A free Google Meet alternative for people who run client sessions, classes and groups on video
On Meet's free plan a group call stops at 60 minutes, Business Starter can't record, and every client lands on a meet.google.com link. With Castio, clients meet you at your own address, like meet.yourfirm.com, and there are no per-seat fees. Below, the two side by side.
Free software
No per-seat fees
Add as many hosts and members as you like.
No 60-minute cap
Meetings run as long as you choose, up to 24 hours. Permanent rooms stay open.
Up to 1,000 people per meeting
You set the limit.
Links on your own domain
Like meet.yourcompany.com, when your domain is on Cloudflare.
What you'd pay Google Meet for
Each of these is included in Castio's software. On Google Meet, it takes a paid plan, or it isn't offered.
Group meetings longer than 60 minutes
CastioIncluded
Google MeetBusiness Starter, $8.40 a user a month, or $7 billed yearly. Source: Google Meet Help, call length
Recording
CastioIncludedRecordings are saved for 7 days by default; turn on one setting and they're kept in your own Cloudflare storage until you delete them.
Google MeetBusiness Standard, $16.80 a user a month, or $14 billed yearly. Source: Google Workspace: flexible and yearly prices compared
Google Meet's plans and prices as their own pages state them, checked 7 October 2026.
What Google Meet has that Castio doesn't
Castio doesn't have breakout rooms. It runs in any browser, with nothing to install.
Google Meet vs Castio, side by side
Scroll sideways for the Castio column →
| Category | Google Meet |  Castio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.40 a user a month (Business Starter, flexible plan), so $84 a month for 10 users; $7 a user billed yearly | $0 per user; about $5 a month in total to Cloudflare for the same team, plus $149 a year for us to install it today. How we worked it out |
| Source code | Closed | Going open source; code goes public with the free self-install version |
| Group call length | Free accounts end calls of three or more at 60 minutes. Paid Workspace plans run up to 24 hours. | You pick the length: 25 or 50 minutes, or your own, up to 24 hours. No 60-minute cap on group calls. |
| Guests from outside your Workspace | Some guests have to ask to join, and only the organizer can let them in | Clients click a link or enter a meeting code and join in the browser. You choose whether a waiting room is on. |
| Recording | Not on Business Starter. It starts at Business Standard, $16.80 a user a month on the flexible plan. | Included. Recordings are saved for 7 days by default; turn on one setting and they're kept in your own Cloudflare storage until you delete them. |
| Cost as you add hosts | Every user pays. Business Starter is $8.40 a month each on the flexible plan. | No per-seat fees. Every host is included. Cloudflare's bill follows meeting minutes, not hosts. |
| Branding and address | Guests join at meet.google.com with a meeting code. | Your logo and colors, at your own address, like meet.yourfirm.com |
| Very large audiences | Livestreams to up to 100,000 viewers inside your organization, on Enterprise plans | Up to 1,000 people in a meeting or webinar (100 by default; you set the limit), plus a public livestream page. |
Setting it up
We install it for you on your own Cloudflare account and domain. You need a Cloudflare account on its Workers Paid plan, and your domain has to use Cloudflare for its DNS.
What people usually mean by "google meet alternative"
A Google Meet alternative that includes recording
A free Google account can't record Meet calls, and neither can Business Starter. Recording starts at Business Standard, $16.80 a user a month on the flexible plan, and saves to Google Drive. A host on Starter who wants to record has to move up a plan.
Castio includes recording. Record a session and watch it back. Recordings are saved for 7 days by default; turn on one setting and they're kept in your own Cloudflare storage until you delete them.
A Google Meet alternative for clients outside your Workspace
On Meet, some guests from outside your organization have to ask to join, and only the organizer can let them in. With a client waiting and the organizer running late, that knock can sit unanswered.
In Castio, clients click a link or enter a meeting code and join in the browser, at your own address. No account, no app. You decide per meeting whether they wait in a waiting room first.
A "Google Zoom alternative"
Some searchers are weighing Zoom and Meet against each other. Both limit free group calls, Zoom at 40 minutes and Meet at 60, and both charge per person on paid plans. Castio differs from both in the same way: no per-seat fees for any host, and each meeting runs for the length its host picks, up to 24 hours.
Where Castio differs from Google Meet
Meet is part of Google Workspace: priced per user, with features such as recording gated by plan. Castio is installed into your own Cloudflare account and runs at your own address, with your logo, colors and favicon on the pages your clients see. No per-seat fees, and no plans to climb.
What the numbers say
Recording on Meet costs a plan upgrade for every host who needs it.
One host who needs recording goes from Business Starter at $8.40 a month to Business Standard at $16.80, on the flexible plan. A team of 10 who all record pay $2,016 a year for Business Standard on the flexible plan. Billed yearly, Business Starter is $7 and Business Standard $14 a user a month.
Castio has no per-seat fees, recording included. Cloudflare bills recording by the minute; see how recording changes the cost for the same 10-person team.
Questions people ask
What is a good alternative to Google Meet for client meetings?
Castio, when several people host and record client sessions without a per-user bill, and clients should join at your own address.
Does Google Meet have a time limit?
On a free Google account, calls with three or more people end at 60 minutes and one-on-one calls at 24 hours. Paid plans allow 24 hours. The full breakdown is in the Google Meet time limit guide.
Does Google Meet recording cost extra?
It isn't on Business Starter. It starts at Business Standard, $16.80 a user a month on the flexible plan, and Workspace Individual and Google One plans with 2 TB can record too.
What's a Google Zoom alternative?
If the goal is to stop paying per person, rather than to switch between two products that both charge that way, Castio has no per-seat fees: every host is included.
Sources
Facts about other products were checked against their own pages in September and October 2026.
- Google Meet Help: time limits for calls
- Google Meet Help: record a video meeting
- Google Meet Help: add or remove people from a meeting
- Google Meet Help: livestream a meeting
- Google Workspace: flexible plan prices
- Google Workspace: flexible and yearly prices compared
- Google Meet Help: breakout rooms
- Google Meet Help, join a video meeting
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