Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from house, however the program had to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations go back to regular, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their products.
The two primary collaboration 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 organization is nearly ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are looking to change platforms, continue reading listed below for a breakdown of features and choices that will assist you make your decision.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mainly meeting internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your business is already subscribed to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you must utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that should solve most of your requirements.
In the areas below, we will compare all three significant videoconferencing platforms based on different metrics you should consider prior to selecting the best one for your business.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is essential to understand just how much you get from the totality of what you are paying for.
Teams and Meet become part of bigger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might 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 gives you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a full suite of service applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully integrated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The most significant selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps deal with each other, and the most significant difference in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps effortlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch 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 counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped meetings, and files are all housed in the very same main area, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for saved chats from old meetings, or when it comes to Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is also the case when working on collective files. Any files attached in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, it solutions gold coast indicating you don't need to waste time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft provides a lot more applications in their plans than Google, though many go undetected.
For example, Microsoft Sway permits you to quickly grab and cut a taped Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone arrives late to a conference, or a staff member records the very same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly grab the part of the conference you need and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video, as well as the time it would take to submit, trim, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all three platforms do have integrations with various other company applications, so make sure 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 all adapted well to the need for certain features on their platforms, thus the majority of the same features overlap throughout plans for all three suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: customized backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they vary throughout each business's offerings.
A table depicting the various plans and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in capabilities vary throughout plans. Meet provides dial-in totally free with any of their paid plans, one of the most significant advantages that the platform has over its rivals.Groups uses its dial-in ability for $4 extra per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet offer internet-based PBX services that can replace your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates perfectly with Teams, enabling workers to take service on the go, all with full connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, but the quality varies. Teams can 1080p video at 30 frames per second if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom likewise has 1080p video, but it is limited to the platform's service or enterprise strategies. 1080p can also be allowed by Zoom assistance 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 out and get up to 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run all at once to the initial videoconference. These were particularly necessary for virtual education, so teachers could break trainees out into separate groups to learn.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in expert spaces, too. If a larger team is satisfying about a job, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout spaces might be a terrific solution.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces native to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These spaces are basically meetings that are running all at once to the initial videoconference.
Meet enables breakout rooms through their basic and plus strategies, however not in the free or fundamental strategies. Nevertheless, like most Google functions on less expensive plans, you can include Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
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 could be a solid morale booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded promptly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end encryption and intensifying their personal privacy policy. Regrettably, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and published for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has not had any famous incidents of personal privacy breaches, Google has actually had lots of privacy concerns and a track record of gathering data for use in advertising.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent 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 want a genuine defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing possibly harmful content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft likewise utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately block it from being sent.
Along with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams guarantees you remain compliant with all data storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the course of info as it is secured from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does provide eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan just, however these are just restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically listed DLP abilities.Zoom does not use any of these functions on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its personal privacy obstacles, however the modifications are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is terrific to have, however its addition was more of a response to an issue than a total option. It is not likely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most beneficial in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive details might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to fret about because they are a single-purpose app, dealing exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other info like Microsoft or Google.
Based on credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Because your data is all kept in a single space, Teams and its security features take your performance center and turns it into your business's own information stronghold. This 2nd level of security and privacy makes it the safest, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though most videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your company's specific needs must figure out whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an economical cost, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire company together in one area, with the very best possible functions and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one collaboration hub that keeps all your interaction in one space, we extremely advise 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 continued our collaboration till the present day.