Google Meets

Established in 2017 as Hangouts and rebranded in 2020, primarily due to Covid as Google Meets boasts over 300M users monthly. It is still not the most used platform for online meetings, which are Zoom and Microsoft Teams, but it is still in the top three as a very utilized platform.

It is part of a growing offering of “Google Workspace” offering a strong offer for education and hybrid learning. It has become the default choice for many schools and universities looking for flexible models.

The advantages that Google Meets offers to its users are: ease of use, seamless collaboration with Google Docs, Slides, Drive, etc., Security by offering encrypted meetings, reliable performance offering noise cancellation (great for coffee shops), and cost-effective as it offers a free version.

The disadvantages are: limited breakout rooms compared to Zoom, control of moderator is less known as compared to competitors and if advanced features for moderator are required it often requires a paid Workspace tiers, and it is viewed as a “basic” online meeting platform when considering usage for large corporations.

To compare directly with its main competitors the following features it lacks in comparison to Zoom are: Zoom can offer more breakout rooms, interactive tools, for example, polls, virtual backgrounds, etc., and Zoom is better for large webinars and events. For Microsoft Teams, Google is not as useful as compared to Microsoft Teams due to Teams strong integration with Microsoft 365, filed management and more suited to larger structured organizations.

Google does succeed vs. Zoom is that it is a faster setup, no downloads are required and better integration with Google Classroom. It is better then Microsoft Teams as Google Meets offers a simpler interface, lower cognitive load for learners and mre intuitive for short meetings and teaching sessions.

In conclusion, if an individual, organization, and school are seeking simplicity, accessibility, and seamless classroom integration Google Meet is a great choice, specifically for hybrid teaching. But overall Zoom can be the better choice currently for highly interactive and/or large scale events. In anything with competition this will not remain static and will change with time and the always available opportunity for new competitors to enter the market as well.