It's cross-platform, free, and easy to set up calls for businesses as well
as individuals. However, it has seen some serious security and privacy flaws
(now fixed). For those looking for some good Zoom alternatives, follow along
for a range of choices for both business and personal use.
Update 5/14: We've seen the video call space change significantly over the
last month. Notably, Zoom has followed through on its plan to improve
security and privacy but there are also more options than ever before.
Zoom: After <https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/02/zoom-penetration-tests/>
announcing a plan to fix its issues, Zoom has followed through with
providing notable security and privacy
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/01/new-zoom-bugs-takeover-macs-cam-mic-root/>
updates in <https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/29/zoom-5/> April and
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/06/free-zoom-accounts/> May. The company taking
its previous flaws seriously and addressing them may be enough to win back
the trust of some users.
Facebook's Messenger Rooms: Previously only available as a limited release
and only for up to 8 people at a time,
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/14/messenger-rooms-launch/> Messenger Rooms is
now available for everyone and supports video calls up to 50 people.
FaceTime update: One of the criticisms that FaceTime has gotten over the
last few months is that the floating faces user interface can be quite
distracting, especially for fast-paced conversations or meetings.
With iOS 13.5 (in beta with the public release expected soon) it's possible
to stop the moving faces.
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/01/iphone-ipad-stop-moving-faces-group-facetime
/> Read more in our tutorial here.
Update 4/2: For what it's worth, Zoom has
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/02/zoom-penetration-tests/> issued an apology
for its privacy and security gaffes,
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/02/zoom-penetration-tests/> patched the two
most recent Mac bugs, and laid out a plan for the next 90 days to improve
the service.
FaceTime's issue
FaceTime offers a great experience and full end-to-end encryption but
unfortunately, it's limited to Apple devices. My colleague Ben Lovejoy
actually just wrote a great opinion piece about now being the perfect time
for Apple to <https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/01/facetime-for-android/> expand
FaceTime to Android and Windows.
So while FaceTime is a preferred option for small group calls between all
Apple users, it can't deliver as a viable solution for business calls or
even larger calls between friends and family.
Group FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac supports video calls up
to 32 people.
Let's move on and look at a variety of great Zoom alternatives from
<https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?act
ivetab=tab:primaryr2> Microsoft, <https://gsuite.google.com/products/meet/>
Google, <https://bit.ly/3bFvgO7> Cisco, Logmein, an open-source option, and
more.
And if you're looking for a way to eliminate background noise from whatever
app or service you use, <https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/01/krisp/> check out
my colleague's review of Krisp.
Skype & Microsoft Teams
If you're looking for a solid alternative to for calls up to 50 people,
<https://www.skype.com/en/> Skype is a nice cross-platform option. It's
free, has a much better track record than Zoom for security and privacy, and
is owned by Microsoft.
Update 4/3:
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/03/skype-ditches-account-download-requirements-
now-link-based-free-calls/> Skype has been updated so no account or download
is required and users can start a link-based video call in one click.
<https://www.skype.com/en/> Skype also allows for screen sharing and other
handy features like screen recording. You can find
<https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/> download links for pretty much any
device here.
If you need a more business-focused solution that integrates more than just
chat, Microsoft Teams is a viable option.
Here you're getting chat, video calls, and integration of Microsofts other
software products to collaborate. Naturally, this is most conducive for
businesses who are already using other Microsoft software products like
Office 365.
Microsoft Teams starts from $5/month per user. Check out
<https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?act
ivetab=tab:primaryr2> more details on Microsoft's website.
Google Hangouts Meet and Google Duo
If you're a business that's invested in Google's software,
<https://gsuite.google.com/products/meet/> Hangouts Meet is the alternative
to Zoom or Microsoft Teams you'll want to check out.
Notably, Google made a change due to the global pandemic that
<https://9to5google.com/2020/03/03/google-hangouts-meet-coronavirus/> gives
all G Suite users the premium version of Hangouts Meet for free:
Starting this week, we will begin rolling out free access to our advanced
Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for
Education customers globally including:
* Larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call
* Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain
* The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive
Outside of the free temporary upgrade, Hangouts Meet for businesses and
organization is including with G Suite plans which run from $6/month per
user.
On the consumer side,
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-duo/id1096918571> Duo would be the
free FaceTime/Skype competitor from Google.
Cisco Webex, TeamViewer, GoToMeeting, open-sourced Jitsi, more
These options would be more comparable to Zoom as they are independent of
software suites from Google or Microsoft.
<https://bit.ly/3bFvgO7> Cisco Webex and
<https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/> TeamViewer offer free personal accounts,
while <https://bit.ly/2w62bMx> GoToMeeting just offers paid plans for
businesses.
* Cisco Webex for business runs from <https://bit.ly/3bFvgO7> $13.50/
a month per host
* TeamViewer for business is priced from
<https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/buy-now/> $50/month per host
* GoToMeeting for business runs from <https://bit.ly/2w62bMx>
$12/month per host
Notably, Cisco Webex just upgraded its <https://bit.ly/3bFvgO7> free tier
and is doing two more deals for paid plans:
* Upgraded Free plan
* First month free when you sign up for a paid monthly plan
* Four months free when purchasing an annual plan
More options
Some other options from smaller developers that could be worth checking out
include:
* The <https://meet.jit.si/> open-source and free, Jitsi
* <https://whereby.com/> Whereby
* <https://video.spike.chat/> Spike
* <https://www.lifesize.com/> Lifesize (supports 4K)
* <https://www.remotehq.com/> RemoteHQ
* <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/houseparty/id1065781769> Houseparty
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