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 somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held businesses together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing suppliers are putting resources into their items.
The two primary partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing abilities, but we would be remiss not to consist of 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 listed below for a breakdown of functions and options that will assist you make your choice.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mostly fulfilling internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your company is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you should use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and simply need 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 upon different metrics you must think about prior to selecting the best one for your company.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is essential to understand just how much you receive from the entirety of what you are paying for.
Teams and Meet become part of larger efficiency suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may 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 membership just provides you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a full suite of company applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully incorporated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The most significant selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the biggest distinction in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps perfectly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to switch backward and forward in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps concurrently, the separation of the two is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the same central place, making searchability far simpler.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for conserved chats from old meetings, 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, indicating you do not need to lose time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft uses much more applications in their plans than Google, however numerous go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly get and cut a taped Teams fulfilling that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the event that somebody shows up late to a conference, or a staff member records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly grab the part of the meeting you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, along with the time it would require to upload, cut, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all three platforms do have combinations with numerous other service applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you already utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adjusted well to the need for particular features on their platforms, thus the majority of the same features overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: customized backgrounds. As for some other features, they differ throughout each business's offerings.
A table depicting the different strategies and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present throughout the board, dial-in abilities vary throughout strategies. Meet provides dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the most significant advantages that the platform has more than its rivals.Teams uses its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, each month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX solutions that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates seamlessly with Teams, enabling staff members to take organization on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, however 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 organization or enterprise strategies. 1080p can likewise be made it possible for by Zoom assistance in particular cases. Zoom's 1080p performance requires 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 get as much as 720p video.
Audio quality across 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 basically conferences that run simultaneously to the initial videoconference. These were especially needed for virtual education, so teachers might break students out into different groups to find out.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in professional areas, too. If a larger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms might be a great service.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all plans. These rooms are essentially meetings that are running at the same time to the initial videoconference.
Meet permits breakout rooms through their standard and plus strategies, but not in the totally free or basic strategies. Nevertheless, like many Google functions on less expensive strategies, 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 rolled out Together Mode, which uses AI to put video participants in different digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode could be a strong morale booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and published for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has not had any well-known occurrences of personal privacy breaches, Google has actually had a lot of personal privacy concerns and a performance history of collecting data for usage in advertising.
Microsoft has the very best track record of security and they also have the most transparent privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is readily available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking potentially destructive content from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft likewise uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically obstruct it from being sent out.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you stay compliant with all information storage policies.
A graphic showing the path of information 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 just restricted to Drive and it solutions gold coast Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically noted DLP capabilities.Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has responded well to its personal privacy obstacles, however the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to an issue than a total service. 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 useful in 1-on-1 conversations where sensitive information may be shared, and it will be available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to fret about due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other information like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon track record alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Since your information is all stored in a single area, Teams and its security features take your productivity center and turns it into your company's own data stronghold. This 2nd level of defense and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though the majority of videoconferencing platforms have comparable functions, your company's precise requirements should determine whether you choose Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a cost effective cost, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused entirely on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire business together in one area, with the very best possible functions and security available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your communication in one area, we extremely recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 considering that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration until the present day.