Google Meet – is FREE with your G Suite subscription for unlimited video conferencing or free to everyone for meetings up to 60 minutes. It’s basic and yet has all the collaboration tools that you’ll require to conduct meetings.
Zoom – is one of the best known programs that allows several people to connect from a single place and device. It is charges call-in fees and is more expensive than Google.
While both the tools help you connect with employees and coworkers through video conferencing, they are very similar and yet very different at the same time. Both have collaboration tools, including screen share, breakout rooms and call-ins. The big difference is in the overall price and the max number of participants that can join the meeting.
Google Meet
- Available with a G-suite account
- Lets you connect via audio or video through your computer’s browser or the Meet App.
- Launching a meeting is pretty straightforward
- Invites are sent through mail.
- You can easily tap into your contact list and invite contacts to join you.
- You can add contacts directly through Meet
- If the recipients have a Google account, the meeting is automatically added to the calendar and reminders are set.
- Meeting ID is given which you can use over and over again.
- You can create additional rooms so multiple meetings can be held at the same time.
- Google also supports call-ins for those who cannot join via video. There is no additional fees for call-ins and it does not require any add-ons.
- Meet’s dashboard is a little messy as compared to Zoom
- Mac users have a hard time staying connected as compared to Windows and Android.
- Sharing documents, images and files is easy. Sharing documents from Google Drive is also possible.
- Screen sharing is also possible for slide presentations and visual aids and real time demonstrations.
Zoom
- One of the most downloaded conferencing programs right now
- Good video and audio quality – even on a laptop’s webcam and microphone
- It’s easy to add a plugin for Outlook and an extension for the Chrome browser to make it easier to launch the program and invite people.
- It works on Linux too.
- It has a lot of collaboration tools.
- Allows more than one host at a time.
- Administrative capabilities include sharing screens, inviting others, muting and unmuting other participants or all participants.
- It allows to share videos and fines and images
- Has a chat feature
- Others receive an in-meeting notice and an option to view or download the file.
- Zoom has a free version if you do not need any fancy features.
- Zoom enterprise and business versions allow you to add 300 to 500 participants.
- Business version allows you to record and receive transcripts of your meetings.
