Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic required workers to work from home, but the show needed to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms became the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations go back to typical, videoconferencing companies are pouring resources into their products.
The 2 primary partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing capabilities, but we would be remiss not to consist of one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your business is practically ensured to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are looking to alter platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of features and alternatives that will help you make your choice.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you mostly fulfilling internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your business is currently signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you should utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and just require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free variation that should resolve the majority of your requirements.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all three major videoconferencing platforms based upon various metrics you ought to think about before selecting the best one for your service.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the full list of functions for each platform, it is necessary to understand how much you receive from the whole of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet become part of larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might need. While Teams and Meet can be acquired independently, they are best bundled with their larger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership only gives you videoconferencing abilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions include a full suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a completely incorporated experience with desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the most significant difference in between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Groups jumps effortlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the capability to change back and forth in between them.
On The Other Hand, Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can use both Workspace apps concurrently, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the same central area, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for conserved chats from old conferences, 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, indicating you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft uses a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, however lots of go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway enables you to quickly get and cut a recorded Teams satisfying that you can then house in your area within Teams itself.
In the event that someone shows up 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 meeting you need and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video clip, in addition to the time it would take to upload, cut, and export stated video from a video editing platform.
In addition, all three platforms do have combinations with various other service applications, so make sure to look at 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 actually all adapted well to the need for specific features on their platforms, therefore the majority of the exact same functions overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other features, they differ throughout each business's offerings.
A table depicting the different strategies and functions of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present throughout the board, dial-in abilities differ throughout plans. Meet uses dial-in for free with any of their paid plans, one of the biggest advantages that the platform has more than its rivals.Groups uses its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, each month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX services that can change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates seamlessly with Teams, allowing workers to take business on the go, all with complete continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
Since the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, however the quality differs. Groups 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 enterprise plans. 1080p can also be enabled by Zoom support 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, but it can send out and get up to 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run at the same time to the initial videoconference. These were particularly essential for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees https://itleaders.com.au/it-support-services/managed-it-services/ out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear energy for breakout spaces in professional spaces, too. If a bigger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout spaces might be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms belonging to their base platforms, throughout all plans. These rooms are essentially conferences that are running at the same time to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their standard and plus plans, but not in the free or basic plans. However, like many Google functions on more affordable plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, however this might be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Recently, Microsoft also presented Together Mode, which utilizes AI to position video individuals in numerous digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a solid morale booster.
Groups 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 encryption and boosting their privacy policy. Unfortunately, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and posted for sale online soon thereafter.
While Meet has not had any well-known incidents of privacy breaches, Google has had a lot of personal privacy concerns and a performance history of gathering information for use in advertising.
Microsoft has the very best track record of security and they likewise have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks involve a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Additionally, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, obstructing potentially harmful content from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft likewise uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically obstruct it from being sent.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain certified with all information storage guidelines.
A graphic showing the path of information as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does provide eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise plans and DLP in their Enterprise strategy only, however these are only limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no particularly noted DLP abilities.Zoom does not use any of these functions on its primary platform.
In general, Zoom has actually reacted well to its privacy challenges, but the changes are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is great to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a complete option. It is unlikely that E2EE secures most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most beneficial in 1-on-1 conversations where sensitive info might be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to fret about since they are a single-purpose app, dealing exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other info like Microsoft or Google.
Based on reputation alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Since your data is all kept in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your productivity hub and turns it into your company's own information stronghold. This 2nd level of defense and personal privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
A lot of videoconferencing platforms have similar functions, your company's precise needs ought to determine whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an affordable rate, 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 partnership center that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly suggest Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 because 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have continued our collaboration till today day.