’ve heard of Zoom by now, what with the pandemic and all.  Using Zoom on a personal account for group calls of longer than 40 minutes requires a $15/month subscription.  For most people, Discord and Jitsi are better options — they’re free.

However, if you live somewhere that has really spotty internet and still really want to use video, Zoom is what you want.  It “robots” and freezes far less on slow internet connections, probably due to it’s background as a tool often used by business professionals on shitty hotel WiFI.

Another big benefit of Zoom is that you can minimize it to Picture-in-Picture mode, which means you can still see the video while you have your VTT open.  This is especially important for full-screen programs like Fantasy Grounds and Tabletop Simulator.

Skype

The main draw for Skype over Zoom, Jitsi, & Discord is that it has Picture-in-Picture mode but you don’t need a subscription. Otherwise, skip it. The call quality is meh compared to the other options and it’s spammy.

Jitsi

Jisti is a completely free, open-source alternative to Zoom. I’m listing it first however, because if you’re not using Discord, Jitsi is probably the best option for most people. If you’re using a computer, there’s nothing you have to download and no accounts you have to make — just sign in via a browser and you get a complete video call experience (unlike Zoom, which has a browser client but it is limited compared to the desktop client.) People can even join your call by phone if they’re on the road or if their internet goes out.

Demiplane

Demiplane as well, no time limit (that I know of) and screen share and some additional tools.

Webex

Webex is similar to Zoom but their free version does not have the 40 minute limit.