With the current security issues being faced by Zoom, all other video conferencing apps, including Google Meet, must be looking for ways to attract more customers. No doubt, Google doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to updating its messaging services. However, with most people working from home due to Coronavirus, it has been seen working to improve its messaging software. Presently, Google Meet has added a Zoom-like gallery and some other relevant features to its services. So, can we say these new features are better to attract more customers to the messaging app? In this article, we’ll be making some comparisons between Google Meet vs Zoom.
Google Announced New Features To Its Meet App
According to what Google vice president Javier Soltero told Reuters, the company is pushing out a couple of new features to its Meet app. The first feature it will be introducing is Gmail integration for the meet. That’ll provide users with the ability to initiate calls and join meetings right from their Gmail. The other is the Zoom-like gallery layout, and it’ll get introduced later in the month. It’ll possess the capacity of displaying up to 16 participants on a single screen. It’s also seen to get better with low-light video support and the ability to mute out background noises.
Let’s make a quick Google Meet vs Zoom comparison and see what the two services are capable of offering.
Google Meet vs Zoom: Security and Privacy
That’s one of the essential factors that an organization or individual must put into consideration before opting for a video conferencing tool. In the case of Zoom, the company has been battling security and privacy issues lately, with some hopes of fixing it up soon. On the other hand, Google makes use of end-to-end encryption, which makes it easy to protect your privacy from hackers.
Google Meet vs Zoom: Other Features
Number of participants and time limits: Google Meet is known to support up to 250 participants, which is exactly half of Zoom’s 500 participants. Although both of them utilize a share screen, they support different numbers. With Google Meet’s newly introduced features, it only supports up to 16 participants on a single screen. On the other hand, Zoom displays up to 49 people in a single call.
As of September 30, Google Meet free version allows users 60 minutes, while Zoom has always limited to 40 minutes sessions. However, Google Meet has reduced its time limits on free meetings until March 2021.
Email integration: In the case of email integration, Google Meet supports Outlook and Gmail. However, that is not the case with Zoom as it only supports Outlook. Now, Meet users can go as far as starting calls and joining meetings right from their Gmail.
Pricing: In the case of pricing, call-ins and other features can cost as low as $6 monthly for G Suite basic plans users and can occupy up to 25 participants. Also, its business plan is $12 monthly with up to 50 participants, and its enterprise plan costs $25 monthly, for up to 100 participants. However, Zoom has a free basic plan which can host up to 100 participants. Its Pro plan costs only $14.99 monthly and can also host up to 100 participants. Its business and enterprise plans have the same price of $19.99 and can host up to 300 and 500 people at a time.
Availability and accessibility
Although Zoom is the most popular free videoconferencing software, one significant advantage of Google Meet is the ability to host a meeting via your choice of a web browser. Participants can attend a Zoom meeting through their browsers but must open the Zoom web client through their browser or the Windows 10/macOS. For mobile phones, both Zoom and Google Meet have free apps for Android and iOS devices, so you can make a video call from anywhere anytime.
Google Meet also has another advantage that you can access it through Google Chrome and other browsers directly without needing any plugins or additional downloads by visiting meet.google.com. Although Zoom offers plugins for both Firefox and Chrome for scheduling meetings, it currently doesn’t have the function to schedule meetings natively without a client or app. Any user with a Google login can schedule and attend conferences without creating a separate account.
Pros/Cons
Zoom is easy to use and effective and people admire its minimalist user interface. It also doesn’t consume a phone battery much. The only disadvantage is that when there are low bandwidth connections, the video freezes a lot. But the substitute of making only voice calls fixes it.
Meet also works fine without interruption every single time. It has great sound quality and sharp video. People admire it for its great interface. People usually face connectivity issues but then it is too rare. The video also freezes sometimes when there is a large number of participants in a meeting.
Which one is the best?
It really depends on your requirements which platform turns out best for you. If you only need basic video calling functionality, then Google Meet could be your best mate. It’s free and easy to use, but signing up for a Google account could be a limitation for some.
If you’re a school or small business owner then Zoom will probably be the ideal solution for you. It’s simple and user-friendly, and your participants do not need to create an account. Besides, its interactive features and screen sharing function make it an excellent option for virtual classes and presentations.
