Last Updated: January 2nd, 2024
Working from home has become the new normal globally because of the lockdown. The situation has forced businesses and individuals to carry on their work smoothly via video conferencing.
Zoom for video conferencing was in great demand by individuals working from home and students for online classes. Zoom was facing various security flaws due to which it has been banned by many countries. Google has also banned the use of Zoom for its employees due to security reasons. One of the security issues in Zoom termed Zoombombing lets anyone hack into the video conferencing call and show inappropriate content using the Zoom screen-sharing feature. There are also reports that the app is spying on the user’s information and sending it silently to Facebook.
To avoid unwanted issues, we must be cautious about the best available alternatives to the Zoom app. Let’s discuss this.
Best Video Conferencing Software Worth Trying
1. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams can be a great option for users with numerous features and specifications. You can utilize the capabilities of video conferencing to PowerPoint presentations. The PPT sharing and web seminar capability of the app can increase up to 10000, along with the support of the Office 365 suite.
This supports sharing your vital documents using packages including MS Word, Excel, and other available office software. The web meeting hosting allows up to 250 people which was 1000 in the case of the Zoom app. Moreover, there exist features including screen sharing, 1 TB OneDrive cloud storage space, and others. Though the free version is itself capable of regular tasks, still one can have the paid version at $5 per month.
2. Skype
You must have used Skype to interact with family, friends, and peers. Web meetings by business personnel, individual workers, and others concerned can be initiated comfortably using the Skype app. The free tier plan permits the interconnection of 50 participants in one go. The limit is less in comparison to Zoom which allowed up to 100 participants. However, this app has assured safety and security issues.
However, the group calls do have not any limit on Skype, but the Zoom app made it limited up to 40 minutes. This free video conferencing service permits chatting, phone number calling (as per the applicable charges), call recording, screen sharing, and subtitle updates.
Recently, Skype has added the “Meet Now” feature which lets users create a free video-conferencing meeting without having an Account.
3. Google Hangouts Meet
Google Hangouts is available along with the G-suite for corporate users. It has a huge number of users all across the world due to its compatible and robust sets of features.
Google Hangouts Meet allows up to 250 users at a time via text, video, and voice calls. However, for free Hangouts, there can be integrated 150 users at a time, but they must be logged in to their respective Gmail accounts. Moreover, the individuals can have access to all the Google document services including the docs, sheets, slides, and others. The paid version of the app starts at $25 per month.
4. GoToMeeting
This video conferencing app is compatible with almost all the available platforms. Screen sharing, document sharing, and initiating voice calls, are the other available features of GoToMeeting.
The app provides support to connect about 3000 different people via paid plans using the applicable devices including phones, laptops, etc. Unlike other similar apps, it never provides any free-to-access plans. The hosting of audio and video meetings can join up to 250 participants from different locations.
This can proceed up to 1000 users for the webinar, it has Office 365 suite integration for document sharing, cloud recording, direct calling functionalities, and several others. The free trial version for 14 days gets started just at $12 for one month.
5. Zoho Meeting
This online video conferencing app features web conferencing, document sharing, video and voice calling, account management, and word processing, which are effectively managed using the Zoho Meeting.
The functionalities including meeting scheduling, participant inviting, document creating, and project discussing are comfortably carried out using the app. It works perfectly both under the browser and the app.
Moreover, there comes forward a diverse functionality including screen sharing, audio calling, video conferencing, a collaboration of the projects, and others. The app can hold up to 100 different users in real time. The free trial for 14 days starts just at $10 for one month.
6. BlueJeans
BlueJeans has some of the similar sets of features including video conferencing, personal rooms, screen recording, document sharing, and some others. One of the smartest features of the app includes accessing meetings of Microsoft Teams using its own Cloud Video Interop technology.
Moreover, it also provides the functionality of real-time collaboration via audio and video using any of the devices. It adds a boost to the levels of productivity using creating the transcription, meeting highlighting, providing automated alerts, and several others.
The participant limit is up to 25 to 100 members along with the provision of integrating the UX/UI. The app’s free trial for seven days starts just at $9.99 for one month.
7. Cisco Webex
This application is applicable to both larger and smaller companies. The app permits the web conference to host up to 100 participants in real time without even signing up inside the interface.
The individuals can experience a range of features including HD video conferencing, password-protected personal rooms, document, and screen sharing capability, etc. It is available both for free and paid versions. The paid plans start just at $13.5 monthly.
Some of the other video conferencing solutions for your business include Crowdcast, Jitsi Meet, Signal, and FaceTime.Go ahead with any of the above to start video conferencing with a diverse range of features and specifications. Which one you are using? Share your views in the comment below!
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