Though Webex is a dependable unified communications answer identified for its video conferencing software, assembly attendees should obtain the app to affix classes. It is a enormous inconvenience, particularly when internet hosting exterior contacts not utilizing the platform. Webex’s free plan solely has a 40-minute assembly length, and its limitless cloud storage is locked behind the highest-tier subscription package deal. These drawbacks compel corporations to hunt Webex alternate options.
Based mostly on our analysis, these are the highest platforms price contemplating:
- RingCentral: Greatest for sturdy, all-in-one enterprise communications
- Microsoft Groups: Excellent for budget-conscious, distant groups
- Zoom One: Stable selection for third-party integrations
- BlueJeans: Prime decide for its crystal-clear assembly audio high quality
- Google Meet: Greatest for big conferences
Greatest Webex Alternate options at a Look
If it’s good to revisit Webex’s pricing and options, learn our complete Webex overview. See one of the best use instances to find out if it’s price adopting in your operations or if another is best.
RingCentral: Greatest General for All-in-one Enterprise Communications
What We Appreciated
- Finish-to-end encryption
- Syncs with Google and Outlook calendars utilizing add-ons
- Massive assembly add-on accommodates as much as 500 contributors
The place It Falls Behind
- Lacks a free plan like Webex and different suppliers
- Costlier subscription plans
- Setup takes too lengthy
How It Compares to Webex
- RingCentral has a 99.999% uptime assure, whereas Webex solely has 99.99% availability.
- In contrast to Webex, RingCentral permits customers to affix conferences with out downloading the app.
- RingCentral affords a toll-free minute allowance in its subscription plans, whereas Webex doesn’t.
- Each suppliers supply end-to-end encryption for video conferences.
RingCentral is one of the best amongst Webex alternate options, offering a complete unified communications answer. It combines subtle voice calling, messaging, and video conferencing instruments in a single highly effective platform. Its cellphone system affords a beneficiant toll-free minute allowance, and its staff chat has a built-in activity administration system. Notably, its video conferences are powered by AI, making discussions extra handy and productive for customers.
Superior Assembly Insights mechanically generates assembly highlights and summaries after the session. A gathering abstract gives the transcript, whereas the highlights include recording reels that includes key moments of the dialogue. Assembly recordings include an inventory of synthetic intelligence (AI)-generated key phrases, serving to attendees simply check with particular subjects mentioned.
Sadly, RingCentral doesn’t have a free plan like different Webex rivals, though it has a 14-day free trial. Should you’re a solopreneur who prefers a free plan in your small enterprise operations, take into account Microsoft Groups and Zoom One. Maximize the important options included within the suppliers’ free variations.
RingCentral Month-to-month Pricing at a Look*
- Core: $30 per person for 100 video assembly contributors, AI assembly insights and reside transcription, whiteboard and annotations, and limitless video recording with one-year retention
- Superior: $35 per person for integrations with buyer relationship administration (CRM) and industry-specific apps, important enterprise analytics, and customized roles and permissions
- Final: $45 per person for limitless storage for recordsdata, messaging, and recordings and machine analytics and alerts
- Free trial: 14 days
*Save 33% by paying yearly. Quantity reductions for 50-plus customers can be found.
RingCentral Options
Activate RingCentral’s auto-follow characteristic to all the time be on the middle of your video thumbnail. (Supply: RingCentral)
- Auto-follow: The system’s synthetic intelligence detects a gathering participant’s motion and mechanically follows them to maintain the attendee completely seen on the middle of the video. Modify the magnification stage to your liking.
- Assembly chat obtain: RingCentral lets you obtain messages despatched throughout a conferencing session. After the assembly, you’ll get a TXT file containing the chats in your Downloads folder.
- Distant desktop management: Take management of one other assembly participant’s display to assist them of their presentation or repair software program points. Be aware that the participant should approve your request for a distant management to make use of this characteristic.
Microsoft Groups: Greatest for Finances-conscious Groups
What We Appreciated
- Respectable assembly capability and important video assembly options within the free model
- Visitor entry in on the spot messaging
- 250+ third-party integrations
The place It Falls Behind
- Much less versatile pricing, because it does not have a month-to-month billing choice
- Does not supply limitless storage like different suppliers
- Lacks voice calling options that Webex and RingCentral supply
How It Compares to Webex
- Microsoft Groups’ free model has a barely longer assembly length than Webex (60 minutes versus 40 minutes).
- Webex’s assembly participant capability within the entry-level paid plan is 200, whereas Microsoft Groups accommodates 300 attendees.
- Microsoft Groups includes a native polling software, whereas Webex makes use of the third-party app Slido.
- Closed captions in Webex are restricted to English, French, German, and Spanish. Microsoft Groups helps over 30 languages.
Microsoft Groups is essentially the most inexpensive amongst Webex alternate options listed right here, making it the best selection for budget-conscious groups. Whereas Webex’s month-to-month subscription plan begins at $14.50 per license, Microsoft Groups has a base-level package deal that prices $4 solely per person. The plan gives entry to conferences that final 30 hours and accommodate 300 attendees.
People be a part of conferences even with out an account and work collectively in actual time utilizing collaborative annotations. If it’s good to type smaller groups throughout the session, the paid plan lets you create as much as 50 breakout teams. The very best half about this platform is the entry to net variations of Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint in addition to cloud storage through OneDrive.
Whereas Microsoft Groups is an inexpensive selection, it lacks month-to-month billing preparations and reductions for quantity customers different Webex rivals supply. RingCentral has these choices, permitting companies to reply to adjustments in enterprise communication calls for.
Microsoft Groups Month-to-month Pricing at a Look*
- Free: 60-minute video conferences, 100 contributors, display sharing, English-only reside captions, and noise suppression
- Microsoft Groups Necessities: $4 per person for 30-hour video conferences, 300 contributors, assembly recordings and transcripts, and breakout rooms
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Fundamental: $6 per person for reside captions in 30-plus languages and collaborative annotations
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Customary: $12.50 per person for attendee registration pages, e-mail confirmations, and reporting
- Free trial: 30 days
*Pricing is for annual billing preparations. The supplier doesn’t supply a month-to-month billing choice.
Microsoft Groups Options
Activate Microsoft Groups’ front-row characteristic to see attendees’ video thumbnails whereas a display is shared. (Supply: Microsoft)
- Breakout room: Have smaller group discussions throughout brainstorming classes. Microsoft Groups helps as much as 50 breakout rooms.
- Loop part: It is a content material snippet despatched within the assembly chat, permitting staff members to pitch in concepts. Loop elements could also be bulleted lists, checklists, paragraphs, and tables.
- Entrance row: Throughout hybrid conferences the place an lively session is flashed on the tv monitor, the conferencing system usually shows the shared content material solely. Whenever you use Groups’ entrance row characteristic, the platform reveals the shared content material, the contributors, and the chat concurrently, letting you see attendees’ real-time reactions and messages because the presentation progresses.
Zoom One: Greatest for Third-party Integrations
What We Appreciated
- Free plan consists of reside streaming throughout platforms
- Simply navigable interface
- Superior name administration instruments, like name delegation, name monitoring, and limitless auto-attendants
The place It Falls Behind
- Quick assembly length within the free plan
- Poor video assembly recording high quality
- Digital backgrounds typically do not work even when there is a inexperienced display
How It Compares to Webex
- Zoom’s most assembly length is 30 hours, whereas Webex is 24 hours.
- Webex covers 56 nations for toll dial-in, whereas Zoom options 90 areas.
- Zoom permits customers to highlight a number of folks, whereas Webex already retired its “Focus” view.
- Each suppliers accommodate as much as 1,000 assembly contributors.
Zoom One is one of the best Webex various should you plan to attach your unified communications platform to varied enterprise instruments as a result of it has a wide selection of third-party integrations. Webex’s assembly answer works seamlessly with roughly 300 apps, whereas Zoom One has over 2,300 platforms in its conferences app market.
Join important enterprise platforms, like Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft Groups, to Zoom. Carry HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and different CRM apps into the assembly platform. If it’s good to lengthen its capabilities additional, use integration options like Pipedream, Zapier, and Make.
The draw back of utilizing Zoom One is the dysfunctional digital backgrounds. Even with a inexperienced display and correct lighting, backgrounds don’t work correctly. In distinction, different alternate options to Webex, like RingCentral, have a extra dependable customizable background characteristic, supporting inexperienced and blue screens.
Zoom One Month-to-month Pricing at a Look*
- Fundamental: Free for 40-minute video conferences, 100 contributors, three whiteboards, and native recording
- Professional: $15.99 per person for 30-hour conferences, 100 contributors, native and 5GB of cloud recording, and toll-based dial-in
- Enterprise: $19.99 per person for 300 contributors, recording transcripts, branding, and language interpretations
- Enterprise Plus: $25 per person for native and 10GB of cloud recording, translated captions, and name administration options, similar to limitless outbound calling, limitless auto-attendants, and computerized name distribution
- Enterprise: Customized pricing for native and limitless cloud recording, government enterprise evaluations, and Webinar 500
- Enterprise Plus: Customized pricing for 1,000 contributors
*Save as much as 21% by paying yearly.
Zoom One Options
Zoom permits customers to begin polls. (Supply: Zoom)
- Profile playing cards: Know extra in regards to the assembly contributors by referring to profile playing cards, which include their job titles, native time, and dealing areas. Hover over an attendee’s avatar and click on the three-dotted icon to seek out the “View Profile” choice.
- Gesture recognition: Zoom acknowledges hand gestures like thumbs up and raised arms and shows the digital response mechanically in a participant’s video thumbnail. This solely works when the hand gesture is carried out throughout the video body.
- Polls: Launch a survey for assembly contributors to maintain them engaged. Create single-choice or multiple-choice questions and obtain the ballot outcomes after the session.
BlueJeans: Greatest for Crystal-clear Assembly Audio High quality
What We Appreciated
- Limitless whiteboards within the free model
- Contains 47 nations in its toll dial-in protection
- Most variety of breakout rooms is 75, greater than RingCentral’s and Zoom One’s 50
The place It Falls Behind
- Solely accommodates 25 contributors within the free plan
- Third-party integrations are restricted to 50+ apps
- Not as standard as Zoom One and Microsoft Groups, so some customers aren’t aware of the options and interface
How It Compares to Webex
- Webex’s most assembly size is 24 hours. BlueJeans doesn’t put a cap on length, even within the free plan.
- Except for emails, BlueJeans sends assembly invites by textual content, whereas Webex doesn’t.
- Webex and BlueJeans supply apps for Home windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Each suppliers characteristic simultaneous interpretation.
BlueJeans is one of the best various to Webex should you prioritize superior-quality audio as a result of it makes use of Dolby Voice in video conferences. This answer has highly effective noise suppression, spatial audio profiling, and dynamic stage changes, filtering out pointless sounds, like barking canine, honking vehicles, or whirring development tools. That is particularly helpful for extremely cell staff who work in noisy environments, like cafes or within the automobile, whereas on the highway.
The very best half about BlueJeans is its limitless assembly length. It’s the one free Webex various listed right here that doesn’t put a cap on the assembly size. In case your staff commonly conducts lengthy classes, BlueJeans is a wonderful selection. Do observe, nonetheless, that the free plan solely hosts 25 contributors. Microsoft Groups, Zoom One, and Google Meet have a extra beneficiant participant capability of their free plans, accommodating 100 attendees.
BlueJeans Month-to-month Pricing at a Look*
- Fundamental: Free for limitless video assembly length, 25 contributors, cell display sharing, and quick messaging service (SMS) assembly invites
- Professional: $17.49 per person for 150 contributors, 25 hours of assembly recordings, cellphone dial-in numbers, and sensible assembly
- Enterprise: $19.99 per person for 300 contributors, limitless assembly recordings, automated closed captioning, and model customization
*Save as much as 20% by paying yearly.
BlueJeans Options
Use BlueJeans’ assembly highlights characteristic to mark important dialogue factors as motion gadgets. (Supply: BlueJeans)
- Ready room: Handle attendees’ entry to your conferences by making a ready room the place you may resolve who joins your classes. That is additionally helpful once you wish to meet organizers first in a huddle earlier than beginning a gathering with the remainder of the contributors.
- Protected driving mode: This mechanically retains the microphone and video muted and stopped for contributors in transit. This ensures they gained’t be distracted whereas driving and attending a gathering.
- Good conferences: Make discussions extra environment friendly by tagging assembly highlights as an motion merchandise, a call, or a brand new subject. Whenever you overview your notes later, it’s simpler to establish which of them to execute or revisit.
Google Meet: Greatest for Massive Conferences
What We Appreciated
- Easy, easy-to-use interface
- Video and audio preview display earlier than becoming a member of a gathering
- File and hyperlink sharing within the in-meeting chat
The place It Falls Behind
- System slows down once you share the display
- Integrations are restricted to Google merchandise
- Does not have superior options like simultaneous interpretations and branding configurations
How It Compares to Webex
- Google Meet is extra inexpensive than Webex, with a beginning subscription price of $7.20 per person, half of Webex’s $14.50 per-user month-to-month price.
- Google Meet’s free plan permits as much as 60 minutes of assembly length, whereas Webex solely has 40 minutes.
- Whereas Webex’s entry-level paid plan affords 10GB of cloud storage, Google Drive, Google Meet’s video recording repository, comes with 30GB of cloud storage.
- In contrast to Webex, Google Meet seamlessly integrates with content material collaboration instruments.
Google Meet is one of the best various to Webex should you’re after a big assembly participant capability. Much like the Webex answer, it accommodates a most of 1,000 attendees and 100 breakout classes. Customers are capable of maintain conferences for a most of 24 hours. Google Meet gives worldwide dial-in cellphone numbers for over 60 nations, enabling staff members situated abroad to hook up with conferences with out a trouble.
Notably, Google Meet can be one of the best free Webex various as a result of its free plan has beneficiant choices. For one, it gives an extended assembly length than Webex, 60 minutes versus 40. Whereas Webex solely permits native recording, Google Meet comes with 15GB of cloud storage. Because it’s a part of the Google Workspace ecosystem, it gives entry to workplace productiveness instruments, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Nevertheless, if you’d like superior video conferencing options, Google Meet is probably not one of the best Webex various for you. BlueJeans has extra subtle instruments for enhancing the assembly expertise, together with model customizations and simultaneous interpretations.
Google Meet Month-to-month Pricing at a Look*
- Necessities Starter: Free for 100 customers, 60-minute video conferences, 100 contributors, 15GB of cloud storage, and staff messaging
- Enterprise Starter: $7.20 per person for 24-hour video conferences, dial-in cellphone numbers, digital whiteboarding, and 30GB of cloud storage
- Enterprise Customary: $14.40 per person for 150 contributors, noise cancellation, assembly recordings, breakout rooms, and 2TB of cloud storage
- Enterprise Plus: $21.60 per person for 500 contributors, attendance monitoring, and 5TB of cloud storage
- Enterprise: Customized pricing for 1,000 contributors, in-domain reside streaming, and 5TB of cloud storage with the choice to request extra
- Free trial: 14 days
*The Enterprise Starter, Customary, and Plus plans’ subscription charges decrease to $6, $12, and $18 per person, respectively, once you pay yearly.
Google Meet Options
Use Google Meet’s picture-in-picture mode to multi-task whereas attending a gathering.
(Supply: Google)
- Image-in-picture: Multi-task whereas in a conferencing session by activating the picture-in-picture mode. This creates a compact model of the assembly interface that hovers over different opened pc applications.
- Translated captions: Make dialogues extra inclusive and comprehensible for staff members by utilizing the translated captions characteristic. Google Meet helps translation to and from these languages: Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese.
- Lock video: Hold contributors’ movies off throughout your session. Be aware that when this software is turned on, attendees aren’t capable of current their screens. You need to assign a participant as a co-host if they should display share.
How We Evaluated the Greatest Webex Alternate options
To evaluate one of the best various options to Webex, we thought-about every supplier’s subscription prices, video conferencing capabilities, usability, and buyer help. Our analysis additionally consists of our knowledgeable opinion on its worth for cash and recognition.
Learn the way we evaluated one of the best various options to Webex by clicking on the tabs under:
15% of General Rating
To find out affordability, we thought-about the price of the base-level subscription plan and in contrast it to the prevailing price out there. We checked the variety of accessible packages to see if the supplier caters to completely different funds necessities. We favored these with reductions for annual billing and bulk purchases.
25% of General Rating
The overall options we checked out have been uptime assure and desktop and cell display sharing. We gave extra factors to suppliers with video conferencing within the entry-level subscription plan.
20% of General Rating
The specialised options we checked have been assembly recording, simultaneous display sharing, and digital backgrounds. Increased factors got to suppliers with sturdy integrations.
10% of General Rating
We evaluated ease of use by figuring out the experience required to arrange and function the cellphone system. We additionally assessed if the suppliers have an intuitive interface.
10% of General Rating
The number of buyer communication channels was a part of our analysis. We gave extra factors to suppliers with e-mail, cellphone, and reside chat assist. We thought-about the hours these channels are lively and operational.
20% of General Rating
This consists of our analysis of the supplier’s standout options, worth for cash, and ease of use. We checked person rankings in third-party overview websites to gauge the platform’s recognition.
*Percentages of general rating
Incessantly Requested Questions (FAQs)
Sure, Zoom is best than Webex if you’d like user-friendliness and superior unified communications. Its simple, intuitive platform permits staff members to affix conferences with out downloading an app. Sturdy name administration instruments, like shared line look and name monitoring, can be found on its Enterprise Plus plan at solely $25 per person, per 30 days.
There’s a slight studying curve in utilizing Webex. Important name administration options, similar to name queueing and name recording, are locked behind its costliest subscription plan with customized pricing.
Our high various answer to Webex, RingCentral, has varied video assembly security measures, together with end-to-end encryption, assembly lock and password, ready room, file and display sharing restrictions, and hidden assembly ID. Its Licensed Apps Supervisor permits customers to watch the RingCentral apps built-in into the platform.
The supplier complies with varied international information safety requirements, such because the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Common Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR), Fee Card Trade Knowledge Safety Customary (PCI-DSS), and Service Group Management Sort 2 and three (SOC2 and SOC3).
BlueJeans’ free model comes with limitless video assembly length. Nevertheless, it solely permits a most of 25 attendees in a single session.
Backside Line
The very best various options to Webex enable customers to affix conferences with out downloading an app or registering for an account. They’ve superior instruments that make digital discussions extra productive. Furthermore, they provide different beneficial communication options, similar to name administration and staff chat.
RingCentral is our high suggestion among the many greatest alternate options, because it’s a very unified communications answer, serving to companies collaborate through cellphone, messaging, and video. It permits customers to entry conferences straight from their browsers, not needing the app. Its built-in synthetic intelligence (AI) software makes it simpler to select up assembly highlights and motion factors. Attempt the platform for 14 days, risk-free.
