Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic forced staff members to work from house, however the show had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations return to regular, videoconferencing service providers are putting resources into their items.
The two primary collaboration suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing capabilities, but we would be remiss not to consist of one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your company is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are aiming to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of features and choices that will assist you make your decision.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mostly fulfilling internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is already subscribed to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you need to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free variation that needs to resolve the majority of your requirements.
In the areas below, we will compare all three major videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you ought to consider prior to picking the right one for your business.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of features for each platform, it is necessary to understand just how much you get from the whole of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet become part of larger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may need. While Teams and Meet can be procured individually, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription just provides you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships include a complete suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully incorporated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps work with each other, and the greatest difference in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Teams jumps flawlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the ability to change backward and forward 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 counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded meetings, and files are all housed in the exact same central place, making searchability far simpler.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to seek out saved chats from old meetings, or in the case of Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when working on collaborative files. Any files attached in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, suggesting you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft provides even more applications in their plans than Google, however lots of go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway enables you to rapidly get and cut a recorded Teams satisfying that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone shows up late to a conference, or an employee records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly get the part of the conference you require and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video, in addition to the time it would require to submit, trim, and export said video from a video editing platform.
Furthermore, all 3 platforms do have combinations with various other business applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you already use, and these platforms.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adapted well to the demand for particular features on their platforms, hence most of the exact same functions overlap across prepare for all three suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other Look at this website features, they differ throughout each company's offerings.
A table illustrating the different strategies and features of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in capabilities vary across strategies. Meet uses dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the greatest benefits that the platform has more than its rivals.Groups uses its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX services that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
Since the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, however the quality differs. Groups can 1080p video at 30 frames per 2nd if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom also has 1080p video, but it is limited to the platform's company or enterprise strategies. 1080p can likewise be enabled by Zoom support in certain cases. Zoom's 1080p functionality requires 1.8 Mbps of bandwidth for 1-on-1 calls and 2.5 Mbps on group calls.
Meet will default to 360p video, but it can send out and get up to 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are essentially meetings that run at the same time to the original videoconference. These were specifically essential for virtual education, so instructors might break students out into separate groups to discover.
There is a clear energy for breakout spaces in professional areas, too. If a larger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout rooms might be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces belonging to their base platforms, across all strategies. These spaces are essentially meetings that are running at the same time to the original videoconference.
Meet allows breakout rooms through their basic and plus plans, but not in the complimentary or standard plans. Like the majority of Google functions on cheaper strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, however this might be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to place video individuals in different digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode might be a strong spirits booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end file encryption and boosting their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online soon afterwards.
While Meet has actually not had any well-known occurrences of personal privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of personal privacy concerns and a track record of collecting data for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password component, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Additionally, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, blocking possibly malicious material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately block it from being sent.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams ensures you remain compliant with all data storage policies.
A graphic revealing the path of details as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does offer eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise plans and DLP in their Enterprise strategy just, however these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no particularly noted DLP capabilities.Zoom does not offer any of these features on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has reacted well to its privacy obstacles, however the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is terrific to have, but its addition was more of a reaction to an issue than a total service. It is not likely that E2EE protects most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most helpful in 1-on-1 conversations where sensitive info might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to worry about due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other details like Microsoft or Google.
Based on track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Due to the fact that your data is all stored in a single area, Teams and its security features take your efficiency center and turns it into your business's own data fortress. This second level of security and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though most videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your company's precise needs must figure out whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a cost effective cost, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your whole company together in one space, with the best possible features and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one collaboration center that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly recommend 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 actually continued our partnership till today day.