When it comes to video calling, two of the most popular services out there are Google Meet and Zoom. Coming with a lot of features that are useful for uninterrupted video calling during this pandemic, both of these services are extremely useful for almost any purpose that require communication between two parties. Like in any other area, the competition in the video calling industry is also tightening as more and more people are opting for it. So if you are also confused about the best option for making video calls, between Google Meet and Zoom, this article might help you in picking one.
Pricing
When it comes to video calling, there are hundreds of options available which you can choose from. Not all of them are good enough to provide for your specific needs. Pricing is a very important factor to consider while choosing any service, not only a video calling tool. So let’s talk about the pricing of both of these services.
Google Meet is free to get started with and it provides almost all the basic features that are necessary to make and receive video calls without any issues. So using this service, you will most probably only depend on the free features as it is more than enough for daily video calling needs. But to use Google Meet, you should be a Gmail user, which is not a lot to ask for as most of us has a Gmail account. If you need some extra features such as larger meetings with more than 100 participants, more storage space for your files, and additional security, you can go for their paid plans starting from just $6 and ranging up to $18 per month per user.
Zoom on the other hand is a bit pricey when you want to enjoy the premium features. Their premium plan costs $150-$250 per year which is almost double compared to Google Meet pricing when we convert that to a monthly pricing. Zoom also has a free plan for regular users with a limited number of participants, call duration, etc. But if you need additional functions such as company branding, record transcripts, social media streaming, or a larger meeting, you will have to pay additional amounts.
So considering all these features that they provide for the price, it is better to go with Google Meet, if budget is something that matters to you.
Security
For those who have important meetings, security is also very important. We have been hearing news of hackers getting into video conferences and interfering with important meetings. Not only that, some of them were even able to steal confidential data the business cannot afford to lose. So there is no doubt that security is extremely important while video calling.
Both of the services provide a lot of security features in order to ensure that none of your video calls gets compromised. Google Meet users has the security provided by G Suite. Anyone outside of the domain or organization cannot join the meeting unless they are exclusively invited or allowed to enter. Just like that, Zoom also allows to change different types of passwords in order to secure the meetings. Or even remove the participants.
So in terms of security, most of the details are hidden and implemented based on their own company security infrastructures. As both of the services have been there for a while, and both of them are known to be the culprits of some kind of attacks once in a while, it can be considered as a tie.
Speed
Nobody likes to have conversations that lags every other minute. Even if it is a friendly conversation between two friends, a laggy video call will be a very bad experience. So it is essential to make sure that your video calls are of high quality and streamed real time without any lag time.
From our comparison after depending on real life data of both the applications in multiple platforms, we can say that both of them are good enough to provide an uninterrupted, faster communication without any troubles. No matter how many participants you have on the the meeting, or how far you are, both Zoom and Google Meet delivers superior video streaming performance as well as in-sync audio that never lags.
So in terms of speed, you can choose either one for any of your video conferencing or calling needs.
Features
Even though most of the people who depend on video conferencing doesn’t need any fancy features, some of these specific usage cases might require them. In such scenarios, it is essential to ensure the availability of the required features in the video calling service of your choice. In our case Zoom and the Google Meet.
Google Meet provides a number of features such as gesture controls, closed captioning, screen recording, screen sharing, participant control, etc. to meet different kinds of needs of different users. All of these features are more than enough for any kind of specific usage that you may have. Some of them may not be available in the free version. In that case you might have to purchase the premium plan in order to enjoy them.
Zoom also provides almost the same set of features, but has some additional ones in the form of extensions or addons. You can use the gesture controls to control the video call, turn on live captions, record your screen, share it, add participants during a meeting or remove them whenever necessary, or even lock meetings in case of something bad happens. Many of these features may not be available in the free version of the Zoom service and my to cost you some amount which is costlier than that of the Google meet features.
Compatibility
Most of us use multiple devices to attend classes, arrange business meetings, or connect with the loved ones. So any video calling application that you may be using should be available on all the platforms such as Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, etc. Then only we will be able to enjoy video calling on any of our devices regardless of their operating system.
Google Meet has Android and iOS application available on the respective app stores. It can be also used from your browser directly no matter which browser version you are using. You can start using it just by visiting the Google Meet website. Like most of the services that Google provides, Google Meet is also connected to your Gmail ID and integrated with the G Suite service making it much easier to access on any of the devices that it supports. Unfortunately, Google Meet does not have a desktop application that can be installed on your operating system. So you can consider it as a browser/app based video calling service.
Zoom on the other hand, has desktop applications available for both macOS and Windows 10. It also has a web app available and will work flawlessly on android and IOS devices using their respective applications.
So clearly, Zoom has a advantage when it comes to the compatibility. So if you want to enjoy Zoom on your computer as well without having to access browser every time you want to start a video call, you will have to go with zoom instead of Google Meet. If you don’t find it as a big deal, you may choose any one of them. Both will work perfectly.
Conclusion
So, to wrap it up, which one of the Zoom and Google Meet services you should use will depend on your specific usage cases. If you ask us personally, we like to go with Google Meet because of the lower pricing, integration with the Google services, etc. But for those who use these just for day-to-day video calling needs, and doesn’t really worry about the pricing, Zoom will be also a great choice. Whether you use Zoom or Google Meet, both of them will work flawlessly.