Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic required employees to work from house, but the show needed to go best cloud backup on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations go back to regular, videoconferencing suppliers are pouring resources into their items.
The 2 primary cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing capabilities, but we would be remiss not to include one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your company is almost ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are looking to alter platforms, continue reading listed below for a breakdown of features and alternatives that will assist you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mainly satisfying internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your company is already signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you must use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and just need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free variation that needs to resolve most of your needs.
In the areas below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based on numerous metrics you need to think about prior to choosing the ideal one for your organization.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of features for each platform, it is very important to comprehend how much you get from the entirety of what you are paying for.
Teams and Meet are 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 acquired separately, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership 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 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps deal with each other, and the most significant distinction between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps perfectly from instant messaging to video calls, with the ability to change back and forth in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can use both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped meetings, and files are all housed in the very same main area, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for conserved chats from old conferences, or in the case of 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, implying you do not have to lose time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft offers much more applications in their strategies than Google, however numerous go undetected.
Microsoft Sway allows you to rapidly get and cut a tape-recorded Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the event that someone gets here late to a meeting, or a staff member records the exact same conference 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 consumed by an hours-long video clip, in addition to the time it would require to publish, cut, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all 3 platforms do have combinations with different other organization applications, so be sure to check on 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, therefore most of the exact same functions overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom backgrounds. As for some other functions, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table depicting the various plans and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in capabilities differ throughout plans. Meet offers dial-in free of charge with any of their paid strategies, one of the greatest benefits that the platform has over its competitors.Teams uses its dial-in ability for $4 extra per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX solutions that can change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates seamlessly with Teams, allowing staff members to take organization on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
Since 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, but it is limited to the platform's company or enterprise plans. 1080p can also be allowed by Zoom support in particular 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 out and receive up to 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run all at once to the original videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so teachers might break students out into separate groups to learn.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in professional areas, too. If a larger team is fulfilling about a task, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout rooms might be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces native to their base platforms, across all strategies. These rooms are basically conferences that are running simultaneously to the initial videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their basic and plus strategies, but not in the free or fundamental plans. However, like most Google functions on less expensive plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted swiftly 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 well-known incidents of privacy breaches, Google has had a lot of personal privacy concerns and a performance history of gathering data for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they also have the most transparent privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password element, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire 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.
Additionally, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking possibly destructive material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately obstruct it from being sent out.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams guarantees you remain compliant with all information storage guidelines.
A graphic revealing the course of info as it is secured from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan only, however these are only limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not provide any of these functions on its main platform.
Overall, Zoom has reacted well to its personal privacy challenges, however the modifications are mainly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is terrific to have, but its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a total service. It is unlikely that E2EE secures most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most helpful in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive information might be shared, and it will be available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to stress over due to the fact that 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 on track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Since your information is all kept in a single space, Teams and its security features take your productivity center and turns it into your business's own information stronghold. This second level of protection and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
The majority of videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your company's exact requirements ought to determine whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an inexpensive cost, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire company together in one space, with the best possible functions and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one collaboration hub that keeps all your communication in one area, we extremely recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has actually leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 because 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have actually continued our collaboration till the present day.