Migrate from Agora/Zego to Monibuca

Why Migrate from Agora/Zego?

More and more companies are looking for alternatives to Agora and Zego, primarily because of:

• Cost: Per-minute billing becomes prohibitively expensive at scale
• Data Privacy: Media data routes through third-party servers, failing compliance requirements
• Control: Dependency on third-party SDK limits customization and debugging
• Compliance: Government and enterprise clients require on-premises deployment

Monibuca is a high-performance open-source streaming engine built in Rust that provides API-compatible adapters for Agora and Zego, allowing you to:

• Use the exact same code to connect to your own servers
• Complete migration with zero code changes
• Enjoy zero cloud service fees with self-hosted deployment

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One-Line Migration

From Agora

// Before — using Agora SDK
import AgoraRTC from "agora-rtc-sdk-ng";

// After — using Monibuca adapter (all other code remains the same)
import { AgoraRTC } from "@monibuca/adapter-agora";

All your existing business logic, event listeners, and track operations work without any changes.

From Zego

// Before — using Zego SDK
import { ZegoExpressEngine } from "zego-express-engine-webrtc";

// After — using Monibuca adapter (all other code remains the same)
import { ZegoExpressEngine } from "@monibuca/adapter-zego";

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Migration Steps

Step 1: Deploy Monibuca Server

# Download Monibuca
curl -fsSL https://monibuca.com/install.sh | bash

# Start (listens on port 8080 by default)
./monibuca

Step 2: Install Adapter

# If you're currently using Agora
npm uninstall agora-rtc-sdk-ng
npm install @monibuca/adapter-agora

# If you're currently using Zego
npm uninstall zego-express-engine-webrtc
npm install @monibuca/adapter-zego

Step 3: Change Imports

Global find-and-replace the import path (see examples above). No business code changes needed.

Step 4: Update Connection Parameters

Agora users: Change the first parameter of join() (originally appId) to your Monibuca server WebSocket URL

// Before — connecting to Agora cloud
await client.join("your-agora-app-id", "channel", token, uid);

// After — connecting to Monibuca
await client.join("ws://your-server:8080", "channel", null, uid);

Zego users: Change the server parameter to your Monibuca server URL

// Before — connecting to Zego cloud
const zg = new ZegoExpressEngine(appID, "wss://xxx.zego.im/ws");

// After — connecting to Monibuca
const zg = new ZegoExpressEngine(0, "ws://your-server:8080");

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API Compatibility

Agora Adapter Coverage

Category	Supported Methods
Client	createClient, join, leave, publish, unpublish, subscribe, unsubscribe
Track Creation	createMicrophoneAudioTrack, createCameraVideoTrack, createScreenVideoTrack, createMicrophoneAndCameraTracks
Device Management	getCameras, getMicrophones, getPlaybackDevices, checkSystemRequirements
Track Control	play, stop, close, setEnabled, setVolume, setDevice
Events	user-joined, user-left, user-published, user-unpublished, connection-state-change

Zego Adapter Coverage

Category	Supported Methods
Room	loginRoom, logoutRoom
Publishing	createZegoStream, createStream, startPublishingStream, stopPublishingStream
Playing	startPlayingStream, stopPlayingStream
Devices	enumDevices, useAudioDevice, useVideoDevice
Messaging	sendBroadcastMessage
Events	roomStateChanged, roomUserUpdate, roomStreamUpdate, publisherStateUpdate, playerStateUpdate, publishQualityUpdate, playQualityUpdate, IMRecvBroadcastMessage

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Unsupported Features

The following cloud service features are outside the adapter scope:

• Cloud Recording (use Monibuca’s MP4 plugin instead)
• CDN Relay (Monibuca natively supports RTMP/HLS distribution)
• Content Moderation (integrate third-party services)
• Token Authentication (Monibuca has its own auth system)
• Beauty Filters/Virtual Background (Monibuca Web SDK has built-in AI effects)

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FAQ

How does performance compare to Agora/Zego?

Monibuca uses standard WHIP/WHEP protocols with end-to-end latency typically 200-500ms (same tier as Agora/Zego). The Rust-based server achieves extremely high performance — a single node can handle thousands of concurrent streams.

Do I need to maintain my own servers?

Yes, Monibuca is a self-hosted solution. The benefits are complete data control, zero recurring fees, and full scalability. Best suited for organizations with ops teams.

Can I migrate incrementally?

Yes. You can use both the original vendor SDK and the Monibuca adapter in the same project, routing traffic by room/channel as needed.

What about browser compatibility?

Same as Agora/Zego — all modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). It’s all WebRTC underneath.

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Full API Documentation

See the complete interface documentation and usage examples: Web SDK Adapters API Reference