Tired of using the untrustworthy Zoom app to get your meetings done this time around? Well, look no further than this guide. Read on to discover some of the best Zoom alternatives that you can try in 2021 for a much better video conferencing experience with your friends, family and colleagues.
The pandemic that has been going around is something that nobody saw coming. At the very least, we didn’t quite expect it to shape the entirety of this year this way. While most of us have been spending the past 5 months quarantined at the comfort of our homes, many industries and facilities have turned towards online resources to resume their functioning. Most IT jobs have been requiring their employees to work from home and almost all the schools and colleges have shifted to online education.
While it is truly great that the world has been finding ways to counter the pandemic and avoid a major economic crisis, many on the receiving end of these requests aren’t quite happy. While nobody really likes studying or working, especially when you have all the comfort in your home, many people have been having a problem with the platform that most of these activities have been carried over. Due to popular demand and the need of the hour, people have gravitated towards using online video calling and screen sharing apps to keep in contact with their loved ones or colleagues. One of the most widely used app to fulfill this purpose has been Zoom.
You must have already heard about the entire Zoom privacy breach issue and privacy concerns that people have had ever since the quarantine hit. While we will let you be the judge of how you value your own privacy, we believe that having options out there makes things a lot better. Luckily, if you aren’t exactly too fond of relying on Zoom for your conversations and work-related calls there are a plethora of options to consider out there.
We have tried and tested many of the video calling and screen sharing services that have seen a rise in downloads this quarantine season. While there is no true “perfect” solution and everything comes with its own list of pros and cons, we feel there are a few options better than others for a specific target audience. This is why we have taken it upon ourselves to find the best alternatives to Zoom out there. Down below is a curated list of some of the best Zoom alternatives that you must check out in 2021! With that being said, sit back, relax, and enjoy the read!
Best Zoom Alternatives in 2021
Google Meet
Google Meet is one of the best alternatives to Zoom that you can use to take and place video conferences with your colleagues and even friends or family members. Although this service was exclusive only to GSuite users before, Google decided to distribute free version of it in dire times such as this. Easily the best part about using Google Meet is the fact that you do not need any sort of download on your desktop computer or laptop to use it.
Everything is highly responsive and works great within the web version itself. Even the mobile and tablet apps for Google Meet are well optimized and have been built for lag-free calls and screen sharing sessions. Google Meet has been adding many of the popular features that Zoom and the others have also adopted to best suit the need of the hour. Definitely a must-try for those looking for the cleanest and the most simple experience.
Adobe Connect
Coming up next in our list of some of the best Zoom alternatives to try out this quarantine season, we have quite an unexpected entry. While it is no surprise that Adobe has an app literally built for anything that comes to your mind, the way their solution to the pandemic situation works is quite unique in its own way. Chances are that you’ve already seen this being promoted if you are a heavy user of Adobe’s popular suite of apps such as Photoshop and After Effects.
Instead of being a normal video conferencing app, Adobe Connect focuses more on the UX aspect of work. UI and UX is one of the wider areas of work for those who are heavily reliant on Adobe’s suite of apps. So in this case, a dashboard with all the familiar drawing tools makes the most sense. While we won’t be going into much detail, one thing you need to know is that Adobe Connect is required only by a very specific niche of work.
So if you don’t immediately understand just what this service is built for, chances are that you probably don’t need it. Pricing is also something that makes Adobe Connect really far-fetched for many first-time users. A deposit of $50 per month is quite the asking price in a competitive world where most of the meeting and video conferencing apps are free.
Skype
Although Skype has been around since ages in the world of video calls and text messaging, it saw the biggest revamp in response to the pandemic situation going around everywhere. While Skype does have support for over 50 people in a single conference call with the recent few updates, it still doesn’t feel as polished to use for work-related purposes.
For everything else, Skype does it better than anyone else. You can spend hours together video calling or chatting with your loved ones around the globe. Being able to send interactive emojis and GIFs while chatting also makes Skype a great option to keep the conversation healthy and happy. Skype is also one of the best services to use and trust when it comes to lag-free and reliable video calls.
Microsoft Teams
While Skype was geared more towards personal use, Microsoft Teams is the software giant’s response to a Zoom like a video conferencing app. Not only does Microsoft Teams have a better user interface and interaction menus everywhere within the app but it manages to outshine most of the other similar apps in the same genre.
This is all thanks to the fact that Microsoft Teams is geared not only towards solving the common video calling and screen sharing needs of most people, but it ties in other essential features such as collaborative work and deep integration with other Microsoft apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It does cost a premium if you plan to use it extensively for work, but it also happens to be one of the best options out there.
GoToMeeting
If you’ve never heard about GoToMeeting before, you could thank Zoom and the other popular services for overshadowing it. In reality, GoToMeeting was one of the very first video conferencing apps to have surfaced online. It featured most of the features that services like Zoom and Google Meet have borrowed to provide to their own consumers. GoTo Meeting has one of the best reputations when it comes to the quality of the video calls and reliability of its servers
Unfortunately, all of the novelty comes with a price. There isn’t any free version that you can try with this service. The starting plan costs you $12 per month and that gives you access to 150 participants in a single video conference, which we feel is quite generous given that you get all of the utility features and a super stable video calling experience. At the end of the day, if you need a reliable and bs-free video conferencing app to work with, GoToMeeting is one you might want to consider.
Zoho Meeting
If you’ve been following our top pick guides recently, you must have already heard us talk about Zoho. The reason why we recommend its products so openheartedly is thanks to just how well its entire suite of apps works together. It is no surprise that Zoho has a response to a popular video conferencing service such as Zoom, dubbed Zoho Meeting.
While the service does require you to shell out a minimum of $8 a month, we feel it is totally worth it if your work revolves mostly around collaborating with your colleagues and employees of different statures. Zoho does openly compare its meeting client with Zoom and has full faith that its product is a much better option to choose over the free service that has blown out of proportion in the recent few months. Overall, if you are already deeply invested in the Zoho ecosystem, this is a no-brainer to go with.
Facebook Messenger Rooms
Unsurprisingly, Facebook is on the grind making an app for everything you could possibly think of. This time, they have expanded the functionality of their Messenger app to fit even more people in a single conference call with more welcoming-than-usual features. The best part about using Messenger Rooms by Facebook is the fact that there is no said time limit for any call you place or take. In contrast, Zoom has a maximum capacity of 100 people for 40-minute sessions each.
Facebook Messenger Rooms gives you a size of 50 participants per call but copes up in other areas. It is quite evident that this isn’t meant to be used for work-related chats since the only few features it offers are augmented reality filters of goofy looking characters and animals. Luckily for many people, this is exactly what they’ve been looking for. So if you already use Facebook Messenger, just start a Messenger Room sessions with your friends or other loved ones!
Cisco WebEx
Although Cisco’s WebEx service is mostly thought of as a premium-only service, the truth is that most people can get away with using just the free tier. The recent changes to the world due to the pandemic has had Cisco making moves with its WebEx service and boosting the availability of features in the free plan.
You can have a room full of 100 participants at the same time with no time limit. This is quite the compelling offer when you consider that Zoom and most of the other free alternatives to it usually have a cap of 50 participants at a time for sessions averaging from 40-60 minutes. You do get more benefits if you opt-in to get the paid tiers of Cisco WebEx thought, which is something you might want to consider if you find yourself working in a team for a whole lot of collaborative work.
Lifesize
Ending our list of some of the best Zoom alternatives in 2021 that you must check out, we have a simple service that fulfils a very simple task – Lifesize. With support for 4K video calls and video streaming, Lifesize is one of the better alternatives to Zoom out there. Now, it is a given that you can only house up to 25 people in a single session and don’t get access to many of the fancy features that the other apps and services on this list offer. However, if you do feel the need for a more flexible workspace setup, you could always grab the premium tier of packages.
Conclusion
That’s all, folks! We hope you enjoyed our roundup of some of the best Zoom alternatives that you can check out in 2021! Which one among the list is your favourite, and how many of the best Zoom alternatives have you already known or have been using? Know other good apps or services for placing video calls that you feel people might find interesting and helpful in communicating with their loved ones? Do let us know in the comments section below, we’d be delighted to hear from you guys!
