Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic required employees to work from home, however the program had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held organizations together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing service providers are pouring resources into their products.
The 2 primary cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing abilities, however we would be remiss not to include one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your organization is practically ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are wanting to change platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of functions and options that will help you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mostly meeting internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your business is already signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you need to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that should resolve most of your needs.
In the sections listed below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you should consider before picking the best one for your company.
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 important to understand just how much you get from the whole of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet belong to larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may need. While Teams and Meet can be procured separately, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription just offers you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions include a full suite of company applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally integrated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps deal with each other, and the greatest difference between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps perfectly from instant messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch back and forth between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can make use of both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, tape-recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the very same central place, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to seek out conserved chats from old meetings, or in the case of 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, suggesting you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers even more applications in their plans than Google, however numerous go undetected.
For example, Microsoft Sway enables you to quickly get and trim a taped Teams satisfying that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the event that someone gets here 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 need and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, along with the time it would take to publish, trim, and export said video from a video editing platform.
Furthermore, all three platforms do have combinations with numerous other service applications, so make sure to check on 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 actually all adapted well to the need for specific functions on their platforms, therefore the majority of the very same functions overlap across plans for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: customized backgrounds. As for some other functions, they vary throughout each business'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 across the board, dial-in abilities vary across plans. Meet provides dial-in free of charge with any of their paid strategies, one of the greatest advantages that the platform has over its competitors.Groups provides 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 change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates perfectly with Teams, allowing workers to take business on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
Since the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, however the quality varies. Groups is capable of 1080p video at 30 frames per 2nd if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom likewise has 1080p video, but it is limited to the platform's service or business plans. 1080p can likewise be allowed by Zoom support in certain 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, 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 conferences that run concurrently to the original videoconference. These were especially essential for virtual education, so teachers could break trainees out into different groups to learn.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in professional spaces, too. If a larger group is meeting about a project, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout rooms might be a great service.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces belonging to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These rooms are essentially meetings that are running all at once to the initial videoconference.
Meet enables breakout rooms through their basic and plus strategies, however not in the complimentary or standard strategies. However, like the majority of Google functions on cheaper plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft likewise rolled out Together Mode, which utilizes AI to position video participants in various digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode might be a solid morale booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted promptly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and beefing up their personal privacy policy. Unfortunately, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has not had any popular incidents of privacy breaches, Google has actually had a lot of personal privacy issues and a performance history of collecting data for usage in advertising.
Microsoft has the best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password element, two-factor authentication is a must if you desire a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Additionally, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is readily available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, blocking potentially harmful content from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately obstruct it from being sent.
Along with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams ensures you remain compliant with all data storage regulations.
A graphic showing the path of info as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise plan only, but these are only limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no specifically listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not use any of these features on its main platform.
In general, Zoom has responded well to its privacy difficulties, however the modifications are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is great to have, but its addition was more of a response to an issue than a complete solution. It is not likely that E2EE protects 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 sensitive details may be shared, and it will be offered on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to fret about due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of https://canvas.instructure.com/eportfolios/2504656/dominickgtgg070/7_Reasons_that_you_Should_Update_your_Website files, chats, and other details like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon 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 hub and turns it into your business's own information stronghold. This second level of protection and privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though many videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your business's precise requirements must determine whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at an inexpensive cost, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire business together in one space, with the very best possible features and security readily available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one cooperation hub that keeps all your communication in one area, we extremely advise Microsoft Teams.
