Team Chat & Video Meetings

Zoom

Reliable, easy video meetings with team chat, webinars, and AI notes.

4.6· 14,636 reviews· via CapterraFounded 2011 · San Jose, CA

What is Zoom?

Zoom is a video communications platform offering meetings, webinars, team chat, and AI-assisted notes. Known for reliability and ease of use, it serves everyone from individuals to large enterprises and has expanded into a broader collaboration suite.

Best known for: reliable, easy-to-use video meetings at massive scale

Key features

HD video meetings
Webinars and large events
Team chat and channels
AI Companion notes and summaries
Cloud recording and transcription
Extensive app integrations

Who Zoom is best for

External client meetings
Webinars and large sessions
Cross-platform video reliability

Ideal team: Any team that runs frequent external or client-facing video calls.

Zoom pricing

Basic

40-min group limit
100 participants
Team chat

Popular

Pro

$14.16/per user / mo

30-hour meetings
5GB cloud recording
AI Companion

Business

$18.33/per user / mo

300 participants
SSO and managed domains
Company branding

Costs to watch before you commit

Large Meetings, Webinars, and phone are separate paid add-ons
Cloud recording storage fills quickly and costs extra
Lowest prices require annual billing

Zoom pros and cons

Pros

The most reliable video call in the category, and reliability is the entire product when a client is on the line
4.6 from 14,636 reviews, one of the largest and strongest evidence bases in business software
Works for external participants without an account, a download argument, or a permissions problem
The free tier is genuinely usable for one-to-one calls and short group meetings
Universally familiar, so nobody has to be taught how to join
Broad hardware and room-system support, plus deep integration coverage

Cons

The 40-minute cap on free group meetings is the whole free-plan limitation and it lands mid-conversation
Large Meetings, Webinars, and Zoom Phone are separate paid add-ons rather than tier upgrades
Cloud recording storage fills faster than expected and costs extra once it does
Advertised rates require annual billing
Overlaps heavily with Microsoft Teams or Google Meet if you already pay for either
Feature sprawl into chat, whiteboard, docs, and email that few teams use and none chose it for

Zoom review: a closer look

What Zoom is

Zoom is a video meeting platform that has become the default for external calls in most industries, with team chat, whiteboarding, AI meeting summaries, webinars, and a phone system layered around the core product. Its position was earned on one thing: calls connect, stay connected, and work for the person on the other end regardless of their setup. With 14,636 reviews at 4.6 it has one of the largest bodies of evidence behind it of any tool we cover.

The reason to pay for Zoom is the person you are calling

This is the argument that decides it, and it has little to do with features. Internal meetings run fine on whatever your company already owns. The call that matters is the one with a client, a prospect, a candidate, or a supplier, where the other person is on an unfamiliar network with an unknown browser and no appetite for troubleshooting. Zoom is the platform most likely to just work for them, and the one they are most likely to have used before. For a small business, a call that fails to start with a prospect on it costs more than a year of subscription. That is the whole case, and it is why businesses that already pay for Teams or Meet still keep Zoom for outside calls.

The 40-minute cap is a deliberate, effective limit

Zoom's free plan allows unlimited one-to-one calls but caps group meetings at 40 minutes. That number is chosen carefully: it is long enough to be genuinely useful and short enough that any real meeting hits it. The interruption arrives at the worst possible moment, everyone rejoins, and the professional impression is spent. If your group calls are internal standups, free is fine indefinitely. If they involve anyone outside the company, treat the free plan as unsuitable rather than economical, because the failure mode is public.

What is not in the price

Zoom's tiers cover meetings, and several things people assume are included are sold separately. Large Meetings, for audiences beyond the plan's participant cap, is an add-on. Webinars, which are a different product from meetings, are an add-on. Zoom Phone is an entirely separate purchase that we cover as its own entry. Cloud recording storage is included in a modest allowance that fills quickly for a team recording regularly, and more costs extra. None of this is hidden, but it does mean the advertised per-user rate describes a business that holds ordinary meetings and records occasionally. Anyone running webinars or large sessions should price those add-ons before comparing Zoom against a competitor that bundles them.

How it compares

Against Microsoft Teams, Teams is effectively free if you already pay for Microsoft 365 and is stronger for internal collaboration; it is weaker for external guests, which is exactly where Zoom wins. Against Google Meet, the same logic applies inside Google Workspace, with Meet simpler and less capable at scale. Against Webex, Webex competes hardest in regulated enterprises. Against Whereby, that is lighter and browser-first for embedded or client-facing calls. Against GoTo Meeting, that is a long-standing alternative with a smaller following. The honest summary: if you already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you have a meeting tool, and the question is only whether external calls justify a second one.

Who should use Zoom?

A good fit

Zoom fits any business of roughly 1 to 500 whose revenue involves calls with people outside the company: agencies, consultancies, professional services, recruiters, sales teams, and anyone running client sessions. It is the strongest choice where a failed connection has a commercial cost, and where the other participant's experience matters more than your own internal convenience.

Look elsewhere if…

Teams already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace should check what Teams or Meet already covers before adding a second subscription, since for internal meetings the answer is usually everything. Businesses running regular webinars should price that add-on rather than assuming a meeting plan includes it. Anyone needing a business phone system should look at Zoom Phone or a dedicated VoIP provider as a separate decision. And teams whose calls are entirely internal will struggle to justify the cost.

The verdict

4.6/ 5 · Capterra rating

Zoom is the default for external video calls and deserves to be. Its reliability advantage is unglamorous, hard to demonstrate on a feature comparison, and worth paying for the first time a prospect joins without incident on a bad hotel connection. Two things to settle before buying. If you already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you own a meeting tool, so the real question is whether outside calls warrant a second one, and for client-facing businesses the answer is usually yes. And the per-user price covers meetings only: webinars, large meetings, and phone are separate purchases, so price what you will actually run rather than the headline.