Is Zoom Better Than Skype?

As more professionals are working from home, reliable video conferencing software is the need of the hour. With much of the country under the threat of COVID, many companies have mandated their employees work from home.

According to DGI Communications, 89% of remote teams prefer video conferencing to connect with colleagues or supervisors. 

This has made video meetings with good video quality essential. Indeed Zoom & skype, the two most well-known names in this category, have noticed their usage numbers spike. Companies considering a video meeting app also typically compare Zoom with Google Meet and look at differences between Skype and Google Meet. Mobile-heavy business users also often consider Facetime vs. Zoom when deciding which system is best for their company. Comparing advantages and disadvantages of Google Meet, Skype, and Zoom can help a company determine which system will bring the most value to a business.

Both platforms have recently modified their apps and have added powerful features; you can use both platforms to hold video calls, chats and host meetings or webinars. And if you're looking for a new platform to help you do these things, you're probably considering both platforms. Generally, there may not seem any huge difference between the two. But the decision to prefer one over another can still impact your business and team collaboration when choosing the best video conferencing app.

When it comes to choosing the best platform for team communication and collaboration, it's subjective. Businesses always prefer apps or software with additional features with basic communication features and helpful for remote teams with advanced collaboration tools. 

Skype: Skype is a communication tool owned by Microsoft. It allows multiple participants to collaborate in real-time for free remotely. At first, the app was made to make voice calls over the internet. 

Although that’s still its core capability, this video chat app has evolved to include instant messaging with video conferencing as well. The app has various innovative features, and it is compatible with Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Android, Xbox, Amazon Alexa devices, and IOS.

In a press conference, Microsoft revealed that Skype has 200 million active users, which rose to 40 million during the coronavirus pandemic, up 70% month-over-month.

Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing tool. Designed with large businesses and teams in mind, it helps users host and record meetings with the help of its recording features, participates in group chats, collaborate, and perform tasks such as document sharing or file sharing as if they are in the same office. This app works with Android, Windows, IOS, and Mac. You can use Zoom either in your browser or by downloading the Zoom desktop app. Not all participants necessarily need to create a zoom account as they can join the meeting through a link, but anybody who wants to schedule, create/ host meetings will need an account. 

Both pieces of software offer very basic similar features. Still, one is better for smaller teams and organizations on the whole (Skype), and the other works well for bigger organizations (Zoom). Still, one is not inevitably better than the other, and both are user-friendly and easy to use. 

Which communication tool works better for your team and business depends on the particular features you're after, the specific requirements, and the size of your organization (such as the budget for paid plans and adequate security measures). 

Tip: no matter which software you choose, you can get to virtual skype meetings or Zoom training sessions from your LMS. This makes it perfect for your team to find out all the information about the meeting or training in one place.

It depends on personal priorities when it comes to which platform is better for business users and team communication. Both apps have advantages and disadvantages that support or hurt your team’s ability to collaborate and communicate smoothly. 

Zoom is ideal for web conferencing for above one million meeting participants daily. 

With Zoom, you can:

• Host live video chats.
• Easily share the screen during a call.
• Access meeting analytics.
• Use the recording feature to document or save your sessions.
• Hold brainstorming sessions with its on-screen whiteboard feature.
• Get in-depth support such as online chat, live help, help articles, FAQs, and video tutorials.
• Link integrations such as Zapier and Slack. 
• Start using Zoom’s free plan if you want to host 100 participants in a video call.

You can also use Zoom to run webinars. You can invite meeting participants to your webinar in Zoom with a custom registration URL. However, if you want to increase the meeting participant capacity, you can buy the business plan or Zoom Premium plan. Thanks to Zoom’s recording feature, and conferencing features, users can save the webinars and reuse them again. 

Still, Zoom isn’t a perfect video conferencing tool. If you’re considering using Zoom, there are some things that you should know about depending on the platform. 

• First of all, as you pay for Zoom per host, it can get pricy for bigger teams. The cost relies on which plan you select, such as basic plan vs. business vs. enterprise. Zoom Pro plan starts at $14.99 per host and per month and goes up to $19.99 per user per month.
• Secondly, while Zoom has some innovative features such as polling, white-boarding, and remote control, participants have reported it's not easy to use. 
• Thirdly, some users have highlighted unpredictable, poor video quality. Video on Zoom is pixelated and blurry.

Generally, Skype is a powerful communication tool. Not only is skype is well-known among businesses, but it's also a great tool to connect with friends, family, clients, and co-workers from all over the world. And the best thing is, Skype for Business will soon become a part of Microsoft Teams. 

For businesses using Microsoft products, this could be a flux, especially when you consider all of the advanced features of Skype. 

A user can enjoy the following features while using Skype:

• Hold video calls, use IM, make local, domestic and international calls.
• Post a poll, white-board, organize a Q&A session.
• Invest in office 365, which will soon comprehend Skype and get extra advanced business features
• Begin with the free version, which works best for smaller teams
• Conduct both screen, document, and file sharing that supports huge files.

The connection to Microsoft Teams is the biggest advantage, making it an ideal platform that can easily integrate with tools having advanced collaboration functions that your business is seeking.

Skype has some technical hiccups that stop this app from reaching its full potential. Despite having better audio and HD video conferencing than Zoom, Skype is famous for freezing up. Users have complained that Skype causes disturbances and freezes up a lot. Users have also highlighted that it's difficult to get support with Skype. Some other drawbacks of the app include connectivity issues, amount of bandwidth the app takes up, hard to use, clunky UX. 

Although Zoom offers far more powerful business features than Skype and it’s a no-brainer when you have to choose between Zoom and Skype. With Zoom, you can host, hold and record meetings with up to 1,000 participants, while participant limits to 100 people with Skype. For personal use, we recommend Skype if you want a free video call app to call your friends and family.

Although group chats above 10 or so people can freeze up, it offers good video and audio quality. During Covid-19, companies decided to switch to Zoom from Skype because they had experienced quality issues with Skype in recent months, which they didn't experience on Zoom. 

No, Zoom is not cheaper than Skype. Both apps offer different pricing plans according to users' requirements. Zoom offers much more features for teams and business users, and the participant's limit is also much better with Zoom. 

Zoom offers 4 business and enterprise pricing packages: a basic plan, a pro plan, a business plan, and an enterprise plan.

1.     The basic plan is free and can host a meeting of 100 participants, and it offers unlimited one-to-one meetings. 

2.     The Pro plan is for small teams and costs $14.99 per month per user. It has all features of the basic plan and supports 100 participants per meeting. Additional features include an assigned scheduler, unlimited meeting duration, meeting reporting, and assigned custom personal meeting ID.

Optional add-on plans include extra cloud recording storage for webinars at $40 per month.

3.     Zoom business plan costs $19.99 a month per user and is designed for smaller companies. Its special features are LTI integration, custom emails and company branding, single sign-on, and managed domains. 

4.     Zoom enterprise plan costs $19.99 a month per host. This plan comprises all business plan features and allows you to have at least 100 hosts. This plan permits up to 200 participants. 

The enterprise plan is best for big organizations with diverse conferencing needs with unlimited cloud storage, an avid customer success manager, and executive business reviews. 

Skype

Skype is free. Still, if you seek improved productivity and better revenue, Skype offers an enterprise pricing plan for $2 per month per user. Skype offers a business plan to its users. Users can enjoy secure communication and online meetings with a participants limit of 250 members. The business plan costs $5.50 per month and is created for online business meetings. Skype's online plan 2 offers advanced features such as 1 TB file storage, 50 GB mailbox, online versions of office, group HD video, and audio calling for 250 people. 

With Skype Meet, users can add virtual backgrounds instead of replacing them completely. Moreover, breakout rooms are also offered by Skype, where users can split their Zoom meetings into 50 individual sessions. As of now, with Skype Meet, up to 50 participants can join a single audio or video conference. 

Zoom and skype both offer premium video conferencing solutions. Both apps are designed to scale up your business communications. If you choose a communication and collaboration tool and are confused between zoom and skype, you'll see both tools have their benefits. Skype is perfect for teams seeking a holistic business solution. Zoom is best for teams that have frequent video meetings and chats. The enhancements to the Zoom platform on paid and free tiers give it a slight edge over Skype.