If you are seeking new alternatives to Zoom, whether free or paid, then you can check out this article. The Zoom video conferencing application has been a particularly popular way of maintaining global isolation, whether for personal or professional gatherings.
As Zoom began to be the perfect solution for remote communication challenges, a few drawbacks occurred in terms of privacy and security. Even though Zoom has issued several security updates to overcome this problem, you may still prefer to be cautious. Therefore, check out these free and paid alternatives to Zoom.
1. Microsoft Teams
An ideal choice for organizations that use video conferencing services as their primary internal communication tool is Microsoft Teams. The top feature is the activity feed for a summary of conversations or actions in chat channels, and the “Together Mode” view.
Although it comes with three paid plans ranging from $4.00 / user per month to $12.50 / user per month, you can still sign up for a free plan just with your email address. The free plan allows you to have 100 participants with up to 60 minutes of meeting duration. Therefore, it is our first selection for the Zoom alternatives list.
2. Cisco Webex
Another Zoom alternative is Webex by Cisco. Cisco Webex is a great choice for small companies where there is a need to organize regular breakouts and require accurate summaries or follow-up activities for meetings.
The top feature of Webex is the AI Meeting Assistant. It may be scheduled to pick up certain “trigger” words during meetings to automatically make notes, action items and summaries to be delivered to the participants following the conclusion of the conference. Also, it can transcribe meetings automatically in real time and can be engaged with voice commands.
Webex offers a free plan and paid plans. With the Free plan, you can host meetings with a capacity of up to 100 participants and a maximum duration of 40 minutes. The Meet plan is priced at $14.50 per license per month. It includes additional benefits like a meeting length limit of 24 hours, a higher meeting capacity of up to 200 participants, and 10 GB of cloud storage. For larger teams or enterprises, the Suite (Meet + Call) plan is available at $25 per license per month with a premium calling feature.
3. GoToMeeting
For enterprises with high-attendance online meetings, an excellent pick is the GoToMeeting. This is a web-hosted service by LogMeIn that includes audio and video conferences, screen sharing, drawing tools, meeting transcriptions, cloud recording, and a mobile app for Android and iOS. Also, it offers scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes.
The top feature is that you can transfer your keyboard and mouse control to any attendee during the meeting. Also, you can give meeting guests presenter control to share their screen and assist in running the meeting.
It offers three paid plans, that include the Professional Plan for $12.00 / organizer per month with up to 150 participants, the Business Plan for $16.00 / organizer per month that allows up to 250 participants, and the quote-based Enterprise plan. It also offers a free 14-day trial without a credit card requirement.
4. Digital Samba
A GDPR-compliant, secure, and powerful video conferencing software, Digital Samba offers a complete video conferencing solution for team collaboration, meetings, education, webinars, app development, etc.
It works right from your browser, so you don’t have to download any software to use it.
The features include screen sharing, file sharing, polls, teleconferencing, recordings, custom branding, time zone management, mobile app, reporting and statistics, email notifications, REST API, and many more.
Digital Samba is Europe’s favorite video conferencing software and its highly secure server infrastructure ensures your data is safe and you remain compliant with European legislation.
The pricing for meetings starts from €9 per month (Starter plan) with up to 100 participants, unlimited meeting duration, and an unlimited number of sessions. The other plans are €11 per month (Team plan) with up to 300 participants and €18 per month (Business plan) with up to 500 participants. For more details on features that each plan offers and its pricing for education, webinars, and more, you can check its official website.
5. Whereby
The next Zoom alternative is Whereby which offers a simple way for video meetings without the need for apps or downloads. The key features include customization options that allow users to personalize their meeting rooms with custom names, URLs, and branding.
In addition, Whereby also integrates with tools like Miro and Google Docs, enabling real-time collaboration during video meetings. For Google Calendar users, the Whereby Chrome extension automatically adds video meeting links to scheduled events.
As for pricing, the Free plan offers 1 host, 1 room, up to 100 attendees per meeting, unlimited one-on-one meetings, and group meetings with a duration of up to 45 minutes. The Pro plan, priced at $6.99 per month, includes 3 rooms, no time limit on group meetings, unlimited recording, and custom branding. The Business plan, priced at $9.99 per month per host, is for collaborating teams and comes with extra features such as unlimited rooms, up to 200 attendees per meeting, shared and Flex rooms, and a custom subdomain.
More Options for Video Conferencing
Besides the above 5 alternatives for Zoom, you may also check the following options.
BlueJeans
If you are looking for a video conference service for smaller teams that offers quality streaming, then you should check BlueJeans. It is a great choice for firms that are just temporarily planning to continue to work remotely.
This includes key capabilities for communication and collaboration but does not match the in-office experience like other Zoom alternatives on this list. It also features a safe driving mode for mobile apps.
It offers a free plan and paid plans. With free plan, you can host up to 25 participants without any time limit. The Pro plan costs $9.99 / host per month allows up to 150 participants with 25 hours of recording, the Enterprise plan costs $13.99 / host per month (only if you prefer to pay annually) allows up to 300 participants, unlimited recording, and features such as live transcription and captioning.
We also have a comprehensive guide on the best remote work monitoring software that you may want to try for your business.
