Realtime

Rooms people join with a link.

A room is an address. Open it in a browser and you are in it — nothing to download, no account, no extension. The same room can sit inside your own page instead, behind your own sign-in, with one script tag.

01

Two ways in

A link

Nothing to install.

  • A room address opens in the browser people already have
  • Microphone and camera are asked for by the browser, not by us
  • Works on a phone the same way it works on a laptop

Your own page

One script tag.

  • The client library is one file, with no build step
  • The room is drawn where you put it, in your own layout
  • Your service decides who is allowed in before it hands out the room

Rooms you create

Console or API.

  • Created in the Orbit console
  • Or created from the v1 API, like every other Orbit resource
  • Named, resized, disabled and deleted the same two ways
02

Who gets in

A room decides this before anyone is admitted, not after. It can require a passcode, and it can require the visitor to clear human verification at a named level — standard, strict or maximum — which is the same check Orbit Verify performs for a form. A room can also refuse the link entirely: turn link access off and the room answers nobody except the service you built on the API, so a room address that leaks buys nothing.

03

Where a room runs

Near each participant. With nearest-location routing, which new rooms use by default and Orbit Meet always uses, each person connects to the Orbit location nearest them, and the locations in one call are linked automatically. With it off, a room runs in one city: everyone meets on the same machine there, the console shows the city, and it does not change once people are in it — moving it would drop everyone. A room's size is set when it is created, and how many people in it may send video is set separately from how many may join, because a camera and a microphone do not cost the same thing to carry.

04

Inside a room

Where a room runsThree people in one room. Each sends to a single Orbit Server, and that server forwards to the others; nothing travels between the people directly.Orbit Serverthe room runs herePersonPersonPersonEveryone meets on the same machine.
Everyone in a room sends to the same machine in the city the room is in, and it forwards to the others. That is why the city is fixed once people are in it.
05

Where this is

In preview. The rooms, the client library and the API are in place and in use. The product is switched on for an account by us rather than by signing up, and there is no self-serve button for it yet — ask, and say what you intend to run.

06

Platform plan allowance

AllowanceFreeProBusiness
Rooms51050
People connected at once2550100
People on camera at once226
Participant minutes a month10,000 minutes20,000 minutes200,000 minutes
Transfer a month100 GB250 GB3,000 GB
Bitrate per participant512 kbps512 kbps1,500 kbps
Recordings a month10 GB50 GB250 GB
Relayed transfer a month10 GB25 GB100 GB
Choose a room's cityNot includedIncludedIncluded
Record callsNot includedIncludedIncluded

Allowances are per account. Pro and Business are switched on by request: open a ticket at the Help Centre. Usage is in the console. All platform plans

08

Questions

Is there a free tier?

Yes. The Free plan includes 5 rooms, 25 people at once and 10,000 participant minutes a month. Every limit is in the allowance table on this page; if you need more, open a ticket at the Help Centre.

Does anyone joining need an account?

No. A participant is somebody with a link. The account is yours, not theirs, and nothing asks them to create one.

Is a room recorded?

No. Orbit does not record rooms and stores nothing that was said or shown in one.

Can I put a room behind my own sign-in?

Yes, and that is what link access being switchable is for: turn it off, and only your own service can put somebody into the room.

What does human verification actually do here?

It runs before admission at the level the room asks for. A room set to maximum is not satisfied by a check performed at standard — the level is part of what is being checked, not a label on it.

Which browsers work?

The ones with the browser's own real-time media support, which is every current desktop and mobile browser. There is no plugin and no app.