Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons)
Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons). In the ever evolving business world, remote working and virtual collaboration have become essential. Having reliable collaboration tools is essential to sustaining operations and improving productivity. Take business meetings, conduct training sessions, do remote interviews, and more with greater flexibility and convenience.
Microsoft Teams and Zoom are two of the most popular video conferencing platforms available right now. They come with lots of features and benefits ideal for remote working. Use these tools to hold virtual meetings, conferences, exhibits, and more. Therefore, knowing which tool works best for you is crucial. This article compares both platforms in depth so you choose the most suitable platform for your needs.
Shall we start with Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference?
What is Microsoft Teams and How Does it Work?
Microsoft Teams is a collaborative work platform that allows users to communicate and collaborate with one another in real time. Teams offers a range of features, including video and audio conferencing, file sharing, storage, and team spaces for chats, project management. Additionally, the platform incorporates many third party plugins that are even more helpful when it comes to completing projects. Using the technology of Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite, users easily access their shared documents across any device, as long as they have an internet connection. Ultimately, Microsoft Teams allows organizations to work together efficiently no matter where they are located on the globe.
Features of Microsoft Teams
Here are some of the features that make Microsoft Teams a powerful online collaboration platform:
Seamless Integration Within the Microsoft Ecosystem
Integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft products such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, File Explorer, and Azure to enhance productivity. This integration allows you to perform multiple actions such as data storage, team creation, and more. Integration of multiple applications creates an unnatural user experience.
Breakout Booms
Microsoft Teams a Breakout Rooms feature for small meeting rooms that stem from a larger meeting. Each Breakout Room has standard meeting features like video feeds, participant audio, screen sharing capabilities and a chat pane. This room enables smaller teams to collaborate independently while also being a part of the larger meeting.
The organizers create small breakout teams and assign participants to the smaller rooms for more targeted discussions. Additionally, the organizer set time limits for breakout sessions, send announcements and enter and leave different breakout rooms.
Conversation Channels
Microsoft Teams allows users to dedicate chat channels to specific topics. This helps to keep messaging relevant and solve problems quicker. Separating channels by topic saves time by reducing the clutter and making it easier to find what you are looking for.
Use the @mention button in other channels to invite people to the conversation. Conversations differ from chats in that everyone in the channel view them. Files that members share in the conversation are viewed by going to the Files tab.
Whiteboards
All Microsoft Teams meetings have access to a whiteboard. Also integrates with Microsoft’s Whiteboard application, enabling meeting participants to work together on a virtual whiteboard in real time. In both applications, Team members add images, texts, notes, diagrams, sketches, and more to a whiteboard.
With advanced whiteboard capabilities such as inserting docs and images, inking tool enhancements, reaction icons, and more than 40 new templates. Also, the Whiteboard sketching has different pen colours and graph options for visual collaboration. The Whiteboard tab is accessible before or after a meeting. If you don’t have a touchscreen device or pen access, you contribute using the typed text.
Live Transcription
Teams provides text transcripts of their recorded meetings. Besides, it has an AI driven captioning feature that displays what participants say in real time. The live transcription functionality combines both features, providing a Transcript sidebar that displays all that has been said in a meeting, complete with speaker attribution.
Live transcriptions help participants grasp conversations easily. Comes in handy especially for people with hearing difficulties or those who are not fluent in the language used in the meeting. And if you arrive late to a meeting or are momentarily distracted, you catch up by scrolling back via the Transcript sidebar. Invitees who missed the meeting or participants who want to review the meeting access the full transcript after the meeting is over.
Security
Desiged with the best cyber security standards. The software has ISO 27001 and SOC 1/SOC 2 certifications. It also has integrated mobile device management to help safeguard data.
Uses a business wide multi factor authentication, single sign on, and data encryption to secure your organization’s information. Backup feature helps store data.
Pros of Microsoft Teams
- Integrates with all Microsoft tools into a single chat platform.
- Highly affordable with no additional charges for Microsoft 365 users.
- Useful third party chat additions such as Trello, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
- Smooth file search, backup, and collaboration capabilities.
- Useful bots that help you with the mundane, everyday tasks.
Cons of Microsoft Teams
- Consumes lots of system resources.
- The number of channels you create is limited to 200 public and 30 private channels per team, which may not be enough for big organizations.
- Does not allow users to edit or delete messages sent in the chat.
Up next with Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference? we have Zoom app.
What is Zoom and How Does it Work?
Zoom is a cloud based video conferencing platform that lets you meet with others virtually. With Zoom, you hold virtual audio or video calls seamlessly. Provides one on one chat sessions that develops into training sessions, group calls, and webinars for external and internal audiences.
The platform also allows global video meetings of up to 1000 participants and a maximum of 49 on screen videos. Free tier provides users unlimited one on one meetings but restricts group sessions to 40 minutes and 100 members.
Features of Zoom
HD Video and Audio
High quality video and audio calls in HD. Provides participants with high quality video streams and smooth audio. Besides, it allows users to adjust the picture quality according to the stability of your internet connection.
Instant Messages
Chat feature allows you to send and receive instant messages within the application and during meetings. Useful in meetings for participants who want to communicate without interrupting the presenter. Either send messages to the entire audience or to select members independently.
Call in
Call in to join a Zoom meeting with an ordinary phone using audio conferencing or teleconferencing. The call features allow users to call in using their phone, making it easier for participants on the go. This feature also comes in handy when you don’t have a speaker or microphone on your device. It also helps when you can’t connect to the internet for VoIP and video, or you don’t have access to data on your phone.
Immersive View
Immersive view lets you pull all meeting participants into one virtual background. This enables everyone to discuss and collaborate within a cohesive virtual space. The immersive view feature enables you to create a virtual meeting room experience that fits the context of your meeting. However, you only have a maximum of 25 participants in an immersive meeting environment.
Live Closed Captions
In the remote working environment, it is important to ensure that your meetings are accessible. Participants who may not be fluent in the language being spoken rely on the live transcription to keep up the discussion and contribute to the meeting effortlessly. Closed captions in online meetings also help compensate for poor audio quality and improve information retention.
Security
To ensure you don’t compromise the privacy of your meetings, Zoom provides several security features. For instance, you close the door when discussing sensitive information during an in person meeting. Zoom also uses end to end encryption to prevent unauthorized users from breaching your confidentiality. Encryption measures guarantee that messages and videos between you and your attendees remain private.
Cloud Transcript Recording
Use the audio transcript option to automatically transcribe the audio from meetings you recorded to the cloud. Once Zoom processes the transcript, it will appear as an individual .vtt text file in your recorded meetings list. This feature also lets you display the transcript within the video, just like cold captioning.
Participants review and edit the transcript for grammar and punctuation. Additionally, the transcripts have timestamps to easily locate the original recording and transcript.
Pros of Zoom
- Supports large audiences and is capable of hosting very large online conferences.
- Makes hosting meetings easier by enabling you to stream any webinar or meeting on facebook.
- Although zoom is a subscription service, it has a free tier that is great for new and small businesses.
- Scalable for small, medium, and large scale businesses.
- Fully compatible with google calendar support.
- Very intuitive and easy to use.
- Record those sessions for a review.
Cons of Zoom
- Too many addons and subscriptions which increase the cost of using the software.
- Does not have a comment control feature which means hosts can’t delete inappropriate comments instantly.
- Requires stable internet connection to use.
Main Differences Between Microsoft Teams and Zoom
Now that we have looked into the main features of both Microsoft Teams and Zoom, here is a comparison guide of Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference?
1. Video Quality
Teams uses an AI based video optimization tool that adjusts the video quality according to your network quality. It also provides full HD 1080p support for most formats ( Except live events) and bandwidth constraints for high quality video viewing.
Zoom’s default video quality for video chats is 720p. But if you upgrade to the Zoom Enterprise plan or Zoom Business, you adjust the video quality from the default 720p to 1080p.
2. Chat Systems
Microsoft Teams has a wide range of chat functionalities, such as:
- Individual Chats.
- Group Chat.
- Chat in a Channel: Use channels in your organization to communicate with your team. Start conversations through the “post” tab. Team members reply under that specific post, creating a threaded post.
- Chat in a Meeting: Use the chat in real time during live meetings. Share links to documents. Add important meeting notes and much more.
In Zoom, you only conduct both groups or one on one chats during a Zoom meeting. Zoom’s chat feature lets you note the meeting minutes, share files, and send private messages to participants during a group video. Zoom allows its hosts to manage the chat function by disabling the chat completely during group meetings. However, you only access the chat feature during a video call. You have to use Zoom Chat to send messages and connect to individuals, groups, and channels outside of a meeting.
3. Participant Limits
The free version of Microsoft Teams allows you to create a group of up to 100 participants. The basic paid plan supports a session of up to 300 participants. Also get a Microsoft Office account that allows you to add 20,000 to listen-only attendees. Alternatively, you opt for Live events that accommodate 10,000 participants.
Free plan only supports 100 participants for every 40-minute group meeting. But the Zoom Enterprise plan lets you add a maximum of 500 attendees. If you run a larger organization, you increase the number of participants by buying an add-on.
4. User Interface
The user interface determines the ease of use of an application or software. In MS Teams, you have to navigate across multiple features like teams, different channels, the MS office environment, and more. Familiarizing yourself with the application and its numerous collaboration features could take longer.
On the other hand, Zoom has a very simple and user friendly UI. The platform embeds all its extra features within the settings, freeing up space on the home screen for the important features. The home screen also employs a visual hierarchy in color, size, and position. Even users with very little technical skill can access and use Zoom.
5. Room Systems
In Microsoft Teams, you create or join a room conveniently with a few clicks. Microsoft Teams also allows you to add a channel for each department in your organization, providing them with a separate space to work and host exclusive group meetings. The Teams paid account accommodates around 300 people for each session and lets you broadcast the session to 10,000 people at a time.
In Teams, you schedule individual and group meetings on the calendar or hold an impromptu one. The platform uploads all your meeting records to your OneDrive or SharePoint accounts.
Like Teams, Zoom lets you assign a Zoom room to each virtual team in your organization. However, users must wait in a waiting room until the host assigns them a breakout room. Unlike Teams, the only way to schedule a meeting is by integrating Zoom with default calendars like Microsoft Outlook and Google calendar. Zoom also lets users assign hosts and co hosts, making it easier to host group meetings.
6. Integrations
Last feature we comparing between Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference? are integrations. Microsoft Teams supports integration with the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Skype, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Stream. All the basic Microsoft Office Integrations are accessible to free users too. Teams also integrates with third party tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Zapier, Mail Clark, Github, and ClickUp.
Thank you for reading Microsoft Teams vs Zoom – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons). We will conclude this article now.
Microsoft Teams vs Zoom - What's the Difference ? (Pros and Cons)
This is a candid review of both Microsoft Teams and Zoom. With these platforms, you easily collaborate the workplace through virtual communications. Ultimately, the decision of which video conferencing tool to use comes down to individual preference. If you’re looking for a more versatile solution that integrates with other Microsoft products, then Teams is the way to go. Because of its extensive integration with Microsoft tools, MS Teams is a great choice if you use the Microsoft ecosystem
However, if you’re after a simple and user friendly interface, then Zoom is hard to beat. Besides, Zoom still provides seamless integrations just like Teams. Whichever platform you decide to use, there’s no doubt that video conferencing is here to stay. Therefore, it’s best to familiarize yourself with both options and make the best decision for your team.
