The coronavirus pandemicOpens a new window has handed Zoom a win in terms of unprecedented usage. The never-seen-before explosive growth has made it a dominant video conferencing platform in 2020. However, the story was quite different in the pre-coronavirus stage, where the purpose-built video conferencing app was lagging behind market incumbents Cisco Webex and GoToMeeting. A 2019 essidsolutions study, The Evolution of Workplace Communications indicates Cisco WebEx and GoToMeeting were neck-to-neck with 37% adoption, while Zoom netted 21% adoption as the most commonly used enterprise web conferencing solutions. Other contenders in the survey are Join.me at 13% and Adobe Connect at 6%.
Another forward-looking insight from the essidsolutions report is how cloud communicationsOpens a new window vendors will need to prioritize security and privacy features to stay in the game and deploy end-to-end encryption features — the need of the hour.
More enterprises and SMBs today are tapping Zoom for video conferencing, thanks to its more granular options like recording meetings, ease of setup, automated transcripts, call and video quality, speaker view, and the newly revamped security features. As the buzz around web conferencing apps grows, we pit two market-leading industry competitors Zoom and GoToMeeting. In this article, we look at how the two stack up in terms of must-have features, user interface, support, ease of integrationOpens a new window , and more.
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Zoom vs GoToMeeting: Features, Security, Support & More Comparisons
The head-to-head comparison is based on recent user reviews and ratings and also draws on customer testimonials. For those who are evaluating Zoom and GoToMeeting for deploying video conferencing software, this comparison based on key parameters will help you get the best fit as per your business requirements.
Table of Contents
1.Features
1.1 HD Video Conferencing & Display
Zoom: Zoom is a good fit for enterprise-sized companies and SMBs. Zoom provides high definition video calls and high definition recordings, which means recordings are clearer. In addition, Zoom also creates automated transcripts which allow users to keep track of discussions.
- The lockdown has driven up the usage of Zoom’s virtual background feature (perhaps one of its best hooks) that allows attendees to display an image or video during a Zoom Meeting.
- Zoom allows you to bring up to 100 participants in one meeting.
GoToMeeting: Dubbed as the most robust video conferencing platform by users, GoToMeeting provides HD video conferencing. GoToMeeting’s wide variety of plans allow users to add from 150 to 3000 participants seamlessly and without affecting the call quality. In addition, it allows users to record the meetings even if some participants take calls via their phone.
- The GoToMeeting Smart Meeting AssistantOpens a new window allows users to go over the meeting notes and share transcripts with others.
- GoToMeeting webcam tab enables participants to adjust webcam settings and set any specific webcam model preferences.
Differences
- Zoom can display 49 webcams (5×5 grids) at one time while GoToMeeting allows 25 webcams.
- Zoom’s most talked about feature, “Touch up my appearance†gives users the option to apply a softening filter similar to Photoshop in real-time. So far, no such filter option is available for GoToMeeting, but it offers several options like adjusting the sharpness, video brightness, hue, and contrast.
- GoToMeeting offers many rich technical settings for the meeting organizer to optimize the webcam visuals as per need. Users can adjust the size of the webcam view and shrink it to focus on the presentation or expand for a one-one chat.
1.2 Call Recording
GoToMeeting: In terms of call quality and recording features, Zoom and GoToMeeting are neck-to-neck with automated recordings and AI transcriptions. Both players offer call recordings, automated transcription and storage. However, GoToMeeting one-ups Zoom by offering unlimited cloud recording and cloud storage in the Business and Enterprise plan.
Zoom: While Zoom Opens a new window allows you to save meeting recordings in different formats, it only provides 1GB cloud storage. In addition, when usage is nearing the storage limit, an email alert is sent to the account owner. This means, if you need more storage you have to pay extra, which starts at $40/month.
1.3 Group Chat or Breakout Rooms
Group chats work very similarly in both Zoom and GoToMeeting. In both web conferencing apps, the host can enable the group chat option for the participants to add in their comments or questions.
Differences
- Zoom is a standout for its Breakout Rooms features that enables users to split Zoom meetings in up to 50 separate sessions. The host can split meeting attendees into different sessions automatically or manually, and can even switch between sessions at any time.
- GoToMeeting offers Business Chat, instant messaging functionality that allows users to jump from a chat conversation to a video call, much like Slack. However, GoToMeeting scores better for its audio and HD video conferencing capabilities.
1.4 Screen Sharing
Both apps offer easy-to-use and robust screen sharing functionality, allowing users to access different windows and applications on the device to choose from and share. On both platforms, screen sharing works across devices, from web browsers to mobile apps. In addition, both apps also offer keyboard and mouse screen sharing.
Differences
- Zoom offers a breadth of options in screen-sharing, such as sharing computer’s audio and allows users with dual monitors to screen-share or share a part of your screen, highlighting just an individual app.
- GoToMeeting has leveled this area by enabling application-level screen-share functionality. Users can choose what they want to show, whether it is the full screen or a single app. In addition, GoToMeeting delivers HD quality screen sharing along with real-time bandwidth adjustment.
1.5 Whiteboarding and Annotation
Both web conferencing apps have built-in whiteboarding tools that allow attendees to highlight a certain section during the meeting. A key component for training and project planning, the video apps equip users with annotation tools for drawing and highlighting.
Differences
- Zoom offers full-featured, robust whiteboarding options and drawing tools, allowing the presenter to create text boxes, format texts, insert shapes, graphics and more.
- GoToMeeting Spotlight screen drawing feature offers three screen share tools, starting with a pen that allows users to sketch. The spotlight is a laser pointer while the highlighter enables users to mark out portions with a yellow-marker.
1.6 Conference Calls
High-quality audio calling is supported on both apps across all devices — desktop and mobile. Both video conferencing apps also provide long-distance conference facility and toll-free dialing features. GoToMeeting also provides optional toll-free dialling for more than 50 countries. As compared to Zoom, GoToMeeting packs full-featured VoIP and dial-in conference call service that allows users more flexibility.
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2. Security
This is an area where GoToMeeting trumps Zoom. Zoom has grabbed headlines for security red flags. In response to Zoom’s swelling privacy and security concerns, GoToMeeting took a swipe at its rival by flashing its credentials. GoToMeetingOpens a new window web client uses SRTP with AES encryption and its meeting chat rooms sit on top of TLS and uses an additional overlay encryption by AES. However, Zoom has also turned security-first and detailed new security features in its 90-day freeze plan. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan unveiled version 5.0, with AES 256-Bit GCM encryption that will make the app tamper-proof.
3. Customer Support
In terms of customer support, both tools offer the best-in-class troubleshooting features, backed by easy access to customer support features on their website. Zoom and GoToMeeting offer live chat options wherein user queries are resolved by the support team directly.
4. Pricing
For starters, Zoom is free to use and allows 100 participants with a 40-minute cap. But there’s a catch — those who wish to record meetings will have to pivot to high-tiered plans starting at $14.99 per user/month. Zoom’s Pro plan caps attendees at 100. Meanwhile, GoToMeeting’s Professional plan starts at $12 and allows up to 150 attendees. In case a business requires more storage, then GoToMeeting is a better choice as it offers unlimited cloud storage in its high-tiered plans with unlimited cloud recording storage.
5. Industry Use Cases
When it comes to industry usage, many healthcare providers and educators turned to Zoom to collaborate and share protected health information securely. But that was not the case. Though the video conferencing platform is HIPAA and FERPA compliant, the company came under attack for security and privacy flaws from all quarters. This allows players like GoToMeeting to edge out competition with robust security features and high-quality meeting options. GoToMeeting has SSL encryption; this means it encrypts data at rest and in-transit. Also, GoToMeeting’s unlimited cloud recording storage is an added advantage for educators and healthcare professionals who need extra storage options at no cost.
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Wrapping Up
Though ZoomOpens a new window touts incredible growth (up from 200 million to 300 million users), GoToMeeting states it powers over 75 million meetings per year. Now, as corporate needs get more advanced in the post-coronavirus stage, businesses will lean towards premium plans that deliver secure, sophisticated features. For small-to-medium-sized businesses with up to 100 simultaneous attendees, the better choice would be Zoom as it provides fully-featured video conferencing solutions at a lower price. Also, if you are confident about Zoom’s privacy and security settings and like Zoom’s video and voice calling, then it’s a good fit for your business. Larger organizations that have more participants — above 150 to 250 attendees, need no-minimum-host requirements along with unlimited cloud storage should go for GoToMeeting.
Do you think GoToMeeting scores over Zoom? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you.