Best Zoom Alternatives

According to our research, RingCentral is the best Zoom alternative, offering a similar starting price, comparable functionality, and excellent security options for your business. Plus, RingCentral offers a free plan with no time limit, a rarity for video conferencing software.

While the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, hybrid working models have remained a common occurrence in the business world. As a result, video conferencing software like Zoom has become increasingly common, and finding a provider with the right features, pricing, and customer support can make a big difference.

Fortunately, we've done some serious research, so you can get all the information you need to make the right decision for your business. Check out the top video conferencing software providers below and read on for more in-depth reviews of alternatives to Zoom. And don't forget, you can also use our handy quote form to get started with business communication tools right now.

In this guide:

• Best Alternatives to Zoom
• What Is the Best Free Zoom Alternative?
• What to Consider in Zoom Alternatives
• About Our Research
• Verdict: What Is the Best Alternative to Zoom?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Best Alternatives to Zoom

To learn more about these alternatives to Zoom, click on the links below to be taken to in-depth reviews of each option that outline why they're such a good Zoom alternative, as well as pricing information about each solution.

1. RingCentral – Best alternative overall
2. GoTo Meeting – Best for audio and video quality
3. Google Meet – Best for Google Workspace users
4. Microsoft Teams – Best for Microsoft 365 users
5. Zoho Meeting – Best value alternative

Looking for video conferencing equipment? We've got you covered!

1. RingCentral – Best overall Zoom alternative

Despite not being a particularly well-known video conferencing tool compared to the likes of Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, we feel more than comfortable declaring RingCentral as the top alternative to Zoom. It offers a near identical starting price, a robust catalog of features, and top tier security to ensure that your company data is secure across the board.

That's right, you'll get end-to-end encryption across all video and messaging functionality in RingCentral, a feature that is not readily available on any other platform on this list, even Zoom. Plus, it has arguably the best free plan available when it comes to video conferencing, so there's that.

Additionally, like Zoom, RingCentral is just a communication platform, unlike Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, which are full-on collaboration solutions. This makes it an even more obvious choice as the best Zoom alternative.

RingCentral pricing

For video conferencing, RingCentral has one paid plan, the RingCentral Video Pro+ plan, which costs $11.99 per month, and allows for up to 200 participants. It also adds more advanced features, like single-sign on functionality, advanced analytics, and unlocks the end-to-end encryption for video and messaging.

As mentioned, RingCentral also has a free forever plan, the RingCentral Video Pro plan, which allows for only 100 participants. However, this plan has no time limit, something that no other video conferencing tool on this list can boast. In fact, as far as we know, RingCentral is the only video conferencing tool with no time limit on its free plan.

 2. GoTo Meeting – Best for audio and video quality

If you've ever been in a video meeting with poor audio and video quality, you know that it can really get in the way of your productivity. Fortunately, GoTo Meeting is one of the top Zoom alternatives because it offers great audio and video quality. With HD video and web audio, users have reported crystal clear sound and lag-free video, when using the platform.

Even better, unlike Zoom, GoTo Meeting allows users to access the platform in a browser, rather than having to download a full-on software. This makes the audio and video quality even more impressive, and generally adds to the ease of use of GoTo Meeting for the average user.

GoTo Meeting pricing

GoTo Meeting offers two different pricing plans. The Professional plan will cost you $12 per month and allows for 150 participants in a meeting. The Business plan costs $16 per month and allows for 250 participants, and adds features like transcription, unlimited cloud recording, and drawing tools.

The biggest downside to GoTo Meeting is that it's the only option on the list that doesn't offer a free forever plan. However, you can use the 14-day free trial to test it out and see if it's worth the financial investment.

 3. Google Meet – Best for Google Workspace users

Google Meet has been a popular video conferencing tool since before the pandemic, offering an easy-to-use platform that can be accessed on a browser with nothing more than a simple link. Audio and video quality is a bit weak, but the ease of use and integration with other Google services makes it a go-to solution for businesses around the world.

To be clear, though, Google Meet is more than just a video conferencing tool. It's part of the Google Workspace service, which includes other collaboration tools like Google Drive, Calendar, and Gmail, so it's really a full-on, all-in-one hub for businesses to manage their entire team, rather than just communication. Suffice to say, you'll want to be sure that you need all that before considering a paid plan.

Google Meet pricing

Google Meet, like Zoom, doesn't offer a simple paid plan for video conferencing. Rather, you'll have to pay for the entire Google Workspace hub to get access to advanced features in Google Meet.

The pricing plans for Google Workspace start with the Starter plan, which costs $6 per month and allows for 100 participants. After that, you can go with the Standard plan, which costs $12 per month and allows for 150 participants, or the Plus plan, which costs $18 per month and allows for 500 participants.

Again, Google Meet does come with a free forever plan, which limits meetings to 60 minutes and allows for up to 100 participants.

4. Microsoft Teams – Best for Microsoft 365 users

If your business is already set up with tools like Microsoft 365 and Outlook, Teams is the best platform for you. This video conferencing/collaboration platform has a vast selection of features for keeping in touch with your team, so much so that it can be a bit difficult to use if you aren't familiar with the platform.

In that way, Microsoft Teams is similar to Google Meet. Its functionality goes far beyond that of a simple video conferencing tool. You get a wide range of project and team management tools along with it, even with the free plan, so if all those bells and whistles aren't what you're looking for, tools like Zoom might be a better fit.

Microsoft Teams pricing

Pricing for Microsoft Teams can be a bit confusing, because it's tied Microsoft 365 for certain plans, so we'll try to explain it as best we can.

For starters, there is a free forever plan that gives you access to video conferencing for 100 participants and meetings up to 60 minutes. Then, there is the Essentials plan, which costs $4 per month and allows for 300 participants for meetings up to 30 hours.

After that, you'll have to sign up for Microsoft 365, which offers Teams functionality as well as tools like OneDrive, Outlook, and Office tools. The Basic plan will cost you $6 per month and the Standard plan will cost you $12.50 per month.

5. Zoho Meeting – Best value alternative

Obviously there are plenty of free plans available on this list that can help you get started at no cost to your business. However, if you want advanced features at the lowest price, you really can't beat Zoho Meeting, which has a starting price of only $1 per month, which compared to Zoom at $12 per month is pretty great.

However, it's worth noting that this lower price comes with some caveats. For one, you'll only by allowed 10 participants at that price, with the cost rising to $6 per month for 100 participants and $10 per month for 250 participants. Still, if your team is small and you want to save money, these plans still come with paid features like 24-hour time limits, meeting recordings, co-branding, and priority support, so it can really save you a bit of money.

Check out our Zoho Meeting guide for more information

Zoho Meeting pricing

Zoho Meeting comes with two possible pricing plans, which change in cost depending on how many participants you want. The Standard plan starts at $1 per month for 10 participants and the Professional plan starts at $3 per month for 10 participants as well, adding features like advanced analytics and API access.

Zoho Meeting also has a free forever plan, allowing for 100 participants for meetings of up to 60 minutes. You'll also be able to utilize the 14-day free trial for any paid plan to test out the advanced features before you commit to this great value platform.

What Is the Best Free Zoom Alternative?

The good thing about video conferencing software is that, after the pandemic, nearly every provider offers some kind of free plan to get you started. That means that you can use our top pick, RingCentral, right now without any cost to your business.

However, it's worth noting that all free video conferencing plans have some notable limitations that could impede your ability to efficiently communicate with your team. Here's how the Zoom alternatives with free plans match up when it comes to those limitations:

• Zoom – 40 minutes, 100 participants
• RingCentral – no time limit, 100 participants
• Google Meet – 60 minutes, 100 participants
• Microsoft Teams – 60 minutes, 100 participants
• Zoho Meeting – 60 minutes, 100 participants

GoTo Meeting is the only Zoom alternative on this list that does not offer a free plan, although you can utilize the 14-day free trial to test out the software before you buy it.

What to Consider in Zoom Alternatives

Now that you know what kind of Zoom alternatives are out there, you need to understand exactly what kind of things to consider when picking an option for your business to ensure an effective video meeting. Here are some important criteria to weigh when trying to make your decision:

• Time limits – Most paid plans have extensive, 24+ time limits on meetings, but it's still worth understanding how they match up.
• Participant limits – This is the biggest difference between providers and paid plans, so if you have a big company, make sure you know how many participants can be in a meeting at once.
• Features – Tools like hand-raising, whiteboarding, and noise cancelling can really help a business with specific needs, so make sure your option has what you need.
• Pricing – Cost is always important factor to consider when it comes to business software, so check out pricing plans before you buy.
• Integrations – Does the platform work with other business software? If you want an all-in-one hub for your team, you better make sure it does.
• Security – Whether or not your valuable company data is secure should be a top priority when choosing video conferencing software.
• Help and support – If you're expecting a lot of problems, you might want to confirm whether or not your software has robust help and support options.

Whiteboarding features from Zoom
Image: Tech.co testing

About Our Research

At Tech.co, the goal for these kinds of guides is to provide our readers with actionable, valuable information about business software, so that they can make the right decision for their businesses. We do this by researching business software for hours, providing in-depth analysis on what sets them apart.

For video conferencing software like Zoom and its alternatives, we focused on a particular set of criteria to rate and rank these provides. We looked at features, pricing, time and participant limits, third party integrations, customizability, security, ease of use, and help and support options to better understand how these platforms work for your business.

If you want to further understand our process, feel free to check out our research guide that outlines our methodology for comparing business software.

Frequently Asked Questions