Choosing video conferencing software takes more than finding an app that can put faces in a grid. The right choice depends on whether you are meeting with clients, collaborating with coworkers, facilitating workshops, or discussing sensitive information.
This guide focuses on meetings and collaborative calls. If you need registration pages, attendee broadcasts, or automated event follow-up, see my guide to the best webinar tools instead.
Contents
- Best video conferencing software by use case
- Business video conferencing suites
- Client meetings and browser-based conferencing
- Workshops and facilitated sessions
- Private and open-source video conferencing
- How to choose video conferencing software
Best Video Conferencing Software by Use Case
- Zoom: Best all-around choice for external and internal meetings
- Google Meet: Best for teams using Google Workspace
- Microsoft Teams: Best for organizations using Microsoft 365
- Cisco Webex: Best for enterprise administration and hybrid meeting rooms
- Vectera: Best for consultants and client meetings
- Whereby: Best for simple browser-based meeting rooms
- Zoho Meeting: Best for businesses using Zoho
- GoTo Meeting: Best for conventional business conferencing and dial-in access
- Butter: Best for workshops, training, and facilitated sessions
- Jitsi Meet: Best open-source option
- Proton Meet: Best for end-to-end encrypted business calls
Business Video Conferencing Suites
Zoom
Best for: Businesses that want a familiar platform for both internal and external meetings.
Zoom remains the easiest general recommendation when guests may come from different companies and use different technology. It covers scheduled and instant meetings, screen sharing, breakout rooms, captions, whiteboards, recordings, continuous meeting chat, and AI-assisted summaries on eligible plans.
The broader Zoom Workplace suite also connects meetings with team chat, scheduling, documents, and other collaboration tools. That makes it more capable than a simple calling app, although companies that already pay for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 should check what they already have before adding another subscription.
Google Meet
Best for: Teams whose calendars, email, and documents already live in Google Workspace.
Google Meet is built into the Google ecosystem. You can schedule from Calendar, start calls from Gmail, collaborate in Docs, and let guests join through a browser. Depending on the plan, Google also offers recordings, transcripts, translated captions, polls, breakout rooms, and Gemini-assisted notes.
Its biggest advantage is convenience. If your team already works in Google Workspace, Meet reduces account switching and keeps invitations, files, and follow-up close to the rest of your work. It is less compelling if your company needs a separate client-meeting workflow with branded rooms, appointment payments, or persistent client resources.
Microsoft Teams
Best for: Organizations that use Microsoft 365 and want meetings connected to ongoing teamwork.
Microsoft Teams combines video meetings with channels, chat, file collaboration, calendars, and Microsoft 365 apps. It supports screen sharing, breakout rooms, whiteboards, recordings, captions, webinars, and meeting recaps, with some capabilities tied to specific licenses.
Teams makes the most sense when a meeting is one part of a longer project. The conversation, files, and follow-up can remain in the same team or channel after the call ends. External guests can join, but the experience is usually most natural for organizations already standardized on Microsoft accounts and administration.
Cisco Webex
Best for: Enterprises that need centralized administration, calling, and conference-room support.
Webex Meetings includes video calls, screen sharing, messaging, whiteboards, captions, breakout sessions, recordings, and AI-assisted meeting recaps. Cisco also connects the software to business calling and dedicated room devices, which is useful for companies running a mix of remote, office, and conference-room meetings.
Webex deserves a closer look when IT management, device deployment, and enterprise controls carry more weight than a minimal interface. A smaller company that only needs quick browser meetings may find a lighter platform easier to manage.
Client Meetings and Browser-Based Conferencing
Vectera
Best for: Consultants, coaches, agencies, and other businesses that meet with clients.
Vectera is designed around the client relationship, not just the call. You can create branded meeting rooms that remain available between appointments, schedule meetings, share screens, use whiteboards, annotate documents, co-browse websites, exchange files, and keep notes and chat history connected to the room.
That persistent-room model is why Vectera is the closest current replacement for MeetFox. It also supports custom domains and integrations for customer records, documents, and payments. If you want every client to return to one organized space instead of receiving a fresh generic meeting link each time, start here.
Whereby
Best for: Simple guest meetings that should open in a browser without an account or download.
Whereby gives hosts reusable room links and lets guests enter from a supported browser. It includes screen sharing, chat, file sharing, room customization, a collaborative whiteboard, and transcripts on eligible plans. The company also offers an embedded video API for businesses that want calls inside their own product.
Whereby is a good fit when reducing guest setup is the priority. Its room-based approach works well for interviews, support calls, sales conversations, and recurring client meetings. Companies needing deep office-suite collaboration or complex enterprise meeting-room hardware may be better served by one of the larger suites.
Zoho Meeting
Best for: Small and midsize businesses using Zoho apps.
Zoho Meeting covers browser-based video meetings, screen sharing, whiteboards, file sharing, chat, recording, transcripts, and meeting notes. It connects naturally with Zoho Calendar, CRM, Projects, Bookings, and other products in the company’s business suite.
This is an appealing option if you want meetings tied to customer records, appointments, and team workflows without buying into a separate collaboration ecosystem. Zoho Meeting also supports webinars, but use this guide for its meeting capabilities and compare its event tools separately if registration and broadcasting are your main requirements.
GoTo Meeting
Best for: Businesses that value conventional web conferencing, phone audio, and centralized administration.
GoTo Meeting supports browser joining, HD video, screen sharing, breakout rooms, drawing tools, chat, cloud recordings, transcripts, mobile meetings, and telephone audio. It also includes meeting locks, single sign-on, administrative controls, and integrations with common business apps.
It is a practical choice for companies that regularly include callers by phone or already use other GoTo communication products. For a new small team with no existing GoTo setup, Zoom, Meet, or Whereby may offer a more familiar starting point.
Workshops and Facilitated Sessions
Butter
Best for: Facilitators running workshops, training, cohort programs, and interactive team sessions.
Butter combines video with an agenda planner, reusable templates, polls, flashcards, breakout rooms, reactions, screen sharing, collaborative tools, and session recaps. Facilitators can prepare the flow before the call and place activities inside the session instead of sending participants across a collection of tabs.
Choose Butter when participation is the point of the meeting. It is more specialized than Zoom or Google Meet for a routine status call, but far better suited to a workshop where the host needs to guide exercises, manage energy, capture feedback, and share outcomes afterward.
Private and Open-Source Video Conferencing
Jitsi Meet
Best for: People who want open-source video conferencing with a public service and a self-hosting option.
Jitsi Meet is open-source software for video calls, screen sharing, chat, custom meeting URLs, and collaborative document editing. You can try the public meet.jit.si service without creating an account, or deploy your own instance when you need more control over hosting and configuration.
Jitsi is especially useful for technical teams, community projects, and organizations that prefer open infrastructure. Self-hosting is not a shortcut: someone still needs to secure, monitor, update, and scale the deployment. Teams without that expertise should use a managed service.
Proton Meet
Best for: Sensitive business and personal calls that require end-to-end encryption by default.
Proton Meet protects meeting audio, video, screen shares, and chat with end-to-end encryption. Hosts and guests can create or join browser-based meetings without installing an app, and invitees do not need a Proton account. It also connects with Proton Calendar appointment scheduling for businesses using Proton’s wider workspace.
Proton Meet is newer than the established conferencing suites, so review its current collaboration, administration, and device support against your requirements. Its clearest advantage is privacy: even Proton cannot access the contents of an encrypted meeting.
How to Choose Video Conferencing Software
Start with the people joining your calls. Internal teams can usually benefit from the platform attached to their existing calendar and document suite. Client-facing businesses should give more weight to browser access, branded rooms, scheduling, payments, and the experience of a guest who does not have an account.
Then test the parts that product pages cannot answer for you:
- Guest experience: Ask someone outside your company to join from a browser and a phone.
- Call quality: Test typical home, office, and mobile connections rather than relying on a perfect network.
- Collaboration: Confirm that screen sharing, whiteboards, breakouts, files, and follow-up work the way your meetings require.
- Accessibility: Check captions, keyboard controls, transcripts, and language support for your participants.
- Privacy and administration: Review encryption, recording controls, retention, account management, and regional compliance requirements.
- Total cost: Compare the plan limits you will actually use and account for software already included in your company workspace.
Do not choose based on the longest feature list. A client consultant, an internal Microsoft 365 team, a workshop facilitator, and a privacy-conscious organization need different things from a video call. Shortlist two or three tools from the relevant section above, run the same test meeting in each, and choose the one that creates the fewest problems for hosts and guests.
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