Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Fight
The COVID-19 pandemic required staff members to work from home, but the show had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations return to regular, videoconferencing service providers are pouring resources into their products.
The two main partnership 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 moment, your service is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are wanting to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of functions and options that will help you make your decision.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mainly satisfying internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your business is currently signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you ought to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and simply require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free variation that should solve the majority of your requirements.
In the sections listed below, we will compare all three significant videoconferencing platforms based on various metrics you must think about before choosing the best one for your company.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is necessary to understand how much you get from the totality 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 need. While Teams and Meet can be procured independently, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership only gives you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions consist of a complete suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally 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 most significant difference in between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps effortlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch backward and forward between them.
On The Other Hand, 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, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the same main place, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for saved chats from old meetings, or in the case of 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, meaning you do not need to waste time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft offers much more applications in their plans than Google, however many go undetected.
For example, Microsoft Sway permits you to rapidly get and cut a recorded Teams fulfilling that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody arrives late to a conference, or a staff member records the very same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly 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, as well as the time it would take to submit, trim, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
Additionally, all three platforms do have integrations with numerous other organization applications, so make sure to check on compatibility with any apps you currently utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adapted well to the need for particular features on their platforms, therefore the majority of the exact same functions overlap throughout plans for all 3 suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: customized backgrounds. As for some other functions, they differ across each business's offerings.
A table illustrating 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 differ across strategies. Meet offers dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the greatest benefits that the platform has over its competitors.Groups provides its dial-in ability for $4 additional per user, each 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 incorporates effortlessly with Teams, permitting employees to take business on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
As of the time of this post, each platform shows video in HD, however the quality varies. Teams can 1080p video at 30 frames per 2nd if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom also has 1080p video, however it is restricted to the platform's organization or business plans. 1080p can also be made it possible for by Zoom support in specific 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 https://postheaven.net/bilbukqjhh/microsoft-365-service-premium-vs-e3-and-one-powerful-tool-in-both-that-will-y0d5 it can send and get approximately 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your internet connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are essentially conferences that run simultaneously to the original videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so teachers could break trainees out into different groups to find out.
There is a clear utility for breakout spaces in professional areas, too. If a bigger group is fulfilling about a project, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms might be a fantastic service.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all plans. These rooms are essentially conferences that are running all at once to the original videoconference.
Meet enables breakout spaces through their basic and plus strategies, however not in the totally free or basic plans. However, like a lot of Google functions on cheaper plans, you can include 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 uses AI to place video individuals in different digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode could be a strong morale booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom bombing" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and beefing up their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any famous events of privacy breaches, Google has actually had plenty of privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password element, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, obstructing potentially destructive material from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft likewise uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately block it from being sent out.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams guarantees you remain certified with all data storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the course of details 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 only, however these are just restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no specifically noted DLP abilities.
In general, Zoom has responded well to its personal privacy challenges, but the modifications are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is excellent to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a complete option. It is not likely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most helpful in 1-on-1 discussions where delicate info may be shared, and it will be available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to fret about due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely 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 regards to security.
Since your information is all kept in a single area, Teams and its security features take your efficiency center and turns it into your company's own information stronghold. This 2nd level of security and privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though a lot of videoconferencing platforms have comparable functions, your service's specific requirements ought to identify whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a cost effective price, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your whole company together in one area, with the best possible features and security readily available.
If you are looking for an all-in-one cooperation center that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 given that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our partnership till the present day.