For the past few years, we have seen something no one has ever witnessed in the last hundred years. The Global pandemic logs everyone in their homes for a month globally.
Thanks to technology, many of us can work from home using our laptops by connecting to the internet.
Although there are many other services that offer the feature of letting anyone take an online class by inviting multiple people into one single session, we will be comparing Zoom and Google Meet because these are generally the two popular choices available.
Zoom was established in 2011, and saw tremendous growth during the lockdown period because many people turned to it.
The growth is unprecedented, and it grabbed the attention of people from all over the world because of its ease of use. People chose Zoom over other services because it was one of the very few services offered by many people to attend a web conference.
Google has a similar service called Google meet, which was exclusively available to G Suite users, a paid service offered by Google.
Google has made it free to use now, and it is available on its URL and inside Gmail.
So you can either go to meet.google.com and start a meeting, or you can find the option to start a meeting inside your Gmail account.
You can then share the URL with other people who can join without logging in to their Google accounts (Zoom also allows joining meetings without signing up).
Google meet offers more control over the meetings. No one can hijack a meeting, and no one can join if the host has selected specific settings.
Since it is web-based, it is available on every OS, and there are dedicated apps available for mobile phones that you can install from the respective app stores.
Use cases where Zoom would be a better option
Google meet surely looks like a good deal. You don’t have to create a separate account since it is already a part of your Google account and built nicely. The user interface is pretty clean and clutter-free.
But, there are many use cases where Zoom would be a better pick for video conferencing.
The first use case is the number of participants. While Google meet has a limit of 250 people, you can hold large meetings on Zoom, where you can get as many as 500 people to participate, which would cost you around $69.99 a month (100 Participants in a free account)
In the paid plans starting at $14.99/month, you get a lot of other options, such as the ability to record the entire conference and save it on their cloud, which you can share with other people using a URL.
The Business plan starts at $19.00/month and gives you the option to set up a page with your branding, a custom URL, and all the features available in the Pro account.
Google Meet free vs Zoom Basic
If we have to compare the free version of both services, you will have to pick according to your requirement.
For example, the free version of Zoom limits hosts to up to 100 participants, and there will be a limit of 40 minutes for group meetings. But you will still be able to record the meeting and store it locally, which can be uploaded on services like YouTube if you want to share it with other people.
And the free version of Google meet will allow you up to 250 people but limit you to host a meeting for up to 60 minutes. You would also not be able to record the meeting (but you can use screen recording software like Snagit to record it).
Zoom has also improved its services and added some security features, so now, you have options to either go for a Zoom set-up or use Google meet for arranging your meetups and online classes.
Which one is best for teachers?
If you intend to use Google Meet or Zoom for taking a class for your students, the limitation of participants shouldn’t be a factor since taking online classes is an interactive session, and it is advisable to have a smaller batch. 100 people at once are better than 250 people however it would strictly depend on the kind of sessions you are looking to take.
If you are looking for something quick to set up a tool which you can use with your students or paid members, Google meet is a perfect choice here.
Although if you are looking for something to carry out a webinar that would be attended by a lot of people, where you want more control and professionalism zoom would be an ideal choice. Obviously will have to pay some money to get features like more people to join and more session time, but it would be a suitable choice.
