Best Video Conferencing Software

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Zoom is our best choice overall, thanks to extensive support for all major platforms, ease of use, a long list of integrations, and a free tier that could meet the needs of many personal and business video calls.

The term “Zoom” has become almost synonymous with a video call. It lands our best overall pick because its ease of use, generous free tier, and extensive integrations with calendars and other third-party tools have made it a staple for both business and personal use.

Part of the appeal of Zoom is that it’s fairly easy to use on any device, including almost every major computer and mobile device platform. Meeting participants can join with a hyperlink, phone number, or code. It takes just seconds to create a meeting, invite your guests, and click the link and join.

The biggest downsides are free tier limitations and questions around security. Paid plans start at $150 per year, but they can reach into the thousands with add-ons for additional features. The features that make Zoom easy to use also make it susceptible to some security issues. Notable are the “Zoom bombers” who drop into meetings uninvited to eavesdrop and cause trouble.

Getting the most out of Zoom also requires a download, a turnoff for some users who prefer the web-based platforms offered by competitors. However, the download is free and quick to set up on most devices. And because it’s so widely used, it integrates with a ton of different additional productivity apps.

At the end of the day, Zoom is a workhorse for a lot of people and comes with reasonable pricing for those who want more than the free offering. It has become popular with families, businesses, schools, and other groups for a good reason. While you may run into an occasional technical issue, as with any digital platform, Zoom earns high customer ratings and is a default choice for many modern video calls.

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Whereby is our favorite platform for freelancers and solopreneurs because it allows you to create meetings with no additional downloads that anyone can join with a click of your personal link. There’s no additional registration or download required for participants.

Whereby is a smaller and lesser-known meeting software, but its low cost, simplicity, customization, and useful meeting features make it ideal for entrepreneurs that work on their own and regularly host meetings with clients or colleagues.

The Pro plan is a good fit for solo business owners. It costs $6.99 per month for larger meetings with custom branding in your own meeting room. You get your own dedicated meeting room link, like whereby.com/yourname. Larger businesses may prefer the more expensive business plan at $9.99 per month billed monthly, with support for more users and all included features.

The standout feature of this video conferencing software is its simplicity. You don’t have to download or install anything, and neither do the people you invite. Everyone just uses your link to join the meeting instantly. It works on any computer, smartphone, or tablet with a web browser like Chrome, Sarafi, or Brave.

The host can mute members and control other meeting features, like screen sharing. It’s also customizable with your own logo and company colors, which is a nice little touch. Overall, Whereby is a simple but powerful platform that makes video conferences easy with favorable pricing and features for the smallest businesses.

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Slack is a top choice for small businesses because you can launch meetings quickly and easily from a unified communication platform that’s already popular and familiar to many business teams.

For video calls with members of your small business team, Slack is a top choice. While most people think of Slack as a platform for chat and text-based collaboration, it also includes a video calling feature that allows logged-in users to call each other for video chats with no reservation or planning required.

Because Slack is already a popular collaboration tool for small businesses, many businesses already have this video conference platform available and don’t even realize it. The tools are basic and include screen sharing, audio, and video. Outside of video calls, core Slack features focus on chat and message collaborations.

The biggest downside is that it only works for your team members logged into Slack. You can’t easily use it for calls with customers, clients, or other outside parties. Slack is free to use, with paid plans available for teams that want additional features, storage, and all features. These features also make it very secure. You won’t have uninvited outside guests bombing into your meetings on Slack.

The limitations mean you may need another video calling platform to complement Slack for outside calls. Still, fortunately, Slack integrates well with many additional video platforms and other apps for more features. If you already use Slack, or you’ve been looking at a better platform for your team’s collaboration, Slack could double as your ideal video conference platform as well.

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We picked Skype for best value because it offers free calls to other Skype users with competitive costs for dialing out to landlines and mobile phones worldwide.

Skype is one of the older and better-known video platforms and is owned by software giant Microsoft. Skype supports free unlimited calls to other Skype users. While it works best using the Skype app for computers or mobile, you can invite other users with no signup or installation required.

It includes screen sharing, mobile screen sharing, and call recording, among other features. With a paid account, you can call phones around the world, including landlines and cell phones. You can also sign up for your own Skype phone number for incoming calls. It could work as a full voice over IP (VOIP) replacement for your phone in addition to video calls.

Regular accounts can host video calls for up to 100 people. Skype for Business is being phased out, replaced by Microsoft Teams, another top platform we look at more below.

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We like Google Meet because it gives anyone the ability to create or join a video conference for free with easy-to-use tools.

Google has a long and overly complicated history with chat and communication apps. But these days, they’ve simplified everything with one platform called Google Meet, which formerly operated as Google Hangouts. Google Meet is completely free to use and integrates well with the free Google personal account or paid Google Workspace account that you may already have.

You can create meetings for up to 100 participants with a sharable link. Users can join with that link or by entering the meeting code on the simple Google Meet website. Once they click, you have control over who joins. That helps you keep uninvited guests out of the meeting.

Google Meet is fairly simple and straightforward. It doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as some competitors, but you can’t complain about the price. Additionally, it comes from a reliable brand that many people already feel comfortable using daily.

If you just need to run a video call quickly and don’t want to pay, Google Meet brings a simple and easy platform that should meet your needs.

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We choose Microsoft Teams as best for calendar integrations because it works seamlessly with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 platforms, notably Outlook, used by many businesses, schools, and other organizations.

Microsoft Teams is to video conferencing what Microsoft Word and Excel are to word processing and spreadsheets. Teams best for calendar integrations because it’s part of the larger Microsoft ecosystem of apps that includes Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365. That means it works seamlessly with other Microsoft tools, like calendar and schedule apps for Outlook.

In fact, there’s a dedicated plugin that gives Outlook for Windows or Mac additional meeting features. That includes buttons to create meetings, appointments, and join from your calendar. Teams also includes chat and other collaboration features. If you’re working on a doc, spreadsheet, or presentation with a coworker and need to get on a call to iron out some details, you’re just a couple of clicks away.

Joining a meeting works with links, calendar invites, chats, phone calls, and notifications on your laptop, desktop, or mobile device. If you are already entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem, using Microsoft Teams is almost a no-brainer. Microsoft Teams is available for free with a 100 participant capacity and a 60-minute meeting limit. It also offers paid plans that give you more features, like higher participant capacities, longer meeting times, personal file storage, desktop versions of Microsoft Office, and more depending on the tier level.