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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
209
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

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…
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

"Google Hangouts is easy to use and intuitive."
"Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good."
"Google Hangouts is user-friendly. It supports low internet bandwidth."
"It's integration with Google is the valuable feature."
"Google Meet is a clear and simple solution."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten based on the number of users we have."
"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts is its popularity. A lot of people use Google. Since the solution is from Google and many of us use Google solutions regularly, it is easy to use."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"I've been using Zoom since the pandemic started. It's actually been a life saving product under the circumstances that were thrust on everybody."
"It meets all of our basic requirements. It's easy to use."
"Zoom is interoperable and user-friendly."
"The user interface is simple."
"Zoom is a scalable solution, we have 150,000 people using it in my organization."
"The stability has been good overall."
"like Zoom because it's a very simple program. We have more success using Zoom with clients, partners, and everybody else. Everybody seems to be able to get Zoom. Some people struggle with Teams."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"It would be ideal if they could include in the offering a virtual whiteboard for users when they are running meetings."
"There is no recording feature in Google Meet. However, Zoom has the recording feature and we use it for any calls that require recording."
"Google Meet should extend the time limit for a meeting from five minutes to at least thirty-five minutes."
"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 platform's screen-sharing feature and the participant panel could be improved."
"The stability of Google Hangouts could still be improved. How virtual backgrounds are handled also needs improvement."
"I would like to see more focus on features for interacting with the participants in a group chat, such as screen sharing."
"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."
"I would like to be able to have multiple users open and collaborate on a document at the same time."
"There was a situation not long ago when there were some security fears. Some users had somebody else take control of their calls. They might have addressed these issues now, but the security needs to continue to be upgraded."
"The chat functionality in Zoom could improve."
"How they have the gallery aligned when someone is sharing a screen isn't ideal right now. If there were more options on how to arrange it, would be ideal."
"There are occasional latency, sound and audio quality difficulties."
"The pricing model for Zoom was not very friendly."
"Nothing extraordinary about this application, as its main use is for connecting with people on the other side of the cloud, but other users could find other Zoom features valuable."
"Recently, most of the people in my organization have not been able to dial in using the telephone number and have been required to join meetings using their devices."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature."
"There is no license cost."
"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."
"We pay an annual license to use the solution."
"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."
"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."
"We access the solution through Google Workspace. It is inexpensive to use."
"I use the free version of the solution."
"I use Zoom's free version."
"Zoom is free to use."
"We do not incur any licensing costs, as we use the free version."
"I use the tool's free version."
"The free version has a time limit, but paid subscriptions are available."
"We are on an annual license for the solution. The price of the solution could be less expensive."
"The pricing is too high. The cost of the license could be cheaper."
"There are both free and paid versions available."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
97%
Computer Software Company
1%
Financial Services Firm
0%
Retailer
0%
Educational Organization
92%
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?
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.
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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.