Zoom vs. Google Meet: When Should I Use Each Tool?

K.C. Kourtz Updated by K.C. Kourtz

It can be challenging to determine when Zoom or Google Meet is the best tool for your needs. The chart below should help you decide which tool makes sense for your meetings. If you would like a consultation or support to use any of these tools, please contact Rhianon Gutierrez and K.C. Kourtz.

Before using any of these tools, we recommend that you review our Zoom and Google Meet Safety Tips. If you are a teacher who wants to use Zoom, we recommend that you access it via Clever.

Capability/

Consideration

Zoom

Google Meet

How to Sign Up

Go to Clever and look for Zoom under "Staff Links."

Sign in with your BPS Gmail and schedule a meeting from Google Calendar or go to meet.google.com.

Tutorials

Target Audience

  • Students
  • Teachers
  • Administrators
  • Central Office
  • Students
  • Teachers
  • Administrators
  • Central Office

Best For...

Broadcasting meetings with up to 100 people (Basic) or 300 people (Edu Pro) that need video, audio, screen sharing, and breakout rooms

Meetings with up to 250 people where only video, audio, and screen sharing is needed

Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers using the BPS domain only (bostonk12.org, bostonpublicschools.org)

Recording

Yes; but this feature is currently disabled for teacher accounts.

Yes; but this feature is currently disabled for BPS accounts.

Screen sharing

Recommended to keep screen sharing to host only

One meeting participant may share their screen at a time

Maximum number of participants

100 (Basic); 300 (Edu Pro)

250

Features

  • Live transcription with saved transcript
  • Language interpretation (Edu Pro only)
  • Breakout rooms
  • Polling (Edu Pro only)
  • Alternative hosts (Edu Pro only)
  • Virtual filters and backgrounds
  • Online whiteboard capability
  • Google SSO
  • Google Calendar embedded (via Chrome extension)
  • Enhanced meeting security controls
  • Live auto captioning of spoken English
  • Live auto captioning that translates from a spoken language to another (i.e. English dialogue to Spanish captions)
  • File Sharing (via in-meeting chat)
  • Google Calendar embedded
  • Background blur and virtual backgrounds
  • Polls
  • Breakout rooms

How did we do?

Zoom Meeting Pro vs. Zoom Webinar: What Are the Differences?

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