Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Conclusive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from house, however the show needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held organizations together. Even as operations go back to regular, videoconferencing companies are putting resources into their items.
The 2 primary cooperation suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing capabilities, but we would be remiss not to include one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your business is nearly ensured to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are seeking to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of functions and options that will help you make your choice.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you primarily satisfying 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 enjoy with the platform, you should use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not signed up for either and just require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a totally free version that should resolve the majority of your needs.
In the sections listed below, we will compare all three significant videoconferencing platforms based on different metrics you need to think about prior to picking the right one for your business.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Before diving into the full list of functions for each platform, it is important to comprehend just how much you get from the totality of what you are spending for.
Groups and Meet are part of bigger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may require. While Teams and Meet can be procured separately, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription just provides you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business memberships consist of a full suite of company applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully integrated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The most significant selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the biggest distinction between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps effortlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to switch back and forth between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can make use of both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the 2 is a bit counterintuitive.
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 saved chats from old meetings, or in the case of Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when working on collaborative files. Any files attached in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, suggesting you do not need to lose time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers a lot more applications in their plans than Google, though lots of go undetected.
For instance, Microsoft Sway allows you to rapidly get and cut a recorded Teams fulfilling that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone arrives late to a conference, or an employee records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly get the part of the conference 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 upload, trim, and export stated video from a video editing platform.
In addition, all 3 platforms do have integrations with various other service applications, so be sure 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 demand for specific functions on their platforms, therefore most of the very same features overlap across plans for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. As for some other functions, they vary across each business's offerings.
A table portraying 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 across strategies. Meet offers dial-in totally free with any of their paid plans, one of the greatest benefits that the platform has more than its rivals.Groups provides its dial-in ability for $4 extra per user, per month; 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 seamlessly with Teams, allowing workers to take company on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the 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 restricted to the platform's organization or business strategies. 1080p can likewise be enabled by Zoom assistance in particular 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, but it can send out and get approximately 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your internet connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are basically meetings that run concurrently to the initial videoconference. These were specifically needed for virtual education, so instructors might break trainees out into different groups to discover.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in expert spaces, too. If a larger group is satisfying about a job, breaking down tasks into smaller sized groups, breakout rooms could be a great solution.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout rooms native to their base platforms, across all strategies. These rooms are basically conferences that are running all at once to the initial videoconference.
Meet allows breakout rooms through their standard and plus strategies, but not in the complimentary or fundamental plans. Nevertheless, like most Google functions on more affordable 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 utilizes AI to place video participants in different digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode could be a strong spirits booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted swiftly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, adding end-to-end encryption and intensifying their privacy policy. Sadly, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any famous occurrences of personal privacy breaches, Google has had lots of privacy issues and a track record of collecting data for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the 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 element, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are secured and stored within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is readily available on its Business Premium and E5 plans, obstructing potentially harmful material from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft likewise utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch delicate information being shared (like social security numbers), and instantly block it from being sent out.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, talks, and files, Teams guarantees you remain compliant with all data 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 plans and DLP in their Enterprise strategy just, however these are only limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly listed DLP abilities.Zoom does not use any of these features on its main platform.
In general, Zoom has responded well to its privacy difficulties, however the changes are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, however its addition was exchange to office 365 migration more of an action to an issue than a complete service. It is not likely that E2EE protects most users from more than file encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most useful in 1-on-1 discussions where sensitive details might be shared, and it will be offered on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing business has less to stress over 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 credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Since your information is all stored in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your performance center and turns it into your business's own data stronghold. This second level of defense and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though many videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your business's exact requirements should determine whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an affordable cost, it is hard to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your whole business together in one area, with the best possible features and security available.
If you are trying to find 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 since 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have actually continued our partnership until the present day.