As of 2025-05-13, Remote Communication lists 90 projects.
This list is work in progress. We have not audited the software listed on this page for security or privacy concerns beyond what developers of the software, and potentially other sites tell us about it. We have done some initial research into software licenses. Entries with Free Software Directory links have been thoroughly reviewed from a licensing perspective.
This page is a shared resource, and we encourage others to add to it, so some of the entries here may be added by members of the community. We check this resource periodically, and know that others check it too, but it's a wiki, so errors may be added before they're fixed. We encourage you to review licenses and information about the software you're interested in before using it, and to update this page with your findings.
As more people are going remote, there is an outbreak of proprietary software happening around the Internet. Many are suggesting to use proprietary, SaaSS, and/or privacy invading video conferencing software as an alternative to meeting in person. Proprietary vendors are hopping to the task by offering services that are temporarily free as in cost, and that would lock organizations into continuing to use those vendors. Let's work together to promote free software instead.
The FSF is hosting its own freedom-respecting videoconferencing service. FSF associate members can create a channel by logging into the server using your member credentials. Any person or group can then participate in the conversation. Nonmembers can be invited, but cannot start a channel. Read more.
Video streaming, and audio connections tend to be quite stable. Integrates with Canvas, Moodle, and other Learning Management Solutions (LMS) systems (see below). LGPL-3.0
Easy to use, and good for a couple of people to video or audio chat with each other. Not always reliable with more than two people. Sometimes it's necessary to reload the page to get audio working in both directions. Apache-2.0
Now a part of nexmo / Vonage video API. At least parts of the original TokBox code are free software, but it's not clear whether it's possible to use without any non-free software. As an anti-feature, Vonage offers enterprise editions that may run on your own server, or may require running non-free JavaScript.
Broadcast streaming video. It is possible to share your camera or desktop screen with many people in a one-way relationship to reach more people with limited resources.
The FSF uses this method for LibrePlanet as seen in our command line scripts. This method combined with Mumble allows for a school teacher to give a presentation, and to be available for questions via audio.
OBS Studio can be used in conjunction with the nginx web server to screencast or stream via RTMP. Viewers can tune into the RTMP stream on your web server using VLC, mpv, or any other compatible player.
Note: Mumble is pretty easy for end users, and there are free native clients for major platforms. On the server, it has a low memory footprint, but can use a lot of server bandwidth if many people are talking at once in a channel that has many people listening in. Clients would see an increase in downlink bandwidth at these times, which is okay, since most asymmetrical residential connections allow for a larger downlink. Event in direct face to face communication, it is generally only possible to understand what is being said when no more than a few people are speaking at once. BSD-like
Email is already commonly used by many people, and is a decentralized social network. One option is to email your coworkers, friends and family by listing multiple people in your email's To: or Cc: fields. Setting up mailing lists is a better long term strategy, especially if people are expected to join or leave groups, or they want to read the full history of, or stop following a long-running thread.
IceDove/Thunderbird - Popular email client for desktop. Also includes chat functionality (IRC/XMPP).
IRC is a text based chat protocol that works well for groups regardless of connection speed. There are free software IRC clients for all major platforms.
Libera.Chat IRC
Libera.Chat is the most popular IRCd instance. If you want to create a channel on Libera.Chat and your channel is not about free software or broadly licensed creative works, you can still create topical channels that begin with '##'. Note that in this case if you need help from Libera.Chat staff from #libera, your request will not be as high priority as requests for help with a free software project's channel.
Used by the FSF.
Self-host an Internet Relay Chat daemon (IRCd) server
Note: On public instances of The Lounge, connections to IRC servers are dropped after closing your browser tabs or losing your connection to application's Web page. If you use a private instance, you will need an account created by an administrator to log in, and connections to the IRC server are kept active even after closing your browser tabs or losing your connection.
Anti-feature: the freedom respecting version of Mattermost has less features than the enterprise editions, which are likely non-free. Multiple licenses for different components (MIT, AGPLv3, Apache 2.0)
Note: On their client source code repo, they say "a. You agree not to change the way the Open Source App connects and interacts with our servers;...". It's not clear whether this is acceptable for software under a free license.
XMPP has been around for a long time. There are free clients for major platforms, and a variety of free server codebases to choose from if you want to run your own server.
Write wiki pages in Markdown, via a Git repo, or via the Web (which commits to Git). Great for internal wikis, ie for documenting procedures, policies, article drafts, etc. Extensible with plugins.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.
We defend the rights of all software users. (Read more)