Telecommuting and working remotely have become more and more popular over the years. Over the past few weeks working from home has become the new normal for most of us. One of the biggest challenges with having coworkers and teammates in various locations is how do you still conduct meetings? Luckily there are a ton of services on the market for virtual meetings or video conference services. Based on our extensive research we have compiled a list of the top ten platforms available.
UberConference
UberConference offers both a free and paid plan. UberConference Free regularly offers users the ability to hold calls with up to 10 participants for a maximum duration of 45 minutes. Currently, due to COVID-19 forcing a multitude of companies to operate remotely, UberConference Free has increased its call duration to five hours and now allows calls with up to 50 participants. Additionally, the free service offers unlimited conferences, screen sharing, call recording, HD audio and video, and mobile app access. With UberConference Business, you can either pay $20 monthly or if you pay annually the cost decreases to $15 a month. This plan allows for calls up to 5 hours with up to 100 participants. UberConference Business includes the same features as UberConference Free plus custom call-in numbers, analytics, international access for over 50 countries, voice intelligence, custom hold music, add guests dial outs, and a team management portal.
1. UberConference Free
2. UberConference Business ($15 per organizer per month billed annually)
All features in UberConference Business plus:
Zoom
A relatively new but very popular conference service among big names such as Uber, Delta, Hubspot, and many more is Zoom. Zoom offers four different plans based on meeting size making it easy to select the plan that will work for your team. Their free plan alone offers calls with up to 100 participants. Here is quick overview of the features included with each of Zoom’s four plans:
1. Basic (Free)
2. Pro ($14.99 a month or $12.49 a month billed annually)
All Basic features plus:
3. Business ($19.99 a month per host - minimum of 10 hosts)
All Pro features plus:
4. Enterprise (starting at $19.99 a month per host - minimum of 50 hosts)
All Business features plus:
FreeConferenceCall.com
Like its name suggests, FreeConferenceCall.com is free. This conference call service allows you to hold conferences with up to 1,000 participants at no cost. Some additional free features included are audio and video conferencing, screen sharing, global access, and audio and visual recordings. The same way you would access FreeConferenceCall.com from a desktop, you can also operate this platform mobily through the user-friendly app. So what’s the catch? There’s not necessarily a catch per se but the offered storage capacity is quite limited compared to other platforms. However, FreeConferenceCall.com does offer the ability to purchase additional storage at any time which starts at $3 a month. Other add-ons you can purchase include one number, toll-free number, custom greetings, and custom hold music.
1. FreeConferenceCall.com
Hangouts Meet
If you have a Gmail account, you’ve most likely heard of or even used Hangouts Meet, previously Google Hangouts. If you haven’t dipped your toes into Hangouts Meet, it is the free video and call service that is included with your Gmail account. While Google Hangouts may not have all the bells and whistles as other platforms on this list, it’s great for small meetings and free (with G Suite/Gmail). This easy-to-use service allows for audio and video conference calls with up to 25 participants, screen sharing, a Google Calendar integration, and can be accessed through it’s mobile app. If you’re someone who enjoys those extra bells and whistles, Hangouts Meet is best used with G Suite which you may already be using. If not, G Suite starts at $6 a month. In order to help businesses and schools operate remotely during the coronavirus outbreak, Google has made the paid premium features included in Hangouts Meet free until July 1st. This includes an increased limit of 250 participants per call, live Streaming with an Increased audience limit of up to 100,000 viewers, and video and meeting Recording.
1. Basic (Free with G-mail account)
2. Business (Starting at $12.00 per user per month)
All features included in Basic plan plus:
3. Enterprise (Starting at $25.00 per user per month)
All features included in Business plan plus:
GoToMeeting
Developed by Cintrix, GoToMeeting is a favorite among many for it’s high quality audio and connection. It also features a user-friendly interface that can be easily accessed through iOS, Macbook, PC, and Android mobile devices. Unlike many of the other paid conference call services, GoToMeeting does not have a free basic plan. However, you do have the option of a free 14-day trial. GoToMeeting offers the following three plans:
1. Professional (Starts at $12 per month)
2. Business (Starts at $16 per month)
All features in Professional plus:
3. Enterprise (Custom pricing)
All features in Business plus:
Webex
Next up on the list is Cisco’s product, Webex. Similar to Zoom, Webex also offers four plans which are based on meeting or company size. Webex is currently offering a special offer in efforts to make it easier for businesses to host meetings remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak. With this special offer, their free plan has now been upgraded from 50 to 100 conference participants, 40 minute call limit to unlimited, and call-in audio. You can obtain this offer by using code wecare2020 at checkout. Here is an overview of the four plans offered:
1. Free ($0 per month per host)
2. Starter ($13.50 per month per host)
All features in Free plan plus:
3. Plus ($17.95 per month per host)
All features in Starter plan plus:
4. Business ($26.95 per month per host - minimum of 5 hosts)
All features in Starter plan plus:
BlueJeans
Powered by Dolby Voice, BlueJeans is known for its exceptional audio quality and used by well-known companies like Facebook and LinkedIn. Bluejeans has two plans, BlueJeans Standard and BlueJeans Pro. Their standard package starts as low as $9.99 a month paid annually or $12.49 paid monthly. This package is best for small teams or businesses as it has a 50 participant conference limit. Their most popular plan, BlueJeans Pro, starts at $13.99 a month paid annually or $17.49 paid monthly. With this plan, you can host conferences with up to 75 participants. If you need more, you can contact BlueJeans to get a custom quote for their BlueJeans Enterprise package.
1. BlueJeans Standard (Starting at $9.99 per host per month billed annually)
2. BlueJeans Pro (Starting at $13.99 per host per month billed annually)
All features in BlueJeans Standard plan plus:
3. BlueJeans Enterprise (Custom pricing)
All features in BlueJeans Standard plan plus:
2. Pro ($29 per host per month billed annually)
All features in Starter plan plus:
3. Enterprise ($79 per host per month billed annually)
All features in Pro plan plus:
Microsoft Teams
If you have an Office 360 Business account, you will want to give the included video conferencing service, Microsoft Teams, a try. Even if you don’t have an Office 360 Business account, Microsoft Teams is valued by many users for it’s highly customizable interface and abundance of integration options. However, users have said Microsoft Teams is best used in a Microsoft environment which could present a challenge if used with non-Microsoft applications. Microsoft Teams has four different plans. Here’s a brief overview of the many features included with these plans:
1. Microsoft Teams Free
2. Office 365 Business Essentials ($5.00 per user per month)
All features in Microsoft Teams Free plan plus:
3. Office 365 Business Premium ($12.50 per user per month)
All features in Office 365 Business Essentials plan plus:
4. Office 365 E3 ($20.00 per user per month)
All features in Office 365 Business Premium plan plus:
Vast Conference
Lastly, we have Vast Conference. This conference call service offers four different plans as well as a 14-day free trial. One great component is that three out of their four plans have unlimited cloud recording. The main difference between these four plans is the number of participants allowed per conference which are as follows:
1. Essentials (Starting at $11.99 a month)
2. Standard (Starting at $15.99 a month)
All features in Essentials plan plus:
3. Professional (Starting at $31.99 a month)
All features in Standard plan plus:
4. Enterprise (Custom Pricing)
All features in Professional plan plus:
For more information on the platforms listed above and the packages and features they offer, you can visit their websites directly or contact their support teams:
Thanks to the advanced technology we have at our fingertips, virtual communication is becoming more and more popular. Nowadays a lot of meetings can be exchanged for a simple email or chat. However, there are times when certain projects, ideas, and other important information require face-to-face discussion even when your team is not physically present. Fortunately, for these times, there are top-notch video and audio conference call services. Whether you’re a small team of two or a Fortune 500 company, you’re sure to find a conference call solution within this list.
For when those meetings can be replaced with an email or other online communication, check out our blog,10 Best Online Collaboration Tools of 2020.