Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced workers to work from home, but the show needed to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations go back to typical, videoconferencing suppliers are putting resources into their products.
The two main cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing capabilities, however we would be remiss not to consist of among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your company is almost ensured to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are aiming to change platforms, continue checking hybrid cloud solution out listed below for a breakdown of features and options that will assist you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mainly satisfying 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 more than happy with the platform, you ought to use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and just require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that should fix the majority of your needs.
In the areas below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you should think about before choosing the right one for your company.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of functions for each platform, it is essential to understand how much you obtain from the totality of what you are paying for.
Teams and Meet are part of bigger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may need. While Teams and Meet can be obtained independently, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription just offers you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions include a complete suite of business 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 biggest distinction in between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps seamlessly from immediate 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 use both Workspace apps concurrently, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded meetings, and files are all housed in the same central location, making searchability far simpler.
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 collective files. Any files connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, meaning you do not need to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft provides a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, however lots of go unnoticed.
For example, Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly grab and trim a recorded Teams meeting that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody arrives late to a meeting, or a staff member records the exact same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly grab the part of the conference you require and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, along with the time it would require to submit, trim, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all three platforms do have integrations with different other company applications, so make certain to examine compatibility with any apps you currently use, and these platforms.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the need for specific features on their platforms, thus most of the exact same features overlap throughout plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom backgrounds. As for some other features, they differ throughout each business's offerings.
A table illustrating the different strategies and features of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
Groups 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 options that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates flawlessly with Teams, permitting workers to take service on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of 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, but it is restricted to the platform's service or business strategies. 1080p can also be made it possible for by Zoom assistance 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, however it can send and get up to 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, as well as the quality of your internet connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are basically conferences that run simultaneously to the initial videoconference. These were especially required for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into separate groups to find out.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in professional areas, too. If a bigger group is fulfilling about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms might be a fantastic option.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms native to their base platforms, throughout all plans. These rooms are basically conferences that are running simultaneously to the initial videoconference.
Meet allows breakout rooms through their basic and plus plans, but not in the totally free or standard strategies. Like many Google functions on cheaper strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, but this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft also rolled out Together Mode, which utilizes AI to place video participants in different digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a solid morale booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded promptly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Unfortunately, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any popular incidents of personal privacy breaches, Google has actually had lots of privacy issues and a track record of gathering data for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the best performance history of security and they also have the most transparent privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password component, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire a genuine defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing 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 automatically block it from being sent out.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain compliant with all information storage regulations.
A graphic revealing the course of information as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does provide eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan just, but 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.
In general, Zoom has actually reacted well to its privacy obstacles, but the changes are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, however its addition was more of a response to an issue than a complete option. It is not likely that E2EE secures 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 information might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to stress over because they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other information like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Because your data is all saved in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your productivity hub and turns it into your company's own data fortress. This second level of security and personal privacy makes it the safest, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though most videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your business's precise requirements must figure out whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a budget friendly rate, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your whole company together in one area, with the very best possible features and security available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one collaboration center that keeps all your interaction in one space, we highly recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has actually leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 given that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration till today day.