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May 2026#

Scaling Up is easy, the challenge is Scaling Down: The Scale-In problem in videoconferences.

Autoscaling is one of the killer features of cloud infrastructure. It promises zero-waste elasticity: when demand rises, you spin up more nodes; when demand drops, you shut them down and stop paying for them. For most cloud workloads, this works beautifully. But for real-time media platforms — videoconferencing systems built on top of media servers — the "shut them down" part is far more dangerous than it first appears.

Scale In

Scale in situation

This post dives into the scale-in problem: why you can't simply terminate a media server node that has active meetings running inside it, how the broader cloud industry has addressed it, and how OpenVidu implements a robust solution across AWS, Azure, GCP and Digital Ocean.

5 React video call platforms in 2026: Is SaaS still the right choice?

React video call platforms in 2026 — SaaS vs Self-hosted

1. Introduction

When React developers need to add video calls to their applications, the first question is usually simple:

"What is the fastest way to get it working?"

Most teams start by looking for a video API with a React SDK they can integrate quickly, without dealing directly with WebRTC complexity.

In practice, that usually means exploring well-known SaaS platforms that promise quick setup and minimal infrastructure work. That choice makes sense at the beginning:

  • Fast to integrate
  • No infrastructure headaches
  • Familiar turnkey experience

But there are questions teams often ask too late:

  • What happens when video becomes core to your product?
  • What happens when usage grows faster than expected?
  • Is paying per minute still the smartest choice in 2026?