Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic required staff members to work from house, however the show had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to typical, videoconferencing service providers are putting resources into their products.
The two primary collaboration suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing abilities, however we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your company is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are wanting to change platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of features and alternatives that will assist you make your choice.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mostly fulfilling internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your company is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you should use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that must solve most of your requirements.
In the areas below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based upon different metrics you ought to consider prior to choosing the best one for your business.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the complete list of features for each platform, it is necessary to understand how much you get from the totality of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet become part of bigger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may require. While Teams and Meet can be acquired individually, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership only gives you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a complete suite of business applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally integrated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps deal with each other, and the greatest distinction in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps flawlessly from instantaneous messaging to video calls, with the capability to change back and forth between them.
Meanwhile, Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can make use of both Workspace apps simultaneously, the separation of the two is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, tape-recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the exact same main location, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to seek out saved chats from old meetings, or when it comes to Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when working on collaborative files. Any files connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, suggesting you don't need to lose time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft provides even more applications in their plans than Google, though lots of go undetected.
Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly get and cut a tape-recorded Teams satisfying that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the event that someone arrives late to a conference, or a worker records the same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly get the part of the meeting you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video, in addition to the time it would require to publish, trim, and export said video from a video editing platform.
Additionally, all 3 platforms do have integrations with numerous other organization applications, so make sure to examine compatibility with any apps you currently utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adapted well to the need for certain functions on their platforms, thus the majority of the exact same functions overlap across plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: customized backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they differ throughout each business's offerings.
A table illustrating the various 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 provides dial-in totally free with any of their paid strategies, one of the most significant advantages that the platform has over its competitors.Groups uses its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, each month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX solutions that can change your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates effortlessly with Teams, permitting employees to take business on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
Since the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, but the quality varies. Groups can 1080p video at 30 frames per second 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 also be enabled by Zoom support in specific 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 upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your internet connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are basically meetings that run concurrently to the initial videoconference. These were particularly necessary for virtual education, so teachers could break students out into different groups to learn.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in professional areas, too. If a larger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout spaces could be a fantastic service.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout rooms native to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These spaces are basically meetings that are running at the business it services - itleaders.com.au same time to the original videoconference.
Recently, Microsoft likewise rolled out Together Mode, which uses AI to place video individuals in numerous 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 file encryption and beefing up their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and published for sale online quickly afterwards.
While Meet has not had any famous events of privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of personal privacy issues and a track record of collecting information for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a genuine 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 readily available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, obstructing potentially destructive material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft likewise utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically obstruct it from being sent out.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you stay compliant with all data storage regulations.
A graphic showing the course of information as it is secured from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use 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 no specifically noted DLP abilities.Zoom does not use any of these features on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has responded well to its privacy challenges, but the modifications are mainly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, but its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a total solution. It is not likely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most beneficial in 1-on-1 conversations where delicate info might be shared, and it will be offered on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to fret about because they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other details like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon credibility 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 defense and privacy makes it the safest, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though a lot of videoconferencing platforms have similar functions, your organization's exact needs should figure out whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a cost effective cost, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire business together in one area, with the best possible features and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your communication in one space, we highly suggest Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has actually leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 since 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration till the present day.