Microsoft Teams vs Zoom, which is better now?.
Now that there are so many software tools available for video calling, two apps are leading the pack: Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Whether you want to host a business meeting with colleagues or a holiday party online with friends and family, we can help you decide which video conferencing tool to choose by examining the differences between them.
We’ll discuss ease of use and pricing, and compare the features offered by Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
Who Are Your Users?
The first step is to consider your audience. If your main goal is to hold business meetings between colleagues in an organization or company that already use Microsoft products, especially Office365, then Microsoft Teams is the obvious choice for video calling.
You’ll also want to use Teams for more than just video conferencing. Like Slack, Teams is a comprehensive collaboration and communication solution that integrates seamlessly with other Office365 applications such as Outlook, OneDrive, and Sharepoint.
If, however, you use Teams at work and your employer condemns personal use of work software, you can use Zoom to meet friends and family. You can always create a separate personal Microsoft account, but switching between Microsoft profiles can be cumbersome and inconvenient. Using another video conferencing tool for personal use solves this problem.
Even if you actually use Teams at work, you can still use Zoom to meet people outside of your organization. People like to stick with what they know, and a lot more people are experienced with Zoom than Teams.
A note on ease of installation: Both Teams and Zoom give users the option to join through a browser rather than downloading the desktop client.
Zoom gives meeting attendees similar ways to join.
Browser attach is the easiest method in both apps, although some features may not be available.
What Will It Cost?
Both Teams and Zoom have free and paid versions. Microsoft offers several different pricing tiers for teams, some of which have varying degrees of access to other Office365 applications.
The free version of Teams currently allows up to 300 meeting attendees and a maximum meeting duration of 60 minutes.
The free version of Zoom allows you to host up to 100 participants, and meetings can last up to 40 minutes.
The cheapest paid Teams plan costs $ 5 a month and comes with other Office365 apps, while the cheapest paid Zoom plan will cost you more than double the price.
How Do the Features Compare?
As expected, video calling in Teams and Zoom has many of the same features. Whichever application you use, the following features will be included:
- Schedule Meetings
- Screen Sharing
- File Sharing
- Chat
- Virtual Backgrounds
That being said, the comparison between Microsoft Teams and Zoom is certainly not accurate. Teams is a holistic productivity tool that integrates with many other Office365 applications.
Zoom’s desktop video conferencing client doesn’t have the same features as Teams, but Zoom offers a separate app called Zoom Chat that mimics some of the features found in Teams. With Zoom Chat, you have access to resources such as group channels, status / presence indicators, customizable notifications, and search capability.
However, keep in mind that Zoom meeting requests do not prompt users to download the Zoom Chat app, so many users are unlikely to even be aware of its existence.
Security
After major security issues in the first and second quarters of 2020 (remember the zooms?) Zoom has made some changes to its security measures. For the safest Zoom meetings, you must include a waiting room and ID for each meeting.
In terms of security in Teams, Microsoft says “Teams provides group-wide and organization-wide two-factor authentication, single sign-on through Active Directory, and data encryption in transit and at rest.”
Either way, Microsoft and Zoom have taken steps to make meetings more secure on their platforms, and you can trust both apps.
User interface
New users may find commands more difficult to use than Zoom because they are part of Microsoft’s much broader universe of productivity, collaboration, and communications. Because of the many ways Teams can integrate with other Office apps, there is an initial learning curve.
That being said, the integrations are intuitive and their usefulness outweighs the training required. What’s more, the video conferencing controls in Teams are simple.
Zoom video conferencing controls are just as simple and user-friendly.
When it comes to ease of use and UI, this is the difference between Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Looks good
Zoom has a popular feature that Microsoft Teams lacks called “Touch Up My Looks.” It evens out skin tone, smoothes wrinkles and removes dark circles under the eyes.
You can find this feature in the Video section of the Zoom app settings.
You won’t find this feature in Teams, so if that’s important to you, use Zoom.
Chats
If you are using Zoom desktop or web clients, Zoom chats may get lost randomly. The chat pane is often hidden behind other open windows and lacks formatting controls.
Chat in Teams, on the other hand, provides standard text formatting options, as well as emoji, stickers, and gifs.
Sound on the phone
Anyone can join a Teams or Zoom meeting over the phone. Both apps can provide numbers to call, and Teams can even make outgoing calls. When you join a team meeting, you can choose to have Teams ring your phone to connect you to the audio of the meeting.
After the meeting, the meeting organizer can ask Teams to call the phone number directly.
This outgoing call feature is especially useful for people without technical knowledge (I’m looking at you, dad).
Breakout rooms
Until recently, if you were looking for meeting rooms, Zoom was the clear winner. Teams didn’t offer breakout rooms until December 2020, and they still lag behind when it comes to breakout room management.
In contrast, Zoom allows you to assign attendees to breakout rooms prior to the meeting and automatically close rooms after a specified time. In addition, Zoom presenters and co-hosts can enter and leave breakout rooms at will.
None of these features are currently available in Teams chat rooms, but we’ll likely see them in the future.
Recommendation: Consider Both Microsoft Teams and Zoom
As you can see, Microsoft Teams and Zoom can be useful in different situations. In general, if you’re already diving into the Microsoft universe, stick with Teams. If you’re most concerned about ease of use or chat room controls, choose Zoom. After all, if you don’t like any of the apps, then it might be time to check out Google Meet!
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Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom: Which Is Better? in Now
Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom: Which Is Better? in Now