Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic required staff members to work from home, however the program needed to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their items.
At this moment, your organization is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are aiming to change platforms, continue reading listed below for a breakdown of functions and options that will assist you make your choice.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mostly satisfying internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is already registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you more than happy with the platform, you ought to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that needs to fix the majority of your needs.
In the sections listed below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you should consider before picking the right one for your service.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is necessary to understand just how much you get from the whole of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet belong to bigger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might need. While Teams and Meet can be procured independently, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription only provides you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions include a full suite of company applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally integrated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the biggest distinction in between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps flawlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to change back and forth in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can make use of both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped meetings, and files are all housed in the exact same main area, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for conserved chats from old conferences, or in the case of Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is also the case when dealing with collaborative files. Any files connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, implying you do not need to lose time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft uses a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, though numerous go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway enables you to quickly grab and trim a taped Teams meeting that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody arrives late to a conference, or an employee records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly grab the part of the meeting you require and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video, as well as the time it would take to upload, trim, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all 3 platforms do have combinations with various other service applications, so be sure to examine compatibility with any apps you already utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the need for particular features on their platforms, thus most of the very same features overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other https://itleaders.com.au/it-support-services/managed-it-services/ features, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table depicting the different plans and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present throughout the board, dial-in capabilities differ across strategies. Meet uses dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the most significant advantages that the platform has over its competitors.Teams uses its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet offer internet-based PBX solutions that can change your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates effortlessly with Teams, enabling staff members to take company on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
Since the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, but the quality differs. Teams is capable of 1080p video at 30 frames per second if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom likewise has 1080p video, however it is limited to the platform's company or enterprise strategies. 1080p can also be made it possible for by Zoom assistance in certain cases. Zoom's 1080p performance needs 1.8 Mbps of bandwidth for 1-on-1 calls and 2.5 Mbps on group calls.
Meet will default to 360p video, however it can send and receive up to 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are basically conferences that run all at once to the initial videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so teachers might break trainees out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in professional spaces, too. If a larger group is fulfilling about a project, breaking down tasks into smaller groups, breakout spaces might be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all plans. These spaces are essentially conferences that are running simultaneously to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout rooms through their basic and plus strategies, however not in the totally free or basic plans. Nevertheless, like many Google functions on less expensive strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, but this might be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Recently, Microsoft likewise rolled out Together Mode, which uses AI to put video individuals in various digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a strong morale booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Regrettably, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online quickly afterwards.
While Meet has not had any well-known occurrences of privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for usage in advertising.
Microsoft has the best track record of security and they also have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password element, two-factor authentication is a must if you want a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking potentially destructive content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and instantly block it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you stay certified with all data storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the course of details as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise plans and DLP in their Enterprise plan only, however these are only restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not use any of these features on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually responded well to its personal privacy obstacles, however the changes are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is great to have, but its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a complete option. It is unlikely that E2EE secures most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most useful in 1-on-1 conversations where sensitive info might be shared, and it will be available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
Based upon track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Because your information is all saved in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your performance hub and turns it into your business's own information fortress. This second level of protection and personal privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though the majority of videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your business's precise needs ought to determine whether you select Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a cost effective cost, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your whole business together in one area, with the very best possible functions and security readily available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one cooperation hub that keeps all your communication in one space, we extremely advise Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has actually leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 considering that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration until today day.