Published on January 14, 2022 • Updated on April 18, 2023 • About 16 min. read
Get started with Livestorm for free: host engaging meetings and events.
Sign up for freeYou have a talented, motivated team with clear goals but when you hold a virtual meeting, something doesn't click. It could be that your meetings aren’t intuitive to join or your platform isn’t interactive enough. Either way, it’s time to reevaluate your tech stack.
To host meetings that are a great use of your teams’ time, you need a virtual meeting platform that actually suits their needs. It should offer quick event creation, intuitive features, and seamless integrations with the apps you already use.
To help you find the right tool, we've analyzed reviews for the best virtual meeting platforms to try in 2023. Here’s our top ten shortlist.
Experience powerful video engagement
Livestorm helps teams collaborate and deliver memorable live or on-demand video experiences.
The best virtual meeting platforms bring people together. Before you set your mind on one tool, take a look at what these have to offer:
Livestorm is the best choice for your all-in-one online meeting software because it can be used to host all face-to-face communications (whether that's an intimate sales call or a company-wide all-hands meeting). With Livestorm, you can plan, host, and analyze any kind of virtual event for up to 3,000 attendees.
Livestorm can be used to host all kinds of virtual events, large or small. Here’s a sample of what you can do:
Analyze your data
Analyze all of your data with Livestorm's powerful reporting features.
Sign up for freeLivestorm has a free-forever (no trial period) plan for meetings of up to 20 mins with 30 attendees. You can upgrade for unlimited events, moderators, and registrants (starting at $88 per month) or get in touch for a custom quote.
Free users get access to all engagement features but have reduced access to integrations and plugins like Hubspot. It’s free forever, so you’ll never find yourself accidentally paying for a subscription, but it’s best used as a free trial before you upgrade.
Run trouble-free and secure online meetings
Meet the first video conferencing platform that makes hybrid and remote work simple.
Google Meet (formerly Google Hangouts) is part of Google Workspace and, like Livestorm, works entirely in your browser. It’s easy to access with no apps to download.
Google Meet is the perfect platform for 1:1s and team meetings as it’s reliable and easy to use. However, if you have other video engagement needs like product demos or large virtual conference calls, you might have to pay for an additional, more specialized tool.
The free version really stands out, with meetings of up to 1 hour for 100 participants. After that, only companies or people with a custom Google domain can access paid plans as these are part of the Google Workspace. Prices range between $6-18 per user per month, depending on the size and duration of your meetings.
Google Meet isn’t developed to integrate with Microsoft, so invitations can be cumbersome to set up outside Workspace apps. Also, third-party attendees usually require the host to admit them into the meeting, which may cause a poor user experience.
Teams (formerly known as Skype for Business), is a Microsoft virtual meeting tool that’s integrated into its business communications platform. That means you can schedule meetings (or start them spontaneously) from the same app you use to manage business documents and instant message your team.
Teams is mostly used by larger enterprises looking for a single place to manage internal communications. That’s because you can use it for scheduled online meetings and instant chat messaging, but it can also be used to store, manage, and edit documents.
Microsoft Teams is part of Microsoft 365, so business plans come with additional functionalities for your virtual workspace (i.e. OneDrive storage space and Office products). Teams offers a free-forever plan with meetings up to 60 mins in length. Then, annually billed prices go from $4-12.5 per user per month for meetings up to 300 participants.
Microsoft Teams is primarily a messaging and document management app, although a powerful one. As a virtual meeting platform, it’s not very user-friendly and it’s less customizable than other apps for online meetings like Livestorm.
Zoom is a high-performance virtual meeting platform. It grew in popularity during the pandemic and now millions of people use it every day.
You can use Zoom for online meetings, corporate chat, virtual conferences, webinars and events. However, most of these use cases come at a separate cost.
For Zoom One (meetings, phone calls, and chat), you get access to a free forever plan to host 40-minute meetings with up to 100 attendees. Then, prices for more specialized business plans range from $149.9-199.9 per user per month for meetings up to 30 hours and 300 attendees. Their enterprise-level plan is available for a custom quote.
Zoom works well in-browser, but it performs best in-app. Its recording storage is very limited outside of the Enterprise plan, at only 5GB per license. If you’re looking for Zoom alternatives, you might want to consider Livestorm or Google Meet.
Cisco Webex is a user-friendly virtual meeting platform that uses machine learning and AI to automate manual tasks like note-taking.
You can use Webex for meetings, webinars, and huge events with up to 100,000 attendees.
Webex prices change depending on the use case. Webex for Meetings has three different tiers:
Although Webex works as a browser-only platform, some features are only available in-app, like the virtual whiteboard. Unlike Livestorm, users are limited to 10GB of cloud storage for meeting recordings – this is a negotiable limit with the Enterprise plan.
GoToMeeting is an online meeting platform from the GoTo group, which includes additional products for hosting webinars, online training, and workspace rooms at a separate cost.
You can use GoToMeeting for having corporate conferences with up to 250 participants. If you pay for additional GoTo products, you can also use the app for hosting webinars and online training.
GoToMeeting offers different pricing options according to users’ needs. Plans are billed annually.
Creating meetings in advance requires you to download the GoToMeeting Scheduler or a plug-in. Plus, GoToMeeting doesn’t offer a free trial and subscriptions are billed annually, so, although this is a great platform, you’re making a big commitment when you pay for this app.
Adobe Connect is a platform for hosting meetings, webinars, and conferences, with customization options for visual elements. It was mainly developed for online learning in schools and universities.
Pro tip: Interested in reviewing your engagement score from past meetings? You can do it without signing up for a new tool, just use this virtual engagement score calculator for free.
You can use Adobe Connect for hosting online meetings, onboarding sessions, and automated training programs.
Pricing for Adobe Connect Meetings starts at $50 per user per month for 25 participants. To access Webinar and Learning preferences, prices start at $130 per user per month.
Adobe Connect doesn’t have the ability to dial into meetings, so if you’re facing connectivity issues or are on the go, you can’t use your phone to call and join.
BlueJeans by Verizon is a cloud-based and encrypted video conferencing app that lets you host meetings, video calls, and webinars. However, BlueJeans has different apps for meetings vs webinars, which come at different prices, so make sure you get the right one.
You can use BlueJeans Virtual Meetings for hosting any type of virtual meeting of up to 200 attendees. You can also host larger events (up to 500 attendees) using BlueJeans Events and Webinars.
BlueJeans for meetings comes at three different prices that vary depending on storage space for meeting recordings (from five hours to unlimited capacity) and number of participants (from 100-200). Pricing for BlueJeans range from $9.99-$16.66 per host per month.
BlueJeans requires a large connectivity bandwidth to operate at peak performance. Users that have a fast internet connection experience no lag, but the ones that do, complain about it on user-based platforms like Capterra.
ClickMeeting is an easy-to-use platform with features like media sharing, private chat, and polls. It’s mostly used for webinars and large meetings but that functionality comes at a different price.
You can use ClickMeeting for regular team meetings and webinars, but the most common use case is to access its learning platform and conduct virtual training.
ClickMeeting offers a 30-day free trial for hosting meetings with up to 25 attendees. Then, annual prices range from $25-40 per user per month and change according to the number of attendees (from 25 to 1,000). Enterprises can request a custom quote for hosting massive events of up to 10,000 people.
Meeting recordings are limited to up to 10 hours in the most premium plan and 2GB of file storage.
Slack is an instant messaging app for online communities and small and medium businesses. People use it to chat through text, but you can also use it for audio and video calls..
You can use Slack for chatting, calling up to 15 participants, and meeting with up to 50 people. Most users use Slack for instant messaging and short, unplanned meetings.
Since Slack is an instant messaging app, online meeting benefits don’t change much from plan to plan. The free forever version comes with limited instant messaging storage and allows for 1:1 meetings. Then, prices range from $7.25-12.5 per user per month, based on annual billing, and lets you host meetings with up to 50 participants.
Since Slack isn’t a dedicated virtual meeting platform, it lacks some engagement features like virtual whiteboards. Plus, the user interface makes it hard to host video chats as the huddle button is small and in the left bottom corner.
Choosing a virtual meeting platform isn’t a decision you can take lightly as it can help or hurt your teams’ productivity. To make up your mind, you should pay attention to these features:
Meeting attendees may be one-time users, so from the moment they receive your invite, joining and participating in your meeting needs to be fast and intuitive. They need to be able to get reminded through their preferred calendar and join the room with a click. This isn’t a deal breaker if you’re using a platform mostly for internal use, but it’s certainly an added value if your virtual meeting platform integrates with Outlook, Gmail, and iCal calendars.
This feature allows you to schedule multiple sessions for the same recurring event directly from the platform. It’s perfect for regular monthly meetings, training sessions, and demos. If you’re using Livestorm, all team members have to do is enter the registration page and pick the session that suits them best. That way, you don’t need to take additional time to create an event whenever you have a meeting.
We’ve all seen the memes about virtual meetings that could’ve been an email. To avoid boring your team members to death, you need breakout rooms. This functionality invites your attendees to chat in a friendlier and more inclusive environment. Break your team into smaller groups and host positive, collaborative, and fun sessions.
You need to be able to test before you buy any kind of software. Sometimes you can’t do that with a limited 30-day trial. With Livestorm, you get access to a free forever limited version of the tool, so you can test and get used to it for as long as you need without paying a dime.
Experience powerful video engagement
Livestorm helps teams collaborate and deliver memorable live or on-demand video experiences.
Great virtual meeting software can boost productivity and team collaboration, but it has to be a tool that integrates well with your existing workflows and tech stack. Here's what we recommend:
However, if you only want to pay for one video engagement tool that has it all then Livestorm is your best solution. With Livestorm you won’t need to pay for additional tools for different uses. We want you to express your ideas, collaborate and host engaging virtual meetings all from the same platform, whether that’s a one-to-one event or a one-to-three thousand.
Virtual meeting platforms are applications that allow people to have video calls online. Here are some of the best virtual meeting platforms on the market today: Livestorm, Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
The best virtual meeting platform is the one that suits your needs and integrates with your existing apps and workflows. In our opinion, the best virtual meeting platforms out there are:
The best free virtual meeting platform is Google Meet because it lets you host meetings with up to 100 attendees for 60 minutes. However, Livestorm is a more elegant and highly versatile video engagement platform that caters to all use cases: virtual meetings, webinars, conferences, interviews, courses, training, and more – and you can use all its features in the free forever plan. The only limit is on event duration and number of attendees.
The best virtual meeting platform for Mac is Livestorm. As it’s browser-based, Livestorm is compatible with every operating system.
Skype is a virtual meeting platform that also allows for:
Zoom isn’t the same as a virtual meeting. Zoom is the name of a platform often used to host virtual meetings. However, many people use “Zoom” as a verb to replace the words “virtual meeting”. For example, saying “I can’t meet you at 3:00 pm, I have a Zoom”is the same as saying “I can’t meet you at 3:00 pm, I have a virtual meeting”.
The most popular Zoom features are virtual backgrounds and filters because users can inject their personalities virtually.
There are many alternatives to Zoom, one of which is Livestorm. This tool lets you host virtual meetings, webinars, training sessions, and large events. Plus, just like Zoom, it’s packed with engagement features and is highly secure.