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Blackboard Collaborate vs Google Hangouts comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Blackboard Collaborate
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
28th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Google Hangouts
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Blackboard Collaborate is 0.4%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Hangouts is 0.4%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

YN
Useful in webinars, meetings and online classrooms
One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS.
Pratiksha Volvoikar - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplified meeting management with intuitive layout options and an easy setup
I use Google Meet to set up meetings. I also use it to block my calendar for times when I am unavailable, such as during lunch We use Google Meet along with Google Calendar, which really helps with productivity. I appreciate that sharing the nine-digit code for meetings is simpler compared to…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Document loading and annotation."
"The solution allows me to connect and collaborate with my classes."
"One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS."
"The solution scales well."
"Stable communication tool with a good history feature and very easy installation."
"We use Google Hangouts to chat and exchange some quick information."
"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts for me is content sharing."
"Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its ability to allow the sharing of screens and the way it allows a user to take control of another system."
"It's good for conferencing with others."
"The solution is stable."
 

Cons

"The system can overload when too many try logging in."
"We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number."
"If there were maybe more tutorials outside of what I'm aware the university is suggesting, I would take more tutorials on effective ways to deliver content. I come from the industry and content was always needed when people that were observing were smart and involved and decision-makers instead of so passively just trying to pass the course. In my imagination, the tutorials would be a tool where the learners themselves can have much more hands-on learning during a Collaborate session."
"There should be more space for multiple users at a time so that multiple people can connect, can share, and even transfer control to another colleague, employer, student, etc."
"Google Hangouts has breakout rooms now, but not as extensive as Zoom, so that's one area for improvement. I mentioned that I like the Google Hangouts captioning feature, but that could be improved. For example, importing Filipino-English captions here in the Philippines would be great."
"The improvement needs to be done as per customer requirements."
"Google Hangouts is not good enough to be used in a professional environment or for some official work, especially when compared to a product like Microsoft Teams."
"We've noticed the product works better in Chrome and doesn't work as well in Safari browsers."
"We purchased a videoconference system called Zoom. We want to see if Google Hangouts has the ability to integrate our Zoom device to use it with Hangouts and meet directly."
"We don’t have any complaints."
"The stability of Google Hangouts could still be improved. How virtual backgrounds are handled also needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I pay $6 per user per month for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Hangouts."
"I use the free version of the solution."
"Google Hangouts has reasonable pricing, but I don't use the paid version because I only have a small budget, though you get more features from the paid version."
"I think there is a need for payment for licensing, but as students, we didn't have to pay for it when we were using it. Our professors were the ones paying for it since they needed to record the sessions."
"The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature."
"This solution is available for free with the opening of a Google account."
"We access the solution through Google Workspace. It is inexpensive to use."
"We pay an annual license to use the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
97%
Computer Software Company
1%
Financial Services Firm
0%
Retailer
0%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Blackboard Collaborate?
One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of differ...
What needs improvement with Blackboard Collaborate?
We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number.
What is your primary use case for Blackboard Collaborate?
We use the solution in web seminars, online classrooms, and meetings.
What do you like most about Google Hangouts?
It's integration with Google is the valuable feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Hangouts?
I can't comment on the pricing as I have no idea about it.
What needs improvement with Google Hangouts?
The filtering is good. That said, sometimes, due to system restrictions, I can't use blur effects or other filters. The chat feature could be improved to allow tagging users for notifications.
 

Comparisons

No data available
No data available
 

Also Known As

Blackboard Mobile
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Derby Online, Universty of Warwick, University of Liverpool, City College Norwich, Northumberland College, Mid-Kent College, Watson Pharmaceutials, Capella University, Shore Tel Sky, Lincoln PD, City of Somerville MA, Somerset County Council
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.