Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced staff members to work from home, but the program needed to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing companies are putting resources into their items.
The two primary partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing capabilities, but we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your service is almost ensured to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are aiming to alter platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of functions and options that will help you make your choice.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mostly meeting internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your business is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you need to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not subscribed to either and merely need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary version that should fix most of your needs.
In the sections listed below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based upon different metrics you ought to think about before picking the right one for your company.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is necessary to understand how much you receive from the totality of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet are part of bigger efficiency suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may need. While Teams and Meet can be acquired individually, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription just gives you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships include a complete suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally incorporated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps deal with each other, and the most significant difference between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps effortlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to change backward and forward between them.
On The Other Hand, Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can use both Workspace apps at the same time, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded meetings, and files are all housed in the same central location, business it support brisbane making searchability far simpler.
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 also the case when dealing with collaborative files. Any files attached 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 require them.
Microsoft uses even more applications in their plans than Google, though numerous go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway permits you to quickly grab and cut a tape-recorded Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone arrives late to a meeting, or a worker records the same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly grab the part of the conference you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video, in addition to the time it would require to upload, trim, and export said video from a video editing platform.
Additionally, all 3 platforms do have integrations with numerous other company applications, so make certain to look at compatibility with any apps you already use, and these platforms.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the need for particular features on their platforms, hence most of the very same functions overlap across plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they vary across each company's offerings.
A table illustrating 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 capabilities vary across plans. Meet offers dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, one of the greatest benefits that the platform has more than its rivals.Groups uses its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX options that can change your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates effortlessly with Teams, permitting staff members to take business on the go, all with full connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, but the quality differs. Teams 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 business or enterprise plans. 1080p can also be made it possible for by Zoom support in specific 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 and receive approximately 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your internet connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are essentially meetings that run simultaneously to the initial videoconference. These were particularly essential for virtual education, so teachers might break trainees out into different groups to find out.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in expert areas, too. If a larger team is meeting about a project, breaking down tasks into smaller groups, breakout spaces could be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout spaces belonging to their base platforms, across all plans. These rooms are essentially conferences that are running all at once to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout rooms through their basic and plus plans, but not in the totally free or fundamental strategies. Nevertheless, like a lot of Google functions on more affordable strategies, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to place video participants in numerous digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a solid 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, adding end-to-end encryption and beefing up their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online soon afterwards.
While Meet has not had any famous events of personal privacy breaches, Google has had plenty of privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the 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 involve a password component, two-factor authentication is a must if you desire a genuine defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking possibly malicious content from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive information being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately block it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain certified with all information storage regulations.
A graphic showing the path of information 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, but these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no particularly listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not offer any of these features on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its personal privacy obstacles, however the changes are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, but its addition was more of a response to a problem than a total solution. It is not likely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most helpful in 1-on-1 discussions where delicate details might be shared, and it will be available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to stress over due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, talks, and other info like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of 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 business's own information stronghold. This second level of defense and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Many videoconferencing platforms have similar functions, your company's exact needs must identify whether you select Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a budget-friendly price, it is tough to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire company together in one space, with the very best possible features and security available.
If you are looking for an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your interaction in one space, we highly suggest 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 until the present day.