Still the easiest way to start a video meeting — but the paid tiers now compete harder than ever with Teams and Meet.
Zoom Video Communications is a San Jose-based collaboration company founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco Webex engineering lead. The company went public on NASDAQ in April 2019 under the ticker ZM, and grew into one of the defining software products of the COVID-19 era — at peak in April 2020 the company reported more than 300 million daily meeting participants.
What started as a video meeting app has quietly become a full collaboration platform. The current product line spans Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, Zoom Rooms (hardware), Zoom Webinars, Zoom Events, Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Workplace (the new bundle name introduced in 2023), and an AI layer called Zoom AI Companion. That last one is doing most of the heavy lifting in Zoom's 2026 marketing.
The product is still best understood as "the video meeting that your non-technical relative can join." That hasn't changed. A first-time guest can paste a zoom.us/j/... link into Chrome and be on camera in under 30 seconds, no account or download required. Microsoft Teams and Google Meet have both made this easier over the years, but neither matches Zoom's join-friction in independent UX testing.
Included on paid plans at no extra cost. Generates meeting summaries, action items, and follow-up drafts. New in 2024–2025: live AI avatars (Digital Twin) and smart chaptering of cloud recordings. Powered by Zoom's own LLM stack and partner models.
Cloud recordings are auto-chaptered with summary cards, so viewers can jump to the moment a decision was made. Available on Business and above.
Cloud PBX that replaces a traditional phone system, with global coverage in 40+ countries. Increasingly the reason larger orgs buy Zoom instead of just Meetings.
Conference room hardware ecosystem with native support for Logitech, Poly, Neat, and Apple TV-based setups. Wireless sharing via AirPlay and Miracast.
Webinars support up to 100,000 view-only attendees on Enterprise; Events handles multi-session conferences with ticketing, sponsor booths, and networking lounges.
Available since 2020 with the E2EE upgrade, and required for HIPAA-eligible healthcare workflows. Hosts can choose per-meeting whether to enable it.
Zoom's pricing has shifted several times since 2022. The current consumer/team lineup, as listed on the Zoom site, is roughly as follows. Always confirm on zoom.us/pricing before you buy.
| Plan | Price (per host/month, annual) | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 participants, 40-min group cap, unlimited 1:1 |
| Pro | ~$15.99 | 100 participants, 30-hour group cap, cloud recording |
| Business | ~$22.99 | 300 participants, branded meetings, Smart Recording |
| Business Plus | ~$22.99+ (with extras) | Up to 1,000 participants, multi-site, translations |
| Enterprise | Custom | Up to 1,000+, unlimited recording, dedicated support |
The free tier is the headline offer. It's the only major platform that still lets you host a 100-person meeting without paying — Teams and Meet cap free calls at 100 and 100 respectively, but only Google Meet allows longer group durations for free (up to 60 minutes on personal accounts as of 2025). For anything beyond a quick sync, the 40-minute cap pushes most teams to Pro within a quarter.
| Feature | Zoom | Microsoft Teams | Google Meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free group meeting length | 40 minutes | 60 minutes (up to 100) | 60 minutes |
| Paid entry price | ~$15.99/host/mo | Included with M365 E3 | Included with Workspace |
| AI summary included | Yes (AI Companion) | Copilot (extra $30/user/mo) | Gemini (Workspace add-on) |
| Max participants (paid) | 1,000+ | 1,000 (1,000+ with EE) | 500 |
| Join via browser without app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Standalone meeting quality | Microsoft 365 shops | Google Workspace shops |
Where Teams wins: if you already pay for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, you get Teams Meetings included, which makes the standalone Zoom Pro tier feel expensive. Where Google Meet wins: if your team lives in Gmail and Calendar, the integration is seamless and the price is baked in. Where Zoom wins: cross-company meetings, sales demos, and any workflow where the person on the other end isn't on your stack.
Go to zoom.us/signup and register with an email. The free tier activates immediately and is enough to host up to 100-person meetings capped at 40 minutes.
The browser version works, but the desktop app unlocks virtual backgrounds, Studio Effects, and dual-monitor support. Mobile apps are available for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.
Click Schedule, set a date, and copy the join link. You can add it to Google Calendar or Outlook with one click. Calendar add-ins let guests join without leaving their inbox.
In Settings → AI Companion, enable meeting summaries and smart recording chapters. Available on Pro and above, with admin controls on Business tiers.
Once your team is regularly timing out, upgrade to Pro (~ $15.99/host/month, verify current price) for 30-hour group meetings and cloud recording.
Yes. Zoom Free supports 100 participants, 40-minute group meetings, and unlimited 1:1 meetings. Cloud recording and AI Companion summaries are not included — those require Pro or higher.
Zoom has rebuilt its security posture since 2020. End-to-end encryption is available, passcodes and waiting rooms are now default-on, and the company publishes a SOC 2 Type II report plus ISO 27001 and 27017/27018 certifications. No major breach has been publicly reported since 2020.
The Pro tier lists around $15.99 per host per month billed annually. Business and Business Plus sit around $22.99 per host per month. Enterprise is quote-based. Always verify on the official pricing page, as Zoom revises rates periodically.
For pure meeting UX and cross-company calls, Zoom is better. For orgs already paying for Microsoft 365, Teams is included and integrates deeper with Outlook, Word, and SharePoint. The decision usually comes down to which productivity suite your team already runs on.
Zoom's default policy is that customer audio, video, and chat data is not used to train AI models. AI Companion is opt-in for hosts, and the company has published documentation clarifying that customer content is not retained for model training.
Yes. The web client at zoom.us/wc supports the full meeting experience in modern Chromium browsers, including virtual backgrounds. Some features (Studio Effects, dual-monitor) are desktop-only.
Zoom has a Linux client (x86_64 and ARM) and a Progressive Web App for ChromeOS. Both are officially supported and updated quarterly.
Zoom in 2026 is the rare incumbent that has actually earned its position back. The free tier is still the most generous, the meeting UX is still the fastest, and the decision to bundle AI Companion into paid plans at no extra cost was the smartest pricing move Zoom has made in five years. The only real reason not to buy is if you're already deep in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — in which case you have Teams or Meet baked in, and the marginal value of switching rarely justifies the cost.
Spin up a free Zoom account in under a minute and host your first 100-person meeting today — no credit card required. Upgrade to Pro only when you need longer group meetings or AI summaries.
Get started with Zoom →Teams with remote and in-office staff rely on Zoom for consistent video meetings, persistent chat, and shared documents, ensuring all members stay connected and productive regardless of location.
Sales teams use Zoom for client pitches and demos, while marketers host webinars. AI Companion helps summarize calls, extract action items, and create follow-up content, improving conversion workflows.
Support teams leverage Zoom Contact Center and Virtual Agent for omnichannel customer interactions. This provides a unified platform for managing calls, chat, and self-service, enhancing response times.
Quarterly access to product leadership.
Bonus credits redeemable on partner tooling.
We re-verify the offer every quarter so it never goes stale.
Hit the button on this page — opens the partner site in a new tab.
Check your investor or accelerator benefits portal for the Zoom partner code. Y Combinator, Sequoia, and most Tier 1 VCs have codes available.
Renewals stay at the same rate — verified by us, not the vendor.
| Feature | Zoom |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0/mo |
| Annual discount | Up to 25% |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Setup time | < 1 hour |
| Best for | Founders |
“Reliable and well-adopted — the default choice for most organisations”
“AI Companion meeting summaries save 20 minutes of note-taking per call”
“Most reliable video platform for large training sessions”
