Zoom became popular during the lockdown period. The lockdown gave people no choice but to find ways to handle their business online. The zoom as a video conferencing app has also helped a lot of friends, families, and business partners stay in touch. However, there are Zoom alternatives for video calling to help you achieve your personal and business goals.
To keep personal and business relationships in great shape, video calling apps remain in high demand in achieving successful work-from-home and keeping close contact with family and friends.
So, if you are considering Zoom alternatives because of privacy and security concerns, or probably because you want other features that are not readily included in the Zoom app, or simply because you just want to try out something different, here are the best 10 Zoom alternatives for video calling that you should be looking out for.
Skype Meet Now (Free)
Skype has been around for quite some time and is a very widely accepted video chat software. The platform has a new feature called Skype Meet Now which allows users to hold meetings and video chat even without necessarily creating an account to sign in.
You only simply need to create a link that you’ll also share with people you want to be on the video call with you. Sign up is not necessary, but then you may choose to create an account and sign up. Even without the app installed on your device, you can still enjoy it using your web browser.
The app is free for users and it is efficient on devices such as iOS, Windows, Android, Mac, and on the web. And you can also invite up to 99 people (including you) to join the call.
Google Meet (Paid & Free)
When it comes to Zoom alternatives for video calling, Google Meet leads. The platform which has gained the trust of enterprises around the globe helps businesses and teams stay connected with the huge video features built on the secure and robust global infrastructure of Google.
Google Meet has a collection of default-on anti-abuse measures, built-in protection with encrypted video meetings to secure users’ meetings. The platform is also included with G Suite for Education, Google Workspace, and Google Workspace Essentials.
Meet allows users hold video calls and presentations with up to 250 participants, and also record meetings that can be saved in Drive. As a user, you can share links with participants from anywhere and enjoy more Zoom-like features Google recently added to the platform. Meet is also integrated with your Gmail account.
This makes it easy to kick off a video call from your email browser window. There are more efforts made by Google to upgrade the platform to probably incorporate more fascinating features that could far surpass that of Zoom.
Facebook Messenger Rooms (Free)
Facebook Messenger is so easy that you can simply pop into a room you find fascinating from Facebook News Feed, Groups, events, and Messenger. After all, with more friends, you are sure to have more fun!
You are allowed to invite up to 50 people to your room. But then, while you can make use of your mobile devices to access the platform, harness the desktop app for a better view of more people at a time. There are also personalized features on the app that can help you brighten up chat. You can use mood lighting, camera filters, 360° backgrounds, and themed events.
While Zoom has time limits, Messenger rooms do not have time. So, you can hang out with family and friends for as long as you deem fit without paying a dime.
Messenger rooms provide you with controls to manage your experience. You can join rooms from anywhere and create one from WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Portal devices.
GoTo Meeting (Free and Paid)
GoTo Meeting is one of the earliest conferencing services online. But unlike Google Meet and Facebook Messenger Rooms, GoTo Meeting isn’t totally free.
Their pricing begins from $12 per month.
The entry-level plan allows up to 150 participants, while up to 3,000 people can participate in the enterprise plan. With the free version, you can only have up to 3 participants and 40 minutes for calls. The app provides users with most of the Zoom-like features that aid great user experience on video calls. You’ll be given access to all the standard tools such as meeting recordings, screen sharing, and the ability to have several meeting facilitators.
The service can be accessed using devices such as Android, Mac, Linux, PC, iOS, and on web browsers.
Join.me (Paid)
Join.me is among the best Zoom alternatives for video calling, screen sharing, team collaboration, and online meetings. One of its unique features of this app is the fact that once you start engaging in a call, it starts sharing your screen. This feature can be very helpful in kickstarting a discussion with members of your work-team.
Another interesting feature of the app is the ability it provides your team members to control your keyboard and mouse by acting as TeamViewer. It is very efficient with keeping close contact with members of your team while working from home. You may look at it as a combination of TeamViewer and Skype.
To join a call on the platform, you do not necessarily have to install the app. But that is not applicable when you are the one starting the conversation. It works nicely on Android, iOS, and Desktop. It has three plans – Lite costs $10, Pro plan costs $20, while the Business plan costs $30 per month.
Zoho Meeting (Paid)
Zoho Meetings has great features for online meetings, webinars, and training just as Zoom. You are allowed to screen share, record meetings, phone audio, video calls, and calendar invites. It has paid plans that begin at $10 for a host per month, and with up to 10 recordings and 100 participants.
To hold webinars, plans begin at $19 per month for 25 participants. There are other webinar plans that range between $29 (for 50 attendees) to $79 (for 250 attendees) per month.
You can join meetings directly from Chrome and Firefox browsers without installing the app by just using a few clicks. But then, the app works fine with Android, iOS, Desktop, and a few browsers. It also features reminders, admin controls, calendar syncing, private meetings, meeting scheduling, analytics, and many more. You can even use the “raise hand” and “allow to talk” features in meetings for orderliness. Take advantage of their 14-day trial period to discover the huge benefits provided by Zoho Meeting.
Microsoft Teams (Free & Paid)
Microsoft Teams allows users to sign up for the free version with their personal emails. User support on the low tier version is available for up to 300 members with screen sharing, guest access, up to 10GB on shared files for each team, and group or one-on-one video or audio calls.
The platform provides users with adequate security over their engagement on the platform. It is widely popular and currently being considered by many companies as a Zoom alternative. As a part of Microsoft 365, Team is wholly integrated with Office 365. In essence, it isn’t necessary that you download to participate. Simply join a conversation by clicking on the link.
Teams can be used on Windows, Linux, iOS, MacOS, Android, and on the web.
WhatsApp Video (Free)
WhatsApp is a very popular app that favorably competes as one of the best Zoom alternatives for video calling with its great free features that allow a successful interaction with people from anywhere around the globe.
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and is better regarded as a messaging app. It allows users to send SMS messages for free, permits free video and audio calls with up to four people, and also supports group chat with as many as 256 participants. The app uses end-to-end encryption to secure conversations such as text, video calls, and chats.
Cisco Webex (Free & Paid)
Webex created a whole new section on their platform for teams that worked from home when the COVID-19 pandemic became quite intense. They had some great modifications on their free package that allowed users to add up to 100 participants. And while there used to be a time limit of just 40 minutes for the free packages, it became unlimited with call-in for audio.
The video conferencing app has been in use since the 90s, and in 2007, it was purchased by Cisco. You can enjoy it on Android, iOS, and Desktop, and its pricing ranges from Starter to Business. They have a free package that requires no fee, a Starter plan for $13.50, a Plus plan for $17.95, and a Business plan for $26.95.
WeChat (Free)
WeChat has a semblance of Skype in its features but then it is a viable alternative to Zoom app. The app is absolutely free with easy-to-use features such as message translation, payments, QR codes scan, and a host of others.
The app allows users to create group video calls with up to 9 people, and group chats with up to 500 attendees. You may also choose to interact using stickers and text messaging. Just like WhatsApp, the app is almost everywhere and can be downloaded on devices such as Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows, and the web. You can use WeChat to achieve both personal and professional goals.
Google Duo (Free)
One of the exciting things about Google is that they have been able to pinpoint the tools needed to make life beautiful for everyone. Google duo is another great video app that can be used in place of the Zoom video app.
It is a free and easy to use video conferencing app that offers one of the best quality video one could ever find. It works flawlessly on iPhones, androids, tablets, computers, and smart displays, like the Google Nest Hub Max.
Google duo allows users to make one-on-one calls, video calls to up to 32 members which can be done by tapping the video group name. The app makes use of end to end encryption to ensure that your conversation and messages can not be accessed by any other party.
This app may not come close to Zoom but it can be used for friends and families. Moreover, it is noteworthy to point out that it can also be used for business purposes.
BlueJeans (Paid)
Bluejeans is a video calling app like Zoom and owned by Verizon. When looking for a video call company that makes use of top-notch technologies to provide a meeting place where people can connect via calls, video calling, or web, then you now know where to look for.
On BlueJeans, you can have a cloud-based meeting and a great session that is simple and easy to navigate yet possesses great security. The experience on BlueJeans is quite remarkable and among the features that make it so are the smooth HD video and clear audio that is powered by Dolby Voice®.
BlueJeans is not free to use but you will be able to enjoy a free trial of BlueJeans Meetings for 30 days. This period should be enough for you to decide whether to pay for it or not. You can pay as low as $9.99host per month on BlueJeans once you make your decision.
Discord (Paid & Free)
Discord also deserves a podium here and currently is one of the most downloaded video calling apps in the world with over 150 million downloads made so far.
It is an app that you can use to connect and share those happy moments with family and friends. You can enjoy video calls and stream with up to 49 other users making it 50 users in total.
To use Discord, you can install it on your PC, smartphone, or mac. You only need your name and email to get connected. Then, create a discord server that will serve as your hangout with communities or friends and you will also be able to tweak it the way you want.
This app is common among gamers, one could say it is more of a personal video calling app. Whereas, Zoom app seems to be a better alternative to Discord. Nevertheless, teachers, employers, and workers still use Discord Video App to connect which then overrides my earlier expression.
