Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight

Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight

The COVID-19 pandemic required staff members to work from home, however the program had to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held organizations together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their items.

The 2 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 point, your service is practically guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are aiming to alter platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of features and options that will assist you make your choice.

Are your conferences long or short? Are you mostly satisfying internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?

It goes without saying, if your company is already signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you more than happy with the platform, you need to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not subscribed to either and simply require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free version that needs to solve most of your requirements.

In the areas below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based on numerous metrics you ought to think about before picking the right one for your business.

Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services

Before diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is very important to understand how much you get from the totality of what you are paying for.

Teams and Meet become part of larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific functions 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 provides you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions include a full suite of business applications.

With Microsoft 365, you get a completely integrated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the greatest difference between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.

Teams leaps seamlessly from instantaneous messaging to video calls, with the ability to change back and forth 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 counterproductive.

With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the exact same main place, making searchability far much easier.

With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for saved chats from old meetings, or in the case of Meet, head over to Google Chat.

This is also 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 don't have to lose time chasing them down when you require them.

Microsoft uses a lot more applications in their plans than Google, though many go unnoticed.

Microsoft Sway allows you to rapidly get and cut a taped Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.

In the event that someone shows up late to a conference, or an employee records the exact same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly 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 clip, as well as the time it would require to submit, cut, and export stated video from a video editing platform.

In addition, all three platforms do have integrations with different other service applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you already use, and these platforms.

Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features

Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid

Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adapted well to the need for specific functions on their platforms, therefore the majority of the same features overlap throughout plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: customized backgrounds. As for some other functions, they differ across each company's offerings.

A table depicting the different plans and features 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 uses dial-in totally free with any of their paid strategies, one of the greatest benefits that the platform has over 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 offer internet-based PBX services that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.

Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates seamlessly with Teams, allowing staff members to take company 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, however 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 business strategies. 1080p can likewise be enabled by Zoom assistance in specific 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 throughout platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, as well as the quality of your internet connection.

Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down

Breakout spaces are basically conferences that run simultaneously to the original videoconference. These were especially essential for virtual education, so instructors might break students out into different groups to find out.

There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in expert areas, too. If a larger group is fulfilling about a task, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout spaces could be an excellent service.

Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout spaces native to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These rooms are essentially conferences that are running concurrently to the original 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 plans, you can include Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.

Just recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which uses AI to place video participants in different digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode could be a solid spirits booster.

image

Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety

To its credit, Zoom responded quickly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end encryption and boosting their privacy policy. Regrettably, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online quickly thereafter.

While Meet has not had any famous occurrences of personal privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of personal privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for use in advertising.

Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.

All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire a genuine defense against cybercriminals.

image

As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.

In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, obstructing possibly malicious content from being accessed by those in your company.

Microsoft likewise utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and instantly obstruct it from being sent out.

Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams ensures you remain compliant with all data storage regulations.

A graphic revealing the course of details 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 strategy only, however these are only restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically listed DLP abilities.

Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its main platform.

Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its personal privacy difficulties, but the modifications are mostly cosmetic.

End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is excellent to have, however its addition was more of a response to a problem than a complete solution. It is not likely that E2EE secures 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 delicate details might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.

The videoconferencing company has less to fret about because they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other details like Microsoft or Google.

Based upon reputation alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.

Since your data is all stored in a single space, Teams and its security functions http://codygzvl743.cavandoragh.org/managed-it-support-microsoft-word-or-google-docs-balancing-powerful-features-with-smooth-collaboration take your performance hub and turns it into your company's own information fortress. This second level of security and privacy makes it the best, in our experience.

Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict

A lot of videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your business's specific needs need to figure out whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.

For base-level features at a cost effective rate, it is hard 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 features and security available.

If you are searching for an all-in-one partnership center that keeps all your communication in one area, we extremely recommend 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 actually continued our partnership until the present day.