Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Conclusive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic required workers to work from house, however the show had to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to regular, videoconferencing providers are putting resources into their items.
The 2 main cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing capabilities, however we would be remiss not to consist managed it services of one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your business is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are wanting to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of features and alternatives that will assist you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mainly fulfilling internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your business is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you ought to use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and just require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free variation that ought to solve most of your needs.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all three significant videoconferencing platforms based upon various metrics you should consider before choosing the right 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 comprehend how much you receive from the entirety of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet belong to bigger performance 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 bigger 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 subscriptions include a full suite of company 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 quickly the apps work with each other, and the greatest distinction in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps flawlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to change backward and forward between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the two is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the same main location, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for conserved chats from old conferences, or when it comes to Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when dealing with collective files. Any files attached 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 require them.
Microsoft provides a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, though many go unnoticed.
For example, Microsoft Sway allows you to rapidly grab and trim a recorded Teams fulfilling that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone shows up late to a meeting, or a staff member records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly grab the part of the conference you need and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, along with the time it would require to publish, trim, and export stated video from a video editing platform.
Additionally, all 3 platforms do have combinations with various other service applications, so be sure to look at compatibility with any apps you already use, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the demand for specific features on their platforms, hence most of the exact same functions 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 differ across each business's offerings.
A table portraying the various strategies and features of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present throughout the board, dial-in abilities differ throughout plans. Meet uses dial-in totally free with any of their paid strategies, among the greatest benefits that the platform has more than its competitors.Groups uses its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet offer internet-based PBX solutions that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates effortlessly with Teams, enabling employees to take business on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
Since 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, however it is limited to the platform's business or enterprise strategies. 1080p can likewise be made it possible for by Zoom assistance 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, but it can send and receive as much as 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 rooms are essentially conferences that run all at once to the initial videoconference. These were specifically needed for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into different groups to learn.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in professional areas, too. If a bigger team is meeting about a project, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout rooms might be a fantastic service.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all plans. These rooms are basically conferences that are running at the same time to the initial videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their basic and plus strategies, however not in the totally free or basic strategies. Like most Google functions on more affordable strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, but this might be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Recently, Microsoft also presented Together Mode, which uses AI to place video participants in different digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a solid spirits booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded promptly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and posted for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any popular incidents of privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of privacy concerns and a track record of gathering data for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best track record of security and they also have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password element, two-factor authentication is a must if you want a genuine defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and stored within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking potentially destructive content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and instantly block it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you stay compliant with all information storage regulations.
A graphic showing the course of information 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 strategy just, but these are just restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no specifically listed DLP abilities.Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its main platform.
In general, Zoom has reacted well to its personal privacy challenges, but the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, but its addition was more of a reaction to an issue than a complete service. It is unlikely that E2EE protects most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most useful in 1-on-1 conversations where sensitive information 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 exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other info 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 kept in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your performance hub and turns it into your company's own data fortress. This 2nd level of security and personal privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though many videoconferencing platforms have similar functions, your company's exact needs ought to figure out whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at an inexpensive rate, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire business together in one space, with the best possible features and security offered.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 considering that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration until the present day.