Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, however the show needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to normal, videoconferencing suppliers are putting resources into their products.
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At this point, your service is almost ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are aiming to change platforms, continue reading listed below for a breakdown of features and options that will help you make your choice.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mostly meeting internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your business is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you more than happy with the platform, you must use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free version that needs to solve most of your needs.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based upon various metrics you should consider before picking the ideal one for your service.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is essential to understand just how much you obtain from the totality of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet are part of larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may need. While Teams and Meet can be obtained separately, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription only offers you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a full suite of company applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally integrated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The most significant selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps deal with each other, and the greatest difference in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups 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, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the same main location, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to seek out saved chats from old conferences, 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, implying you don't need to waste time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft offers much more applications in their plans than Google, however many go unnoticed.
For example, Microsoft Sway permits you to quickly grab and trim a taped Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone gets here late to a meeting, or an employee records the very same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly grab the part of the conference you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, as well as the time it would take to publish, trim, and export said video from a video editing platform.
In addition, all 3 platforms do have combinations with various other organization applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you currently use, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adapted well to the demand for certain features on their platforms, hence the majority of the very same functions overlap across prepare for all three suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom backgrounds. As for some other functions, they vary across each company's offerings.
A table depicting the different strategies and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in abilities differ throughout plans. Meet provides dial-in free of charge with any of their paid plans, among the biggest benefits that the platform has more than its competitors.Teams offers its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX services that can change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates flawlessly with Teams, allowing staff members to take company on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, but the quality differs. Teams can 1080p video at 30 frames per second if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom also has 1080p video, but it is restricted to the platform's business or business strategies. 1080p can also be allowed by Zoom support in specific cases. Zoom's 1080p performance requires 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 as much on site it support services as 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your internet connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are basically conferences that run all at once to the original videoconference. These were particularly necessary for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in professional spaces, too. If a bigger team is satisfying about a project, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms could be a fantastic option.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout rooms belonging to their base platforms, across all plans. These rooms are basically meetings that are running at the same time to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout rooms through their standard and plus plans, however not in the free or basic plans. Like the majority of Google functions on cheaper strategies, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted promptly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end encryption and intensifying their personal privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has not had any well-known events of privacy breaches, Google has actually had lots of privacy issues and a performance history of gathering data for usage in advertising.
Microsoft has the best performance history 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 involve a password component, two-factor authentication is a need to if you desire a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing possibly malicious material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft likewise uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture delicate data being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately block it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams guarantees you stay compliant with all data storage regulations.
A graphic showing the path of info 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 plan only, however these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly noted DLP abilities.Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its main platform.
Overall, Zoom has reacted well to its privacy challenges, but the changes are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, however its addition was more of an action to an issue than a total option. It is unlikely that E2EE protects most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most beneficial in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive details may be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to stress over since they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other information 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 space, Teams and its security features take your efficiency center and turns it into your company's own data fortress. This second level of protection and privacy makes it the safest, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though the majority of videoconferencing platforms have similar functions, your company's specific requirements need to identify whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a budget-friendly rate, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire company together in one space, with the best possible features and security offered.
If you are searching for an all-in-one collaboration center that keeps all your interaction in one area, we extremely suggest Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 since 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have actually continued our partnership until today day.