Submitted by Fred Straker on
Working from home has become more commonplace than ever. For those who are able to telecommute, there are now many options for online collaboration with co-workers. Most virtual meeting apps provide cross-platform solutions, meaning that meetings can take place from almost anywhere.
Whether you're joining a work meeting on your mobile device or at your desktop, with the right software you can talk face-to-face, share a presentation or whiteboard, chat, and send files. Here's a list of top online meeting apps for working from home:
- Zoom Cloud Meetings (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, H.323/SIP Room Systems, Zoom Rooms)
- GoToMeeting (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows) GoToMeeting supports video conferencing with up to six shared webcams, and participants have the option of dialing in on a phone line for audio connectivity. Meetings can be hosted for free, without entering a credit card, and participants can join a session without signing up for an account. Commuter Mode saves up to 90 percent of data usage when joining meetings from a mobile device.
- join.me - Simple Meetings (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
- RingCentral (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
- Cisco Webex Meetings (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, H.323/SIP Room Systems)
- Microsoft Teams (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux)
- Hangouts Meet by Google (iOS, Android, Web, H.323/SIP Room Systems)
- Amazon Chime (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
Zoom comes highly recommended, with top customer satisfaction ratings and excellent video and audio quality. Free accounts are feature-rich and the iOS app offers Apple CarPlay and Siri Shortcuts compatibility. In addition to video and audio conferencing for up to 100 people, Zoom includes instant screen sharing, cross-platform messaging, annotation capabilities, and telephone connectivity.
Free plans have group meetings capped at 40 minutes in length. Zoom Pro subscription plans start at $14.99 per month, per host, with larger business plans available.
Other features include screen sharing, presentation control hand-off, chat functions, iPad whiteboard, and seamless session transfers between mobile and macOS. Professional plans start at $14 per month, per organizer for up to 150 participants, with larger plans available.
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join.me offers a full suite of simple-to-use online meeting features with a free 14-day trial. Meetings can be started by the host with a single tap from anywhere with a data connection. Features include face-to-face meetings, audio calls, document presentations, screen sharing, and presenter role hand-off. Whiteboards can be shared via AirDrop, Messenger, or Mail, and shared directly to Slack, Trello, Evernote, LinkedIn, and more.
join.me LITE plans start at $10 per month for meetings of up to five people and no webcams. For video conferencing, join.me PRO includes up to 10 webcam streams and up to 250 total meeting participants. Plans for larger organizations are available.
RingCentral bills itself as the leading all-in-one voice, video conferencing, and team messaging solution. Available collaboration tools include file sharing, calendars, and integrated task management. Third-party app integration with Asana, JIRA, Trello, and Zendesk is possible, as well as file sharing, real-time messaging, and communications filtering. Online meeting products are available individually or as part of a RingCentral Office subscription.
RingCentral Meetings offers free online meetings with a 40-minute time limit on groups. RingCentral Glip for team messaging and collaboration is free to join. RingCentral Office subscribers get access to all RingCentral products. A 15-day free trial is available, with the RingCentral Essentials plan starting at $19.99 per month, per user.
Cisco Webex Meetings delivers over six billion online meetings every month. The service offers video and audio conferencing, presentation sharing, screen sharing, interactive whiteboards, messaging, and more. Apple users can use hands-free voice commands with Siri, join meetings with Apple Watch, and quickly sign into Webex with Face ID or Touch ID. Free accounts are available, with unlimited length meetings supporting up to 100 participants. Starter subscriptions with additional features start at $13.50 per month, per host.
Microsoft Teams leads the pack for connectivity with Office 365. Teams includes online meetings with HD audio and video, chats and messaging in channels, project file editing and sharing, and more. Using the app requires a paid Office 365 Enterprise subscription at your organization, which starts at $12 per user, per month.
Google and G Suite users can collaborate securely in HD video and audio meetings with real-time captioning powered by Google speech-to-text technology. Integration with Calendar means seamless scheduling and easy access to meeting details. Anyone can join a meeting on Hangouts Meet, but some features are only available to G Suite paying customers. G Suite starts at $6 per user, per month with a free 14-day trial.
A newcomer on the block, Amazon Chime offers ease of use and cross-platform content sharing, chat rooms, and HD video conference calls. Chime meetings are scheduled and actually call the participants, who can join the meeting with one tap or postpone. Chime supports video calls with up to eight people, which can be managed via the on-screen roster of participants. Amazon Chime and its services are free of charge.