Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from house, but the program needed to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to normal, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their products.
The two main collaboration suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing capabilities, however we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your organization is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are seeking to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of features and options that will assist you make your decision.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you primarily satisfying internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is already registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you must use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and just require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that needs to fix most of your needs.
In the areas below, we will compare all three significant videoconferencing platforms based upon various metrics you must think about before choosing the right one for your organization.
Teams 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 get from the whole of what you are spending for.
Teams and Meet are part of bigger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might require. While Teams and Meet can be obtained independently, they are best bundled with their bigger 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 subscriptions include 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 biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps work with each other, and the greatest distinction between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps flawlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch back and forth in between them.
Meanwhile, Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can use both Workspace apps concurrently, the separation of the two is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, tape-recorded meetings, and files are all housed in the very same main place, making searchability far much 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 also the case when working on collaborative files. Any files connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, suggesting you do not need to lose time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers much more applications in their strategies than Google, though many go unnoticed.
For example, Microsoft Sway permits you to rapidly grab and trim a taped Teams fulfilling 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 very same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly grab the part of the meeting you need and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video clip, as well as the time it would take to upload, cut, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
Additionally, all 3 platforms do have integrations with numerous other organization applications, so make sure to look at compatibility with any apps you already utilize, 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 features on their platforms, therefore the majority of the exact same functions overlap across plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. As for some other features, they differ throughout each company's offerings.
A table portraying the various plans and features of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present throughout the board, dial-in capabilities vary throughout plans. Meet provides dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the biggest benefits that the platform has more than its competitors.Groups uses its dial-in capability 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 replace your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates flawlessly with Teams, permitting workers to take organization on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
As of the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, but the quality differs. 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 business or business strategies. 1080p can likewise be made it possible for by Zoom support in certain 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 as much as 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, as well as the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run simultaneously to the original videoconference. These were specifically needed for virtual education, so instructors could break students out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in professional areas, too. If a bigger team is fulfilling about a job, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout spaces might be an excellent 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 all at once to the original videoconference.
Meet enables it services gold coast breakout spaces through their standard and plus strategies, but not in the totally free or fundamental plans. However, like many Google functions on less expensive strategies, you can add Google Chrome extensions, but this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to position video individuals in various digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a solid morale 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, adding end-to-end file encryption and boosting their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any popular incidents of personal privacy breaches, Google has had lots of privacy issues and a performance history of collecting information for use in advertising.
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 involve a password component, two-factor authentication is a should if you want a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, obstructing potentially harmful material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately obstruct it from being sent out.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams guarantees you remain certified with all information storage policies.
A graphic revealing the path of information as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does offer eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise strategy just, but these are only restricted 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 reacted well to its privacy difficulties, however the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is great to have, however its addition was more of an action to a problem than a total 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 beneficial in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive details may be shared, and it will be available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to stress over because they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other information like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Due to the fact that your information is all kept in a single area, Teams and its security features take your productivity center and turns it into your company's own data fortress. This 2nd level of protection and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though a lot of videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your company's specific needs should determine whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an economical cost, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your whole business together in one space, with the best possible functions and security readily available.
If you are looking for an all-in-one cooperation center that keeps all your communication in one space, we extremely suggest 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.