Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Definitive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic forced workers to work from house, but the show had to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held organizations together. Even as operations return to typical, videoconferencing service providers are putting resources into their products.
The two main partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal videoconferencing abilities, but we would be remiss not to include one of the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your organization is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform currently. If not, or if you are aiming to alter platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of features and alternatives that will assist you make your choice.
Are your meetings long or short? Are you primarily satisfying internally or with leads and customers? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you are happy with the platform, you must use Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and simply need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a free variation that ought to fix the majority of your requirements.
In the areas listed below, we will compare all 3 major videoconferencing platforms based on various metrics you must consider prior to picking the best one for your business.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of functions for each platform, it is essential to understand just how much you get from the entirety of what you are paying for.
Teams and Meet are part of bigger efficiency suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific features you may require. While Teams and Meet can be procured individually, they are best bundled with their bigger suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro membership just offers you videoconferencing abilities. 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 completely incorporated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps work with each other, and the greatest difference between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Groups leaps seamlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch backward and forward between them.
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 counterintuitive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, taped conferences, and files are all housed in the exact same main area, making searchability far simpler.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for saved chats from old conferences, 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, meaning you do not need to lose time chasing them down when you need them.
Microsoft uses a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, however many go undetected.
Microsoft Sway allows you to quickly grab and trim a taped Teams satisfying that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that somebody shows up late to a conference, or a staff member records the same meeting and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can quickly get the part of the meeting you need and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be consumed by an hours-long video, as well as the time it would take to publish, cut, and export stated video from a video modifying platform.
In addition, all three platforms do have combinations with different other company applications, so make sure to check on compatibility with any apps you already use, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the need for certain features on their platforms, therefore the majority of the very same functions overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: custom backgrounds. When it comes to some other features, they vary throughout each company's offerings.
A table depicting the various plans and features of Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet vs. Zoom Audio Conferencing On-the-Go
While present across the board, dial-in abilities differ throughout strategies. Meet uses dial-in free of charge with any of their paid plans, among the biggest benefits that the platform has over its rivals.Teams uses its dial-in capability for $4 additional per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet offer internet-based PBX options that can replace your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice integrates perfectly with Teams, enabling workers to take service on the go, all with complete continuity.
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, however it is restricted to the platform's service or business plans. 1080p can likewise be enabled by Zoom assistance in certain 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, however it can send and get up to 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends on microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially conferences that run all at once to the initial videoconference. These were particularly essential for virtual education, so instructors could break trainees out into separate groups to find out.
There is a clear utility for breakout rooms in expert areas, too. If a bigger team is meeting about a task, breaking down tasks into smaller groups, breakout spaces might be an excellent solution.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout rooms belonging to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These rooms are basically conferences that are running all at once to the original videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their standard and plus strategies, however not in the totally free or basic strategies. Like a lot of 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.
Recently, Microsoft likewise rolled out Together Mode, which utilizes AI to position video participants in numerous digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a solid spirits booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted promptly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and beefing up their privacy policy. Regrettably, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were taken and posted for sale online soon afterwards.
While Meet has not had any popular incidents of privacy breaches, Google has had lots of privacy concerns and a performance history of gathering data for use in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best performance history 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 include a password element, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a genuine defense versus cybercriminals.
As a part of the larger M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and saved within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
Furthermore, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is readily available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, blocking possibly harmful material from being accessed by those in your company.
Microsoft also utilizes Data Loss Protection (DLP) to capture sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and automatically obstruct it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams guarantees you remain certified with all data storage policies.
A graphic showing the course 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 plan only, however these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not use any of these functions on its main platform.
In general, Zoom has reacted well to its personal privacy obstacles, however the modifications are mostly cosmetic.
End-to-end file encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, however its addition was more of a reaction to a problem than a complete option. It is unlikely that E2EE safeguards most users from more than encryption in transit and at rest, like with Teams https://www.tumblr.com/eclecticdelusionbasement/737041517466763264/6-tips-to-consider-when-moving-to-the-cloud and Meet.
E2EE is most useful in 1-on-1 discussions where delicate information 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 exclusively with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other information like Microsoft or Google.
Based upon credibility alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in terms of security.
Due to the fact that your information is all kept in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your performance center and turns it into your company's own data stronghold. This second level of defense and personal privacy makes it the most safe, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though a lot of videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your business's precise requirements must determine whether you pick Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at a cost effective price, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused exclusively on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your entire business together in one area, with the very best possible functions and security available.
If you are trying to find an all-in-one partnership center that keeps all your interaction in one area, we highly recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has actually leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 since 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have actually continued our collaboration up until the present day.