Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic forced staff members to work from home, but the show needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing suppliers are putting resources into their products.
The two main cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing abilities, but we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your service is almost ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are wanting to alter platforms, continue checking out listed below for a breakdown of functions and choices that will help 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 stating, if your business is already subscribed to 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 subscribed to either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that should solve most of your needs.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all three major videoconferencing platforms based upon different metrics you should consider prior to picking the best one for your business.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of functions for each platform, it is important to understand how much you get from the whole of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet become part of bigger efficiency suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might need. While Teams and Meet can be procured individually, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership just offers you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a full suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a completely incorporated 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 distinction in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps seamlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the capability 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 simultaneously, the separation of the two is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped meetings, and files are all housed in the very same central place, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for saved chats from old conferences, or when it comes to Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise 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 don't have to lose time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft provides even more applications in their plans than Google, though lots of go unnoticed.
For example, Microsoft Sway allows you to rapidly grab and cut a recorded Teams satisfying that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the event that someone shows up late to a conference, or a staff member records the exact same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly get the part of the conference you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video, in addition to the time it would take to publish, trim, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
Furthermore, all three platforms do have combinations with numerous other organization applications, so make sure to examine compatibility with any apps you currently utilize, and these platforms.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adapted well to the demand for certain features on their platforms, hence most of the same functions overlap throughout plans for all three suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. As for some other functions, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table illustrating the different plans and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in abilities vary throughout plans. Meet offers dial-in free of charge with any of their paid plans, one of the greatest benefits that the platform has over its competitors.Groups uses its dial-in ability for $4 extra per user, each month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX options that can change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates flawlessly with Teams, enabling staff members to take business on the go, all with complete continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of 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 likewise has 1080p video, but it is restricted to the platform's company or business strategies. 1080p can likewise be enabled by Zoom support in certain cases. Zoom's 1080p functionality needs 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 and receive up to 720p video.
Audio quality throughout 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 essentially conferences that run all at once to the original videoconference. These were specifically necessary for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into separate groups to discover.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in professional spaces, too. If a larger group is meeting about a project, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms might be a great option.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout spaces native 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 strategies, however not in the free or standard strategies. Like the majority of Google functions on less expensive strategies, you can add 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 uses AI to position video individuals in various digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a strong spirits booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded swiftly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, including 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 actually not had any well-known events of personal privacy breaches, Google has had plenty of privacy issues and a performance history of gathering data for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the best track record 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 include a password element, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing potentially harmful content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically block it from being sent.
Along with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams guarantees you stay certified with all information storage policies.
A graphic revealing the path of details as it is encrypted from business it support gold coast Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan just, however these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no specifically listed DLP abilities.
Zoom does not provide any of these functions on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has responded well to its personal privacy challenges, however the changes are mostly cosmetic.
E2EE is most beneficial in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive details may be shared, and it will be offered on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company 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 details like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Due to the fact that your data is all saved in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your productivity center and turns it into your company's own information stronghold. This second level of protection and privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Many videoconferencing platforms have comparable functions, your company's exact requirements need to determine whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a budget friendly rate, it is difficult 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 functions and security available.
If you are looking for an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your communication in one area, we extremely recommend 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 partnership up until today day.