Blackboard Collaborate vs Google Hangouts comparison

Blackboard and Google are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. Blackboard is ranked #28 with an average rating of 6.0, while Google is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Blackboard holds a 0.4% mindshare in VM, compared to Google’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of Blackboard users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Google users who would recommend it.

Blackboard Collaborate

Read 4 Blackboard Collaborate reviews

111 Views
47 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Google Hangouts

Read 55 Google Hangouts reviews

1,698 Views
75 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Blackboard Collaborate

Google Hangouts

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

Blackboard Collaborate and Google Hangouts compete in the online communication and collaboration sector. Blackboard Collaborate seems to have the upper hand in educational features, while Google Hangouts appears more advantageous in cross-platform accessibility and integration.

Features: Blackboard Collaborate provides breakout rooms, polling, and a virtual whiteboard, making it effective for educational settings. Google Hangouts offers seamless integration with other Google services and provides video conferencing, instant messaging, and screen sharing.

Room for Improvement: Blackboard Collaborate could enhance its cross-platform compatibility and simplify its user interface for beginners. Additionally, expanding its integration with non-educational tools would be beneficial. Google Hangouts may improve by adding more educational-specific features, enhancing security protocols, and providing more customization options for users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Blackboard Collaborate requires detailed setup due to its educational focus but is backed by strong customer support. Google Hangouts, however, offers easy deployment with self-service options and robust online resources, facilitating quick accessibility.

Pricing and ROI: Blackboard Collaborate tends to be more costly due to its advanced educational functions, resulting in greater ROI for educational institutions. Conversely, Google Hangouts is cost-effective, especially for those already integrating Google services, providing faster ROI for general business and personal applications.

To learn more, read our detailed Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts

March 2025

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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

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

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

YN1

Teaching and Learning Systems Manager at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees

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.

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Pratiksha Volvoikar

Consultant - Analytics Implementation at Brainlabs

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…

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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."

"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 allows me to connect and collaborate with my classes."

"Google Hangouts is an excellent tool."

"I find that Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to create a meeting, which is its biggest benefit."

"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts for me is content sharing."

"I think the simplicity of the whole thing is its valuable feature."

"Google Hangouts is easy to use and has good performance."

"The technical support team for Google Hangouts has been pretty responsive and could solve whatever challenges arise, within a day or two."

"The initial setup process is straightforward."

"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts is the ability to record the classes that I'm not able to attend. I can use the class recording to view whatever I missed later."

More Google Hangouts pros

Cons

"We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number."

"The system can overload when too many try logging in."

"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."

"I would like to see support for showing virtual backgrounds."

"The product was quite unstable during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when we shared our screens, as it often resulted in a black screen."

"The stability of Google Hangouts has had some issues, such as video call delays. The stability could improve."

"The scalability has room for improvement."

"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."

"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."

"I would like to see more focus on features for interacting with the participants in a group chat, such as screen sharing."

More Google Hangouts cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"For individual use, there's no license requirement as such. For storage or some other purposes, if I go beyond 15 GB, then I need to buy something."

"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."

"We are using the free version of Google Hangouts."

"I pay $6 per user per month for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Hangouts."

"The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature."

"We are a small team and a small organization such as ours just uses the free version of Google, so there's no cost associated with Google Hangouts at the moment."

"We pay an annual license to use the solution."

"I don't need to buy Google Hangouts separately because it comes free with Google Workspace, and it is also available for my personal Gmail ID."

More Google Hangouts pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

97%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

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?

See all answers

What needs improvement with Blackboard Collaborate?

We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Blackboard Collaborate?

We use the solution in web seminars, online classrooms, and meetings.

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Hangouts?

It's integration with Google is the valuable feature.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

March 2025

Download Blackboard Collaborate product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Hangouts

March 2025

Download Google Hangouts product report

Also Known As

Blackboard Mobile

No data available

Overview

Blackboard Mobile give your learners, educators, and community access to all aspects of the educational experience on their mobile devices and they'll be able to go anywhere. Giving you the power to engage everyone on their terms and devices. Offering instant access to the information they need. Encouraging the interaction they crave.

Blackboard

Hangouts Chat makes it easy for teams to be able to get their work done in one place. From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate easily and efficiently.

Google

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

Buyer's Guide

Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts

March 2025

Free Report: Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts

Find out what your peers are saying about Blackboard Collaborate vs. Google Hangouts and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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