Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Conclusive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, however the program had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations return to regular, videoconferencing companies are putting resources into their products.
The two main partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing abilities, but we would be remiss not to include one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your service is almost guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are aiming to alter platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of features and options that will help you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mainly fulfilling internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you need to 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 should solve most of your needs.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based on numerous metrics you need to think about before selecting the best one for your business.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the full list of functions for each platform, it is necessary to understand how much you receive from the whole of what you are spending for.
Teams and Meet belong to bigger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may need. While Teams and Meet can be obtained individually, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription only gives you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships include a complete suite of service applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully incorporated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps work with each other, and the most significant difference in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps seamlessly from instantaneous messaging to video calls, with the ability to change back and forth in between them.
On The Other Hand, Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps at the same time, the separation of the two is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the very same central area, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to seek out conserved chats from old meetings, or in the case of Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when working on collaborative files. Any files attached in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, indicating you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers a lot more applications in their plans than Google, though many go undetected.
Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly grab and cut a tape-recorded Teams meeting that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the event that someone arrives late to a meeting, or a staff member records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly get the part of the meeting you need and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, as well as the time it would require to upload, cut, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
Furthermore, all three platforms do have combinations with numerous other business applications, so make sure to look at 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 certain functions on their platforms, hence the majority of the exact same features 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 features, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table depicting the various plans and features 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 offers dial-in totally free with any of their paid plans, among the biggest advantages that the platform has more than its rivals.Groups offers its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX options that can replace your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates perfectly with Teams, allowing workers to take company 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. Groups can 1080p video at 30 frames per second if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom also has 1080p video, however it is restricted to the platform's service or enterprise plans. 1080p can also be enabled by Zoom support 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, however it can send and get approximately 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your web connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run simultaneously to the original videoconference. These were particularly required for virtual education, so teachers could break trainees out into separate groups to find out.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in professional spaces, too. If a larger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms might be a great solution.
Both Teams and Zoom Discover more have actually breakout spaces native to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These rooms are basically conferences that are running concurrently to the original videoconference.
Meet enables breakout rooms through their standard and plus plans, but not in the totally free or basic plans. Nevertheless, like many Google functions on more affordable strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft also presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to put video individuals in numerous digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode might be a strong spirits booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and boosting their privacy policy. Sadly, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online soon afterwards.
While Meet has actually not had any well-known occurrences of personal privacy breaches, Google has had plenty of privacy concerns and a track record of gathering information for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three 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 against cybercriminals.
As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Additionally, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing potentially malicious material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and instantly obstruct it from being sent.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain certified with all information storage regulations.
A graphic showing the course of details 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 strategy just, however these are only limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically listed DLP abilities.Zoom does not provide any of these features on its main platform.
Overall, Zoom has responded well to its privacy difficulties, however the modifications are mainly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is great to have, however its addition was more of an action to an issue than a total option. It is unlikely that E2EE safeguards 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 delicate details might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to stress over since they are a single-purpose app, dealing exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other details like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though the majority of videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your company's specific needs should determine whether you select Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an affordable rate, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire company together in one space, with the very best possible functions and security readily available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one cooperation hub that keeps all your communication in one area, we highly recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 because 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration until today day.