If you choose the wrong video calling service for important or sensitive communications, it could be a big problem. It is a failure to comply with the rules, a possible data breach, and in some industries, a legal violation. This guide cuts through all the marketing from the different companies to give people who buy technology for businesses, the people in charge of security, and the people who buy technology for businesses a direct, organised comparison of seven of the best secure video calling systems: Some of the video call software that works with us is Secumeet, TrueConf, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Wire for Business and AWS Wickr.
The people selling things in this guide have very different ideas about architecture. Some of these are cloud platforms that are designed to be easy to use and can handle a lot of data. Others are on-premise systems built for sovereignty and control. Some of them are made especially for secret or top-secret messages. Every organisation is different, so not all vendors are right for every organisation. This guide shows you which ones are best.
If you want to keep call data off third-party infrastructure, you should first look at TrueConf and Secumeet. If you want to work with lots of people and have security measures in place, Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex might be better for you. The sections below will give you the information you need to make that decision.
Secure Video Calling Services Summary
Insight 1: Transport encryption and data custody are not the same.
Most video calling services today use TLS for signalling and AES-256 for media transport. This stops other people from stealing your data as it is sent from one computer to another. It doesn’t mean you can control where the data is stored, who can access server-side recordings, or whether the vendor’s infrastructure team can access decryption keys. Transport encryption is a way of keeping your data safe while it is being sent from one place to another. Data custody is all about answering the question, “Who owns and controls the data once it’s stored and during processing?” For most regulated buyers, the second question is more important. TrueConf and Secumeet are designed to keep data safe, not just to transport it securely.
Top Secure Video Calling Services
Secumeet
Secumeet is perfect for government, legal, executive and intelligence-related communications where the content of a meeting must not be shared with third parties. You can use it on your own computer or in a private cloud. It will work separately from the vendor’s systems after installation. Secumeet doesn’t need to be permanently connected to the customer’s environment.
The platform uses end-to-end encryption, while the keys are kept secret by the organisation that runs the system. There is no way for the vendor to access the server-side key storage. This architecture is intended to prevent customer call content from being exposed even if the vendor’s own infrastructure is compromised.
Organisations keep control of servers, encryption keys, storage, and network routing. Meeting information, participant information, and media traffic stay within the customer’s infrastructure rather than passing through external services.
Secumeet puts all your user accounts, meeting policies and access rights in one place. Audit logs are stored on your computer. Its admin interface has fewer functions than general-purpose collaboration platforms, which makes it less complex and less likely to be attacked.
The platform is great for organisations that have to follow strict rules about data residency, state secrecy rules, legal confidentiality obligations, or sector-specific regulations that stop them using third-party cloud hosting. The way it is used can be useful for the government, in defence and for secret legal messages.
Third-party integrations are intentionally limited because each external connection can create an additional path for data exposure. This approach improves isolation, but makes Secumeet less suitable for organisations that use a wide range of cloud applications.
Secumeet is best for small groups of users who need to have private meetings. It is not right for using across a whole organisation. It doesn’t replace a complete collaboration suite and doesn’t have functions such as persistent messaging, project management, extensive file collaboration, and a large integration marketplace. You also need to have people in-house who know about IT to set things up and keep them running.
Meetings with 1,500 users
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Team messaging
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Collaboration Tools & AI
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TrueConf Server
TrueConf Server is perfect for businesses that need a video conferencing platform with all the features they need, and which can be used within their own infrastructure. You can use it in local networks, private clouds, isolated facilities, and places where you cannot or do not want to use the internet.
The platform can run on Windows Server or Linux and may be installed on the organisation’s own hardware, in a private cloud, or within a hybrid infrastructure. Once it’s set up, it doesn’t need an internet connection. Meeting traffic is sent through the customer’s server instead of through TrueConf’s cloud services.
Media and signalling traffic are protected with AES-256 encryption and TLS or DTLS protocols. The customer controls the server, so the organisation manages the infrastructure, network environment, and server-side security settings without introducing a third-party cloud provider into the communication path.
TrueConf puts all of these things into the customer’s environment: signalling, media processing, recordings, user directories, and administrative data. Information from meetings stays inside the local network unless the people in charge decide to allow access from outside or connections to other systems. When it is completely isolated, the platform can operate without any connection to the outside network.
You can manage everything through a web-based console. This includes user management, meeting scheduling, recording controls, licensing, reporting, and policy configuration. It can also be used with Active Directory and LDAP to manage accounts in a central place. Administrators can also control who can access the system, who can use the meeting rooms, how long recordings are kept for, and other communication policies.
The platform works with company directories, calendar systems, SIP and H.323 room equipment, and internal services through a REST API. Its self-hosted architecture works well with existing enterprise infrastructure, but it doesn’t offer as many direct integrations with cloud-based software services.
TrueConf Server can support setups ranging from small installations to environments with thousands of endpoints. Licensing based on the number of people using the system at the same time may be suitable for organisations with a lot of registered users but a smaller number of people in meetings at the same time. You can also connect multiple servers for larger or geographically distributed systems.
The main advantages are that it can operate offline, it has full administrative control, it is not dependent on the vendor’s cloud infrastructure, it is compatible with existing conference room systems, and it can support large meetings and webinars. The platform still works when the internet is down and can be used when communication data has to stay within a particular network or legal area.
Installation, maintenance, security updates and infrastructure management require internal IT resources. People who are not part of the cloud system may also find it harder to join than people who use cloud-native services. Although TrueConf includes messaging and file exchange, it has fewer features for teamwork than Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Zoom
Zoom is best for organisations that regularly have external meetings, client sessions, webinars and large company-wide events. It is a practical choice when cloud-managed infrastructure and encryption meet the organisation’s security and compliance requirements.
The platform is mainly delivered as a cloud service. Zoom also has Zoom for Government for regulated US organisations and Zoom On-Premises for some use cases, although the standard version still depends on Zoom’s cloud infrastructure for authentication, signalling, and meeting management.
Zoom meetings use something called AES-256-GCM encryption, with the keys managed by Zoom’s servers. You can also use end-to-end encryption if you want. In this setup, the keys that encrypt your video are created on your own device and Zoom can’t access them. However, if you enable end-to-end encryption, you won’t be able to use some functions, such as cloud recording, live transcription and certain integrations.
When Zoom is used in this way, it manages the encryption infrastructure and processes meeting metadata within its cloud environment. End-to-end encryption provides better protection for meeting content, but account management, authentication, signalling, and administrative functions still rely on Zoom’s systems. Zoom for Government offers data handling and infrastructure for eligible organisations, based in the US and approved by FedRAMP.
The Zoom Admin Portal provides detailed controls for user groups, meeting policies, authentication, recordings, single sign-on, and compliance exports. The platform also helps to prevent data loss and manage electronic discovery workflows through Zoom Compliance Manager and third-party integrations.
Zoom supports many different compliance programmes and certifications relevant to many enterprises, including HIPAA with a Business Associate Agreement, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and FedRAMP Moderate for Zoom for Government. Sadly, the normal cloud service is not right for you.
One of Zoom’s main advantages is that it works with lots of other systems. It works with Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, ServiceNow and many other business applications through the Zoom App Marketplace.
The system can support meetings with up to 1,000 participants and webinars with audiences of up to 50,000, depending on the plan and licence that has been selected. It is suitable for customer-facing and organisation-wide communication because of its external participant experience, administrative controls, integration options, and ability to operate at large scale.
The main problem is that it depends on cloud-managed infrastructure. By default, Zoom controls the encryption environment and processes meeting metadata through its systems. You also have fewer data sovereignty options than with fully self-hosted platforms. Zoom cannot be used in facilities or networks that are not connected to the internet.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is best for companies that already use Microsoft 365. It combines messaging, video calls, file sharing, phone calls and integrations of other applications in one place.
The platform is delivered as a cloud service that is hosted on infrastructure managed by Microsoft. Teams Rooms is used in physical meeting spaces, while Microsoft 365 Government editions (including GCC, GCC High, and DoD) provide extra compliance options for public-sector organisations in the US.
Teams use TLS and SRTP encryption to protect communication traffic. Microsoft infrastructure is still part of the standard meeting path, so regular group meetings do not use full end-to-end encryption. You can use end-to-end encryption for one-to-one calls and for some small group calls, but this means you won’t be able to access all the meeting functions.
Microsoft manages the infrastructure and control plane. Organisations can choose where their data is stored based on where their customers are located and what Microsoft 365 settings they have, but they don’t directly control the servers that process communication data. Microsoft Purview provides tools for keeping information, auditing, electronic discovery, and making sure you follow the rules.
The admin environment works closely with the wider Microsoft security ecosystem. Entra ID manages identities and access, Purview supports information governance, Defender provides threat protection, and Intune controls managed devices. This integration gives Microsoft-centered organisations a set of tools for managing users, endpoints, policies, and communication data.
Teams supports compliance requirements associated with GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and FedRAMP through eligible plans and government editions. GCC High is designed for organisations that work with secret information and need to follow stricter rules.
The platform works with Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 applications. You can connect other services through the Teams App Store, and Power Automate can automate workflows across Microsoft and other systems.
Teams can host meetings with up to 1,000 participants and large Town Hall events with up to 20,000 people, depending on the licence and how the event is set up. Teams Phone also adds business phone services and lets you connect to public phone networks.
Its main advantage is the depth of collaboration and administration available to organisations already using Microsoft products. The platform combines communication, document management, identity, security, compliance, and device administration more closely than most video conferencing tools.
The main problem is that it relies on cloud infrastructure managed by Microsoft. Standard group meetings do not use full end-to-end encryption, and the platform cannot be used in air-gapped or private-network-only environments. Other organisations may find that the way Microsoft licenses its products, the way it administers them, and the range of functions they have in common are too complicated.
Cisco Webex
Cisco Webex is designed for regulated enterprises, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and financial institutions that need cloud-based video conferencing with extensive compliance controls, encryption options, and compatibility with physical meeting room systems.
The platform is primarily delivered as a cloud service. Webex Video Mesh provides a hybrid deployment model in which media traffic can be processed through nodes located within the customer’s infrastructure. Organizations that require full local deployment can also use Cisco Meeting Server, although this model demands considerably more infrastructure and technical resources.
Webex supports end-to-end encryption through its Zero Trust Security model. When this mode is enabled, encryption keys are generated and handled so that Webex infrastructure cannot decrypt meeting content. Compared with many cloud conferencing platforms, this protection can be used without removing most essential meeting functions.
Organizations can also configure hybrid key management, allowing cryptographic keys to remain within their own environment while meeting delivery continues through the Webex cloud. This provides greater control over encrypted communication without requiring the entire platform to be hosted locally.
Administration is handled through Webex Control Hub, which provides centralized management of users, devices, meeting settings, security policies, and compliance functions. Authorized compliance personnel can manage recordings, legal holds, and electronic discovery without changing the normal experience for other users.
Webex supports compliance requirements and certifications relevant to regulated sectors, including HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, FIPS 140-2, and FedRAMP through Webex for Government. These capabilities make it particularly relevant to US federal agencies and organizations working under strict security requirements.
The platform integrates with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Slack, ServiceNow, and a range of enterprise applications. It also offers extensive compatibility with Cisco, Poly, and other conference room systems. Support for SIP and H.323 makes Webex suitable for organizations that need to connect existing video conferencing equipment.
Webex can support meetings with up to 1,000 participants and large virtual events with audiences of up to 100,000, depending on the selected plan and configuration. Enterprise licensing also supports large deployments with users distributed across multiple departments and locations.
Its main strengths are practical end-to-end encryption, government compliance options, hybrid key management, detailed administrative controls, and broad interoperability with meeting room hardware. These capabilities are especially valuable to organizations that require stronger security than a standard cloud conferencing service can provide.
The principal limitations are licensing complexity and comparatively high costs. Some users may also find the interface and external joining experience less straightforward than those of Zoom or Microsoft Teams. A fully on-premise Webex deployment requires substantial infrastructure investment and specialist administration.
Wire for Business
Wire for Business is perfect for companies that need to keep their messages, calls and meetings totally private. This is especially important for teams that care a lot about security and prefer to manage their own data, or for teams that have rules about using encryption as a basic requirement.
You can use the platform either as a cloud service or as a fully self-hosted enterprise deployment. With a self-hosted configuration, the organisation controls the server environment, user directory and data storage. In the cloud version, Wire manages the infrastructure, but keeps message and call content protected by end-to-end encryption.
Wire uses the Proteus protocol, which is based on the Signal Protocol, for messaging and is moving towards Message Layer Security for group communications. Encryption is switched on and cannot be switched off. Servers process encrypted data, so they can’t see the readable content of messages or calls.
Wire Enterprise provides team management, controls the lifecycle of users and single sign-on through SAML. Its admin tools are good enough for a lot of small and medium-sized organisations, but they don’t have as many features as Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex. The system has limited electronic discovery, compliance exports and advanced governance functions.
The platform is GDPR-compliant, and self-hosting can help organisations meet data residency obligations. However, Wire does not have FedRAMP authorisation, so it may not be suitable for all use cases within the US government.
The number of companies that use this system is relatively small. Wire connects with identity providers and supports enterprise authentication, but it does not offer the same range of third-party applications available through Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Slack.
Wire is usually better for small and medium-sized organisations than for very large companies with tens of thousands of users. Its main strengths are that it encrypts everything by default, it’s open source, it supports self-hosting and it’s easy to use.
The main limitations are the smaller vendor ecosystem, less developed compliance tooling, and fewer collaboration integrations. This makes Wire less suitable for large enterprises with complex governance and workflow requirements.
AWS Wickr
AWS Wickr is designed for defence contractors, intelligence organisations, law enforcement agencies, and other teams working with highly sensitive or controlled information. It focuses on sending messages that are private and secure, using codes that are only known to the sender and receiver, and following the rules set by the US government.
You can use the platform as a managed enterprise service in AWS, as a self-managed on-premise deployment, and through AWS GovCloud for eligible government customers. With a self-hosted configuration, the organisation controls the infrastructure and stored data. In AWS GovCloud, encrypted communication stays within the government cloud environment.
Messages and files are protected with end-to-end encryption. Wickr also uses cryptographic keys for each message to keep things secret. This stops a key from being hacked and used by someone else. Administrators can set rules about how long messages are kept and when they are automatically deleted to free up space on users’ devices.
Optional compliance recording lets authorised organisations keep communications when their own rules say they have to. The data is kept secret and can be protected with a key that the customer chooses.
Wickr provides centralised administration, user federation, network-level policies, and compliance controls. Its design stops normal administrators and service staff from being able to read message content in plaintext, although approved compliance workflows can be set up separately.
The platform is designed for environments that require FedRAMP High, US Department of Defense Impact Level controls, and infrastructure suitable for ITAR-regulated communications. These capabilities make it especially relevant to defence, intelligence, and federal law enforcement use cases.
Wickr works best with the AWS ecosystem. It doesn’t have as many features as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Slack when it comes to working with other apps and business processes.
The platform is intended for secure team communication rather than large webinars, public events, or broad external collaboration. It is usually better for smaller groups of hundreds to several thousand users than for all employees in a company.
Its main strengths are that it encrypts messages automatically, keeps them secret, makes sure they are only valid for a certain amount of time, can be used by the government and people can choose how to record their compliance. But these abilities might not be needed or affordable for organisations that don’t have defence or intelligence needs. Wickr also lacks the document collaboration, project management and extensive integration features found in general enterprise platforms.
Insight 2: Cloud compliance and data sovereignty are not the same thing.
If a vendor has FedRAMP authorisation, SOC 2 Type II certification, or ISO 27001 certification, this means that their security controls have been checked against a defined standard. This doesn’t mean that you have full control over your data. Compliance certifications control how a vendor processes data, not the physical or digital limits around it. If your organisation has to follow strict rules about data storage (like GDPR Article 46 transfers, national sovereignty laws, or rules that stop cloud hosting by foreign companies), a cloud vendor that is fully certified might not be able to meet these rules. TrueConf and Secumeet are designed to solve this problem: you own the infrastructure, not the vendor.
Table 2: Security and Data Custody Comparison
Insight 3: Who owns the control plane can matter more than the features offered
Every video call needs a control plane. This is the infrastructure that handles things like authentication, signalling, managing meeting rooms, and access control. When you use a cloud platform, the vendor controls it. This means the vendor can theoretically control who joins a meeting, access authentication credentials, or respond to legal requests for metadata even if call content is end-to-end encrypted. Organisations with sophisticated threat models (state-level adversaries, insider threats at the vendor, or legal jurisdiction concerns) need to own the control plane, not just the content encryption. TrueConf’s on-premise deployment puts the control plane entirely within the customer’s network. Secumeet’s architecture follows this same idea when it comes to managing keys. Most cloud platforms, even those offering end-to-end encryption (E2EE), keep control of the control plane.
How to Choose the Right Secure Video Conferencing Vendor
Decide if you need to keep meetings secure or if you need to keep the equipment itself secure. Transport encryption protects data when it is being sent from one place to another. Infrastructure custody means that the entire communication system is located in your environment. If you need the latter, start your evaluation with TrueConf and Secumeet, not with cloud platforms.
Make sure the control plane can be used in the cloud. If your rules say that authentication and signalling can’t be sent through a third party, cloud SaaS platforms can’t be used, even if they say they use encryption. TrueConf is the best platform for this requirement because it has all the features you need.
Make sure you clearly explain how to comply with map compliance and data residency requirements. Find out if you are bound by GDPR, HIPAA, FedRAMP, data laws specific to a sector or other regulations. Match each requirement to the vendor certifications and architectural fit. Don’t think that a vendor’s compliance page means they’ve met their data residency obligations.
Think about how often meetings are held inside the company compared to outside. If most meetings involve people outside the company (clients, partners, suppliers), cloud platforms that make it easy for guests to join meetings (Zoom, Teams) can make meetings much easier. If most meetings are internal, it makes more sense to use on-premise deployment.
We can compare two different types of licensing: one for named users and one for concurrent users. TrueConf licences allow for concurrent use, which can save money for big organisations with lots of users who don’t use the software at the same time. Cloud platforms usually charge based on the number of named or active users each month, which can vary.
Test how guests and admins work with the site before signing contracts. On-premise platforms require guests to use a client application or web access point within the network boundary. This can cause problems when working with other people outside the company. Make sure that guest access works within your security rules before you commit.
Check the recording, retention and audit controls. Decide who can start recordings, where they are stored, how long they are kept for, and who can get to them. In cloud platforms, the vendor controls the recording infrastructure. In TrueConf and Secumeet, recordings stay on your own servers.
Check how complicated it is to integrate and migrate. If you are replacing an existing platform, list the integrations your teams use. Cloud platforms offer greater choice of integration ecosystems. On-premise platforms offer Active Directory, LDAP, and SIP/H.323 interoperability, but limited SaaS integrations. It usually takes longer to move users from one platform to another than the procurement team expects.
Buyer Scenario
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between encrypted and secure video calls?
Encrypted video calls use special codes, called cryptographic protocols, to keep your call data safe when it’s sent from one device to another. Most of the big video calling services use transport encryption. When we talk about “secure video conferencing”, this includes things like data protection, who owns the control plane, access rules, and the ability to audit what is happening. A platform like TrueConf provides encrypted communication on infrastructure that the customer owns and controls entirely. Secumeet uses cryptography to control keys. This means that even the company that made it cannot see what is being said on the calls. Encryption is an important part of security, but it is not enough on its own.
Is TrueConf more secure than Zoom or Microsoft Teams?
TrueConf has a completely different security system than Zoom or Teams. Zoom and Teams keep communications secret and secure, and they have the right certifications to make sure everything is safe. TrueConf moves the whole system into the customer’s environment, which stops the vendor’s cloud from being a possible access point. If your organisation is at risk of being hacked by a cloud vendor, or if the law says you have to use a cloud vendor, or if the law says you can’t use a cloud vendor, then TrueConf is a better choice. Secumeet takes this a step further by adding something called zero-knowledge key custody. For standard business use where cloud compliance certifications are enough, Zoom and Teams may be easier to use and work with more software.
Can you do video calls without an internet connection?
Yes, and this is one of TrueConf’s most distinctive features. You can use TrueConf Server on a private LAN (Local Area Network) that doesn’t have internet. This means that meetings between users on the same local network stay secure and no data leaves the facility. This is important for places like manufacturing sites, research facilities, military bases, and any place where you can’t get online. Secumeet can also work in a network that is completely separate from other networks. It can be used as a system for conferences and it will never send data outside the organisation’s network. By design, cloud platforms like Zoom, Teams and Webex need an internet connection to work. This means they cannot be used in environments that are not connected to the internet.
Which vendor is best for healthcare, government, or defense?
For the US federal government, Cisco Webex (approved by FedRAMP) and Microsoft Teams GCC High (close to DoD standards) are the most common cloud choices, while TrueConf is the strongest on-premise option no matter what the rules are. For US defense and intelligence contexts, AWS Wickr is the only option that meets the IL4/IL5 authorization standards. If your healthcare organisation is focused on following HIPAA rules when using cloud hosting, Cisco Webex and Zoom for Healthcare (with BAA) are good options. But if your healthcare organisation must keep all data on-premise, TrueConf is a better choice. Secumeet is best for use in any of these sectors where only a small part of the communications needs its own special protection against hackers.
Do cloud platforms provide enough control over data storage and use?
Most businesses are happy with the way in which the big cloud platforms handle their data. If your organisation has to follow national data laws, is restricted by EU GDPR rules on sending data to other countries, or has to follow rules that say you can’t host data on foreign systems, then this is the answer for you.
Author
Helga Afon is a technology writer specializing in video conferencing, collaboration software, and workplace communication. She writes articles and reviews that help readers better understand enterprise communication tools and industry trends.