Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Conclusive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, but the program needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held businesses together. Even as operations go back to typical, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their products.
The two main partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing abilities, however we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your business is nearly guaranteed 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 options that will help you make your choice.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you primarily meeting internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your business is already signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you more than happy with the platform, you ought to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that should solve most of your requirements.
In the sections below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you should think about before picking the best one for your service.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the complete list of features for each platform, it is necessary to comprehend how much you obtain from the totality of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet become part of bigger efficiency suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might require. 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 subscription only offers you videoconferencing abilities. 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 variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest 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 leaps effortlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the capability to switch back and forth in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps simultaneously, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the exact same main area, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to seek out saved 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 connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, meaning you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft offers even more applications in their plans than Google, though numerous go undetected.
For instance, Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly get and trim a taped Teams fulfilling that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody gets here late to a conference, or a worker 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 eaten up by an hours-long video clip, along with the time it would require to submit, trim, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
Furthermore, all 3 platforms do have integrations with different other service applications, so make sure to examine compatibility with any apps you currently utilize, and these platforms.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adjusted well to the demand for certain functions on their platforms, hence the majority of the very same features overlap across prepare for all three suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table illustrating the different strategies 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 offers dial-in free of charge with any of their paid plans, among the biggest advantages that the platform has over its competitors.Teams uses its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, monthly; 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 incorporates flawlessly with Teams, enabling staff members to take company on the go, all with complete continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
Since the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, but the quality differs. Teams can 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 plans. 1080p can also be enabled by Zoom support in specific cases. Zoom's 1080p functionality 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 upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are basically meetings that run at the same time to the original videoconference. These were particularly essential for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into separate groups to learn.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in professional spaces, too. If a bigger team is fulfilling about a job, breaking down tasks into smaller groups, breakout rooms could be an excellent service.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all strategies. These rooms are essentially meetings that are running at the same time to the original videoconference.
Meet enables breakout spaces through their basic and plus plans, however not in the totally free or fundamental strategies. Like a lot of Google functions on less expensive plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this might be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to put video participants in numerous digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a solid morale booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted promptly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end file encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and posted for sale online quickly afterwards.
While Meet has actually not had any famous events of privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of personal privacy issues and a performance history of collecting data for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a must if you want a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking potentially malicious content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately obstruct it from being sent out.
Along business it services with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you stay certified with all information storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the path of info as it is secured from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does offer eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan just, however these are only restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly noted DLP capabilities.Zoom does not provide any of these features on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has responded well to its privacy difficulties, but the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is great to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to an issue than a total option. It is unlikely that E2EE protects most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
The videoconferencing business has less to stress over since they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other info like Microsoft or Google.
Based on track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Since your data is all kept in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your performance center and turns it into your business's own data stronghold. This 2nd level of defense and personal privacy makes it the safest, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though most videoconferencing platforms have comparable functions, your company's exact needs ought to determine whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at an economical cost, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire business together in one area, with the best possible features and security available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one partnership center that keeps all your communication in one space, 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 up until today day.