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Zoom is popular thanks to its simplicity, but it comes with lots of limitations. Recordings often lack quality, and you’ll need additional software for editing features or built-in webinar tools.
Fortunately, there are plenty of affordable, easy-to-use Zoom alternatives that include these powerful capabilities.
Check out our top 8 Zoom alternatives and what they offer. Whether you need a free option, a platform built for webinars, or AI-powered editing, you’ll find the right fit here.
The best Zoom alternatives of 2025
Why should you consider a Zoom alternative?
If you're reading this, you probably already have a reason why Zoom feels too limited for your needs. Here are a few common reasons why brands and content creators look for alternatives:
You need to create high-quality content: Zoom’s recordings are at the mercy of everyone’s internet connection and heavily compressed. That means they’re unsuitable for professional content, like podcasts or marketing videos.
You need editing features: Beyond basic trimming, Zoom can’t handle any serious editing. If you don’t want to juggle multiple tools or spend hours editing multi-speaker sessions, you need to look elsewhere.
You’re looking for a more affordable tool: Zoom plans can get expensive very quickly, often bundling features you’re not going to use anyway. There are plenty of alternatives that provide more value for less money.
The 8 best Zoom alternatives for every use case
Some Zoom alternatives are great for beginners, while others are built for advanced, professional use. In this list, you’ll find the right fit no matter your needs.
Riverside: Best Zoom alternative for recording and content creation
Who it’s for: Podcasters, marketers, content creators, and businesses that repurpose their video calls content marketing, or evergreen webinars.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $24/month.
While Zoom is a video conferencing tool that happens to record, Riverside is an all-in-one platform that you can use for video conferencing. It’s easy enough for beginners to use but powerful enough for professionals. You can record video in up to 4K and audio at 48kHz audio locally, so your quality won’t drop if someone’s internet connection falters.
You’ll get separate video and audio tracks for each participant, making editing quicker and easier. And you can edit your whole recording directly in a text-based editor, with AI tools to enhance audio, add captions, or fix eye gaze in a click. If your goal is to repurpose sessions into polished webinars, podcasts, or social media clips, Riverside is the best choice.
Key features:
- Studio-quality recording: Record video content in up to 4K resolution and 48kHz sound quality.
- Separate tracks: Record separate video and audio tracks for more comprehensive production control.
- Local recording: Everything records directly on your device instead of relying on the quality of your internet connection.
- Text-based editing: Edit your video by simply editing the text in the generated transcript that Riverside automatically generates.
- Magic Clips: Instantly generates short, shareable clips of your recording's key moments, perfectly formatted for social media platforms.
- AI features: Fix eye gaze, enhance audio, remove silences and background noise, generate b-roll, and add dynamic captions with zero effort.
- Producer Mode: Invite a producer to manage the technical aspects of the session from behind-the-scenes.
“Riverside is far better than Zoom for recording interviews.” — Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur, and marketing leader.
Cisco Webex: Best Zoom alternative for enterprise security and privacy
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Who it’s for: Large organizations, regulated industries (eg, healthcare, finance), and businesses that prioritize security.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $12 per user/month (billed annually).
Webex is a video conferencing powerhouse built on Cisco's legendary enterprise-grade infrastructure. It offers unmatched security, including end-to-end encryption and compliance with strict standards, like HIPAA and FedRAMP.
It features a very advanced AI assistant that creates real-time transcripts and automated session summaries. This tool is so smart that it can even catch you up on what you missed if you step away from a meeting!
Webex also includes Vidcast, an asynchronous video messaging tool that is just as quick and efficient as Loom. While pricier than other alternatives in this list, Webex is a strong fit for corporations that put security and efficiency first.
Key features:
- Enterprise-grade security: End-to-end encryption with compliance standards like FedRAMP and HIPAA.
- Webex AI Assistant: Provides live transcriptions, automated post-meeting summaries, and action items.
- Real-time translation: Optional add-ons that can translate 15 spoken languages into over 100 other languages.
- Hardware integration: Integrates seamlessly with Cisco’s collaboration devices (e.g., the interactive Cisco Board Pro G2).
- Easy transitions: Webex can switch flexibly across devices to stay connected without interruptions.
User review: “The transition between devices feels seamless, which is very useful when working remotely or traveling. Still, it can feel slightly complicated for beginners, especially when navigating advanced features or settings.” — Ankur R., NOC Engineer
Webex vs. Zoom:
Demio: Best Zoom alternative for marketing webinars
Who it’s for: Marketing teams and course creators focused on generating leads through live and automated webinars.
Price: Starts at $45/month (paid yearly) for a maximum of 50 attendees.
Demio is, hands down, one of the best Zoom webinar alternatives for marketing. Attendees can join directly from their browsers and the platform is packed with tools to maximize engagement.
You can respond to queries live, show presentations, share your screen, host Q&As, and launch timed calls-to-action to drive traffic mid-event. Demio also supports automation for pre-recorded or on-demand events, as well as hybrid live/automated webinars. This way, you can run a polished and professional recorded video and still capture the energy and interaction of a live event.
Key features:
- Engagement tools: Interactive polls, Q&A with upvoting, CTAs, and shareable handouts.
- Automated and on-demand webinars: Pre-record presentations and run them on a recurring schedule as evergreen events.
- Detailed analytics: Track registrations, attendance rates, and engagement to measure your webinars’ ROI.
- Marketing integrations: Natively connects with several marketing tools like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, and other common CRMs.
User review: “We’ve been using Demio to run quick, high-impact webinars, and it’s been a smooth ride from day one. The platform is simple and intuitive, but it’s a bit basic.” — Verified User in Information Technology and Services on G2
Demio vs. Zoom:
BigBlueButton: Best Zoom alternative for educators
Who it’s for: Schools, teachers, online tutors, and corporate trainers that need a purpose-built virtual classroom instead of a generic meeting tool.
Price: Free and open-source, but requires self-hosting on a dedicated server.
BigBlueButton is built specifically for online learning and comes with a suite of pedagogical tools.
The highlight feature is an interactive, multi-user whiteboard that lets instructors and students draw and write in real time. The software also includes many essential classroom features, like breakout rooms, live polling for quick tests, shared notes, and other collaboration tools.
BigBlueButton can be integrated into any Learning Management Systems (LMS), like Moodle or Canvas, making it ideal for educational institutions.
Key features:
- Interactive whiteboard: Instructors and students can annotate presentations and collaborate visually in real-time.
- Breakout rooms: Easily split students into smaller groups for activities and discussions.
- Live polling and quizzes: Assess students’ comprehension and keep them engaged.
- LMS integration: Native compatibility with major systems, like Moodle, Schoology, and Canvas.
- Live analytics: Provides teachers with data insights into student participation and engagement.
User review: “BigBlueButton is not just an application for Video conferencing. It combines many powerful features such as sharing screen and Whiteboard. It may take some time for new users to utilize its full potential, though.” — Ashish N., Mid-Market
BigBlueButton vs. Zoom
Microsoft Teams: Best Zoom alternative for Microsoft 365 users
Who it’s for: Microsoft 365 users that prefer a unified hub for all team communication and file sharing.
Price: Free plan available (100 participants, 60-minute limit). Paid plans start at $4 per user/month for Teams Essentials.
Microsoft Teams is a comprehensive workspace designed to offer the experience of both Zoom and Slack combined. Deeply integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, it allows you to co-edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in real time. It also maintains a persistent, searchable chat channel where all files can be stored within SharePoint or OneDrive.
Beyond just hosting meetings, Microsoft Teams is great for keeping everything organized and accessible in one central place. However, its interface can become busier and more complex than Zoom's, making it less suitable for casual online meetings and larger video conferences.
Key features:
- Deep Microsoft 365 integration: Users can work collaboratively on Office documents, sync with their Outlook calendars, and use OneDrive/SharePoint for centralized file storage.
- Persistent team channels: Keep conversations and files organized within various channels.
- Large meeting capacity: Host up to 300 participants on standard plans, or up to 10,000 in view-only webinar mode.
- Copilot AI add-on: Provides AI-powered recaps and automated meeting summaries with suggested action items.
User review: “Teams makes it very easy to collaborate and communicate and is integrated with Microsoft 365. It separates different channels which makes it easier to communicate with different groups. But it can be overwhelming if multiple channels are active because of a lot of notifications coming through. Also, sometimes it slows the application down when there is a large meeting going on.” — Gulrez T.. Administrator
Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom
Google Meet: Best Zoom alternative for beginners and Google users
Who it’s for: Google Workspace users and beginners who need a simple tool.
Price: Free plan (100 participants, 60-minute limit). Paid plans via Google Workspace start at $7 per user/month.
While Zoom is an undoubtedly accessible and easy-to-use tool, Google Meet manages to be even simpler for the least tech-savvy user. You can start a meeting by just going to meet.google.com and generating a shareable link — there’s hardly a faster way to start a video call.
The interface is intuitive, the browser-based experience is frictionless, and even its Google Workspace integration is nearly invisible. Meetings are automatically scheduled in Google Calendar, and you can join them directly from a Gmail thread.
A paid plan is available, but the free plan is very generous already, making it the most casual and beginner-friendly software out there.
Key features:
- Deep Google Workspace integration: One-click meeting creation and joining from Google Calendar or Gmail, and Recordings are saved directly to Google Drive.
- Live captions: Increased accessibility thanks to real-time captions in over 70 languages.
- AI features: Paid plans include AI-powered noise cancellation, automatic meeting summaries, and integration with the Gemini assistant.
User review: “I love how it syncs with google calendar so easily and makes it very easy to use from just one click. It’s very easy to generate and schedule meetings online. Screen sharing becomes laggy at times and runs slow, though, so that’s where there’s room for improvement.” — Farhan A., Marketing specialist
Google Meet vs. Zoom
Jitsi Meet: Best free and open-source Zoom alternative
Who it’s for: Users who want full control over their communication platform and have the technical ability to self-host.
Price: Free and open-source.
Jitsi Meet is a flexible and fully open-source video conferencing platform for users who want complete control. You can deploy it on your own servers as a white label, fully-customizable software, and integrate into your own apps via APIs. It also offers strong security features, with end-to-end encryption and fully private access.
For those who don’t want to host it on their own server, Jitsi Meet’s public instance is available for anyone to use without creating an account. However, performance may vary under heavy load. While Jitsi Meet’s real value comes with the security and customizability of self-hosting, it also requires technical skills to set up and operate it.
Key features:
- Open-source and self-hostable: Gives you complete control over your data, security policies, and branding.
- End-to-end encryption (E2EE): Offers an optional layer of security on supported browsers with E2EE encryption.
- Highly customizable: Developers can modify the codebase or integrate Jitsi into their own workflows and products.
User review: “Jitsi is free, open source, as easy to use as anything else out there, and does not obsessively try to sell you all the nonsense that Zoom seems to be pushing on you. The problem is that it is not well known enough - if others are not willing to trust it, or if they are not willing to try it then it is just very, very difficult to get adoption of it for use with everyone.” — Jonathan J., Director of KIE
Jitsi Meet vs. Zoom
Livestorm: Best Zoom alternative for large-scale virtual events
Who’s it for: Organizations hosting large-scale virtual events and company town halls.
Price: Free trial available. Paid plans start at $57/month.
Livestorm is a video engagement platform built to manage the entire lifecycle of an online event. It covers every step of the process, from customizable registration pages and automated emails, to hosting the event itself. It also provides deep post-event analytics, including registrations, attendance, and participant engagement.
You can pass lead data directly to your CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) thanks to Livestorm’s built-in integrations. You can also embed registration forms directly on your website or landing pages with Livestorm’s widget.
Key features:
- End-to-end event management: Tools for custom registration pages, automated emails, and social sharing.
- Engagement tools: Polls, Q&A sessions, emoji reactions, and file sharing to keep audiences engaged.
- Advanced analytics: Track registrations, attendance, and engagement metrics in detail.
- CRM integrations: Natively connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRM platforms via Zapier.
User review: “Livestorm is clearly designed to work and measure, not just broadcast. The visual adjustment of pages can be limited if you're looking for a precise brand, though.” — Juan T., Fullstack Developer
Livestorm vs. Zoom
FAQs on Zoom alternatives
Is there a free service like Zoom?
There are several platforms that offer generous free plans just like Zoom, such as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. They include features like screen sharing and chat, but with some time or participant limits.
However, if you need a 100% free, fully customizable platform for video conferencing, you can opt for Jitsi Meet and BigBlueButton. They’re both open-source, but you’ll need to host them on your own server, which requires a degree of technical familiarity.
Who is Zoom’s biggest competitor?
Zoom has many major competitors, each with different features and focus depending on the use case. Some of the best known are Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Riverside, which each offer their own unique advantages.
Why don't people use Zoom anymore?
There are several reasons why many people left Zoom over the last few years. One was the security concerns raised a few years ago (‘Zoom bombing’), but it’s mostly due to fierce competition from alternatives. Some users seek higher-quality recordings for content creation, specialized tools for education, or advanced analytics — features that Zoom does not offer.
Is Zoom losing popularity?
Zoom isn't necessarily losing popularity, but it’s not growing as fast as it did in 2020–2021. Its explosive growth during the pandemic has normalized and it now faces intense competition from other tools. Alternatives such as Riverside, Livestorm, or Demio are becoming increasingly popular, especially among users who seek for more specialized services.
How do I bypass 40 minutes on Zoom?
The only legitimate way to remove Zoom's 40-minute time limit is by upgrading to a paid plan. As a workaround, you can simply end the meeting at the 40-minute mark and have all participants rejoin using the same meeting link. However, this isn’t an ideal solution, especially for professional use, and can be very disruptive during company meetings.
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