Managed IT Support Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom: The Conclusive Videoconferencing Battle
The COVID-19 pandemic required workers to work from house, but the program had to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held companies together. Even as operations go back to normal, videoconferencing service providers are pouring resources into their items.
The 2 main partnership suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deal 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 moment, your company is practically ensured to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are wanting to alter platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of functions and options that will assist you make your decision.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you mainly meeting internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without stating, if your company is already signed up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you more than happy with the platform, you must utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not subscribed to either and merely need a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a free variation that should solve the majority of your needs.
In the areas below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based upon numerous metrics you ought to think about prior to picking the best 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 whole of what you are paying for.
Groups and Meet belong to larger productivity suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone product with all the videoconferencing-specific functions you may require. While Teams and Meet can be obtained separately, 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 fully integrated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The greatest selling point of Microsoft is how quickly the apps work with each other, and the greatest difference between Teams and its rivals is how centralized the suite is.
Teams jumps flawlessly from instant messaging to video calls, with the ability 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 concurrently, 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 easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will have to look for conserved chats from old meetings, or when it comes to Meet, head over to Google Chat.
This is likewise the case when working on collective files. Any files attached in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, indicating you don't need to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers even more applications in their strategies than Google, however many go undetected.
For instance, Microsoft Sway enables you to rapidly get and trim a taped Teams meeting that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone shows up late to a conference, or a staff member records the exact same conference 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 clip, along with the time it would take to publish, cut, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
Furthermore, all 3 platforms do have integrations with various other service applications, so make sure to check on compatibility with any apps you already utilize, and these platforms.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Features
Comparing Free Versions vs. Paid
Microsoft, Google, and Zoom have actually all adjusted well to the need for certain functions on their platforms, hence most of the same functions overlap throughout plans for all three suites. This includes screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everyone's favorite: custom-made backgrounds. When it comes to some other functions, they vary throughout each company's offerings.
A table illustrating the various plans and functions 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 provides dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the most significant advantages that the platform has over its rivals.Teams provides its dial-in capability for $4 extra per user, each month; 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 incorporates flawlessly with Teams, allowing employees to take organization on the go, all with complete connection.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the Best?
As of the time of this post, each platform displays video in HD, however the quality differs. Teams 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 limited to the platform's service or enterprise plans. 1080p can also be made it possible for by Zoom support in certain cases. Zoom's 1080p functionality requires 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 out and receive approximately 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, in addition to the quality of your internet connection.
Rooms and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout spaces are essentially meetings that run at the same time to the original videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so instructors could break trainees out into separate groups to find out.
Both Teams and Zoom have actually breakout spaces native to their base platforms, throughout all strategies. These rooms are basically conferences that are running at the same time to the original videoconference.
Meet allows breakout rooms through their standard and plus plans, but not in the complimentary or basic plans. Nevertheless, like a lot of Google functions on more affordable plans, you can add Google Chrome extensions, but this might be more of a headache than it deserves in the end.
Recently, Microsoft also rolled out Together Mode, which uses AI to position video individuals in various digital settings, together. While the utility is light, Together Mode might be a strong spirits booster.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom reacted swiftly 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 published for sale online soon afterwards.
While Meet has actually not had any well-known incidents of privacy breaches, Google has actually had a lot of privacy concerns and a track record of gathering information for usage in advertising.
Microsoft has the very best performance history of security and they likewise have the most transparent privacy policy.
All 3 platforms support two-factor authentication. Considering that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password component, two-factor authentication is a should if you desire a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are managed it service secured and kept 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 uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) to catch sensitive data being shared (like social security numbers), and immediately obstruct it from being sent.
Together with eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams guarantees you remain certified with all information storage guidelines.
A graphic revealing the course of details as it is encrypted from Microsoft Teams through Microsoft 365.
Google does provide eDiscovery in their Business and Enterprise strategies and DLP in their Enterprise strategy only, but these are just limited to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has actually no particularly listed DLP capabilities.Zoom does not provide any of these features on its main platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually reacted well to its personal privacy obstacles, but the changes are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is terrific to have, but its addition was more of a response to an issue than a complete service. It is unlikely 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 conversations where delicate info may be shared, and it will be offered on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to worry about due to the fact that they are a single-purpose app, dealing entirely 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.
Because your information is all kept in a single area, Teams and its security functions take your performance hub and turns it into your business's own data stronghold. This 2nd level of security and privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
The majority of videoconferencing platforms have similar features, your business's specific needs need to identify whether you select Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level functions at a cost effective cost, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most bang for your buck, Teams ties your whole business together in one area, with the best possible functions and security offered.
If you are looking for an all-in-one cooperation center that keeps all your communication in one space, we extremely recommend 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 till today day.