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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

"Google Meet has excellent audio quality, good images, and a robust set of features."
"We use Google Hangouts to chat and exchange some quick information."
"It has efficient recording features."
"The group chat is a very good feature, where you can see all of the participants on cameras."
"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."
"The installation part of the product is easy since one generally needs to use a browser to use the product."
"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."
"Google Meet is a clear and simple solution."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The product is usable and very straightforward."
"Zoom is mobile-ready and easy to use."
"It's not a big deal to set up a meeting."
"I felt the installation to be straightforward."
"The product is scalable."
"The platform has a solid feature for scheduling short meetings worth 30 minutes."
"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."
 

Cons

"You only get 60 minutes of video conferencing."
"Google Hangouts is not as feature-rich as Slack. Adding more features to this solution would make it better."
"Not a ten because there's room for improvement. Sometimes there is disconnectivity."
"We don’t have any complaints."
"The UI has room for improvement."
"The scalability has room for improvement."
"Maybe they should offer more security features."
"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."
"I don't have any particular issues, but I think the user interface could be improved. Previously, I used Microsoft Teams, where the chat, video, and audio options were all easily accessible in one place, making the user experience smoother. In Zoom, it's a bit more manual. For example, we must use external chat options like Slack and manually send the Zoom URL link to initiate a chat. In MicrosoftTeams, you can directly call and chat with someone from the contact list simultaneously."
"Zoom could be improved by making it easier to join meetings. It can be a bit confusing because sometimes you need meeting IDs and logins, sometimes you don't."
"Zoom isn't well integrated with anything else. Obviously, it's integrated enough to be able to set an appointment or schedule a Zoom meeting."
"If Zoom could be more secure, that would be better. Security is always a highly sensitive matter for everyone today."
"The video quality should be better. Sometimes when there are updates at the backend, Zoom won't respond properly during that time."
"If anything, the updates could be less frequent."
"Technical support is in need of improvement."
"The free version of Zoom could be improved and offer more functionality. We would also like to have whiteboard and drawing functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I pay $6 per user per month for Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Hangouts."
"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."
"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 use the free version of 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 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."
"There is an annual subscription to use this solution."
"It is an inexpensive product."
"There is a 40-minute time limit when you use the basic version, which is free."
"We do not incur any licensing costs, as we use the free version."
"We purchased a license for Zoom."
"We use the free version of the product. We utilize it only three to four times a month."
"In addition to any licensing fees, we hired Zoom to provide training to us in small groups."
"There are no licensing fees required."
"Zoom is free."
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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.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.