Video meetings via Zoom used to be the norm—at least they were for me. Then I started teaching virtually at my local college and learned that wasn't the case for everyone. Turns out, Zoom doesn't check every box for every team. 

Depending on what you need from your video conferencing app—for example, robust chat capabilities, AI-powered features, or high-quality video—there are plenty of alternatives to Zoom on the market.

We've spent a lot of time testing video call apps at Zapier, and based on that experience—and making sure we have something for everyone—here are the seven best Zoom alternatives to host your next video call. 

The best Zoom alternatives

• Webex for high-quality video

• Google Meet for Google users

• Microsoft Teams for adding a chat app

• CoScreen for screen sharing

• Jitsi for a lightweight solution

• GoTo Meeting for cloud storage

• Discord for building a community

Why do you need a Zoom alternative?

Zoom makes it easy to connect with anyone from anywhere—so why the need for an alternative? 

For one, depending on the primary apps you use or the community you want to connect with, Zoom may not be the best option to host video calls. For example, Discord is a better platform for gamers who want to hang out with other gaming enthusiasts. 

For another, Zoom's had its fair share of security concerns. And while it's come a long way since the early days of Zoombombing and data sharing snafus, it's still worth exploring alternatives to Zoom…just in case. 

What makes the best Zoom alternative?

There are plenty of consumer-facing video chat apps on the market—for example, Apple's FaceTime or WhatsApp's video calls—but they don't come close to rivaling Zoom for everyday business needs. 

Instead, the best Zoom competitors: 

• Deliver high-definition video and audio consistently. If a web conferencing platform has one job, this is it. 

• Make it easy to initiate, plan, and participate in meetings. Ideally, meetings can be quickly scheduled and added to your calendar, complete with one-click links to join the call.  

• Simplify the process of adding people outside your team. Participants should be able to click a link to join your meeting with little added fuss. But there should also be security features to prevent uninvited guests from attending.  

• Provide video recording capabilities. Recording a meeting should be as straightforward as clicking a button in your video conferencing app. 

• Incorporate collaboration tools. At this point, screen sharing and chat functions are a given. The best Zoom alternatives offer advanced features like whiteboarding and collaboration tools. 

To understand how these capabilities in Zoom alternatives stacked up, I relied on my own experiences, along with the experiences of the Zapier team as they tested them for other articles (or, you know, for fun).

The best Zoom alternatives at a glance

Zoom alternative for excellent video quality

Webex Meetings (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web)

Webex Meetings pros:

• Delivers consistently reliable, high-quality video and audio

• Advanced collaboration tools, including a whiteboard and document markup

Webex Meetings cons:

• Free plan has limited access to practical features like closed captions, post-meeting transcripts, and phone dial-in

• Some users have reported stability issues

If you tried Webex Meetings a couple of years ago, it's worth another go. It's been completely overhauled, and it's now easily one of the best Zoom alternatives out there. 

Immediately after you join a meeting, the video quality is obvious: everyone looks and sounds better on this platform—both in terms of image and sound quality, and in terms of stability. 

Webex's revamp also includes some noteworthy collaborative tools. There's a whiteboard, complete with sticky notes, text and drawing tools, and a "magic pen" that automatically tidies up roughly-drawn shapes. You can even share a document and annotate the file in place—all without sharing your screen. All these tools make Webex a clear solution for teams that use video chats to brainstorm remotely. 

Webex also offers an AI assistant that can instantly translate your message into over 30 languages, turn your camera off when you walk away, and summarize what you missed when you return. This feature is available for an added cost, though Webex's website makes it nearly impossible to find out what exactly that cost is.

You can also use Zapier to connect Webex to your other apps, so you can automatically do things like add meetings to your calendar and get reminders in your team chat app when a meeting's about to start. Here are some premade workflows to get started.

Webex pricing: Free plan includes 40-minute meetings with up to 100 people and basic features like screen sharing and local video recordings; from $12/license/month (billed annually) for Webex Starter, which includes meetings up to 24 hours long with up to 150 attendees, and advanced features like closed captions, meeting highlights, and live polling.

Zoom alternative for Google Workspace users

Google Meet (iOS, Android, Web)

Google Meet pros:

• Deep integration with Google Workspace apps

• Closed captioning, recording, and live transcription are available and easily accessible

Google Meet cons:

• Limited meeting management features like password-protected meetings

• Doesn't degrade calls as gracefully as Zoom

Google Meet is a popular free Zoom alternative, especially for smaller groups and individuals who need a user-friendly conferencing solution. And if your company is already paying for Google Workspace, it's essentially free. 

Meet seamlessly integrates with other Google apps, making it easy to do things like schedule meetings with a Google Meet link in Google Calendar and share files stored in Google Drive directly from a Meet call. You can even start a call directly from your Gmail inbox. There's also the Chrome integration, which includes a tab-sharing feature that's great for media sharing (it's not compatible with other browsers, though).

Google Meet also does live captions better than Zoom. The captions work fairly well in English, though it can't detect when other languages are spoken on a call. It's worth mentioning, however, that this feature will be available exclusively to Gemini Enterprise users at a future date (Google hasn't announced the exact date). But if you opt for the Gemini Enterprise add-on, you'll also be able to access Duet AI—Google's AI meeting assistant—which can do things like ask questions about the meeting transcript, the way Zoom can now.   

Another catch: in our experience, Meet isn't as good as Zoom at downgrading calls when the internet connection slows. But you can work around this by switching participants to view-only mode. 

When you use Zapier to connect Google Meet to your most commonly used apps, you can automatically schedule calls and share meeting recordings. Learn more about how to automate Google Meet, or get started with one of these premade workflows.  

Google Meet pricing: Free for 1-hour meetings with up to 100 participants; from $6/month/user (billed annually) as part of Google Workspace Business Starter. Gemini Enterprise add-on starts at $28/user/month.

Zoom alternative for adding team chat to video conferencing

Microsoft Teams (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web)

Microsoft Teams pros:

• Integrates with Microsoft Office 365

• Video quality is great and works with large calls

Microsoft Teams cons:

• Inviting people outside your organization is not as seamless as Zoom

• Interface is cluttered with a lot of extra features

Teams offers the same collaboration features you'd find in other popular video conferencing apps, like robust chat functions, whiteboards, and a basic doodle-fixer (à la Webex's "magic pen"). It even offers admittedly gimmicky features like the Together Mode (shown in the above screenshot), but hey—even gimmicks can bring teams together. And Microsoft is building out a comprehensive AI assistant called Copilot which is rolling out to users.

Teams is now sold separately from the rest of the Office suite, but if you opt for both, that's when Teams' features really shine. For example, there's a built-in feature for meeting notes, which automatically shares your notes with the team once the meeting has ended. You can even automate meeting transcriptions and share them afterward. 

Inviting people outside of your organization to a Teams meeting? It's easy to do, though not as seamless as Zoom. But expect a few hiccups if someone doesn't already have the app installed. 

You can do even more with Teams by connecting it to Zapier. For example, you can get notifications in Teams whenever your team has a new lead, a new event registration, or a new deal. Learn more about how to automate Teams, or get started with one of these pre-built workflows.

Microsoft Teams pricing: Starts at $4/user/month (billed annually) for just Teams; from $6/user/month for Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which includes Teams. Copilot Pro Business starts at an additional $30/user/month. 

Zoom alternative for screen sharing 

CoScreen (Mac, Windows)

CoScreen pros:

• Lightweight and simple, with intuitive screen share controls

• Generous free plan

CoScreen cons:

• No custom area screen share selection

• Both participants and hosts need to download the desktop app

Perhaps all you really need from your video conferencing app is the ability to share your screen so you and your teammates can collaborate remotely. CoScreen was built exactly for this purpose, which is also why it made Zapier's list of the best screen sharing apps.

Available only as a desktop app, CoScreen is super lightweight and simple. When you start or join a session, you can choose to turn on voice calls, video conferencing, both, or neither. You can opt to share your entire screen or choose from multiple displays. Hover over any window or app on your screen, and a yellow Share button appears—click it once, and you're in business. 

Unlike Zoom, multiple users can screen share at the same time, and the whole team can co-control shared apps and windows, making it the perfect app to collaborate in, especially for things like debugging, coding training, and app development. 

CoScreen pricing: Free to sign up and use with up to 10 participants at a time; from $20/user/month for Enterprise, which includes team accounts, single sign-on, and early access to new features.

A lightweight Zoom alternative

Jitsi (Web, iOS, Android)

Jitsi pros:

• Free and open source; no account required

• Good video quality

Jitsi cons:

• Not as feature-rich as other options

• Occasionally laggy

If you want to create a frictionless, no-frills meeting experience for attendees, Jitsi will do the trick. You don't need to create an account to start—just head to the site, generate a link, and share the link with everyone you want on the call. Likewise, attendees don't need to create an account to join. 

The video quality is good, not great, and you can't expect advanced features like transcriptions or AI integrations. There are a few nice touches, though: a GIF search feature not only adds the GIF to the chat but also briefly replaces your video feed with the GIF, which makes for some chaotic fun. There's also screen sharing and polling built in, so you have the basics of any good video conferencing app covered. 

Jitsi is open source, which means you can install the code on your own server—a big deal for security- and privacy-conscious companies. It also means that there are lots of integrations available and you can do things like embed Jitsi on your own website or any app you're building. Most people won't care about that, granted, but it's nice to know. 

Jitsi pricing: Free

Zoom alternative for inexpensive cloud storage

GoTo Meeting (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web)

GoTo Meeting pros:

• Easy recording and unlimited cloud storage at an affordable price

• Meeting transcription available

GoTo Meeting cons:

• Audio and video quality is great, but choppier on slower networks

• App integrations aren't accessible during calls

GoTo Meeting offers a lot of the same video conferencing features as Zoom, like chat, Q&A, an AI meeting assistant, and security controls. But when you compare apples to apples, Zoom outperforms GoTo Meeting in every category. Because of that, it wouldn't have made this list except for one key feature: cloud storage. 

Users on at least a Business plan get access to unlimited cloud storage (though the limits of common sense apply since the team monitors cloud storage use). Compared to Zoom, GoTo Meeting gives you the best bang for your buck on this front. It's worth mentioning that recordings are available for only 365 days, so be sure to download the most important ones before they disappear.

GoTo Meeting offers a good range of native integrations. For example, you can start a meeting right from Slack. It's worth mentioning that you can't actually interact with any of these apps directly during the call. 

When you connect GoTo Meeting with Zapier, you can automate those repetitive pre- and post-meeting workflows. Here are a few ideas to get you started. 

GoTo Meeting pricing: Free plan includes 40-minute meetings with up to 3 participants; from $16/month/user (billed annually) for the Business plan, which includes up to 250 participants, unlimited cloud recording, and Smart Meeting Assistant. 

Zoom alternative to build a community

Discord (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web)

Discord pros:

• Easy to set up

• Free to use with access to all the necessary features

Discord cons:

• Prone to downtime

• File uploads are limited to 25 MB in the free version

Originally designed as an audio chat app for gamers, Discord has evolved to also host video calls and screen sharing, making it a solid Zoom alternative—particularly for team-building activities like co-working or brainstorming sessions. We've found that it generally has better audio and video quality than Slack, which is why it made this list.

Keep in mind that direct messages in the app aren't server-specific, which means that employees who leave will still have access to DMs with their team members. Another downside: you can't upload videos or large photos—anything over 25 MB if you're on the free plan—directly to the platform. Instead, you have to link to these files on other services. And then there's Discord's tendency to go down more often than other chat apps. This is anecdotal, for sure, but it's still something to keep in mind.

If you do choose to use Discord, you can connect it with Zapier, so you can automate things like getting alerts when a meeting is about to start or when a new task has been added to your project management tool. Learn more about how to automate your Discord server, or get started with one of these workflows. 

Discord pricing: Free to use; starts at $2.99/user/month for Nitro Basic, which lets you share larger files—up to 50 MB—and offers cosmetic upgrades like animated avatars and custom video backgrounds.

Other Zoom alternatives

There are plenty of Zoom alternatives on the market—more than we could possibly list here. But that doesn't mean they don't all have unique features to bring to the table. If none of the apps listed above quite satisfy your must-haves, here are some other options you can explore.

• AnyMeeting

• FreeConference

• Whereby

• Nextcloud Talk 

• RemotePC Meeting

• U Meeting

• Zoho Meeting

Alternatively, there might be video conferencing and collaboration tools built into the apps you already use—no extra downloads or tabs necessary. For example, you can huddle in Slack for a more informal collaboration session.  

Or, if the real make-or-break feature for you is an app's range of AI features, consider combining your video conferencing app with an AI meeting assistant. With the right AI assistant, you can do things like automatically send meeting recaps to all participants or measure talking-to-listening ratios to train sales teams. To find the right app for you, check out Zapier's roundup of the best AI meeting assistants.

Find the right Zoom alternative for you

Communication is at the core of every business, but you can't communicate effectively without the right tools—or if meeting participants keep dropping off. 

And what's "right" will vary depending on things like the size of your team and what kind of content you need to share. Your best bet to finding the right Zoom alternative is to test a few from this list—most offer free plans—and pick the one that meets your needs. 

Related reading:

• Why you should face-mute

• The best brainstorming tools

• Meeting minutes templates for more productive meetings

• How to make your meetings better with asynchronous techniques

This article was originally published in August 2023. The most recent update was in April 2024.