gotomeeting-vs-zoom

GoToMeeting and Zoom are both leaders in the video conferencing software space that are used by a wide variety of businesses. Both technologies are used by businesses of all sizes, but Zoom is known for high-quality video and ease of use, while GoToMeeting is known for technical features that meeting organizers can use to tweak the parameters of their video conferences.

Features

Zoom and GoToMeeting both include important video conferencing features such as one-click conference joining, and call recording, but they also have a few standout features that set them apart from each other.

Zoom allows for many people in a call to display their webcam feeds at once, so businesses that host meetings or webinars with many attendees can view their audience more naturally. Additionally, Zoom offers several features to help users improve their appearance, such as their “touch up my appearance” setting. When sharing screens, Zoom also includes advanced features such as sharing audio or only sharing a portion of your screen. Multiple participants are able to share their screen without having to change the presenter. In addition to screen sharing, Zoom also provides other collaboration tools such as whiteboard and drawing that allow presenters to make notes and highlight figures on the fly during a presentation.

GoToMeeting provides robust options for adjusting your video appearance and meeting settings. While the video settings can be complex to adjust for beginners, practiced users can make precise adjustments to their video feed’s brightness, contrast, hue, and more. Additionally, GoToMeeting provides dial-in-numbers for meetings at every price point, which can be important for businesses that expect meeting participants to dial-in to join meetings, rather than use an application. Lastly, GoToMeeting provides unlimited cloud recording space for meeting transcripts and recordings.

Limitations

Though Zoom and GoToMeeting both have robust video conferencing capabilities, they have a few limitations that are important to consider.

Zoom is an easy to use product, but it doesn’t provide as many advanced options as GoToMeeting. This isn’t a problem for businesses that simply need video calling capabilities, but if you want the most customizability in terms of video, GoToMeeting provides more advanced options. Additionally, while Zoom allows for local storage of meeting transcripts and meetings, it doesn’t provide unlimited cloud storage, so businesses planning to store many recordings over a long period of time may want to consider other options. Businesses with employees or clients that prefer to dial-in to meetings may also want to consider that Zoom doesn’t offer that feature at every price point.

GoToMeeting offers a detailed level of customization for video, but its interface is more complex than Zoom’s and may be intimidating for new users. Additionally, while GoToMeeting does have screen sharing capabilities, they lack some of the features Zoom offers, such as sharing audio or allowing presenters to draw with multiple line colors and thicknesses.

Pricing

Zoom’s Pro pricing tier costs $15.00 per host per month and allows meetings as long as 24 hours. The business tier costs $20.00 per host per month and includes custom branding. Additionally, the enterprise tier costs $20.00 per host per month and requires at least 50 hosts. This plan includes unlimited cloud storage. Zoom also offers a free version with limited features and a 40-minute time limit for conferences.

GoToMeeting includes a basic package that allows for video conferencing with up to 100 participants for $49.00 per month. The Standard package supports up to 250 participants and allows users to directly upload meeting recordings to youtube for $99.00 per month. The Pro package supports up to 500 participants and includes custom URLs for meetings and support source tracking for attendees for $199.00 per month. Lastly, the Enterprise package supports up to 3,000 participants for $399.00 per month.