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Zoom vs Google Hangouts Comparison 2021

by Arthur Zuckerman

When it comes to team and business communications, Zoom and Google Hangouts stand out. These best-in-class communication software solutions provide powerful tools that enable teams to hold video and audio meetings, chats, and web conferences. They also guarantee high-quality communication and sharing, excellent usability, and easy access.

However, both Zoom and Google Hangouts are designed with different users in mind. As such, besides the list of similarities, each app has its unique strengths and weaknesses. For this reason, we’ve prepared a comprehensive Zoom vs Google Hangouts comparison to help you find which app is best for your business.

Zoom Overview

Zoom is an innovative, cloud-based video communications software built to streamline virtual meetings and conferences. As such, the solution is best for businesses in various industries like education, finance, healthcare, and government. It features highly dependable HD video and audio capabilities, chat functionality, and robust collaboration tools.

Beyond these features, Zoom provides an enterprise cloud phone system, video webinar, and Zoom Rooms. With its neat array of features, advanced technology, and ease of use, Zoom ensures all businesses, big and small, enjoy consistent enterprise experience.

Even better, the app works reliably well, whether your online meeting has one or a thousand participants. If you are holding video webinars, Zoom allows up to 10,000 viewers to follow the proceedings. What’s more, the Zoom chat supports cross-platform business messaging and file sharing.

Check out our Zoom vs GoToMeeting comparison guide to expand your options.

Zoom dashboard

Zoom is a powerful video conferencing software that can accommodate hundreds of participants within one call, making it great for large team meetings as well as webinars.

Zoom Pros and Cons

When it comes to picking the right video conferencing tool for your business, perhaps Zoom is the first option to consider. But, before you fork out the cash and commit to using this software, you’ve to analyze its pros and cons.

In this section, we’ll discuss the features that make Zoom stand out. Moreover, we’ll reveal some of Zoom’s drawbacks that you should prepare to contend with if you decide to use this application.

Zoom Pros

There is no doubt that when it comes to enterprise video communication, Zoom is the most popular choice. Some of its salient benefits include:

  • Easy screen sharing during a video call.
  • Intuitive live video chat.
  • Easy to document and save sessions with the powerful recording feature.
  • Simplified brainstorming sessions, thanks to the whiteboard feature.
  • Live meeting analytics.

Beyond these benefits, Zoom offers stable audio with clear sound quality and video calling with HD video quality. Particularly, video conferencing with Zoom guarantees automatic adjustment and no buffering. Moreover, it allows you to schedule a meeting or webinar, export the details to your calendar, and invite participants with ease.

What’s more, Zoom allows you to run webinars. All you have to do is invite attendees to your webinar using a custom registration URL. The powerful recording feature even allows you to save a webinar and reuse it in the future if need be.

Additionally, with Zoom’s dashboard, you can access real-time meeting analytics and insights to troubleshoot calls. On the other hand, the admin portals provide the information you need to run reports and manage users. Moreover, Zoom integrates with the third-party applications your business uses, including Slack.

Generally, Zoom is an ideal communication application for businesses and teams that hold numerous cloud video meetings. The app pairs seamlessly with touch screens, making it perfect for conference room spaces. Besides, it boasts a clean, intuitive interface that makes it easy for participants to join meetings and start a conversation.

Zoom Cons

Like many other communication apps, Zoom has its downsides. First, the app can be expensive, hence, slightly optimal for large teams that hold a lot of all-hands meetings. Even with the free trial, there is a limit of 40-minute meetings, and you’ll have to pay an amount for meetings that exceed this limit.

Secondly, Zoom’s meeting and webinar scheduling feature is easy to use, but it lends a less than impressive experience. For example, you have to re-auth your account every time you want to export schedules to Google Calendar. Of course, to remedy this, you can always choose to use the platform, alongside some of the best appointment scheduling software for optimal results.

Lastly, some of Zoom’s advanced features like remote control, polling, and whiteboarding can be difficult to use.

Zoom Pricing and Features

Zoom offers four pricing plans. The free plan enables small businesses and individuals to hold personal meetings. Besides, there are three premium plans, namely Pro – $14.99/month/host, Business – $19.99/month/host and Enterprise – $19.99/month/host.

Here are the key Zoom features:

  • Zoom Rooms
  • Video and web conferencing features
  • HD video and HD voice
  • HTTP access
  • Unlimited VoIP
  • Third-party integrations
  • Simultaneous screen-sharing
  • Group messaging
  • Toll-based options
  • Admin feature controls
  • Whiteboarding
  • AES 256-bits encryption
  • Full-screen view
  • SSL encryption

Google Hangouts Overview

Google Hangouts is an easy-to-use communication platform that supports voice calling, video calling, and messaging. This solution is built to bring conversations, business and personal, to life with photos, emojis, animated GIFs, and stickers. Besides, it works seamlessly across devices, making it easy to keep in touch with friends and small teams across the web, Android, and iOS.

Primarily, Google Hangouts offer two products–Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. Hangout Meet is a powerful online video conferencing solution that enables teams to connect anywhere, anytime via video calls. It simplifies multiperson video calls, thanks to the intuitive interface and robust participant management tools.

Besides, Hangouts Chat is a reliable messaging platform for teams of all sizes. It supports up to 28 languages, whereas each virtual chat room can accommodate 8000 participants. Moreover, Hangouts Chat enhances team collaboration and enables managers to follow up tasks and track progress more efficiently.

Lastly, Google Hangouts is part of the GSuite, allowing it to integrate with products like Google+ and Gmail.

Google Hangouts dashboard

Google Hangouts is a versatile communication tool that lets you perform voice calls, video calls, and instant messaging, making it great for teams who require close collaboration.

Google Hangouts Pros and Cons

Google Hangouts is a robust communication platform with capabilities that rival Zoom. To paint a clear picture of our Zoom vs Google Hangouts comparison, let’s now look at the pros and cons of Google Hangouts.

Google Hangouts Pros

First things first, Google Hangouts is a cloud-based communication platform. Therefore, you don’t have to download any software or add a browser extension to use it. It also means that anyone can use the app on any device or web browser provided there is internet connectivity.

Also, Google Hangouts provides uniquely designed Android and iOS apps. With the app, you can join meetings with ease, see your meeting schedule, and visualize all the important information from your Google Calendar.

Google Hangouts is also fully integrated with GSuite. This presents several benefits; for example, it makes it easy for users to collaborate on slides, sheets, and docs from Drive. Moreover, Hangouts enables businesses to use distinct dial-in phone numbers for each meeting. In this way, it makes it easy to provide each participant with a great meeting experience.

What’s more, the Hangouts Chat offers a powerful search function. This feature allows you to find any conversation or information across the chat threads with ease. It acts as an innovative team memory, allowing you to see past decisions and discussions.

Other notable benefits of Google Hangouts include:

  • It’s easy to set up and use
  • Enrich conversations with animated GIFs, images, and emojis.
  • Use it seamlessly between all devices.
  • Integrates seamlessly with GSuite products

Google Hangouts Cons

On the flip side, Hangouts Chat doesn’t allow you to edit or delete chats. As such, the solution offers no option to clean up the language, edit disparaging remarks, or remove messages sent to the wrong team.

Besides, Google Hangouts notifications can be problematic. Sometimes, the app doesn’t alert you to a new invite or chat, especially those from people who are not in your Google contacts. Even worse, the platform doesn’t offer a waiting room for people who join the virtual meeting early.

Another drawback is that each Gmail has its own Hangouts account. This can be cumbersome for people that switch between multiple professional, work, and personal Gmail accounts.

Google Hangout Pricing and Features

Google Hangouts is available in all GSuite editions, namely: Basic – $6/user/month, Business – $12/user/month, and Enterprise – $25/user/month. Here are the key Google Hangouts features:

  • Chat rooms for up to 8000 participants
  • Direct messaging
  • Live streaming
  • Video conferencing for up to 250 participants.
  • Drive bot integration
  • Admin controls
  • SingleSignOn (SSO) integration
  • Dial-in phone numbers

What is the Best Communication Platform for Your Team?

That’s it, a detailed Zoom vs Google Hangouts comparison. As you may have noticed, both platforms offer basic and advanced features to support video meetings and chats for different types of businesses. Besides, the solutions are easy to use, reliable, and integrate seamlessly with third-party tools such as top shopping cart software, popular marketing systems, and more.

However, both tools exhibit some differences, which make them suitable for different teams and businesses. Based on our analysis, Zoom is an apt solution for sales, marketing, and training/onboarding video calls. It’s one of the best communication tools for businesses that want to enhance remote team collaboration. With the platform, it’s easy to create mini conversations for your teams or create a single, one-to-one meeting for the entire group.

On the other hand, Google Hangouts is well-suited to lightweight operations, such as quick interoffice communications. The platform allows you to accomplish fast calls and instant messaging in the fast-paced office environment.

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