GoToWebinar vs Google Hangouts comparison

Google and GoTo are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. Google is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4, while GoTo is ranked #24. Google holds a 0.4% mindshare in VM, compared to GoTo’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of GoTo users who would recommend it.

Google Hangouts

Read 55 Google Hangouts reviews

1,698 Views
75 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

GoToWebinar

Read 8 GoToWebinar reviews

253 Views
165 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Google Hangouts

GoToWebinar

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

GoToWebinar and Google Hangouts compete in virtual meetings and webinars, each offering distinct strengths. GoToWebinar is superior for large-scale webinars with professional features, while Google Hangouts shines with its seamless integration in the Google Workspace ecosystem.

Features: GoToWebinar offers detailed analytics, audience engagement tools, and custom branding options, ideal for professional webinar hosting. Google Hangouts provides seamless integration with Google Workspace, simple video conferencing, and chat functionality, appealing to users needing easy communication within the Google ecosystem.

Room for Improvement: GoToWebinar could improve in areas like simplifying setup, enhancing user interface design, and reducing costs for smaller businesses. Google Hangouts may enhance features like advanced analytics, professional branding options, and scalability for larger webinar events.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GoToWebinar requires more setup but delivers dedicated support and comprehensive service for professional use. Google Hangouts offers straightforward deployment integrated into Google Workspace, providing ease of access and familiar usage, with basic support available.

Pricing and ROI: GoToWebinar typically involves higher setup costs with subscriptions by attendee capacity, offering strong ROI for businesses focusing on specialized webinars. Google Hangouts offers a cost-effective solution within Google Workspace, requiring less upfront investment and providing higher ROI for businesses leveraging Google tools.

To learn more, read our detailed GoToWebinar vs. Google Hangouts Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GoToWebinar vs. Google Hangouts

April 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

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

GoToWebinar

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

24th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

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 Google Hangouts is 0.4%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GoToWebinar is 2.0%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

ANIS QURESHI

Senior Specialist- IT Systems Management at GAL

Quick and seamless meeting setup offers a smooth experience

I sometimes use Google Hangouts for my personal meetings only I find that Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to create a meeting, which is its biggest benefit. It doesn't have a 40-minute limitation unlike Zoom. It is easy to set up as well, taking just a couple of minutes. So far, I think…

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RITA Conroy-Martin

Director of Marketing at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees

Video library is a great tool and it enables good customization; feels a little antiquated and rusty

I like that recordings are available immediately, it's a great feature. I also appreciate being able to use the video library as a tool, and the integration of an API with other systems we have. We were able to build our own customer portal and then integrate into GoToWebinar with a seamless interface. People thought they were on our platform, but they were using GoToWebinar. Those are unique features that seemed to be very easy for our development team to integrate. I like that aspect of it. It also provides good visibility if somebody had seen a webinar that was useful. It's very easy to push them out. Registration is an easy process as is customization on the back end. We very rarely had technical issues running the webinars so it's a pretty robust platform overall.

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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

"Google Hangouts is user-friendly. It supports low internet bandwidth."

"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts is there are no predefined or meeting durations. For example, Zoom meetings have a set duration, typically ranging from thirty minutes to an hour, whereas Google Meet meetings can continue indefinitely. Additionally, it is effortless to generate a meeting, whether it is a live session or for future use, and distribute your link to others, making these aspects appealing to me."

"It's integration with Google is the valuable feature."

"The solution is extremely stable."

"I appreciated having the basic features like screen sharing and camera options."

"Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good."

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

"It has efficient recording features."

More Google Hangouts pros

"This solution is very reliable. It is easy to switch between audio and microphone when using headphones."

"The interface is browser-based and simple, which is an advantage over other solutions."

"All of their features are good. They are more or less equivalent to the competition. There's less disturbance, less jitter, the voice is always good even at a low bandwidth."

"I can extract the activity and the attendance reports, along with every single question that was asked during the webinar, which is a feature that we highly value."

"We were able to build our own customer portal and integrate into GoToWebinar with a seamless interface."

Cons

"Collaboration in Google Hangouts has room for improvement compared to Microsoft Teams. On Microsoft Teams, you can share a document directly and work on that document all at once, in real-time, with other team members, which isn't the case with Google Hangouts."

"The stability of Google Hangouts could still be improved. How virtual backgrounds are handled also needs improvement."

"Google Meet could be more secure."

"I would like to have a whiteboard feature, where I can draw a sketch or diagram and show it to the people in the meeting."

"The UI has room for improvement."

"There is no delete option for messages which could be an added feature in a future release."

"Maybe they should offer more security features."

"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."

More Google Hangouts cons

"GoToWebinar would be improved with the inclusion of support for video endpoints."

"The sharing of cameras is limited to meeting organizers."

"Some of my friends also use GoToWebinar to collect clients for affiliate marketing. In those cases, they found some features were missing with respect to some of the competition. And the worst part is the price."

"The platform feels old and a little rusty, more could be invested into the look and feel of it."

"The chat window and using polls is easier in Zoom than compared to GoToWebinar. Make it simpler and easier to publish polls on the fly would improve the solution."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

"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."

"There is an annual subscription to use this solution."

"I believe my company has a yearly license for Google Hangouts, but I'm not sure because this is a corporate account, so I don't have the details."

"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."

"This solution is available for free with the opening of a Google account."

More Google Hangouts pricing and cost advice

"It is a monthly subscription and the price is quite expensive if you're not paying annually."

"This is a free solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

97%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Hangouts?

It's integration with Google is the valuable feature.

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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.

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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.

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Comparisons

No data available

Microsoft Teams vs GoToWebinar

Compared 55% of the time

Webex vs GoToWebinar

Compared 45% of the time

More GoToWebinar Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Hangouts

April 2025

Download Google Hangouts product report

Buyer's Guide

GoToWebinar

April 2025

Download GoToWebinar product report

Overview

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

Web conferencing SaaS for larger webinars

GoTo

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Avigilon Corporation, Bitdefender, British Library's Business & IP Centre, Business Wire, Clarity, Colt, Conversion Rate Experts, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., DemandGen, DPR Construction

Buyer's Guide

GoToWebinar vs. Google Hangouts

April 2025

Free Report: GoToWebinar vs. Google Hangouts

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