A lot of people and businesses had to change their workflows to accommodate newly imposed Covid-19 restrictions. Video conferencing apps have seen an upsurge in user base and sessions. For a lot of people, this was the first time they were exposed/forced to move their operations online. Even if you are a seasoned player, the number of options out there could be overwhelming. Picking the right option for your business is a challenge, to say the least.
We wanted to give you a brief rundown of the most popular video conferencing platforms and lay out their pros and cons. We wanted to focus on video conferencing rather than simple video chat. Video chat is highly saturated and focused on individual users rather than business/education. Finally, we want to help you pick the best option for your business.
To get a better grasp of your favorite video conferencing we ran a little competition. We picked what we think are the most popular 8 and let you vote each week until we got the “people champ”.
The competition ran a little over 1 month, and the results were in line with what we expected when we started writing this article. The competition was dominated by apps offering feature-rich experience, rather than ones that were just hiding around their brand name.
If you want to find out who was the winner, continue reading.
(You could just skip to the end of the article, but you will miss out on important information.)
If you think we missed your favorite platform, let us know.
Zoom Meetings
Price: Free (Host up to 100 participants; 40-minute maximum group meeting; Unlimited 1on1 meetings) Paid Versions up to $350 per license
Compatible Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android
Cons: Privacy and security issues
Zoom became famous in a very short time. At the end of 2019, they had around 10 million users. Now they are sitting at a comfortable 300 million users worldwide. The increase was in correlation with Covid-19 and the increase of work from the home initiative. Zoom was initially designed for use in the corporate world, but it found itself in millions of classrooms, living rooms, and bedrooms. It provides different levels of features depending on your business size, so you should be able to pick the sweet spot. Due to privacy and security concerns, many organizations have left the platform, but Zoom’s team has been working to bring the necessary updates to the platform.
Key Features:
Hosting up to 500 people (1000+ available with their most premium plan)
Meeting durations up to 30 hours
Variety of tech support (ticket, live chat, and phone)
Local and cloud storage for your recordings
Company Branding
Cloud Recording Transcripts
Screen Sharing, Virtual background
Whiteboarding
AES-256 Encryption
Streaming
Google Meet
Price: Free (Host up to 100 participants; 1 hour at the current promotion; Unlimited meetings) Paid Versions from $8
Compatible Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android
Cons: Video Quality and Reliability
Google Hangouts Meet, now Google Meet, is Google's enterprise video conferencing software. It is offered as a part of the G Suite. It is a valuable option for companies already invested in the Google business ecosystem. This is an excellent option for a business looking for a more affordable option and is already using other Google services. The feature pack is decent, but not spectacular. However, if you want to host regular video meetings or remotely manage teams, with no need for a robust solution, Google Meet is a great medium.
Key Features:
Hosting up to 250 people
Meeting durations up to 300 hours
Variety of tech support (ticket, forum, and phone)
Cloud storage for your recordings
Cloud Recording Transcripts
Screen Sharing, Virtual background
Whiteboarding
Encryption and statistics
Streaming
Toll-free numbers
Noise reduction
Skype
Price: Free. No paid version. You can buy credit to make calls to landlines/mobiles.
Compatible Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android
Cons: Video quality slows down with more participants
Skype is one of the oldest and the most popular applications for audio and video calls. Microsoft bought Skype in 2011. It seems that one of the most recognizable names is on its downturn as Microsoft is pushing Microsoft Teams as their latest offering. However, Skype is still widely used by many. A different iteration of Skype (Skype for Business) is being replaced by Microsoft Teams, so we will just focus on the old version that we all grew up with. At a current place, it’s worth is aimed at businesses with less than 20 people and a limited budget. Features are basic, but if the only thing you need is a quick video catch up, Skype is still a viable option.
Key Features:
Schedule Meetings from Outlook
Screen Sharing
Customized Participant Views
PowerPoint Presentations (Hi-Res)
Whiteboard, Poll, Q&A
Streaming
Local Storage for recordings
Synchronization with Office 365
Encryption
File Sharing
WebEx meetings
Price: Free Trial 30-days (Host up to 200 participants, 50-minute maximum group meeting, Unlimited 1on1 meetings) Paid packages to start from $13.5
Compatible Platforms: Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android
Cons: Occasional video lag, Interface window cannot expand completely
Webex is a product from Cisco, and for the longest time is recognized as one of the best platforms for video conferencing. It is a popular solution for corporations that are looking for a feature-rich platform and has high-security standards. Artificial Intelligence is embedded to give you insights, enrich your relationships and automate basic tasks. Depending on your size, it could be pricey, but if you value security, require advanced features WebEx is a great option to explore.
Key Features:
Screen Sharing and Screen optimization
Whiteboard
Strong Encryption
Cloud or Local meeting storage
Easy integration with Google or Microsoft calendars
Background Blurring
Streaming
Toll-free numbers
Support
Great integration with Cisco technology ecosystem
Microsoft Teams
Price: Free (Host up to 100 participants; 45-minute maximum group meeting; Unlimited 1on1 meetings) Paid Versions from $5 to $20 depending on the package.
Compatible Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android
Cons: Lack of notifications, Limited number of channels
Microsoft Teams is a part of the Office 365 subscription. It is replacing Skype for Business, and Microsoft’s direct answer to Slack. It is a great productivity and communication tool. As with the Google Meet, it represents a great option for businesses invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. Teams offers a plethora of features and is highly customizable. However, if you are outside of the ecosystem, you should consider checking the available integrations to see if teams would work for your business. It can be scaled easily, so business size should not matter here.
Key Features:
Fully Integrated with Office 365
Reduced email because it can replace email
Immersive reader
Built-in translator
Whiteboard
Meeting encryption
Blurred background
Streaming
Analytics
File Sharing
Screen Sharing
Custom Backgrounds
Host up to 300 people
Web versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Jitsi Meetings
Price: Free - Open Source
Compatible Platforms: Web, iOS, and Android
Cons: You need high tech knowledge to turn Jitsi solutions into a business ready video conferencing platform, Up to 75 participants per call
Jitsi Meet is an Open Source application that works on providing high quality and scalable video conferences. It offers a free solution that allows the end-user to customize the program to their liking. Jitsi offers great audio/video quality and is very easy to set up and use. It can be a great solution for smaller businesses but requires an additional investment for full personalization. It offers great video and audio quality and is a decent option to experiment with. Mobile support is not the best, but if you are mostly using the desktop version, you should be good to go.
Key Features:
Text chatting (web version only)
Password protected rooms
Screen sharing (additional plugin for Chrome)
Streaming a conference to YouTube life
Shared text document editing
Raise/Lower your hand for attention
Participant talk-time statistics
Push-to-talk mode
Play a YouTube video to all attendees call
Audio-only option
Telephone dial-in to a conference (additional configuration needed)
Dial-out to a telephone participant (additional configuration needed)
Integration in other apps/websites (Slack, Google Calendar…)
Slack
Price: Free - (Only 1 on 1 audio/video calls). Premium Plans start at $6.67
Compatible Platforms: Web, iOS, and Android
Cons: Up to 15 participants, Lack of Video Conferencing in free version
Slack is focused on team collaboration and productivity. It is a direct competitor to Microsoft Teams. Slack’s main focus is on team communication by using different channels, an easy sharing system, and numerous external app integrations. It offers video conferencing capabilities but limits the total number of users to 15. It does however offer easy integration with the above-mentioned apps (Zoom, Webex, Teams…) If your business requires a feature-packed messaging platform alongside the video options, Slack represents a decent option.
Key Features:
Message history
Integrations with more than 2000+ apps
Workspaces
Multiple Security measures
Screen Sharing
File Sharing
Searchable message history
Custom Workflow creation
Join.me
Price: Free trial (Up to 5 people). Paid: Premium Plans start at $10
Compatible Platforms: Web, iOS, and Android
Cons: Limited mobile applications features and no webcam streams with the lite version
Join.me is loved by many for its ease of use and modern interface and rich features. It offers competitive pricing and a feature-rich working environment. It is a solid choice for small and medium-sized businesses and will offer your team all the features necessary to communicate efficiently. Limited mobile application features and weaker integration are some of the negative sides you should consider.
Key Features:
250 participants per meeting
Cloud storage
Bulk User Import
Recording
Toll-free numbers
Personal Link & Background
Salesforce integration
Premium customer care
Screen sharing
Remote control
If you made it this far, it is only fair we deliver on our promise in the beginning.
The “people champ” award goes to…
*drum roll*
Google Meet
While not an obvious choice, Google Meet is not a surprising winner considering the sheer number of users of Gmail and other Google services. Google Meet represents an easy pickup coming from a company that people trust.
Which one is the best? Ultimately, it depends on your business size, budget, and needs. We hope this article will guide you to the best business decision.