Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, but the program had to go on in some way. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms turned into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to regular, videoconferencing providers are putting resources into their items.
The 2 primary partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing abilities, however we would be remiss not to include among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this moment, your business is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are wanting to change platforms, continue checking out below for a breakdown of functions and options that will assist you make your choice.
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 business is currently subscribed to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you ought to use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary version that ought to solve most of your requirements.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based on different metrics you should consider prior to selecting the ideal one for your organization.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the full list of features for each platform, it is important to understand how much you receive from the entirety of what you are spending for.
Teams and Meet become part of larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might need. While Teams and Meet can be obtained 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 memberships include a complete suite of organization applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a totally integrated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps work with each other, and the most significant distinction between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps effortlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the capability to switch back and forth in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can utilize both Workspace apps all at once, the separation of the two is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, tape-recorded conferences, and files are all housed in the exact same main location, making searchability far simpler.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to seek out 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 connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, suggesting you do not have to lose time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft offers even more applications in their strategies than Google, however many go unnoticed.
Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly get and trim a recorded Teams satisfying that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone arrives late to a conference, or an employee records the exact same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly grab the part of the conference you require and save it.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video clip, in addition to the time it would require to upload, cloud computing consulting services cut, and export said video from a video editing platform.
Furthermore, all three platforms do have integrations with different other organization applications, so make sure to check on compatibility with any apps you already utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have all adjusted well to the need for particular functions on their platforms, thus the majority of the very same features overlap throughout prepare for all 3 suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom backgrounds. As for some other functions, they differ throughout each business's offerings.
A table depicting the different plans 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 strategies. Meet provides dial-in totally free with any of their paid strategies, among the most significant benefits that the platform has more than its rivals.Teams provides its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, per month; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet deal internet-based PBX options that can replace your in-house phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not useful.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates perfectly with Teams, enabling employees to take business on the go, all with full continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, however the quality varies. Groups is capable of 1080p video at 30 frames per second if you have 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth.
Zoom also has 1080p video, however it is restricted to the platform's company or enterprise strategies. 1080p can also be allowed by Zoom support in specific cases. Zoom's 1080p functionality needs 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 up to 720p video.
Audio quality across platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your web connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are essentially conferences that run all at once to the original videoconference. These were specifically necessary for virtual education, so instructors could break trainees out into separate groups to learn.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in expert spaces, too. If a bigger group is meeting about a task, breaking down jobs into smaller groups, breakout spaces might be a great service.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout spaces belonging to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These spaces are basically conferences that are running concurrently to the initial videoconference.
Meet permits breakout rooms through their standard and plus strategies, however not in the complimentary or standard plans. Nevertheless, like the majority of Google functions on less expensive strategies, you can include Google Chrome extensions, however this could be more of a headache than it is worth in the end.
Just recently, Microsoft likewise presented Together Mode, which uses AI to place video individuals in numerous digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode could be a strong spirits booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted quickly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end encryption and beefing up their privacy policy. Over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen and published for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has actually not had any well-known occurrences of privacy breaches, Google has actually had lots of personal privacy concerns and a track record of collecting information for use in advertising.
Microsoft has the best track record of security and they also have the most transparent privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password element, two-factor authentication is a need to if you desire a legitimate defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the wider M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is offered on its Business Premium and E5 plans, blocking potentially harmful material from being accessed by those in your business.
Microsoft likewise utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically block it from being sent out.
Along with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain certified with all information storage policies.
A graphic revealing the path of details as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does use eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise plans and DLP in their Enterprise plan just, but these are just restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly listed DLP abilities.Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its main platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its privacy difficulties, but the changes are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is terrific to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a complete solution. It is not likely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams and Meet.
E2EE is most helpful in 1-on-1 discussions where delicate info might be shared, and it will be available on Teams soon according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to worry about because 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 credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Because your data is all stored in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your efficiency hub and turns it into your company's own information stronghold. This 2nd level of protection and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though many videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your organization's specific needs ought to figure out whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a budget friendly rate, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire business together in one space, with the very best possible functions and security available.
If you are searching for an all-in-one collaboration hub that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly advise 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 continued our collaboration up until the present day.