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Google Hangouts vs Zoom 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

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
Zoom
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
215
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 Zoom is 11.1%, down from 14.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

ANIS QURESHI - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Kallol Chaudhuri - PeerSpot reviewer
Helped us tremendously in collaborating with each other and getting our work done and offers the breakout rooms feature.
We are a team located across various locations. Not in the same geographic location. We are distributed. And it's not possible to physically travel and meet people. Sometimes it's simply not possible. But Zoom has helped us tremendously in collaborating with each other and getting our work done. Without Zoom, it would have been very, very difficult. The breakout rooms feature is also helpful. For example, I have a meeting attended by hundreds of people and want to create subgroups. I typically use it for different role-play scenarios during training if we are trying to conduct some training on presentation skills. So there's a large group, which is initially trained by an instructor. Then you get instructions that the room will be split into smaller breakout rooms. I'll give you a topic, and you'll practice in these smaller groups. That's one way I use it. So it's like a simulation of a real brainstorming session I'd have in a physical space.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are that you don't have to create a separate account, it's easy to use, and you don't have to enter an ID or password to start video conferencing."
"Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good."
"Its ease of use is most valuable. It is just a click, and you're in the system."
"It is easy to use, and we don't need to make a lot of configurations."
"Communication platform that's effective in project planning, project status communication, and virtual meetings. Setting it up is straightforward."
"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."
"The interface is simple and not complex."
"The group chat is a very good feature, where you can see all of the participants on cameras."
"A light application that has many features."
"The most valuable features of Zoom for enhanced team collaboration are its high video quality, comprehensive meeting features, and reliable performance."
"Zoom is useful for virtual meetings."
"This video conferencing product is easy to use."
"There are no restrictions on the number of participants in a single meeting, That is the beauty of Zoom, and it is also very fast compared to others."
"The base infrastructure is robust."
"Zoom has facilitated our remote and hybrid meetings, particularly in the context of our agile processes such as scrum. In the past, estimating story points required physical presence in a room, where we would use visual cues or hand gestures. We can create polls with Zoom and share them with team members for direct input. The recording feature is also good. Additionally, features like whiteboarding allow for specific collaboration sessions tailored to different team members' needs. Auto-scheduling meetings and integration with Microsoft Outlook make organizing and attending meetings effortless. Overall, the product is good and convenient."
"The ability to share graphics and visuals."
 

Cons

"We don’t have any complaints."
"Google Meet should extend the time limit for a meeting from five minutes to at least thirty-five minutes."
"The stability of Google Hangouts could still be improved. How virtual backgrounds are handled also needs improvement."
"Google Meet could be more secure."
"Google Hangouts should add a feature to show how someone connects, such as via a laptop or phone. If you know if someone is using a laptop you can ask them to share their screen."
"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."
"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."
"The way it works with anonymous users should be improved. That could be strengthened to let anonymous users do more."
"It would be helpful if Zoom could integrate with our medical systems."
"Zoom could improve by having more tools."
"Additional end-user features like polling would be beneficial."
"Zoom could improve by having more dashboards."
"I would like to see them develop end-to-end encryption, like WhatsApp. That would improve the security of the software."
"They could address the product's limitation of the free version, particularly the 40-minute time constraint on meetings."
"You can use Teams more to collaborate with your coworkers. I think Zoom could add some of these features in addition to simple video conferencing."
"Setting up and understanding the tool takes time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature."
"I pay $6 per user per month for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Hangouts."
"We pay an annual license to use the solution."
"There is a need to make certain payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product and some other tools that are included in the suite offered by Google. Google Hangouts alone as a product is available for free."
"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."
"There is no license cost."
"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."
"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."
"I believe that all of their licenses are purchased, so that they may use the solution for their teaching purposes."
"The version I am using of Zoom is free."
"There is a yearly license for this solution. I would like it if they offered better prices."
"We generally have a strict budget so the pricing for Zoom is reasonable."
"Zoom is licensed as a subscription model and it is available on a monthly or yearly basis."
"Zoom has a less expensive subscription than other solutions such as Cisco Webex."
"The solution is affordable."
"I use Zoom's free version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
97%
Computer Software Company
1%
Financial Services Firm
0%
Healthcare Company
0%
Educational Organization
91%
University
1%
Financial Services Firm
1%
Computer Software Company
1%
 

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.
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?
So far, I think it's going well. I haven't found anything that I feel should be added.
LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom
Hi @Krista Thompson ​ - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoom?
There is a concern about the free version's forty-five-minute limit. For education use, having more affordable access through institutions would be beneficial.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Fortinet, Veeva, Proofpoint, Box, Ticketmaster, Trend Micro, Caesars Entertainment, Santa Clara University, Pandora, Stanford Continuing Studies
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Hangouts vs. Zoom and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.