Navigating the Video Call API Landscape: Support

Integrating live audio video is hard.

Depending on your tech stack and engineering bandwidth, the process of integrating an audio-video SDK will come with bottlenecks and incompatibilities. To resolve these blocks quickly, you will require reliable, extensive, and proactive vendor support - both before and after integration.

When it comes to choosing an audio-video SDK to purchase, the features said SDK offers are table stakes. However, continued vendor support is integral to deploying and implementing the features and keeping them functional in different customer environments.

In other words, when choosing an audio/video SDK, it is necessary to ensure that it comes with dedicated support functions so that when issues arise, you don’t have to expend your in-house experts’ time to fix the same.

Here is a quick guide that explores the support plans of Agora, Twilio, Jitsi (JaaS), Zoom, and 100ms.

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Support Factors to Consider

Cost

As you build product capabilities with an SDK, continued support provides requisite insight, guidance, and error resolution, especially for new customers. Even beyond initial implementation, support is unlikely to be a one-time requirement. Hence, the cost of additional support must be factored into your TCO.

Across the vendors analyzed in this piece, we highlight:

• How much does it cost to access support functions?
• Are there different tiers of support packages?

Integration / Account Management Support:

As you introduce a new SDK to your tech ecosystem, aligning it with your stack can pose challenges. Vendor support to guide you through this is essential for quick deployment. In particular, access to a Technical Account Manager and/or a Customer Success Engineer should be included as part of the support. Technical Account Managers (TAM) collaborate with customers to strategize on successful deployments, high performance, and growth. They manage all aspects of a company’s customer relationship involving tech-based requirements. Generally, they are expected to reasonably understand the customer’s setup.

Customer success engineers (CS engineers) help customers with details of technical deployment and product implementation. In this piece, we highlight:

• Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / Customer Success Engineer (CS Engineer): Will a dedicated TAM/CS Engineer be available to provide advice on architecture and codebase while integrating the SDK?
• Access to testing: Will the vendor run tests and quality check your app before it goes live?

Post-Integration Support

After you have deployed an app, you will still have customers logging in from different tech configurations, network strengths, and so forth. Changes in customer conditions, SDK upgrades, or even infra changes on your part may require adjustments to the existing app. This too will require insight and assistance from the vendor. Here, we have highlighted:

• SLAs: Depending on priority level, how fast will a query/ticket be responded to? How quickly will the issue be resolved from the vendor’s end

• Channels: What are the channels through which you can access support: Email, phone call, video call, Slack, Discord, etc.?

Community Support

Tech communities comprise individuals who are actively using the product and want to collaborate with others on solving uncommon problems. An active community is a great place to discuss edge cases, updates and get varied, out-of-the-box advice that has already worked for someone else. The questions this piece tries to answer are:

• Does the vendor enjoy significant community support?
• Can users post in forums (Discord, Stack Overflow, Slack communities, etc.) and get queries resolved?

Comparing Vendors

Agora’s Support

Agora offers four different support plans: Starter (free), Standard (paid), Premium (paid), and Enterprise (paid).

1. Agora’s Cost of Support

There are multiple layers of paid support and only one free plan.

PLAN	COST
Standard	$1,200/month
Premium	$2,900/month
Enterprise	$4,900/month

2. Agora’s Integration / Account Management Support

Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / Customer Success Engineer (CS Engineer):

• Premium plan:
  • Access to a named CS engineer to solve issues.
  • Code review: 1-2 hours of personalized remote review of the application design and workflows aligning with Agora’s best practices.
• Enterprise plan:
  • Everything in the Premium plan plus access to a Named SA Engineer as well as Live Developer Consultation and Training.

Access to testing:

• No explicit support for testing.

3. Agora’s Post-Integration Support

SLAs:

The Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plan all offer guaranteed response times with differing durations.

	STANDARD	PREMIUM	ENTERPRISE
P1	4 business hours	3 hours (24/7)	2 hours (24/7)
P2	16 business hours	16 business hours	5 business hours
P3	24 business hours	24 business hours	9 business hours

Note: Guaranteed response time refers to the first response from an engineer who has reviewed the issue. These times do not apply to queries about developer previews and beta products. No information is available on guaranteed times to resolve/close issues.

Channels:

Agora account holders can submit a ticket directly through the Agora Console—a site for developers to manage Agora projects and services. All support plans offer Ticket/Email support. The Premium and Enterprise plans offer Emergency Phone Number Access.

4. Agora’s Community Support

Users can access Agora’s Stack Overflow and Community Slack Channel to pose questions.

Sources: Agora Support, Agora Support Plans*

For further questions, contact Agora via this page. You can also call (408) 879-5885.

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Twilio’s Support

Twilio offers four different support plans: Developer (free), Production (paid), Business (paid), and Personalized (paid).

1. Twilio’s Cost of Support

Paid support is based on usage volume. Users just starting out with Twilio pay less for support. Those using more of Twilio’s features can opt for larger plans with more support features.

There are multiple layers of paid support, and one free plan. Production, Business, and Personalized plans are paid.

PLAN	COST
Production	4% of monthly spend (or $250 minimum)
Business	6% of monthly spend (or $1,500 minimum)
Personalized	8% of monthly spend (or $5,000 minimum)

2. Twilio’s Integration / Account Management Support

Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / Customer Success Engineer (CS Engineer):

Only available in the Personalized plan. It provides a designated Technical Account Manager who is aware of the customer’s requirements, business goals, and particular Twilio setup.

Access to testing: No explicit support for testing.

3. Twilio’s Post-Integration Support

SLAs: Guaranteed response times (based on priority level) are offered in all paid plans:

	PRODUCTION	BUSINESS	PERSONALIZED
P1	3 business hours	1 hour (24/7)	1 hour (24/7)
P2	6 business hours	2 business hours	2 business hours
P3	9 business hours	3 business hours	3 business hours

Channels:

	LIVE CHAT	EMAIL	PHONE SUPPORT
Developer		Yes
Production	Yes	Yes
Business	Yes	Yes	Yes
Personalized	Yes	Yes	Yes

4. Twilio’s Community Support

Users can pose questions on Twilio Collective on StackOverflow.

Sources: Twilio Support Plans, Introducing new Twilio support plans*

For further questions, you can contact Twilio via this page.

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Jitsi’s Support

Jitsi’s open-source version is supported by a large and active community — the Jitsi community forum. Jitsi’s paid version (8x8 Jitsi as a Service) includes dedicated support for strategic customers, as explained in their Global Premium Plus Support plan.

1. Jitsi’s Cost of Support

No information on support costs is available on the website. However, users can post requests for paid support on the Jitsi Community Forum**, as seen here.**

2. Jitsi’s Integration / Account Management Support

Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / Customer Success Engineer (CS Engineer):

Premium Plus customers can access Technical Account Managers who deliver strategic and tactical technical consultation and act as customer champions during a technical crisis.

Access to testing:

No explicit support for testing.

3. Jitsi’s Post-Integration Support

SLAs:

Premium Plus customers are promised Service Level Targets (SLT) for the initial response.

PRIORITY	PREMIUM PLUS
S1	30 minutes
S2	2 hours
S3	4 hours

Channels:

• Global Premium Plus users can use the following channels to engage 8x8 Premium Plus Support:
  • Using the 8x8 Support Portal to create a web case.
  • Call the Premium Help Desk to triage the issue and escalate it to the right NSE/CEM.
  • Sign up on StatusCast to receive alerts about service outages. Users can create cases if required.
• Customers can speak to an 8x8 support agent by creating a case for 8x8 support. The procedure requires a few steps, all of which are detailed here. Jitsi users can also contact 8x8 customer support here.

4. Jitsi’s Community Support

The Jitsi Community Forum is quite active, and an excellent option for resolving queries.

Sources: Global Premium Plus Support Overview, Jitsi as a Service, 8x8 Technical Support*

For further questions, you can contact 8x8 via this page.

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Zoom’s Support

Dedicated support for developers is also available through Premier Developer Support aimed at offering prioritized developer-specific resources.

Note: We are not taking into account the Zoom support plans aimed at non-developer users and admins in this article.

1. Zoom’s Cost of Support

PLAN	COST
Developer	Free
Bronze	$675/month
Silver	$1,300/month
Gold	$1,900/month

2. Zoom’s Integration / Account Management Support

Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / Customer Success Engineer (CS Engineer):

Developers will be able to access technical personnel trained to respond to unique development needs, help with custom integrations, and address technical Zoom account needs.

Access to testing:

No explicit support for testing.

3. Zoom’s Post-Integration Support

SLAs:

Premium Developer Support is given based on priority level and the plan.

PRIORITY	DEVELOPER	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD
P1 — Service-level impact	N/A	24 hours	6 hours	4 hours
P2 — Customer-level impact	N/A	48 hours	12 hours	8 hours
P3 — Scheduled engagement	N/A	72 hours	24 hours	16 hours

Channels: We examined Zoom’s Documentation and asked on Zoom’s Developer Forum but were unable to determine the answer with complete accuracy. We will update the article when receive more clarity. You can contact Zoom Sales for more information.

4. Zoom’s Community Support

Users can access the Zoom community to get questions answered from fellow developers and users. Developers can also access Zoom Developer Support where they can learn how to build apps/integrations with Zoom and get questions answered by Zoom staff.

Source: Zoom’s Premier Developer Support*

For further questions, you can contact Zoom via this page.

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100ms’ Support

1. 100ms’ Cost of Support

All support functions are available to paying customers at no additional cost.

2. 100ms’ Integration / Account Management Support

Access to Technical Account Manager (TAM) / CSM (Customer Success Manager):

All paying customers have access to a dedicated CS manager and access to a solutions engineer to review architecture and integration.

Access to testing:

All paid accounts get access to testing support from 100ms. All paying customers have access to dedicated testing before go-live. This includes user testing, load testing, and network/device stress testing.

3. 100ms’ Post-Integration Support

SLAs:

PRIORITY	SLA (Time for resolution)
Critical*	8 hours
Major**	72 hours
Minor***	Mutually aligned timeline

*Issues affecting >5% of calls

**Issues affecting >1% but <5% of calls

***Issues affecting <1% of calls

Channels:

Customers can speak to support personnel via live chat, Slack, Discord, and Intercom. All paying customers get access to dedicated Slack support.

4. 100ms’ Community Support

Users can access the 100ms Discord server, an active user community.

For further questions, you can contact 100ms via this page. You can also pose questions on the 100ms Discord server.

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Support Comparison Table

	Agora	Twilio	Jitsi	Zoom	100ms
Cost	Standard Plan: $1200/month    Premium Plan: $2900/month   Enterprise Plan: $4900/month	Production Plan: 4% of monthly spend (or $250 minimum)   Business Plan: 6% of monthly spend (or $1,500 minimum)   Personalized Plan: 8% of monthly spend (or $5,000 minimum)	No information on support costs is available on the website.    Can request paid support on Jitsi Community Forum.	Premier Developer Support:-   Developer - Free   Bronze - $675/month   Silver - $1,300/month   Gold - $1,900/month	No additional cost.
Access to TAM / CS Engineer	Premium plan: - Access to CS engineer - Code Review   Enterprise plan - Everything in the Premium plan plus access to SA Engineer & Live Developer Consultation and Training.	Only available in the Personalized plan. The plan also provides a support escalation line and quarterly status review.	Available for Premium Plus customers.	Premier Developer Support provides developer enablement, onboarding, training, and architectural consultations.	All paying customers have access to a dedicated CS manager and a solutions engineer.
Access to Testing	No explicit support for testing.	No explicit support for testing.	No explicit support for testing.	No explicit support for testing.	All paid accounts get access to testing support from 100ms.
SLAs	Standard Plan: P1 – 4 Business hours P2 – 16 business hours P3 – 24 business hours   Premium Plan: P1 – 3 hours(24/7) P2 – 8 business hours P3 – 16 business hours   Enterprise Plan: P1 – 2 hours (24/7) P2 – 5 business hours P3 – 9 business hours	Production Plan: P1 - 3 business hours P2 - 6 business hours P3 - 9 business hours   Business Plan: P1 - 1 hour (24/7) P2 - 2 business hours P3 - 3 business hours   Personalized Plan: P1 - 1 hour (24/7) P2 - 2 business hours P3 - 3 business hours	Service Level Targets (SLT) for the initial response for Premium Plus:   S1: 30 minutes S2: 2 hours S3: 4 hours	Premier Developer Support:-   Developer: P1 - N/A P2 - N/A P3 - N/A   Bronze: P1 - 24 hours P2 - 48 hours P3 - 72 hours   Silver: P1 - 6 hours P2 - 12 hours P3 - 24 hours   Gold: P1 - 4 hours P2 - 8 hours P3 - 16 hours	Critical - 8 hours Major - 72 hours Minor - Mutually aligned timeline
Channels	Submit a ticket directly through the Agora Console.    All support plans offer Ticket/Email support. Premium & Enterprise plans offer Emergency Phone Number Access.	Production, Business, and Personalize plans provide live support options with live chat on all three, and phone support on the latter two.    Only email support on the Developer plan.	Global Premium Plus users: - Use the 8x8 Support Portal - Call Premium Help Desk - Sign up on StatusCast    Customers can also speak to an 8x8 Support agent after creating a case.	No specific communication channels are explicitly mentioned in the Premier Developer Support doc.	Interact with support directly on Slack, Discord, and Intercom.   Paying customers can access dedicated Slack support.
Community Support	Agora’s Stack Overflow and Community Slack Channel	Twilio Forum now largely shifted to Stack Overflow as Twilio Collective.	Jitsi Community Forum	Zoom Community	100ms has an active Discord server.