Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced staff members to work from house, but the program needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to typical, videoconferencing service providers are putting resources into their items.
The two main collaboration 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.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you primarily meeting internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your company is already registered 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 subscribed to either and simply require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a free variation that ought to resolve most of your requirements.
In the areas below, we will compare all three major videoconferencing platforms based on various metrics you ought to consider before choosing the ideal one for your organization.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the complete list of functions for each platform, it is essential to understand how much you receive from the whole of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet belong to larger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may need. While Teams and Meet can be obtained independently, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription only offers you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions consist of a full suite of service applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a completely incorporated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The most significant selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps deal with each other, and the most significant difference in between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps flawlessly from instantaneous messaging to video calls, with the capability to change backward and forward between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps at the same time, 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 exact same central place, making searchability far much easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to look for conserved chats from old conferences, or when it comes to 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 don't need to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers a lot more applications in their plans than Google, however lots of go unnoticed.
For instance, Microsoft Sway permits you to quickly get and trim a taped Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody arrives late to a meeting, 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 need and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, as well as the time it would take to submit, cut, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
Additionally, all it services 3 platforms do have integrations with numerous other service applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you currently use, 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 certain functions on their platforms, therefore the majority of the exact same features overlap throughout plans for all 3 suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they vary across each company's offerings.
A table portraying 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 abilities vary across strategies. Meet provides dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, one of the greatest advantages that the platform has more than its competitors.Teams provides its dial-in ability for $4 additional per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX services that can replace your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates seamlessly with Teams, allowing staff members to take company on the go, all with full connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform shows 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 likewise has 1080p video, however it is limited to the platform's business or business strategies. 1080p can likewise be made it possible for by Zoom assistance in certain 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, however it can send out and get as much as 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, as well as the quality of your internet connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are basically conferences that run at the same time to the original videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so instructors could break trainees out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in expert areas, too. If a bigger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller sized groups, breakout spaces might be an excellent solution.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces belonging to their base platforms, throughout all plans. These spaces are basically meetings that are running all at once to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their standard and plus plans, however not in the complimentary or fundamental strategies. Nevertheless, like most Google functions on more affordable plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, but this might be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft also rolled out Together Mode, which utilizes AI to position video participants in various digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a strong morale booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded promptly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end file encryption and intensifying their privacy policy. Sadly, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and posted for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any famous occurrences of privacy breaches, Google has had plenty of personal privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the best track record of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a must if you want a genuine defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking possibly harmful material from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically block it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams guarantees you stay certified with all data storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the path of information 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 just, however these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no specifically noted DLP abilities.Zoom does not use any of these functions on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its privacy challenges, however the modifications are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is great to have, but its addition was more of an action to an issue than a total service. It is unlikely that E2EE protects most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most useful in 1-on-1 discussions where delicate details might be shared, and it will be available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to worry about because they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, 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 saved in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your performance center and turns it into your company's own data fortress. This 2nd level of security and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though most videoconferencing platforms have comparable functions, your company's precise requirements must figure out whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an affordable price, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your entire company together in one area, with the very best possible features and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one cooperation hub that keeps all your communication in one space, we highly suggest 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 up until the present day.