Google Meet vs Zoom: Which one is better?

With the ongoing global pandemic, working remotely has almost became a necessity.

The new era of remote working is upon us and for helping with this, employers use a variety of video communication tools to hold meetings with their employees.

In fact, this pandemic triggered the remote working system which was the biggest working experiment globally. It indeed did emerge successful, though.

One of the most popular ones used by businesses are Google Meet and Zoom. Here is what all you need to know about both of these tools to take the correct decision as per your requirements. Let us find out more about Google Meet vs Zoom – which one should we choose?

Zoom Pricing Plans

The basic version in case of Zoom is free of cost. However, there are some limiting features. These includes only 40 minutes for group meetings and the capability to host up to 100 people.

The paid or Pro plans start with the $149.50/year package which is considered great for small teams. 

These can hold up to 1000 participants and allow meetings up to 30 hours. Social Media streaming is included along with 1 GB Cloud Recording.

The next pricing plan is for $199.90 and is suitable for small and medium businesses. Additional features offered include capacity up to 1000 participants, company branding and recording transcripts.

The most expensive plan is for $300 per year which includes unlimited calling within US & Canada along with chat features.

Google Meet Pricing Plans

 

Google Meet offers free service up to 100 participants with one hour limit on the duration of meetings. Other packages are as follows:

Business Starter: $6/month per user up to 100 participants

Standard: $12/month per user up to 150 participants

Plus: $18/month per user up to 250 participants

Enterprise: The price varies up to 250 participants

The Google Suite comes with an array of features including Calendar, Drive, Gmail, Sheets and Docs.

Availability & Accessibility

Zoom is the most popular videoconferencing tool used globally right now. However, Google Meet has a major advantage that it can host online meetings through any web browser of your choice.

For Zoom you must open it by using either your browser or Windows 10/Mac. Google Meet also has an advantage of being accessible without any need of additional downloads. All you have to do is to visit meet.google.com.

In fact, any person who has a Google account and a Google login can schedule and hold online meetings/conferences without any requirement of creating a separate account.

On the other hand, Zoom does not currently have the ability of scheduling meetings without opening an app or a client. It also offers plugins for all popular browsers such as Chrome and Firefox.

Features for Zoom and Google Meet

Both Zoom and Google Meet offer videoconferencing services and chat features as well.

Google Meet has features such as an audio and video preview screen for meetings, screen sharing, cross platform compatibility and integration from Office and Google as well.

Zoom also includes all the features mentioned above. In fact it does provide a upgrade from what Google Meet has to offer currently.

The preview screen on Google Meet lets you check on your own video or audio connections.

On the other hand, Zoom Meeting Rooms enable the hosts to pre-screen meeting participants and grant them entry to the virtual meeting.

For using a whiteboard and for conducting pools among participants on Google Meet, the person has to open a separate app such as Jamboard or even Chrome Canvas.

However, Zoom possesses whiteboard and polling capability features.

Other useful and popular features which Zoom offers are hand raising, custom background, annotations and conference room support. These are fabulous features for arranging online meetings.

Similarly Google Meet’s unique features include noise cancellation and live captioning. The features prove ultimately extremely useful to people who have auditory issues.

G Suite charges according to per active user and Zoom charges per host.

Therefore if you set a limit to the number of people who can host meetings, ultimately you can end up paying less for Zoom though it comes with a variety of expensive add-on features.

Extra Features in Zoom vs Google Meet

 

During the last few months, Google Meet has come up with numerous improvements. It has now included features which were only available in Zoom.

Now it also has background filters, breakout rooms, polls and whiteboards. Another very interesting feature in Google Meet is the direct transcript option but at this point of time, it is still in the development stage.

Zoom on the other hand does enable you to view diagnostic information in a meeting and to determine if you are facing video, audio or network issues.

This can be really useful, as it will help you to solve these issues easily instead of having to rushing to IT admin for immediate help.

All you need for this is to have a downloadable application – Zoom Desktop client which is used for participating in Zoom calls.

Security of Google Meeting vs Zoom

 

 

Security of video conferencing platform cannot be over emphasized. In the beginning Zoom came under criticism for security breaches that caused concern among users.

There were umpteen instances reported causing massive disruptions where hackers were able to take over PCs by using at least one unknown vulnerability within the desktop application.

This included things like trolls which made their way into meetings.

Ever since that phase happened, Zoom decided to implement many security features for making its platform safer with end-to-end encryption feature and other features to increase its security.

Google Meet has a number of security protocol features. There are also server-side protection features and the platform permits a 2-step verification when users want to join meetings.

Which one is better?

The pandemic has demonstrated that how successfully remote working can be managed with using the right tools in place. Working online and learning became very convenient using these within team meetings and communicating with each other.

Both Google Meet and Zoom are videoconferencing tools which offer ample features to make that happen.

Zoom is the best choice for being a fully featured video conferencing service. It has almost every feature you would need for working from home.

The array of features coupled with the customer support team makes it a perfect choice for organizations globally.

Zoom definitely provides a more insightful experience for larger conferences for corporate clients, enterprise level use and larger conferences.

It has a slight edge over Google Meet when it comes down to its additional features and the interface.

Google Meet is also a useful platform. It’s just that Google Meet has less features compared to Zoom but is easier to set up as you don’t require a separate account.

With your Google account in place, you can sign up for the service.

If the attendees include people who dial in to meetings, and hosts meetings lasting more than 24 hours, Google Meet fits the bill.

In case your business is using other Google products or Google Workspace, (formely GSuite) then trying out Google Meet sounds to be a good choice.

Your ultimate choice also depends upon your objective for requiring the video conferencing tool.

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