Zoom vs Google Meet – a simple guide for event creators

A few years ago, Zoom took the mid-pandemic world by storm, becoming synonymous with WFH meetings and socially distanced gatherings. Today, Google Meet has become a popular alternative for virtual meet-ups – from bog-standard work meetings to online creative workshops and virtual fitness classes.

As an event creator, you might be wondering which platform is best suited to your needs. Which is cheaper? Which has better functionality? Which is easier to use? And which is most likely to allow your virtual events and meetings go off without a hitch? We cover all you need to know.

Not another overwhelming comparison guide

Comparison guides can get pretty overwhelming, packed with reams of high-tech information. In this guide, we aim to break things down in simpler terms, so you can make a quick, informed decision about whether Zoom or Google Meet is right for you. Let’s go. 

In this article

• Zoom vs Google Meet at a glance
• Paid plans – is Zoom or Google Meet cheaper?
• Which has a better free plan – Zoom or Google Meet?
• Google Meet vs Zoom – a quick feature comparison
• Who is Google Meet better for?
• Who is Zoom better for?
• Zoom vs Google Meet – which wins for event creators?

Zoom vs Google Meet at a glance

Zoom and Google Meet share a lot of similarities. Which is best for you will mostly depend on your preference for user-friendliness and simplicity (Google Meet) vs more advanced features (Zoom). 

Top level similarities between Google Meet and Zoom

• Both have free and paid plans
• Both come with video recording and sharing capabilities
• Both enable you to use closed captions/subtitles
• Both have a similar set of core video conferencing features, including chat, polling, breakout room and whiteboard features 
• Both come with advanced security measures
• Both integrate with a lot of various apps and other platforms

Top level differences between Google Meet and Zoom

• Google Meet has been praised for being more user-friendly than Zoom, with a much simpler interface. It’s a great option for those who favour simplicity over extensive customisation options and advanced features.
• On the flipside, Zoom comes with a more advanced set of features than Google Meet. For example, it has more intricate screen sharing and live annotation capabilities. It’s a great option for those looking to host larger scale meetings and events with more complex needs.

Paid plans: Is Zoom or Google Meet cheaper?

Zoom’s paid plans are more expensive than Google Meet’s paid plans. 

Zoom’s cheapest paid plan costs £10.82 per user per month when billed annually, or £12.99 when billed monthly. With this plan, you can have up to 100 participants per meeting, and each meeting can be up to 30 hours long.

Google Meet comes as part of a wider set of tools within Google Workspace. The cheapest Google Workspace plan costs £5 per user per month (but you have to commit to a year). With this plan, you can have up to 100 participants per meeting, and each meeting can be up to 24 hours.

If you need to host virtual conferences or events with more than 100 participants, you’ll need to pay for a higher tier plan with either platform: 

• Zoom’s Business plan is £14.57 per user per month and gets you 300 participants. 
• Zoom’s Enterprise plan has customised pricing and gets you 1000 participants. 
• Google Meet’s Business Standard plan is £10 per user per month gets you 150 participants.
• Google’s Business Plus plan is £15 per user per month and gets you 500 participants.
• Google’s Enterprise plan has customised pricing and gets you 1000 participants.

Which has a better free plan – Zoom or Google Meet?

There’s one key difference between Zoom and Google Meet’s free plans – with Zoom, you only get 40 minutes per meeting (regardless of the number of participants). With Google Meet you get an hour per meeting with three or more participants, and 24 hours for one-to-one meetings.

This could be a deal-breaker for you if you’re looking for a free video conferencing tool for hour-long virtual events – whether yoga classes, creative writing groups, or community round tables. It’s also handy to know you can run over an hour for any one-to-one catch-ups.

Google Meet vs Zoom – a quick feature comparison

Here’s a quick glance at what you can expect from each platform in terms of features:

Backgrounds

Both platforms let you customise your background before and during meetings. Zoom has more background options than Google Meet – but that’s pretty much where the differences end.

Pre-meeting check-up

Google Meet makes it super easy to check your visual and audio directly before your meeting. And it even has handy prompts – for example, it offers to brighten your screen if it detects that things look dark. Zoom’s process for testing your visual and audio is a bit more complex and requires setting up a separate test meeting.

Screen sharing

Google Meet has standard screen sharing options that allow you to share your window or a specific internet browser tab. Zoom has more advanced screen sharing options that allow you to use more than one camera, share a mobile device's screen, share a portion of your screen, share from specific apps, and more.

Annotation 

Zoom has a pretty cool, native annotation tool that lets meeting participants annotate documents and presentations on-screen in real time. Google meet doesn’t have an annotation tool like this, although you can get a Chrome Extension to achieve similar results.

Recording

Both platforms let you record your meetings if you want to. However, you can only do this with Google Meet if you have a Google Workspace account (which means paying at least £5 per month). With Zoom, you can record meetings with both a free and paid account.

Chat

Both Zoom and Google Meet let you use a chat feature to type messages to participants during a meeting. Zoom allows you to send messages privately to individuals, whereas with Google Meet, you can only message the whole group. On the other hand, Google Meet saves chat conversation logs for each meeting, which Zoom doesn’t.

Breakout rooms

Both Zoom and Google Meet allow you to set up breakout rooms – where smaller groups can break out into their own private meetings before rejoining the wider group. 

Host management

Both Zoom and Google Meet have great host management and security features. But Zoom’s are a little more advanced. For example, with Zoom, the host can set up waiting rooms, which means they have to accept users before they’re allowed into the call. It also has a feature called ‘Suspend Participant Activities’, which allows the host to essentially shut everything down (visual, audio, chat etc.) for all participants at the click of a button in case things get out of hand.

Who is Google Meet better for?

Google Meet is better for those who want a video conferencing platform that’s super easy to get around. You don’t have to download a separate app to use it (unlike with Zoom) – which makes it easier for both you and your virtual attendees to use. 

Navigating calls and using Google Meet’s various features feels seamless and effortless thanks to its uncluttered, uncomplicated interface. Plus, it's cheaper than Zoom, and has more than enough features for events and meetings that don’t require more advanced settings. 

You can get 100 participants per meeting with Google Meet while paying less than half you’d pay for the equivalent with Zoom. And, with a free Google Meet account, you can host meetings up to an hour with three or more participants, compared with Zoom’s 40 minutes.

So, in a nutshell, Google Meet might be better for:

• Smaller organisations and individuals who don’t want to spend more than they have to on a video conferencing platform.
• Those who want a user-friendly platform that’s super easy to use.
• Those who don’t need tons of advanced video conferencing features.
• Those who want a free video conferencing platform.

Who is Zoom better for?

Zoom is better for those who need to run more complex virtual meetings and events. It’s got more advanced features than Google Meet, and integrates with over 1500 apps and platforms compared with Google Meet’s 200-ish integrations. Zoom’s native annotation feature is particularly impressive. And the fact you can set up more than one camera during meets may also be very useful to some. 

Zoom’s advanced screen sharing options can also be a deal breaker for those who do need to host highly collaborative and more intricate meetings and events. For example, it lets you share from other apps and a second camera, whereas Google Meet doesn’t. Plus, its advanced host management capabilities can be useful for those hosting particularly large meetings where it’s harder to manage participants.

So, in a nutshell, Zoom might be better for:

• Those who plan on hosting meetings and events that require complex collaboration and sharing, using various apps, presentations, and content.
• Those who need a wider option of integrations than Google Meets’ ~200.
• Those who host particularly large meetings and so need better host management features.
• Larger businesses and organisations that are happy to pay more for a more feature-packed platform.

Zoom vs Google Meet – which wins for event creators?

Both Zoom and Google Meet are great video conferencing platforms packed with useful features. Even though Google Meet is cheaper, it matches Zoom and even surpasses it on many core video conferencing features. Plus it’s super user friendly and has a better free plan. With this in mind, Google Meet is probably a clear winner for those who just don’t need the more complex and advanced features that Zoom offers. Say, if you run small-to-medium sized online classes, or simply need an easy way to host online planning meetings with your team.

However, if you need to host online meetings and events that require intense levels of collaboration, it could be worth missing out on a bit of user-friendliness, and paying more for Zoom. Say, if you run complex round tables that require a lot of live, collaborative editing. Likewise if you host very large virtual conferences and events – Zoom could be the better option.

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