Best Movie Conferencing App: Skype vs Hangouts vs GoToMeeting vs Zoom vs Join.me vs Show up.in

According to IDG Enterprise, businesses around the world spent $Trio.Five billion on movie conferencing apps in 2016.

After years of waiting for movie calls to take off, we're ultimately living in the sci-fi future of face to face calls.

This isn't fresh, of course. AT&T developed the earliest form of movie call in one thousand nine hundred twenty seven and most of us have been using Skype or similar for years.

The difference now is that we have a lot of options on the market for movie calling and many of them are geared specifically for movie conferencing – making the movie call a staple of modern business.

In this article, we're going to break down the best movie conferencing implements on the market and give you the information necessary for you to pick one which suits your business.

We'll look at 6 key contraptions and give some special shoutouts to others:

Why use movie conferences in your business?

The very first practice I had with movie calling was in two thousand four with the release of the Amstrad E3 Superphone.

This futuristic device was a landline telephone with a low-resolution screen linked and a somewhat difficult to manage keyboard. You could use this phone to send emails, texts, make movie calls, and even browse the web. Having this phone in the home felt like the very first step to a brighter tomorrow.

Sadly, the E3 proved to be a bit of a flop as people's behavior shifted toward computer-first interaction with technology. Not enough people bought the product, so there were very few people you could actually movie call. The product has not aged well.

Despite this, modern movie calling has overcome many of these problems. Bandwith nowadays is powerful enough to shoot beautiful high-quality movie from one PC to another without experiencing too many problems. Laptops or tablets are very common, overcoming the immobile corded limitations of the E3 – meaning you can lightly hop into a different room for your call. Everyone has access to movie talks if they choose to, so there's no barrier to entry for the vast majority of people.

Plus, with your computer you're calling from your workspace where all your information is stored, so a movie call doesn't necessarily interrupt your workflows – it can assist them. Or through features like screensharing and other specially made collaboration functionalities, movie calling can help you get more done as a team.

But don't just trust my postulating. Check out the stats!

• 89% of remote employees say movie calling helps them feel more connected to their colleagues.
• 76% percent of people use movie collaboration to work remotely and, of those, 75% practice enhanced productivity and an improved work-life balance.
• 82% of movie users are less likely to multi-task on a movie call than an audio one.
• 89% agree that movie calling reduces time to finish projects or tasks.
• 90% say movie makes it lighter to get their point across.
• 98% state that movie calls help with relationship building both inwards and outside the company.

I think these stats speak for themselves.

The recurring themes seem to be that movie calling helps collaboration, problem-solving, engagement and productivity, and building company culture.

The idea for this article didn't just come from nowhere. The various teams within Process Street have moved from their old service to a fresh service for holding meetings. This switch was sparked by agony points we found within the sales team.

Given that most of our teams only have a few internal meetings a week, there isn't a excellent need for the most amazing service. As long as it works, we're glad. However, for the sales team, they're having thirty meetings a day with clients who are used to using a broad range of different software.

When a movie conferencing service fights with quality, ease of access, or limited functionality it makes a real influence on our client relations. You don't want to have to walk a client through installing software just to speak with you. Identically, you want something professional with a good connection to demonstrate that you're a company which can be trusted.

This was a ache point we noticed which needed to be addressed.

So, with this in mind, let's get testing!

Quick overview:

How effortless was it to get set up?

Not too much difficulty here.

I had to download the program to my computer in order to participate in the calls. That adds an element of friction if you're having a one-off call with someone outside your team – or the very first call with anyone who doesn't already have Zoom, truly.

As a host, it's very effortless to embark a meeting. You can just set up a fresh room. Then you shoot the link to the meeting to someone and they go after it.

It's a pretty effortless process all round at that point. Maybe takes twenty seconds from clicking the link to joining the meeting while you wait for the program to embark up and sort itself out.

Added bonus: mobile apps on Android and iOS. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The UX designer kept their concentrate. 8/Ten

Join.me

I wasn't a massive fan of the setup practice.

I felt pretty confused while going through most of the process. I ended up kicking off a trial for the premium account as there didn't seem to be an option for the free one. Presumably, I'll be bumped down to the free account when the trial finishes. I'm not sure.

I had to download the program in order to use the system. However, you can see why many of these platforms want you to do that – the more elaborate functionalities, such as remote control over the host's workspace, couldn't be achieved directly through the browser (I imagine. Someone can prove me wrong).

You can invite other people into meetings without them having to download the program, so that's good. However, the meetings – or presentations, as that's what Join.me feels more geared to – would then be one way. If you want to forearm over annotation implements, remote access, and other advanced features then you need to download the software.

You can create a room with a custom-built name – which I like. Then anyone who goes after that link can hop into your room. This is a system used by a few others on here, and I like it.

The UI/UX left me a little confused at very first but I think I got the string up of it as it went on. Neither I nor Ben were particularly sure where everything was primarily. Not hugely intuitive.

Also has mobile apps, however I'm under the impression that the iOS version is limited by geography, so I hope you're fortunate enough to be in the right country.

It joins the rest with a lower score. Five/Ten

Skype for Business

Skype has a slight advantage for setting up as most people already have it installed.

That has to count in its favor.

For those who don't have it installed, it's a not the worst process in the world but it is a bit of a ache. More friction than some of the other options: Zoom, Emerge.in, and Google Hangouts.

Once you have Skype it is pretty elementary. Your Skype ID is like a phone number and you just call someone's Skype ID. Not too complicated.

However, you have to connect with each of these people on Skype like it's a social network. My Skype contact list is packed with people I spoke to once because of that thing at that place, you know? People who I am likely never to contact again.

For group calls, this does add an extra step of gathering everyone's information and connecting on Skype and then adding them into the call individually. Urgh.

Nonetheless, the mobile apps are good. So that's a redeeming feature.

Neither micro nor soft, but still not fine. 6/Ten

GoToMeeting

Don't get me embarked.

I ended up downloading the program twice. For a moment, I was even a little worried I was downloading some kind of virus, given the strange filename and forceful process. Ben had the same practice. I was still fairly confused at the point when we gave up on GoToMeeting, but I was particularly confused at the beginning.

There were so many boxes everywhere that I didn't know what I was meant to be using or clicking or moving or… wait a 2nd, there's no minimize button on that window…

I once commenced a radio station a decade ago called Curl where we asked a local school if they could donate us some PCs. Our radio station was running from Winamp on Windows 2000. Beginning up GoToMeeting gave me flashbacks of that little room packed with wires and its appalling lack of adherence to fire safety regulations.

Not excellent for me to set up, but Ben was able to access the meeting from within the browser – which had a significantly better UI/UX. However, if I dreamed to transfer hosting duties to Ben so he could demonstrate me his screen and use the advanced features then he had to download it too.

Not too big a deal I suppose. Until GoToMeeting dropped him from the call as part of its built-in user journey for people upgrading.

It just didn't make sense to me. No pun for you. Trio/Ten

Emerge.in

Let's be clear: Emerge.in smashes it out of the park in terms of ease of access and use.

That's partly because it's a slightly more limited product; it isn't designed to give you every feature under the sun. It is a lightweight movie talk device for speed and simpleness.

I didn't even have to make an account to commence a movie call.

I only had to make an account when I desired to lock access to the movie call, while we were testing that feature.

If I'd desired to hop on a super quick talk with a client I could have taken the following process:

1. Go to Emerge.in
2. Type a URL which hasn't been previously chosen
3. Click create meeting
4. Sent that link to my client

Boom. You're both on a movie call. And that's without anyone having an account or a Slack integration to launch it from or any of that. Show up.in makes it super effortless.

Emerge.in works in mobile browsers and through their mobile apps – the iOS one shows up to have come out in the last two months. Same plain style.

They'll be Appearing.in my browser more often. Ten/Ten

Google Hangouts

You're very likely familiar with Hangouts, much like you're familiar with Skype.

There's a good chance you already have a Google account which already means you can host meetings through Hangouts. Even pals of yours without Google accounts can join in the movie talks with almost all the functionalities still present – bar text talk, for some reason.

Hangouts feels to me like the movie call solution for the avid emailer.

Everything is negotiated through the emails and your contacts list through email becomes your contacts for Hangouts. There are a lot of Skype parallels in ways if you choose to see them.

One of the most insignificant problems with Hangouts is you'll have to check your Google account has it enabled. In the past, I had been part of organizations using Google Apps for Work – now G-Suite – where no one could use Hangouts because the admin hadn't enabled it, or something like that. Strange.

Nonetheless, that's one of the few criticisms I can find. Other than having to have a Google account to host a meeting, it's all pretty straightforward. Mobile apps to make it simpler too.

Does it feel professional and high quality?

As difficult as it is to compare quality inbetween the different platforms without getting all technical, Zoom feels like it has a high level of quality.

The audio quality, in particular, stands out with Zoom as being crisp and clear.

The UI for Zoom is acute, sleek, and professional. There would be nothing embarrassing or awkward about introducing a client to the software.

Join.me

To be fair to Join.me, we should respect what their core service is. Their core service is to permit collaboration in meetings via movie.

As such, you'll find that the screensharing quality in Join.me is conveniently ahead of the pack. They've indeed primed their service to supply on this feature.

It's necessary for their screensharing to be strong, given that their emphasis would be on working on a single screen from across a distributed team.

The UI is professional and looks fine, but it doesn't feel very corporate. Not that I like things which show up corporate, but you might. It might be significant to you. You might not want a movie calling software which shows your disembodied head floating around in a bubble for the duration of the call. I don't know.

Join for screensharing. 7/Ten

Skype for Business

It's a tricky one with Skype.

Some people don't think Skype is cool enough and associate it with more professional interactions, whereas others feel it lacks the corporate edge and its bubbly design motifs give it an air of inoffensive family friendly joy.

Still, I think Skype is generally considered professional enough.

Its quality varies, mind.

We used to use Skype at Process Street for our calls. We're a remote based team so this article hits pretty close to home for us. We switched away from Skype partly due to the slightly lesser quality when compared to Zoom and others. Moreover, Skype seems to thrust its users into using its talk features when all we dreamed was the movie call.

We already have Slack.

GoToMeeting

I've been a little mean to GoToMeeting so far.

It's a comprehensive chunk of kit which seemingly holds substantial market share.

As an invitee to a call, the UX isn't particularly off-putting and the UI is actually fairly professional. It has the drab grays you expect from a stuffy office.

As long as your guest in the call doesn't require access to the advanced features, needing only to access the call via browser, then GoToMeeting does have a corporate feel. It is professional and it won't harm your photo.

The call quality wasn't anything to shout home about, tho’. The photo was not as acute as it could be and I didn't have a revelation when hearing the audio quality. Considering the platform was taking up a good bit of bandwidth, I expected more.

Go to the in-browser version. 7/Ten

Show up.in

Very first, quality. Nothing wrong here. Audio was good, movie was good, display of guests on the screen was good, talk worked well. Pretty fine all round.

In as far as professionalism goes, there isn't anything unprofessional about the UX but there are some “joy” features which you can play with that don't feel like work adequate elements. I can imagine providing a presentation to a client when you accidentally add a Snapchat-esque giraffe sticker/filter over your face.

I'm nitpicking here, truly. Other than not being tooled to treat meetings larger than twelve people, there indeed aren't too many criticisms I can throw at Emerge.in on this front.

Google Hangouts

Hangouts doesn't provide anything too radical. There isn't a funky UX which could be offputting and everyone's pretty familiar with who Google are. All in all, you're in pretty safe mitts with Hangouts.

Often, if you're communicating with someone from outside your team it is likely you're doing so by email. In which case, Hangouts fits nicely into that for you and the client meaning you're not sending them on errands across different websites in order to speak with you.

The quality of Google Hangouts can sometimes come under question but it offers no worse a service than Skype, in my mind. Sometimes, I even choose Hangouts.

You're not going to wow your clients but it will do the job.

How does it fit into my workflow?

Zoom uses the room system, which a number of the other platforms have as well.

This system means you create one URL which represents a meeting room. Whenever you visit that URL you are placed within the meeting. It's a plain structure, but one I find effective; particularly for team meetings. It's a consistent workflow which can be relied upon.

The Zoom meeting system has a slight downside compared to the others in that the URL string is just a series of numbers. Whereas some of the others have the capability to set custom-built URLs in their free versions.

However, Zoom has Zapier automations you can use to integrate it within your workflows – which is a massive plus. Even more than that, with the premium package you can meet up to their REST API and indeed make Zoom work for you.

In my eyes, this makes Zoom an excellent candidate for a corporate choice. Their super duper package would fit into people's daily workflows and a large company's overall processes.

Zooming ahead of the competition. 9/Ten

Join.me

If you consider Join.me to be a collaborative working instrument rather than a meeting contraption, then it will score higher in this section.

It can help teams have meetings remotely while all working from one screen. If every member has the premium version then you could leap from screen to screen with everyone able to concentrate on one at a time and work within the others' computers.

In that sense, Join.me is very good for workflows. It also has the option of using Zapier integrations, tho’ it shows up to only have one premade one up to this point. No reason why you can't construct your own and test its potential, however.

I'm going to be mean with the score as I'm judging this on which instrument is set up well for movie conferencing, and I feel the collaborative successes represent a specific use case within a broader category. I don't generally find Join.me a fine device to connect you with colleagues on a normal basis.

Skype for Business

I suppose Skype's advantage in regards to workflows is that almost everyone has it already.

But that doesn't truly overcome the fact that its competition in this showdown mainly require one-click links to open a meeting in a browser.

Skype doesn't do Zapier. Even Microsoft's own Zapier competitor doesn't have any automations set up with Skype.

This should be one of Skype's ultimate wins. They should be beautifully integrated with the entire Microsoft Office three hundred sixty five UltraPremium Gold Version or whatever. But they're not.

I know this is harsh, but I'm marking Skype low on this measure. They could be so much better. They should be so much better.

It's worth mentioning that they do have a developer area where you can play with their API. I'm just fighting to get excited by that at this point.

Not angry, just disappointed.

Improve your Flow, Microsoft. Five/Ten

GoToMeeting

I know I've ragged on GoToMeeting a lot in this article.

I don't like slagging off other people's products. However, reminisce that this is a big established product from a massive established company. Citrix, the company who own and run the entire GoTo brand, are allegedly worth $13.Three billion. Yep, billion.

So, I'm not too arsed calling them out on their failings.

However, when it comes to workflows, I'm going to give them a bit of an lighter rail. They have some premade Zapier integrations designed to meet up with calendar software.

Not very inventive, but pretty standard.

They are also not too bad for a client who is invited into a meeting as it is a one click procedure and the in-browser UX/UI isn't awful.

Show up.in

As you've most likely guessed, I'm a big fan of what they're doing over at Emerge.in. I like their treatment to plainness and the fact they want to keep it integrated with your workflows.

They don't seem to have a Zapier integration set up just yet. However, I'll let them off. They have built native integrations into Slack, Trello, Hipchat, and more. Their premium service is still in beta and they're a youthful up-and-coming startup. The fact they've shoved in the direction of creating integrations with contraptions which play a vital part in modern workflows, shows they're heading in the right direction.

Plus, the ease of use and one-click simpleness is a joy. A delight, even.

Emerge.in may not be the finished deal just yet but for a quick meeting, or one with a puny team, it is sublime. A truly streamlined means of movie calling.

Startup as you mean to go on. 9/Ten

Google Hangouts

Not every implement should be assessed on the basis of its capability to pander to my specific needs.

If your daily workflow consists of working from your inbox – particularly if you're on G-Suite – then Google Hangouts is most likely ideal for you.

It just is. And that's presumably one of the reasons it's so successful. That and being a Google product.

As far as automations go, there is an upcoming Zap for Google Hangouts Talk. It's not yet clear what this integration will achieve, but I'm expecting something interesting. Very likely an attempt to replicate some of the basic text guideline features of Slack.

So, Google Hangouts is fine for the workflows of specific people and is very likely going to be expanding its workflow integrations very soon.

Without bells and whistles, it calmly does its job very well.

Fine if you string up out in your inbox. 8/Ten

What kind of pricing are we talking?

We're conveniently embarking with the option most suited for those who want an affordable solution.

Zoom suggest the largest free package out of the options available. With Zoom, you can have unlimited 1-to-1 calls and you can host meetings with up to fifty participants. That's right. 50. There's a high chance that you won't need meetings with more than fifty unless you're suggesting webinars. Zoom is very likely the best option price-wise for teams from puny to medium sizes. I feel like meetings with more than fifty people are going to be difficult to manage…

There are three tiers of premium pricing for Zoom. They're priced on the basis of how many hosts you want to have. The Pro package is $14.99 per host per month with no minimum setting for hosts. This gives you admin control and user management along with cloud reporting space and access to their REST API.

The next plan up is the business option at $Nineteen.99 per host per month with a minimum of ten hosts – so you'll be paying somewhere close to $200 per month. The enterprise package is priced the same but with a minimum of one hundred hosts. These packages give you greater support, custom-made branding, webinar functionalities, unlimited cloud storage and a entire range of added features.

50 users for free. Premium from $14.99 per month.

Join.me

If you're looking for the free plan, you can get up to ten people on a meeting without spending a penny.

The premium plans come in Pro and Business packages respectively.

The Pro package is priced at $Eighteen a month and provides up to fifty participants, ten movie feeds, and unlimited audio calls. It will also give you a selection of customization features to tune the calls to your liking.

The Business package comes in at $30 a month and gives you up to two hundred fifty participants. This package throws in extra user and feature management.

Ten users for free. Premium from $Legal per month.

Skype for Business

Normal Skype, as you very likely all know, comes for free. However, if you want to upgrade to Skype for Business you'll have to commence paying Microsoft a little money here and there.

The free Skype gives you a twenty five person limit on your calls. Along with this, Skype is a handy instant messaging service and is shifting further and further toward the Slack area of the market. They want to be a base for team communication, so expect to get more features like this for free within the Skype package.

Skype for Business gives you an upgrade on the free package with up to two hundred fifty participants. This comes as part of one of the Office three hundred sixty five suites – either the Business Essentials suite, priced at $Five per month, or the Business Premium suite priced at $12.50 per month. The Essentials package includes the basic online Microsoft services, which the Premium includes the entire Office suite.

The advantage of Skype for Business from a pricing perspective is that you're possibly already paying for it. If you have Office three hundred sixty five for your business then you're already signed up to this premium movie calling service. In some sense, this makes Skype for Business free!

If you're a G-Suite or Libre Office user, you may opt for a different movie conferencing contraption, but for existing Microsoft customers this service is already at your fingertips.

25 users for free. Premium plans begin from $Five per month as part of larger Microsoft packages.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a little sneaky when it comes to their pricing. If you go to their website you won't see any mention of a free version.

But there is a free version.

If you visit the subdomain free.gotomeeting.com then you'll find out how to access their free version. This version supports up to three people and it runs from your Chrome browser. It's a very basic suggest and the least comprehensive free version in this article. If you're in a very petite team, this is entirely fine. But if you're in a team of more than three, you'll have to upgrade to the real product.

Fortunately, you can get a two week free trial of the decent GoToMeeting software. You'll there are three different pricing plans available: Starter, Pro, and Plus.

Starter embarks at $Nineteen per month and gives you the basic features you would expect, including conference dial in. However, this package tops out at ten users. If you have a slightly fatter team you may be better suited to the Pro version which comes in at $29 per month. This gives you the capability to record meetings and to access the service via its mobile applications.

The Plus version contains all the features of the others but with one hundred participants and two features called Active Directory and Sightboard. Your guess is as good as mine…

Three users for free. Premium plans commence from $Nineteen per month.

Emerge.in

The lightweight Show up.in offers a nice little free service and doesn't charge over the odds for its premium.

The free service gives you up to eight people in your room while the premium, which is still in beta, gives you 12. The premium version also permits you to customize your room – add your logo and such – and share your screen in a way which makes it effortless to present things to others.

This lightweight service also has the integrations mentioned earlier to consider, with the capability to hook it up to Slack and Trello. Show up.in is targeted very much at startups and its pricing reflects that. The premium version is priced at $12 a month.

One thing to consider with Emerge.in is that its service will likely expand and add more features as time goes by. This premium option is still in beta, after all.

8 users for free. Premium plans commence from $12.

Google Hangouts

There is no pricing for Google Hangouts.

Ordinary as that, indeed. You get up to twenty five participants for each call and unlimited calls within those parameters.

Google used to suggest Hangouts on Air as a kind of webinar service, however, that has been largely merged into the Youtube Live feature.

If you're already a user of the G-Suite package, then Hangouts is hooked up to your address book and embedded in your emails. Hangouts is free whether you're paying for Google's office services or not.

25 users for free. No premium plan

Which did my colleagues choose?

Since movie calling isn’t something you just do with your friends or your colleagues, we thought it’d be best to look at the usability of these devices from the perspective of a client, prospect, or job candidate. Interactions of these kinds are often very first impressions, or higher-pressure situations where less should go wrong. With that in mind, the most friction-free option was Emerge.in, which let me inject instantly and commence talking.

GoToMeeting was lightly the worst and most confusing practice, and I ended up having to download one Chrome extension, one desktop app, and being unaware whether my webcam and screen-sharing was or wasn’t active. Striking a balance inbetween features and usability, I’d recommend Zoom if you need things like remote access and annotations. — Benjamin Brandall

Some honorable mentions within the movie space

We'll make this indeed quick.

Google Hangouts used to promote their Hangouts on Air service for webinars. However, as I mentioned, it's now pushing people towards running webinars through Youtube Live. If you dreamed to head in this direction, then you could also add in Facebook Live and do a cross platform live streaming webinar with the potential of gaining some social reach.

If you're just looking to have a quick movie call with someone, you can simply movie talk with them through Facetime or Facebook. There are other similar socially oriented services available too. You have slew of options.

There's also Gruveo for one to one movie calls in your browser. They have a premium package for $12 a month, but it seemed a little too limited to warrant inclusion in this main list. There's also Bluejeans which offers movie conferencing services but lacks a free version. Give it a look if you're a large organization. Rabbit permits you to display movies to groups – all free with a twenty five user limit.

Lastly, you have Pexip. This one is focused on permitting you to give movie presentations across different movie conferencing software. This is not SaaS – you buy it and you host it. Contact them for prices if you have a healthy budget.

My movie conferencing app recommendations!

They're all good movie conferencing services, Brent.

But some are better than others.

Which movie conferencing software is best for you will depend on your use case. Maybe you're looking for only one solution to cover all your needs, or maybe you're blessed to employ a number of different solutions.

If you're an existing Office three hundred sixty five user, then internal meetings could very lightly be done via Skype. The problem with Skype, as shown above, is that it compels people to download Skype and have it always running on their computer. Most people have Skype already, but if you want to have a movie call with a client who doesn't have Skype, you don't want to force them into downloading it.

Some of the above points are true for Google Hangouts too. If it fits your workflow nicely then there's no harm in sticking with it.

The instrument which leaps out to me as a lightweight and very effortless way to have a movie call for free with a client would be Emerge.in. Simply send your client a link and they can click it and join the call. Effortless for them and effortless for you. As the call happens in your browser, you can just use a Chrome extension like Nimbus to record the browser for free.

Emerge.in is my individual dearest implement on the market.

However, all this considered, the device which stands out to me as being as good as any other but with the largest selection of free features, is Zoom.

Zoom provides a total service of movie conferencing for up to fifty people for free. The quality is high and it's effortless to use. It has on screen annotation functionalities and a myriad of in-depth features which the lightweight Emerge.in doesn't have.

Guess which option we use across all our teams at Process Street?

Yep. Zoom. All day, son. All day.

What have your practices been with movie conferencing software? Which ones do you use, and which do you avoid? What have I missed out? Let me know in the comments!

Best Movie Conferencing App: Skype vs Hangouts vs GoToMeeting vs Zoom vs vs, Process Street

Best Movie Conferencing App: Skype vs Hangouts vs GoToMeeting vs Zoom vs Join.me vs Emerge.in

According to IDG Enterprise, businesses around the world spent $Three.Five billion on movie conferencing apps in 2016.

After years of waiting for movie calls to take off, we're eventually living in the sci-fi future of face to face calls.

This isn't fresh, of course. AT&T developed the earliest form of movie call in one thousand nine hundred twenty seven and most of us have been using Skype or similar for years.

The difference now is that we have a lot of options on the market for movie calling and many of them are geared specifically for movie conferencing – making the movie call a staple of modern business.

In this article, we're going to break down the best movie conferencing instruments on the market and give you the information necessary for you to pick one which suits your business.

We'll look at 6 key implements and give some special shoutouts to others:

Why use movie conferences in your business?

The very first practice I had with movie calling was in two thousand four with the release of the Amstrad E3 Superphone.

This futuristic device was a landline telephone with a low-resolution screen fastened and a somewhat difficult to manage keyboard. You could use this phone to send emails, texts, make movie calls, and even browse the web. Having this phone in the home felt like the very first step to a brighter tomorrow.

Sadly, the E3 proved to be a bit of a flop as people's behavior shifted toward computer-first interaction with technology. Not enough people bought the product, so there were very few people you could actually movie call. The product has not aged well.

Despite this, modern movie calling has overcome many of these problems. Bandwith nowadays is powerful enough to shoot beautiful high-quality movie from one PC to another without experiencing too many problems. Laptops or tablets are very common, overcoming the motionless corded limitations of the E3 – meaning you can lightly hop into a different room for your call. Everyone has access to movie talks if they choose to, so there's no barrier to entry for the vast majority of people.

Plus, with your computer you're calling from your workspace where all your information is stored, so a movie call doesn't necessarily interrupt your workflows – it can assist them. Or through features like screensharing and other specially made collaboration functionalities, movie calling can help you get more done as a team.

But don't just trust my postulating. Check out the stats!

• 89% of remote employees say movie calling helps them feel more connected to their colleagues.
• 76% percent of people use movie collaboration to work remotely and, of those, 75% practice enhanced productivity and an improved work-life balance.
• 82% of movie users are less likely to multi-task on a movie call than an audio one.
• 89% agree that movie calling reduces time to finish projects or tasks.
• 90% say movie makes it lighter to get their point across.
• 98% state that movie calls help with relationship building both inwards and outside the company.

I think these stats speak for themselves.

The recurring themes seem to be that movie calling helps collaboration, problem-solving, engagement and productivity, and building company culture.

The idea for this article didn't just come from nowhere. The various teams within Process Street have moved from their old service to a fresh service for holding meetings. This switch was sparked by anguish points we found within the sales team.

Given that most of our teams only have a few internal meetings a week, there isn't a excellent need for the most amazing service. As long as it works, we're glad. However, for the sales team, they're having thirty meetings a day with clients who are used to using a broad range of different software.

When a movie conferencing service fights with quality, ease of access, or limited functionality it makes a real influence on our client relations. You don't want to have to walk a client through installing software just to speak with you. Identically, you want something professional with a good connection to demonstrate that you're a company which can be trusted.

This was a agony point we noticed which needed to be addressed.

So, with this in mind, let's get testing!

Quick overview:

How effortless was it to get set up?

Not too much difficulty here.

I had to download the program to my computer in order to participate in the calls. That adds an element of friction if you're having a one-off call with someone outside your team – or the very first call with anyone who doesn't already have Zoom, truly.

As a host, it's very effortless to commence a meeting. You can just set up a fresh room. Then you shoot the link to the meeting to someone and they go after it.

It's a pretty effortless process all round at that point. Maybe takes twenty seconds from clicking the link to joining the meeting while you wait for the program to commence up and sort itself out.

Added bonus: mobile apps on Android and iOS. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The UX designer kept their concentrate. 8/Ten

Join.me

I wasn't a massive fan of the setup practice.

I felt pretty confused while going through most of the process. I ended up kicking off a trial for the premium account as there didn't seem to be an option for the free one. Presumably, I'll be bumped down to the free account when the trial finishes. I'm not sure.

I had to download the program in order to use the system. However, you can see why many of these platforms want you to do that – the more complicated functionalities, such as remote control over the host's workspace, couldn't be achieved directly through the browser (I imagine. Someone can prove me wrong).

You can invite other people into meetings without them having to download the program, so that's good. However, the meetings – or presentations, as that's what Join.me feels more geared to – would then be one way. If you want to arm over annotation contraptions, remote access, and other advanced features then you need to download the software.

You can create a room with a custom-built name – which I like. Then anyone who goes after that link can leap into your room. This is a system used by a few others on here, and I like it.

The UI/UX left me a little confused at very first but I think I got the drape of it as it went on. Neither I nor Ben were particularly sure where everything was primarily. Not hugely intuitive.

Also has mobile apps, tho’ I'm under the impression that the iOS version is limited by geography, so I hope you're fortunate enough to be in the right country.

It joins the rest with a lower score. Five/Ten

Skype for Business

Skype has a slight advantage for setting up as most people already have it installed.

That has to count in its favor.

For those who don't have it installed, it's a not the worst process in the world but it is a bit of a agony. More friction than some of the other options: Zoom, Emerge.in, and Google Hangouts.

Once you have Skype it is pretty elementary. Your Skype ID is like a phone number and you just call someone's Skype ID. Not too complicated.

However, you have to connect with each of these people on Skype like it's a social network. My Skype contact list is packed with people I spoke to once because of that thing at that place, you know? People who I am likely never to contact again.

For group calls, this does add an extra step of gathering everyone's information and connecting on Skype and then adding them into the call individually. Urgh.

Nonetheless, the mobile apps are good. So that's a redeeming feature.

Neither micro nor soft, but still not excellent. 6/Ten

GoToMeeting

Don't get me commenced.

I ended up downloading the program twice. For a moment, I was even a little worried I was downloading some kind of virus, given the strange filename and forceful process. Ben had the same practice. I was still fairly confused at the point when we gave up on GoToMeeting, but I was particularly confused at the beginning.

There were so many boxes everywhere that I didn't know what I was meant to be using or clicking or moving or… wait a 2nd, there's no minimize button on that window…

I once began a radio station a decade ago called Curl where we asked a local school if they could donate us some PCs. Our radio station was running from Winamp on Windows 2000. Commencing up GoToMeeting gave me flashbacks of that little room packed with wires and its appalling lack of adherence to fire safety regulations.

Not excellent for me to set up, but Ben was able to access the meeting from within the browser – which had a significantly better UI/UX. However, if I wished to transfer hosting duties to Ben so he could display me his screen and use the advanced features then he had to download it too.

Not too big a deal I suppose. Until GoToMeeting dropped him from the call as part of its built-in user journey for people upgrading.

It just didn't make sense to me. No pun for you. Trio/Ten

Show up.in

Let's be clear: Show up.in smashes it out of the park in terms of ease of access and use.

That's partly because it's a slightly more limited product; it isn't designed to give you every feature under the sun. It is a lightweight movie talk device for speed and plainness.

I didn't even have to make an account to commence a movie call.

I only had to make an account when I dreamed to lock access to the movie call, while we were testing that feature.

If I'd desired to hop on a super quick talk with a client I could have taken the following process:

1. Go to Emerge.in
2. Type a URL which hasn't been previously chosen
3. Click create meeting
4. Sent that link to my client

Boom. You're both on a movie call. And that's without anyone having an account or a Slack integration to launch it from or any of that. Emerge.in makes it super effortless.

Show up.in works in mobile browsers and through their mobile apps – the iOS one shows up to have come out in the last two months. Same ordinary style.

They'll be Appearing.in my browser more often. Ten/Ten

Google Hangouts

You're very likely familiar with Hangouts, much like you're familiar with Skype.

There's a good chance you already have a Google account which already means you can host meetings through Hangouts. Even pals of yours without Google accounts can join in the movie talks with almost all the functionalities still present – bar text talk, for some reason.

Hangouts feels to me like the movie call solution for the avid emailer.

Everything is negotiated through the emails and your contacts list through email becomes your contacts for Hangouts. There are a lot of Skype parallels in ways if you choose to see them.

One of the most insignificant problems with Hangouts is you'll have to check your Google account has it enabled. In the past, I had been part of organizations using Google Apps for Work – now G-Suite – where no one could use Hangouts because the admin hadn't enabled it, or something like that. Strange.

Nonetheless, that's one of the few criticisms I can find. Other than having to have a Google account to host a meeting, it's all pretty straightforward. Mobile apps to make it simpler too.

Does it feel professional and high quality?

As difficult as it is to compare quality inbetween the different platforms without getting all technical, Zoom feels like it has a high level of quality.

The audio quality, in particular, stands out with Zoom as being crisp and clear.

The UI for Zoom is acute, sleek, and professional. There would be nothing embarrassing or awkward about introducing a client to the software.

Join.me

To be fair to Join.me, we should respect what their core service is. Their core service is to permit collaboration in meetings via movie.

As such, you'll find that the screensharing quality in Join.me is conveniently ahead of the pack. They've indeed primed their service to supply on this feature.

It's necessary for their screensharing to be strong, given that their emphasis would be on working on a single screen from across a distributed team.

The UI is professional and looks fine, but it doesn't feel very corporate. Not that I like things which show up corporate, but you might. It might be significant to you. You might not want a movie calling software which shows your disembodied head floating around in a bubble for the duration of the call. I don't know.

Join for screensharing. 7/Ten

Skype for Business

It's a tricky one with Skype.

Some people don't think Skype is cool enough and associate it with more professional interactions, whereas others feel it lacks the corporate edge and its bubbly design motifs give it an air of inoffensive family friendly joy.

Still, I think Skype is generally considered professional enough.

Its quality varies, mind.

We used to use Skype at Process Street for our calls. We're a remote based team so this article hits pretty close to home for us. We switched away from Skype partly due to the slightly lesser quality when compared to Zoom and others. Moreover, Skype seems to shove its users into using its talk features when all we dreamed was the movie call.

We already have Slack.

GoToMeeting

I've been a little mean to GoToMeeting so far.

It's a comprehensive lump of kit which seemingly holds substantial market share.

As an invitee to a call, the UX isn't particularly off-putting and the UI is actually fairly professional. It has the drab grays you expect from a stuffy office.

As long as your guest in the call doesn't require access to the advanced features, needing only to access the call via browser, then GoToMeeting does have a corporate feel. It is professional and it won't harm your pic.

The call quality wasn't anything to shout home about, however. The pic was not as acute as it could be and I didn't have a revelation when hearing the audio quality. Considering the platform was taking up a good bit of bandwidth, I expected more.

Go to the in-browser version. 7/Ten

Show up.in

Very first, quality. Nothing wrong here. Audio was good, movie was good, display of guests on the screen was good, talk worked well. Pretty fine all round.

In as far as professionalism goes, there isn't anything unprofessional about the UX but there are some “joy” features which you can play with that don't feel like work suitable elements. I can imagine providing a presentation to a client when you accidentally add a Snapchat-esque giraffe sticker/filter over your face.

I'm nitpicking here, truly. Other than not being tooled to treat meetings larger than twelve people, there truly aren't too many criticisms I can throw at Show up.in on this front.

Google Hangouts

Hangouts doesn't provide anything too radical. There isn't a funky UX which could be offputting and everyone's pretty familiar with who Google are. All in all, you're in pretty safe arms with Hangouts.

Often, if you're communicating with someone from outside your team it is likely you're doing so by email. In which case, Hangouts fits nicely into that for you and the client meaning you're not sending them on errands across different websites in order to speak with you.

The quality of Google Hangouts can sometimes come under question but it offers no worse a service than Skype, in my mind. Sometimes, I even choose Hangouts.

You're not going to wow your clients but it will do the job.

How does it fit into my workflow?

Zoom uses the room system, which a number of the other platforms have as well.

This system means you create one URL which represents a meeting room. Whenever you visit that URL you are placed within the meeting. It's a ordinary structure, but one I find effective; particularly for team meetings. It's a consistent workflow which can be relied upon.

The Zoom meeting system has a slight downside compared to the others in that the URL string is just a series of numbers. Whereas some of the others have the capability to set custom-built URLs in their free versions.

However, Zoom has Zapier automations you can use to integrate it within your workflows – which is a massive plus. Even more than that, with the premium package you can meet up to their REST API and indeed make Zoom work for you.

In my eyes, this makes Zoom an excellent candidate for a corporate choice. Their super duper package would fit into people's daily workflows and a large company's overall processes.

Zooming ahead of the competition. 9/Ten

Join.me

If you consider Join.me to be a collaborative working contraption rather than a meeting implement, then it will score higher in this section.

It can help teams have meetings remotely while all working from one screen. If every member has the premium version then you could hop from screen to screen with everyone able to concentrate on one at a time and work within the others' computers.

In that sense, Join.me is very good for workflows. It also has the option of using Zapier integrations, however it shows up to only have one premade one up to this point. No reason why you can't construct your own and test its potential, however.

I'm going to be mean with the score as I'm judging this on which contraption is set up well for movie conferencing, and I feel the collaborative successes represent a specific use case within a broader category. I don't generally find Join.me a good contraption to connect you with colleagues on a normal basis.

Skype for Business

I suppose Skype's advantage in regards to workflows is that almost everyone has it already.

But that doesn't indeed overcome the fact that its competition in this showdown mainly require one-click links to open a meeting in a browser.

Skype doesn't do Zapier. Even Microsoft's own Zapier competitor doesn't have any automations set up with Skype.

This should be one of Skype's ultimate wins. They should be beautifully integrated with the entire Microsoft Office three hundred sixty five UltraPremium Gold Version or whatever. But they're not.

I know this is harsh, but I'm marking Skype low on this measure. They could be so much better. They should be so much better.

It's worth mentioning that they do have a developer area where you can play with their API. I'm just fighting to get excited by that at this point.

Not angry, just disappointed.

Improve your Flow, Microsoft. Five/Ten

GoToMeeting

I know I've ragged on GoToMeeting a lot in this article.

I don't like slagging off other people's products. However, recall that this is a big established product from a massive established company. Citrix, the company who own and run the entire GoTo brand, are allegedly worth $13.Trio billion. Yep, billion.

So, I'm not too arsed calling them out on their failings.

However, when it comes to workflows, I'm going to give them a bit of an lighter rail. They have some premade Zapier integrations designed to meet up with calendar software.

Not very inventive, but pretty standard.

They are also not too bad for a client who is invited into a meeting as it is a one click procedure and the in-browser UX/UI isn't awful.

Emerge.in

As you've most likely guessed, I'm a big fan of what they're doing over at Show up.in. I like their treatment to plainness and the fact they want to keep it integrated with your workflows.

They don't seem to have a Zapier integration set up just yet. However, I'll let them off. They have built native integrations into Slack, Trello, Hipchat, and more. Their premium service is still in beta and they're a youthful up-and-coming startup. The fact they've shoved in the direction of creating integrations with devices which play a vital part in modern workflows, shows they're heading in the right direction.

Plus, the ease of use and one-click plainness is a joy. A delight, even.

Emerge.in may not be the finished deal just yet but for a quick meeting, or one with a puny team, it is sublime. A truly streamlined means of movie calling.

Startup as you mean to go on. 9/Ten

Google Hangouts

Not every device should be assessed on the basis of its capability to pander to my specific needs.

If your daily workflow consists of working from your inbox – particularly if you're on G-Suite – then Google Hangouts is very likely ideal for you.

It just is. And that's presumably one of the reasons it's so successful. That and being a Google product.

As far as automations go, there is an upcoming Zap for Google Hangouts Talk. It's not yet clear what this integration will achieve, but I'm expecting something interesting. Very likely an attempt to replicate some of the basic text instruction features of Slack.

So, Google Hangouts is good for the workflows of specific people and is very likely going to be expanding its workflow integrations very soon.

Without bells and whistles, it calmly does its job very well.

Superb if you drape out in your inbox. 8/Ten

What kind of pricing are we talking?

We're conveniently embarking with the option most suited for those who want an affordable solution.

Zoom suggest the largest free package out of the options available. With Zoom, you can have unlimited 1-to-1 calls and you can host meetings with up to fifty participants. That's right. 50. There's a high chance that you won't need meetings with more than fifty unless you're suggesting webinars. Zoom is very likely the best option price-wise for teams from puny to medium sizes. I feel like meetings with more than fifty people are going to be difficult to manage…

There are three tiers of premium pricing for Zoom. They're priced on the basis of how many hosts you want to have. The Pro package is $14.99 per host per month with no minimum setting for hosts. This gives you admin control and user management along with cloud reporting space and access to their REST API.

The next plan up is the business option at $Nineteen.99 per host per month with a minimum of ten hosts – so you'll be paying somewhere close to $200 per month. The enterprise package is priced the same but with a minimum of one hundred hosts. These packages give you greater support, custom-built branding, webinar functionalities, unlimited cloud storage and a entire range of added features.

50 users for free. Premium from $14.99 per month.

Join.me

If you're looking for the free plan, you can get up to ten people on a meeting without spending a penny.

The premium plans come in Pro and Business packages respectively.

The Pro package is priced at $Eighteen a month and provides up to fifty participants, ten movie feeds, and unlimited audio calls. It will also give you a selection of customization features to tune the calls to your liking.

The Business package comes in at $30 a month and gives you up to two hundred fifty participants. This package throws in extra user and feature management.

Ten users for free. Premium from $Eighteen per month.

Skype for Business

Normal Skype, as you very likely all know, comes for free. However, if you want to upgrade to Skype for Business you'll have to embark paying Microsoft a little money here and there.

The free Skype gives you a twenty five person limit on your calls. Along with this, Skype is a handy instant messaging service and is shifting further and further toward the Slack area of the market. They want to be a base for team communication, so expect to get more features like this for free within the Skype package.

Skype for Business gives you an upgrade on the free package with up to two hundred fifty participants. This comes as part of one of the Office three hundred sixty five suites – either the Business Essentials suite, priced at $Five per month, or the Business Premium suite priced at $12.50 per month. The Essentials package includes the basic online Microsoft services, which the Premium includes the entire Office suite.

The advantage of Skype for Business from a pricing perspective is that you're possibly already paying for it. If you have Office three hundred sixty five for your business then you're already signed up to this premium movie calling service. In some sense, this makes Skype for Business free!

If you're a G-Suite or Libre Office user, you may opt for a different movie conferencing contraption, but for existing Microsoft customers this service is already at your fingertips.

25 users for free. Premium plans commence from $Five per month as part of larger Microsoft packages.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a little sneaky when it comes to their pricing. If you go to their website you won't see any mention of a free version.

But there is a free version.

If you visit the subdomain free.gotomeeting.com then you'll find out how to access their free version. This version supports up to three people and it runs from your Chrome browser. It's a very basic suggest and the least comprehensive free version in this article. If you're in a very puny team, this is entirely fine. But if you're in a team of more than three, you'll have to upgrade to the real product.

Fortunately, you can get a two week free trial of the decent GoToMeeting software. You'll there are three different pricing plans available: Starter, Pro, and Plus.

Starter embarks at $Nineteen per month and gives you the basic features you would expect, including conference dial in. However, this package tops out at ten users. If you have a slightly thicker team you may be better suited to the Pro version which comes in at $29 per month. This gives you the capability to record meetings and to access the service via its mobile applications.

The Plus version contains all the features of the others but with one hundred participants and two features called Active Directory and Sightboard. Your guess is as good as mine…

Trio users for free. Premium plans embark from $Nineteen per month.

Show up.in

The lightweight Show up.in offers a nice little free service and doesn't charge over the odds for its premium.

The free service gives you up to eight people in your room while the premium, which is still in beta, gives you 12. The premium version also permits you to customize your room – add your logo and such – and share your screen in a way which makes it effortless to present things to others.

This lightweight service also has the integrations mentioned earlier to consider, with the capability to hook it up to Slack and Trello. Show up.in is targeted very much at startups and its pricing reflects that. The premium version is priced at $12 a month.

One thing to consider with Emerge.in is that its service will likely expand and add more features as time goes by. This premium option is still in beta, after all.

8 users for free. Premium plans embark from $12.

Google Hangouts

There is no pricing for Google Hangouts.

Ordinary as that, truly. You get up to twenty five participants for each call and unlimited calls within those parameters.

Google used to suggest Hangouts on Air as a kind of webinar service, however, that has been largely merged into the Youtube Live feature.

If you're already a user of the G-Suite package, then Hangouts is hooked up to your address book and embedded in your emails. Hangouts is free whether you're paying for Google's office services or not.

25 users for free. No premium plan

Which did my colleagues choose?

Since movie calling isn’t something you just do with your friends or your colleagues, we thought it’d be best to look at the usability of these contraptions from the perspective of a client, prospect, or job candidate. Interactions of these kinds are often very first impressions, or higher-pressure situations where less should go wrong. With that in mind, the most friction-free option was Emerge.in, which let me come in instantly and commence talking.

GoToMeeting was lightly the worst and most confusing practice, and I ended up having to download one Chrome extension, one desktop app, and being unaware whether my webcam and screen-sharing was or wasn’t active. Striking a balance inbetween features and usability, I’d recommend Zoom if you need things like remote access and annotations. — Benjamin Brandall

Some honorable mentions within the movie space

We'll make this indeed quick.

Google Hangouts used to promote their Hangouts on Air service for webinars. However, as I mentioned, it's now pushing people towards running webinars through Youtube Live. If you desired to head in this direction, then you could also add in Facebook Live and do a cross platform live streaming webinar with the potential of gaining some social reach.

If you're just looking to have a quick movie call with someone, you can simply movie talk with them through Facetime or Facebook. There are other similar socially oriented services available too. You have slew of options.

There's also Gruveo for one to one movie calls in your browser. They have a premium package for $12 a month, but it seemed a little too limited to warrant inclusion in this main list. There's also Bluejeans which offers movie conferencing services but lacks a free version. Give it a look if you're a large organization. Rabbit permits you to demonstrate movies to groups – all free with a twenty five user limit.

Lastly, you have Pexip. This one is focused on permitting you to give movie presentations across different movie conferencing software. This is not SaaS – you buy it and you host it. Contact them for prices if you have a healthy budget.

My movie conferencing app recommendations!

They're all good movie conferencing services, Brent.

But some are better than others.

Which movie conferencing software is best for you will depend on your use case. Maybe you're looking for only one solution to cover all your needs, or maybe you're blessed to employ a number of different solutions.

If you're an existing Office three hundred sixty five user, then internal meetings could very lightly be done via Skype. The problem with Skype, as shown above, is that it coerces people to download Skype and have it always running on their computer. Most people have Skype already, but if you want to have a movie call with a client who doesn't have Skype, you don't want to force them into downloading it.

Some of the above points are true for Google Hangouts too. If it fits your workflow nicely then there's no harm in sticking with it.

The contraption which hops out to me as a lightweight and very effortless way to have a movie call for free with a client would be Emerge.in. Simply send your client a link and they can click it and join the call. Effortless for them and effortless for you. As the call happens in your browser, you can just use a Chrome extension like Nimbus to record the browser for free.

Emerge.in is my private beloved implement on the market.

However, all this considered, the contraption which stands out to me as being as good as any other but with the largest selection of free features, is Zoom.

Zoom provides a total service of movie conferencing for up to fifty people for free. The quality is high and it's effortless to use. It has on screen annotation functionalities and a myriad of in-depth features which the lightweight Show up.in doesn't have.

Guess which option we use across all our teams at Process Street?

Yep. Zoom. All day, son. All day.

What have your practices been with movie conferencing software? Which ones do you use, and which do you avoid? What have I missed out? Let me know in the comments!

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