Zoom vs Google Meet vs Skype vs Webex vs Jitsi vs BlueJeans: Which is best for you?

What you need to know about Google Meet (Hangouts)

With Google Meet, users can host and join online web meetings for free. However, there are some limitations you should be aware of when using the free version. You cannot hold a meeting for more than 1 hour a day, while the number of participants is limited to 100.
Google Meet allows free access to many useful tools such as live closed captions, desktop sharing, gallery view, and many others. However, some essential features, such as meeting recording, hand raise and breakout rooms are only available in paid plans.

What you need to know about Zoom

Zoom provides free high-quality video conferencing for up to 40 minutes per group meeting. With a Zoom Pro plan for $14.99 per month, you can host unlimited conferences with up to 100 participants (can be increased up to 1,000 with Large Meetings add-on which costs approximately $600 per year). The Pro plan also adds more features, such as cloud recording and streaming. More expensive Business plan enables recording transcripts, company branding, single sign-on and other enterprise features.
Even if you are using the free version of Zoom, you have a lot of settings to manage meeting participants and customize your conference. For instance, you can change or blur your background with a special setting, which makes it easier to work from home with a sense of privacy. For example, the background of your apartment can be replaced with a picturesque view of the virtual seaside.

What you need to know about Skype for Business

Skype is perhaps one of the most popular video conferencing brands. Almost everyone has at least once used the free version of this program. For businesses and enterprises Microsoft has been offering Skype For Business, included in one of Microsoft Office 365 Business plans. Skype For Business provides video conferencing for up to 250 participants, call recording and anonymous polls. However, Skype For Business Online will be ending on July 31, 2021, while Skype For Business Server will end mainstream support in 2024. Instead, users are encouraged to use the Microsoft Teams service instead, which, however, does not provide a lot of security and enterprise features Skype For Business used to.

Some other Skype features worth mentioning are:

• Integration with Outlook and other Microsoft apps.

• Shared workspace. Meeting participants can not only discuss the project, but also collaborate on documents and follow workflow progress.

• Up to 6 participants on screen.

• Host controls: if a presenter suddenly forgets to turn off the microphone or someone breaks the rules, the organizer can quickly fix it.

• VoIP telephony provides cost saving.

• Security. Skype features enhanced protection against hacker attacks.

What you need to know about Jitsi

Jitsi Meet is an open source WebRTC engine demo developed by 8X8 Inc. It provides free video meetings available from your browser. Jitsi does not provide desktop client apps, only mobile users can join a meeting from Jitsi app. Jitsi allows only 75 participants per meeting, which makes it an arguable choice for large-scale conferences.
If you're setting Jitsi on your server, you may require custom development and installation of additional software, which raises the need to hire an IT specialist. Finally, Jitsi may not be a good choice if you have unstable Internet connection: it’s very demanding in terms of system requirements and bandwidth.

What you need to know about BlueJeans

BlueJeans Meetings is a video conferencing service which provides meetings from 100 to 200 participants depending on your plan. BlueJeans does not provide a free version, while paid versions start from $9.99 host/month in Standard plan to $13.99 host/month in Pro plan (Enterprise pricing is only available upon request).
BlueJeans delivers a variety of digital collaboration tools, such as smart meeting tools, such as meeting highlight, action item tagging and meeting recaps. In Pro plan you can also enjoy integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoho and Okta among others.

Bluejeans video conferencing offers the following collaboration tools:

• Desktop sharing

• Meeting recording

• Annotation

• Whiteboarding

BlueJeans Meetings helps reduce travel costs while allowing colleagues, partners and customers to communicate productively. On the cons side, many users report that their interface is a little bit misleading and outdated.

Stop comparing, try TrueConf!

TrueConf is a leader in enterprise video conferencing and collaboration. Our award-winning software has been recognized by thousands of companies around the world. TrueConf video conferencing solutions connect workplaces, browsers, mobile devices and meeting rooms of any size. Our software simplifies team collaboration and provides advanced tools for managing meetings and participants, helping you focus on what matters most.