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 needed to go on somehow. Overnight, videoconferencing platforms developed into the lifeline that held services together. Even as operations go back to normal, videoconferencing suppliers are putting resources into their items.
The 2 main collaboration suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer videoconferencing abilities, but we would be remiss not to consist of among the most popular videoconferencing apps in the market today-- Zoom.
At this point, your organization is nearly guaranteed to have a videoconferencing platform already. If not, or if you are aiming to change platforms, continue reading below for a breakdown of functions and alternatives that will assist you make your decision.
Are your conferences long or short? Are you primarily satisfying internally or with leads and clients? Will you be hosting webinars?
It goes without saying, if your company is currently registered for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and you enjoy with the platform, you need to utilize Teams or Meet respectively. If you are not registered for either and merely require a standalone videoconferencing app, Zoom has a complimentary variation that must fix most of your requirements.
In the sections below, we will compare all 3 significant videoconferencing platforms based on different metrics you must consider before selecting the best one for your company.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Integration with your other apps/services
Prior to diving into the complete list of functions for each platform, it is necessary to comprehend just how much you get from the totality of what you are spending for.
Teams and Meet become part of larger performance suites, whereas Zoom is a standalone item with all the videoconferencing-specific features you might need. While Teams and Meet can be acquired separately, they are best bundled with their bigger it support for healthcare suites, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Case in point, a Zoom Pro subscription only offers you videoconferencing capabilities. For less than Zoom Pro, the M365 Business Standard and Workspace Business subscriptions consist of a full suite of business applications.
With Microsoft 365, you get a fully incorporated experience with desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The biggest selling point of Microsoft is how easily the apps deal with each other, and the greatest distinction in between Teams and its competitors is how centralized the suite is.
Teams leaps effortlessly from immediate messaging to video calls, with the ability to switch backward and forward in between them.
Google Meet is independent of Workspace's chat app, Google Chat. While users can use both Workspace apps simultaneously, the separation of the two is a bit counterproductive.
With M365 and Teams, all chats, recorded meetings, and files are all housed in the exact same central place, making searchability far easier.
With Meet and Zoom, you will need to seek out saved 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 connected in a Teams chat will appear under its files tab at the top of the window, indicating you do not have to waste time chasing them down when you require them.
Microsoft offers a lot more applications in their strategies than Google, though many go undetected.
For example, Microsoft Sway permits you to quickly grab and cut a tape-recorded Teams fulfilling that you can then house locally within Teams itself.
In the case that someone shows up late to a conference, or a worker records the same conference and lets it run for hours after its conclusion, you can rapidly grab the part of the meeting you need and wait.
This bypasses the storage that would be eaten up by an hours-long video, along with the time it would take to submit, trim, and export said video from a video modifying platform.
Furthermore, all 3 platforms do have combinations with numerous other service applications, so make sure to examine compatibility with any apps you already use, 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 particular features on their platforms, therefore most of the very same functions overlap across prepare for all 3 suites. This consists of screen sharing, video recording, live captions, and everybody's favorite: customized backgrounds. When it comes to some other features, 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 vary across plans. Meet offers dial-in for free with any of their paid strategies, among the greatest benefits that the platform has more than its competitors.Groups uses its dial-in ability for $4 extra per user, monthly; while Zoom's dial-in is toll-based.
Both Teams and Meet offer internet-based PBX options that can change your internal phones, while Zoom's toll-based setup is not practical.
Microsoft 365 Business Voice incorporates perfectly with Teams, permitting workers to take business on the go, all with complete continuity.
Video Quality-- Who Supports the very best?
As of the time of this post, each platform shows 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, but it is limited to the platform's business or business strategies. 1080p can also be made it possible for 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, but it can send and receive as much as 720p video.
Audio quality throughout platforms depends upon microphone and speaker quality, along with the quality of your web connection.
Spaces and Workspaces-- Breaking Things Down
Breakout rooms are essentially conferences that run concurrently to the original videoconference. These were particularly needed for virtual education, so teachers could break trainees out into separate groups to learn.
There is a clear energy for breakout rooms in expert spaces, too. If a larger group is fulfilling about a project, breaking down tasks into smaller groups, breakout rooms might be a terrific option.
Both Teams and Zoom have breakout spaces native to their base platforms, across all strategies. These spaces are essentially meetings that are running all at once to the initial videoconference.
Meet permits breakout spaces through their standard and plus plans, but not in the free or standard strategies. Like most Google functions on cheaper strategies, you can add 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 uses AI to position video individuals in various digital settings, together. While the energy is light, Together Mode could be a strong morale booster.
Groups vs Meet vs Zoom: Privacy and Safety
To its credit, Zoom responded swiftly to the "Zoom battle" of the early days of the pandemic, including end-to-end file encryption and boosting their personal privacy policy. Unfortunately, over 500,000 Zoom accounts were stolen it support - itleaders.com.au and posted for sale online quickly thereafter.
While Meet has not had any well-known incidents of privacy breaches, Google has had lots of personal privacy issues and a track record of gathering information for usage in marketing.
Microsoft has the very best track record of security and they also have the most transparent personal privacy policy.
All three platforms support two-factor authentication. Thinking about that 99% of cybersecurity attacks include a password aspect, two-factor authentication is a need to if you want a legitimate defense against cybercriminals.
As a part of the broader M365 suite, all chats, notes, and files are encrypted and kept within OneNote and SharePoint, respectively.
In Addition, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is readily available on its Business Premium and E5 strategies, blocking potentially malicious 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 immediately block it from being sent.
In addition to eDiscovery and legal holds within channels, chats, and files, Teams ensures you remain certified with all data storage policies.
A graphic showing the path of info 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, however these are just restricted to Drive and Gmail. From what we can see Meet has no particularly noted DLP capabilities.Zoom does not offer any of these functions on its primary platform.
Overall, Zoom has actually responded well to its privacy challenges, however the changes are largely cosmetic.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is fantastic to have, but its addition was more of a reaction 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 delicate it services for education info may be shared, and it will be readily available on Teams quickly according to Microsoft.
The videoconferencing company has less to stress over since they are a single-purpose app, dealing solely with videoconferencing, and not the storage of files, chats, and other info like Microsoft or Google.
Based on reputation alone, Microsoft stands well above the others in regards to security.
Due to the fact that your information is all saved in a single space, Teams and its security functions take your efficiency hub and turns it into your business's own data fortress. This 2nd level of security and personal privacy makes it the best, in our experience.
Teams vs Meet vs Zoom: The Verdict
Though many videoconferencing platforms have comparable features, your organization's exact requirements must figure out whether you select Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom.
For base-level features at an affordable cost, it is difficult to beat Zoom, who is focused solely on videoconferencing. For the most value, Teams ties your whole business together in one space, with the best possible functions and security available.
If you are searching for an all-in-one partnership hub that keeps all your interaction in one space, we extremely recommend Microsoft Teams.
IT Support Guys has leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 given that 2008 when it was still called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and we have actually continued our partnership till today day.