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6 Zoom Alternatives in 2021

By Team CounterPath
0

6-zoom-alternatives-in-2020Keeping connected as a team and collaborating on projects remotely can present many technical challenges. These range from connection difficulties, to information access issues, to social isolation. Luckily, great tools are emerging out there to make our lives easier, and Zoom is one of the popular tools in the video conferencing space.

Zoom offers high-quality video and audio over its cloud servers. It’s versatile, affordable and supports up to 1,000 interactive video participants and can offer up to 10,000 view-only users. It’s available on various devices and locations. Zoom connects easily across desktops and mobile devices, and the video quality is stable and reliable during long video calls.

While Zoom may be considered one of the best conferencing tools based on video and audio quality, it can be heavy on CPU resources. This can slow down an older computer and affect the overall performance of the device. Some users also say that managing sub accounts and sharing real-time documents can be challenging.

Zoom has free and paid plans for video conferencing. The free plan gives you the ability to host up to 100 participants, unlimited one-on-one meetings and host group meetings up to 40 minutes. If you need more than that, however, prices go up dramatically. The Pro offering starts at $20 per month/host and enterprise goes up to $27 per month/host.

With that in mind, we’ve considered a list of alternatives, and focused on applications that have both desktop and mobile support. Try testing a few of these out and see if the features and functionality are the right fit for your team.

 

1. Bria Teams

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Bria Teams is a powerful collaboration tool that provides a unified communication platform for your team across desktop and mobile devices. The powerful tools in Bria softphones make it easy to discover and connect with team members using a variety of features in a contact-centric interface. All the core features are included: messaging, presence, HD voice and video calling, PBX integration, as well as screen sharing and file sharing. Team voice and video capability enables you to communicate instantly with team members without having to setup a call server or phone service. Bria Teams pro adds rich virtual conference room support with HD voice, video and retina screen sharing. If you’re looking for a highly secure way to connect your team and digitally transform your communications, download Bria Teams and get your team talking within minutes!

Pricing: Starting at $3.95 per user/month

Desktop app: Windows, Mac

Mobile app: iOS, Android

 

2. Google Hangouts

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Google Hangouts is a common tool for video chat and messaging. It’s great to start up a quick video conversation, share your screen or take notes in a Google Doc on the side. It has integrations with HipChat, UberConference and ZenDesk among other Google Apps. Mobile apps work well and offer the majority of the functionality of the desktop versions.

Pricing: $5 per user/month

Desktop: Web-based

Mobile app: iOS, Android

 

3. Join.me

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Join.me is an easy and fast way to set up a conference call with employees and clients new to video conferencing. Private meeting rooms have their own custom links and have the basic features of video, audio, chat plus screen sharing. Additionally, users can personalize their experience with personalized participant bubbles, URLs, backgrounds and more. For a small company that doesn't need a lot of meeting hosts, join.me is a good option.

Pricing: Free plan, or Lite plan starting at $13 per user/month

Desktop: Web-based

Mobile app: iOS, Android

 

4. Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams

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Skype for Business is not far from regular Skype so it may feel very familiar. It still has its core functionalities, plus extra tools needed for a proper remote setup. You can access your contacts easily, record meetings, share documents and video or voice call up to 200 people at the same time. The integration with Outlook, Outlook Calendar and Microsoft Teams is the best part for businesses that are already using those tools.

Microsoft Teams is the next version of Skype for Business and includes similar features with a new interface that is not as familiar.

Pricing: $5 per user/month

Desktop: Windows/Mac

Mobile app: iOS/Android

 

5. Workplace by Facebook

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Facebook has focused a lot of time and attention on creating a suite of tools especially for collaboration on teams. The familiar interface of Facebook allows you to create groups and host live chats with your team, including others who are on Facebook. If your partners, collaborators and clients are all on Facebook, then connecting them into your conversation for quick collaboration is easy and click. The mobile and web interfaces have the responsiveness and elegance that you are familiar with on the personal version of Facebook.

Pricing: Free trial, premium; $3 per user/month

Desktop: Web-based

Mobile app: iOS, Android

 

6. Cisco Webex Meeting Center

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WebEx Meeting Center offers integrated audio, video, and content sharing. It is a cloud-based tool that focuses on team collaboration and provides robust video chat and excellent messaging. Features include messaging, video and voice calls, whiteboard and document sharing. Cisco is a great choice if you want to get hardware in your office to improve the quality of video chat. The desktop and mobile tools also have high-quality apps and UX that are rated highly in reviews.

Pricing: Free plan, starter plan $17.95 per user/month

Desktop: Web-based

Mobile app: iOS/Android


As you can see, there are many alternatives to Zoom that could work for your business. We hope one of these tools will help you on your way to improving team productivity!

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Team CounterPath

About Team CounterPath

CounterPath Corporation is a leading provider of innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions. The company's product suite includes SIP-based softphones, server based user experience management and UC solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to cost-effectively integrate voice, video, presence, Instant Messaging (IM) and collaboration applications into their VoIP offerings and extend functionality across both fixed and mobile networks.