Video conferencing & web conferencing for teams of all sizes
4.6/5 (3194 reviews)Zoom is a scalable, cloud based video conferencing and web conferencing platform enabling online meetings, webinars, file sharing, instant messaging, group messaging and more, for users in companies of all sizes.
Founded in 2011 by leaders and engineers from Cisco and WebEx, Zoom uses HD video and high quality audio to create an immersive video conferencing and screen-sharing experience for remote teams. Zoom’s desktop and native mobile apps enable teams to connect and collaborate from anywhere, whether they're working on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android or Blackberry devices, or from Zoom Rooms or H.323/SIP room systems.
The platform unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, wireless content sharing, and group messaging into one platform. With Zoom, users can connect multiple conference rooms, add remote attendees, and effectively enable “face-to-face” meetings in a single touch.
Zoom Rooms - Zoom's "Software Defined Video Conferencing System" or SDVC - integrates with existing audio solutions and dials out to mobile devices, facilitating the participation of on-the-go employees. With Zoom’s live Q&A feature, webinar hosts - and up to 25 designated panelists - can answer attendee questions as they come in, as well as run polls and reports to gather insight from participants.
Zoom Business IM enables teams to share text, images, audio files and more in group chats across any device. From the integrated IM platform, users can start video meetings and invite participants and conference rooms from their contact list. Files can be dragged, dropped, and shared in Zoom’s Business IM and then retrieved later, from Zoom’s synced and searchable content library.
Pros
I tested it side by side with competitors and it hands down had the best performance, the least glitches, and the easiest user interface.
Cons
Just the price—it's expensive. That said, it's worth it. I was stoked when my doctor started offering it!
It would be great if it could just detect and connect audio and microphone automatically, but otherwise it has all the features you'd need, it's reliable, the quality is great and we also use zoom rooms, which is the easiest way to connect to meetings in all our conference rooms. I think it's a brilliant piece of software.
Pros
I think it's intuitive to use. I really like how easily you can hand control to another participant. I like that you can annotate the screen and collapse the camera views to be able to view the screen more easily. I like that you can easily show your entire monitor, or just one window. It's secure and easy to use and it has transformed the way we hold conference calls.
Cons
We actually ended up producing a small eLearning module on how to use zoom, to send to our clients. Although I find it intuitive, we did find that sometimes clients wouldn't know they had to connect their audio and microphone, and they'd just think it wasn't working. When we went to find a simple web page explaining how to use zoom, we found there wasn't one - so we made one.
My overall experience is excellent, except for the two comments mentioned before, everything else is perfect and works flawlessly.
Pros
It's pretty easy to use and easy to integrate with Google Calendar. The Google Calendar Chrome plugin is very convenient, with a single click it assigns the Zoom meeting to an appointment.
Cons
This is a software I use almost daily, so when I moved from Windows to Ubuntu Linux, I figured out I could use Zoom for Linux. The Linux version definitely needs polishing in the user experience to get up to speed to the Windows version, as some meeting controls get in the way when working with customers. For this software and another unrelated one, I had to switch back to Windows, because definitely it was getting in the way on my productivity. Guilty of bad UX in Linux.
Additionally, saving the meeting recording to cloud and then sharing sometimes work weird or in a counterintuitive way. I solved this by saving the recording in the computer and then uploading to Google Drive and sharing it that way.
Again, the issues I am highlighting are fairly nit picky as Zoom is vastly superior to the previous product we were using (Goto Meeting)
Pros
So lets start by acknowledging that every single professional conference call/virtual meeting software or product has some flaws. None of them offer everything you want without some glitches or issues. That said, I've used countless other products/vendors and can I attest that Zoom is easily the best of its class available on the market. I love that there is a simple Zoom add-on you can download into your personal Outlook to make scheduling meetings incredibly easy. Love that all employees get their own accounts/unique login ID's. I think the mobile app is also a big plus, as I have joined meetings and viewed what others are sharing directly on my phone. The customization options are outstanding.
Cons
Couple of areas for improvement:
- It doesn't need to blast super loud "this call is being recorded." That can freak some interviewees out. Consider changing to a visual cue that the call is being recorded (or a more subtle audio cue)
- Really wish there was a feature that warned you when you've accidentally scheduled two zoom meetings that overlap (with the same user/login). Could be helpful
- The biggest issue in my opinion is the fact that sometimes I don't fully end a zoom meeting and when I have another zoom call/meeting immediately in succession, it can sometimes say that the other meeting hasn't ended and I somehow am not able to end the first meeting in order for others to join the new meeting.
-Overlapping meetings (under a single user login) is by far the biggest area for improvement. We run into that issue pretty regularly
- Sometimes the call/meeting recordings don't show up or download
Solves the problem of meeting with people outside of the office with great quality audio, video and sharing. And constantly adding new, great features!
Pros
I've used meeting software like this for over 10 years, Zoom rocks and is so much better in so many ways - especially the important stuff like it JUST WORKS!
Cons
Really not much at all - I like everything about it. I guess it almost has too many features so you need to dig in and learn the software and custom-tailor it for yourself. For example, you can have it auto-record meetings for you every time. But that option is buried about 10 menu options deep - but it works great!
Basic - for personal meetings: Free
Pro - for small teams: $13.99/month/host
Business - for small & medium sized businesses: $18.99/month/host (min 10 hosts)
Enterprise - for large enterprises: $18.99/month/host (min 100 hosts)
Below are some frequently asked questions for Zoom.
Zoom offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: USD 14.00/month
Pricing model: Free, Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Basic - for personal meetings: Free
Pro - for small teams: $13.99/month/host
Business - for small & medium sized businesses: $18.99/month/host (min 10 hosts)
Enterprise - for large enterprises: $18.99/month/host (min 100 hosts)
Zoom offers the following features:
Zoom has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Public Administrations, Small Business
Zoom supports the following languages:
Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Zoom has the following pricing plans:
Free, Subscription
Zoom supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone, iPad
Zoom integrates with the following applications:
ActiveCampaign, Acuity Scheduling, Administrate, Bookafy, Hive, HubSpot Marketing, Mattermost, Slack, TalentLMS, Workplace by Facebook
Zoom offers the following support options:
FAQs, Knowledge Base, Online Support, Phone Support, Video Tutorials
I originally started using Zoom with a client who had a client out of state. I was really impressed with the interface and brought it into my own team. It's allowed us to expand our customer base seamlessly out of town, and drastically cut down on unnecessary travel.