Zoom vs Webex: Choosing the Best Video Conferencing Platform

Video conferencing connects remote workers, increases collaboration between clients and employees, and lets teams communicate face-to-face from anywhere in the world.

Given the need for flexible business communication tools thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it makes sense that over 40% of companies currently use some form of video conferencing software.

But with remote work on the rise even before COVID, (up 44% in the last five years) today’s video communication tools need to do more than just provide a virtual meeting space. Attendees should be able to chat during video calls, upload and edit files in real-time, share screens, and more to get the most out of each meeting.

Zoom and Cisco WebEx are two of the most popular video conferencing applications on the market today thanks to their overall ease of use, robust features, and flexible plans.

Read on for a head-to-head comparison of Zoom vs. WebEx, and learn which one best benefits your small business.

 

Table Of Contents 

 

• Zoom vs WebEx At a Glance
• What is Zoom? 
• What is Cisco WebEx? 
• Zoom vs WebEx: Overview
• Zoom vs WebEx: Feature Comparison
• Zoom vs WebEx: Pricing and Plans
• Zoom vs WebEx: User Experience
• Zoom vs WebEx: Is There A Clear Winner?

 

Zoom vs WebEx At a Glance

	Zoom	WebEx
Cost	Free – $19.99/mo+	Free – $26.95/mo+
Participant Count	Up to 100	Up to 500
Support	Online support is free, paid plans get phone support, and the Enterprise tier gets a dedicated account manager	Online support is free, paid plans get phone service during business hours, and the Enterprise tier can get phone service 24/7
Conferencing Features	HD Voice, HD Video, Screen Sharing, Whiteboard	HD Video, Screen Sharing, Whiteboard
Web Features	MP4 or M4A local recording, Host Controls, Private and Group Chats, Chrome & Outlook Plug-ins	Local Recording, Host Controls, Multimedia (images, gifs, etc.) Content Sharing, Toll-free Dial-in
Supported Integrations	Google Drive, Dropbox, Hubspot, and more	Google Calendar, Microsoft Office, Facebook Live, and more
Security	Multiple authentication methods including SAML and Password Protection, Two-factor Authorization available, End-to-end Encryption	User Authentication, Password Protection, End-to-end Encryption, Security upgrades available with higher price tiers

 

What is Zoom?

Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing and unified communications software that also includes team chat messaging, business telephony, breakout rooms, and webinar capabilities.

Though founded in 2011, Zoom became synonymous with video communication in the first quarter of 2020 at the start of the pandemic. From February to April of 2020, Zoom’s customer volume increased by over 350%, making it the most popular video conferencing solution of 2020.

Its best known-product is easily Zoom Meetings, its video calling tool for small to midsize teams.

In addition to Zoom Meetings, Zoom offers:

• Zoom Phone
• Zoom Video Webinar
• Zoom Rooms
• Zoom United

Zoom is especially popular within the education, healthcare, government, and financial sectors.

 

What is Cisco WebEx?

Cisco WebEx is a cloud-based video conference and online meeting software that also offers an office phone system, an all-cloud contact center, instant messaging, and online event management.

Though founded in 1995, Cisco WebEx, like Zoom, saw an enormous increase in use during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, drawing a record 324 million users in March 2020.

WebEx emerged as a popular Zoom alternative, especially in response to Zoombombing and other concerns over user privacy and security within Zoom. Additionally, WebEx’s free plan offers a longer meeting duration than Zoom’s, which made many users make the switch.

Like Zoom, WebEx is known first and foremost for WebEx Meetings, its video communications tool.

However, WebEx also offers:

• Cloud Calling
• WebEx Rooms
• WebEx Events
• WebEx Cloud Contact Center

WebEx is popular within the healthcare and education sectors, and also has a strong user base of start-ups and sports/entertainment companies.

 

Zoom vs WebEx: Overview

The below table outlines the available functionality, standout features, and price ranges for Zoom and WebEx communication solutions.

Additionally, see which platform was declared the winner of each head-to-head comparison.

 

Solution	Standout Zoom Features	Standout WebEx Features	Winner	Price Range
Video Conferencing	Up to 1,000 attendees, 40 simultaneous screens	People Insights provide a profile of meeting attendees	Zoom Meetings	Zoom Meetings: Free-$19.99/user per month+ WebEx Meet: Free-$26.95/user per month
Breakout Sessions	Hosts can visit multiple breakout rooms per session	Hosts can shuffle session participants	WebEx Meet	Zoom: Included in all Zoom Meetings plans WebEx: Included in all WebEx Meet plans
Meeting Rooms	Attendee check-in screens and virtual signage	Variety of equipment sizes based on the size of the conference room	WebEx Rooms	Prices vary for both Zoom and WebEx based on the equipment ordered
Team Collaboration Features	User calendar synching to automatically update attendee  presence	AI Meeting Assistant	WebEx Meet	Zoom: Included in all Zoom Meetings Plans WebEx: Included in all WebEx Meet plans
Webinar Tool	In-webinar live offers	Lead scoring and custom registration forms	WebEx Events	Zoom Video Webinar: $40.00-$6,490/license per month WebEx Events: Quote-Based
Business Phone System	Voicemail transcription, call flipping, voicemail-to-email	Advanced call routing and call queuing options	Zoom Phone	Zoom Phone: $10.00/user per month- $20.00/user per month WebEx Cloud Calling: Quote-based
Omnichannel Communication Platform	Bundled service saves user 15% on Zoom Phone and Zoom Meetings	Email and live chat capabilities	WebEx Contact Center	Zoom: Prices Range from $25.00/user per month- to $30.00+/user per month  WebEx: Quote-Based pricing
Security/Privacy	Removed “Attention Indicator” tool for meeting participants	Password-protected meetings	Zoom	Security pricing for Zoom and WebEx is based on product/plan chosen or custom security needs

 

 

Zoom vs WebEx: Feature Comparison

Below, we’ll outline and declare a winner for the following Zoom and Cisco WebEx features:

• Video Conferencing
• Breakout Sessions
• Meeting Rooms
• Team Collaboration Features
• Webinar Solutions
• Business Phone Systems
• Omnichannel Communication
• Integrations
• Security and Privacy

 

 

Video Conferencing

 

Zoom

Zoom Meetings is a cloud-based HD video quality web conferencing and audio communication tool for up to 1,000 attendees and 49 simultaneous video screens. It’s accessible on macOS X, Windows, and Linux operating systems and Apple and Android mobile devices.

Note that while the Zoom desktop and mobile app is free to download, the download is required to host or attend meetings, as Zoom does not currently allow for in-browser video calls. Users can host an unlimited number of meetings of up to 30 hours in length each.

Chat messaging, (which we’ll explore in detail in the “team collaboration” section below) is available during all video calls for public and private messages. Additionally, users can use the click-to-call chat feature to instantly transition from messaging to a video call.

For added privacy, users can add virtual backgrounds. In February 2021, Zoom added a “blur background” feature. Users can choose from multiple video layouts, including active speaker view and gallery view.

To schedule a Zoom meeting, click on the “Schedule Meeting” button in the web portal and define the meeting topic, date and time, description, and whether or not the meeting is recurring. By default, meeting passwords are enabled. Users can also schedule meetings directly from their Google or Outlook calendars.

To share meeting invitations, users can send invites via email, group chat, or simply copy and paste the link/meeting ID to share to social media or another platform. Note that anyone can attend a Zoom meeting, whether or not they have a paid Zoom account. All participants, however, will need to download the free Zoom app to attend the meeting on desktop or mobile devices.

Hosts and attendees (if granted permission by the meeting hosts) can opt whether or not they’d like to share their audio, their video, their screens, or both at any time during the meeting.

Additional basic Zoom video calling features include:

• Meeting waiting rooms
• Mute/Unmute
• Background noise suppression
• Virtual hand-raising
• Local and cloud-based meeting recording
• Searchable meeting recording transcriptions
• Dial-in meeting access
• Live meeting transcription
• Meeting room branding
• Single Sign-On

 

 

WebEx

WebEx Meet is a video conferencing solution that allows up to 200 attendees with 16 simultaneous screen displays to attend online meetings from the WebEx app or referred Internet browsers.

It’s accessible on Windows and Mac computers/devices, Apple and Android smartphones, and on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox.

WebEx Meetings can last up to 24 hours, and users can host or attend an unlimited number of monthly meetings. As with Zoom, WebEx’s meeting tool also includes chat messaging and other team collaboration features we’ll cover separately in this piece.

Users can choose from multiple views, including a full-screen view of the active speaker, the grid gallery view, and the overla view, which shows the primary speaker with smaller thumbnails of attendees. Users can also move and resize screens/thumbnails at any time.

Meetings can be scheduled in Outlook, Google Calendar, or within the WebEx portal. Choose from premade meeting scheduling templates or specify the meeting date, topic, time, and recurrence pattern on a per-meeting basis.

Attendees will automatically be emailed a WebEx meeting invitation and will receive automated email updates/reminders about the meeting, including one 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting start.

As with Zoom, WebEx meetings can also be shared via links, dial-in to meetings, and users can opt to instantly transition to a video call. Meeting recording and recording transcription are also available.

One major difference to note is that, while Zoom opted to remove the “attention indicator” attendee tracking tool from its video conferencing platform, WebEx still offers one.

Additional WebEx Meet features include:

• HD VoIP audio conferencing
• 10GB+ of cloud recording storage
• Alternate meeting host
• Virtual hand-raising
• Sharable MP4 meeting recordings
• Virtual, customized, and blurred backgrounds
• “Call-me” tool to join meetings
• Closed captioning and real-time meeting transcription
• Mute/Unmute and advanced host controls
• Attendee profiles/People Insights
• Noise detection/suppression

 

Winner: Zoom. While on the surface, the video conferencing capabilities of Zoom and WebEx are nearly identical, Zoom edges out WebEx in terms of meeting capacity, length, and the number of simultaneous screens.

 

 

Breakout Sessions

 

Zoom

All Zoom plans include Breakout Rooms, which allows admins to divide up larger meetings into up to 50 smaller sub-groups for more team-based, department-wide, or just more intimate discussions.

Zoom meeting hosts decide if they want these breakout groups to be assigned randomly or if they’d like to pair up specific people. Hosts can also broadcast messages to breakout groups during sessions ( to give updates on time left in the session, share conversation topics, etc.) Hosts can rotate between multiple breakout sessions during the meeting.

Once the breakout session is over, the host can transfer every breakout room participant back into the main meeting room.

 

 

WebEx

WebEx Breakout Sessions allows users to break larger meetings into a maximum of 100 smaller breakout sessions.  Hosts and co-hosts can divide attendees up into these sessions, and as with Zoom, breakout sessions can be created ahead of time or assigned at random.

Admins determine the length of the breakout sessions before participants return to the main room, broadcast messages to all sessions, and can even add, rename, and delete individual sessions at any time.

Best of all, hosts and cohosts can switch out, remove, or move breakout session participants for added perspectives or to avoid conflict.

Session attendees can share content, ask the host/co-host for help, chat with one another, mute/unmute themselves, and control whether or not they share their video screens.

 

Winner: WebEx. WebEx Breakout Sessions allow both host and cohosts to split the responsibility of managing the sessions, and offer far more advanced session host and participant controls.

 

 

Meeting Rooms

 

Zoom

Zoom Rooms are designed to take the place of traditional office conference rooms by providing optimal meeting room hardware that makes it easy for all physical meeting attendees to share a livestream of their meetings with other Zoom Rooms or video conferring sessions.

Think of Zoom Rooms as virtual board rooms with state-of-the-art hardware that gets everyone in the Zoom Room on a single screen and connect with other Zoom Rooms to collaborate with those outside of your office in a much simpler way. Zoom Rooms can be completely customized to the needs of your company. As with Zoom Meetings, Zoom Rooms offer meeting recording, whiteboard, file sharing/editing, and other collaboration features.

Users can use one-click sharing to share content wirelessly within the Zoom Room. Features like digital signage, scheduling displays, attendee check-in and hardware like HD cameras and screens, microphones, and speakers bridge the gap between in-person and virtual attendees.

 

 

WebEx

WebEx Rooms Series provides a variety of hardware-as-a-service options that allows you to create a more effective physical conference room powered by WebEx video and collaboration tools.

Cameras can automatically detect the current speaker and provide the best speaker video framing, while automatic noise suppression cuts out things like shuffling papers and coughing.

AI features equip devices with facial recognition capabilities and offer a voice-controlled digital meeting for a touch-free experience. A 5K ultra-wide lens camera ensures that everyone in the WebEx room fits onscreen, while speakers come with built-in amplifiers and equal room coverage. Wired and wireless content sharing are both possible, and various sizes of equipment (especially screens) are available for any conference room size.

 

Winner: WebEx. WebEx Rooms offer a higher quality of conference room equipment, as well as more diversity in hardware size and functionality.

 

 

Team Collaboration Features

 

Zoom

Zoom’s Group Messaging tool improves both internal communication as a whole and real-time communication between meeting participants.

Users can create and join public, private, group, and one-on-one channels, receive selective and customizable chat notifications, search chats for keywords and files, and of course, respond to other messages with emojis.

User tagging, direct replies, user presence and user calendar synching make the chat tool even more efficient. Internal and external participants can join the chat, users can star important messages, and it’s easy to mute notifications or turn on Do Not Disturb when you need to focus.

In the chat, users can also upload and share documents, Adobe PDFs, screenshots, images, audio messages, and notes. All chat logs are automatically synced and updated in real-time, so no matter which device you access the chats with, you’ll always see the latest messages.

Whiteboard features in Zoom allow users to take notes, draw, and share boards with other users to better explain their ideas — and whiteboards can be saved afterward.

Screen sharing, remote screen control, and in-chat polling options offer an even higher level of team collaboration.

 

 

WebEx

WebEx Team Collaboration allows users to collaborate not only during a video meeting but at any time within the WebEx portal.

The always-on collaboration platform allows for constant team chat messaging, two-way whiteboarding, file sharing, and a completely personalized communication space. This way, members of a project or department can get the latest updates, file changes, messages, and tasks at any time.

Whiteboards, files, and messages are automatically saved and synced across devices in the portal for version control. Users can also customize their notification settings to ensure they don’t miss messages from key team members or relating to essential subjects. They can also flag important messages for follow-up.

Best of all, WebEx offers a voice-powered AI-powered meeting assistant that helps attendees remember essential information, take notes, and make action items without taking their attention away from the meeting.

Using voice commands, attendees can tell the Assistant to take notes, set up future related meetings, create meeting-inspired tasks, and transcribe the meeting in real-time. Users can then search these transcripts according to keywords. Plus, users can set key “trigger words” before the meeting to ensure that the Assistant automatically takes notes relating to that word and captures the most essential parts of your meetings.

Users can automatically email meeting notes, highlights, action items, and transcriptions to individual users or a whole team after the meeting has ended.

Additional WebEx Team Collaboration features include:

• User tagging/mentions
• User status/presence
• Standard note-taking tools
• User schedule/calendar access
• Searchable file storage
• Document/file editing third-party integrations for in-portal editing

 

Winner: WebEx. The AI-powered assistant is tough to beat, as is two-way whiteboarding.

 

 

Webinar Solutions

 

Zoom

Zoom Video Webinar is a cloud-based virtual event platform that allows users to host both live and on-demand webinars for hundreds or thousands of attendees.

In addition to offering webinar scheduling and registration tools for more specialized audiences, users can also livestream their events to social media platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube, and other streaming services. For paid webinars or special in-webinar offers, Zoom accepts payments via PayPal.

Additional Zoom Video Webinar features include:

• Live Q&A sessions
• Panelist screen sharing (including slides and video with audio)
• In-webinar live chat and polling
• Promote attendees to hosts
• Practice rooms for panelists prior to the event
• Attendee surveys, recordings, and transcripts
• Marketing automation
• Quote-based pricing for over 10,000 attendees

 

 

WebEx

Cisco WebEx Events lets users host online events for up to 3,000 participants and has webcasting capabilities allowing for up to 100,000 attendees.

Up to 200 panelists can join a WebEx Event via video, and users can display up to 720 HD video scenes simultaneously. Participants can choose from an active speaker view, or lock their view onto a specific panelist during the Event. Event views adjust automatically when a panelist/host shares content, so there’s no need for participants to reconfigure their views.

Speakers can upload and share presentations, desktop applications, or entire screens, whiteboards, video, and even annotate files/content in real-time during an Event.

Events also has excellent registration and follow-up features designed to engage audiences, help companies understand the aspects of the webinar attendees found most engaging, and even generate revenue from the topics discussed in the webinar.

Customized incoming attendee registration forms and pre-made invitation templates help admins to automatically score leads before the Event and monitor attendee attention to determine the top leads. Admins can also send out reminder emails, confirmations, and follow-up surveys automatically. Like Zoom Webinar, WebEx Events accepts PayPal.

After Events, admins/hosts can forward MP4 recordings to attendees and upload attendee data/contact information to their integrated CRM system.

Additional WebEx Events features include:

• Virtual, blurred, or branded backgrounds
• Threaded Q&A tools
• Chat messaging and polling
• Post-event URL for additional materials/special promotional offers
• Multi-touchpoint promotional materials
• WebEx Service for professional Event support

 

Winner: WebEx Events. WebEx events has advanced features, particularly related to lead scoring and promotional follow-ups, that help make webinars more profitable for companies and make it easier to identify high-value attendees.

 

Business Phone System

 

Zoom

Zoom Phone is a cloud phone service built to work with the Zoom platform.

Users can opt for BYOC (Bring Your Own Carrier) to use with the Zoom Cloud PBX and can port in existing business phone numbers. As with chat messaging, Zoom Phone users can instantly transition a phone call to a video meeting, and can transfer calls from mobile to desktop devices and vice-versa while on a call.

Zoom Phone offers automatic or on-demand cloud and local call recording, virtual voicemail and voicemail transcriptions, advanced call routing options, auto-attendants, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR.)

Users can opt for pay-as-you-go or unlimited calling pricing options and can opt for both local or toll-free business phone numbers.

Additional Zoom Phone features include:

• Domestic MMS and SMS texting
• Phone number extensions
• Voicemail transcription
• ACD and call queueing
• Dial by Name Directory
• Call barge, call monitoring, call whisper
• Advanced call routing
• Audio conferencing
• Anonymous call blocking
• Call parking, call flip, call hold, call waiting, call transfer
• International calling and international phone numbers (add-ons)

For more detailed information, read our complete Zoom Phone review.

 

 

WebEx

WebEx Cloud Calling is an enterprise-grade cloud business phone calling plan that offers compatibility with team collaboration tools,  messaging, and video calls. Users can opt for out-of-the-box Cisco calling plans or flexible partner calling plans from leading carriers or your current provider.

WebEx Cloud Calling is designed to bring all of your business communication needs together in the cloud. Though WebEx, like Zoom, offers basic audio calling capabilities in its Meetings plan, the Cloud Calling tool is like Zoom Phone in that it offers more advanced calling features.

Users can make calls to other WebEx users within the WebEx Meetings account, but to make calls to anyone with a phone number, you’ll need WebEx Calling.

WebEx users receive a business phone number that will ring to any device, and admins can easily add phone numbers for each employee if needed. This helps to keep personal phone numbers private.

Users can easily transition from a 1:1 call to a conference call, merge calls, and transfer calls to other team members. Call Pickup even allows users to answer calls sent to a team member’s phone number if they’re away from their desk.

Additional WebEx Calling features include:

• Caller ID, call forwarding and call waiting
• Hunt groups
• Call recording and transcription
• IVR and ACD call menus
• Advanced intelligent call routing
• Visual voicemail
• Do Not Disturb
• Call queuing
• Call monitoring

 

Winner: Zoom. Zoom Phone is the winner here, as both its pricing structure and capabilities when compared to Zoom Meetings are much more transparent and easy to understand than WebEx Calling. Additionally, Zoom Phone offers more advanced calling features, whereas some of those features are only available within the WebEx Contact Center.

 

Omnichannel Communication

 

Zoom

Zoom United is a bundled service omnichannel communication plan that combines Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Messaging on any device. Its goal is to reduce administrative burdens and provide a seamless communication solution powered entirely by Zoom.

Additionally, Zoom United users will save roughly 15% on the cost of purchasing Zoom Phone and Zoom Meetings individually.

 

 

WebEx

The WebEx Contact Center is an omnichannel cloud contact center solution designed for digital-first customer journeys with a heavy focus on customer self-service.

Users won’t just be able to communicate with customers via phone and video conferencing tools. They’ll also be able to connect via email, SMS/MMS text messaging, and live chat.

CRM integrations allow for advanced customer journey and order history information, while automatic omnichannel syncing means the conversation can always pick up where it left off, even if multiple channels are used.

Call flow builder tools, real-time agent and contact center reporting and analytics, and advanced ring groups, call queuing tools, and IVR capabilities allow for seamless communication across the board.

Winner: WebEx. Zoom doesn’t technically offer omnichannel communication, since as of this writing, there are no email capabilities or AI-powered chatbots available within Zoom United. Zoom United is really more of a bundled service, not a contact center solution.

 

Integrations

 

Zoom

Zoom integrates with:

• Slack
• GSuite
• Microsoft 365
• Zendesk
• Trello
• MailChimp
• Monday.com
• Okta
• Salesforce
• Google Drive/Dropbox

For more information about Zoom integrations, visit the Zoom App Marketplace.

 

WebEx

Webex integrates with:

• GSuite
• Microsoft 365
• Google Drive
• Salesforce
• Box
• Microsoft Teams
• JIRA
• Github
• Slack
• SharePoint
• Asana
• Trello

For more information about Webex integrations, click here.

 

Security and Privacy

 

Zoom

In the first half of 2020, Zoombombing caused Zoom to have to completely rethink their approach to security.

As a response, Zoom established automatically password-protected meetings and creating waiting rooms, where potential attendees wait to either be let in by the host or join the password-protected meeting only when the hosts begins it. Zoom lets hosts remove, mute, turn off the video of, or permanently ban problem attendees. Hosts controls also allow meeting hosts to lock meetings so that after a set amount of time, no one else can join.

Zoom also offers end-to-end data encryption, two-factor authentication, and HIPAA compliance.

 

WebEx

WebEx also offers end-to-end encryption, HIPAA compliance, and two-factor authentication.

Like Zoom, WebEx also password-protects meetings and can lock meetings after ten minutes. Admins/hosts can opt to hide all publicly listed meetings, have attendees wait in a virtual meeting lobby, and restrict participants’ audio and video.

WebEx also lets admins password-protect recordings and prevents anyone from downloading a meeting recording. WebEx also makes integration with third-party Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools simple.

Winner: Zoom. Although Zoom has struggled with security issues in the past, it currently has stronger host controls in place than WebEx. Additionally, Zoom does not have an attention indicator tool that attempts to measure meeting attendee participation and attention within meetings, allowing for a higher level of user privacy.

 

 

Zoom vs WebEx: Pricing and Plans

All Zoom plans are priced on both a monthly and an annual basis, with the annual payment plan offering an average saving of $30.00-$400/.00.

Below, we’ve outlined a concise pricing comparison table of all Zoom products. More detailed cost information is available on the Zoom pricing page.

 

Zoom Meetings Plans

	Basic Plan	Pro Plan	Business Plan	Enterprise Plan
Pricing	Free	$14.99/month per license	$19.99/month per license	Quote-Based
Features	Standard Features:  100 participants maximum 40-minute meeting maximum  Unlimited number of monthly 1:1/group meetings  Local recording only Chat messaging Screen sharing, breakout rooms, co-annotation, remote control, whiteboard, virtual background	Standard Features Plus:  Polling Assign Meeting Scheduler Livestreaming  Reporting and Analytics Advanced User Management 1GB cloud recording space Live Transcription	Standard and Pro Features plus:  Up to 300 participants maximum Single Sign-On Recording Transcripts Company branding  30-hour meeting duration Managed Domains Admin portal Recording Transcripts Language Interpretations	Standard, Pro, and Business Plan Features plus:  Up to 1,000+ meeting attendees Ticket, live, chat, and phone support Unlimited local and cloud recording storage Customer Success Manager Bundle discounts

 

Zoom Phone Plans

	Pay-As-You-Go Zoom Phone Plan	Unlimited US and Canada Zoom Phone Plan	Pro Global Select Zoom Phone Plan
Price	$10.00/month per user	$15.00/month per user	$20.00/month per user
Features	US and Canada Number  Domestic MMS/SMS Extension to extension outbound dialing	All Standard Features Plus:  Unlimited US/Canada calling Advanced phone features Make/receive calls from multiple devices/apps	All Standard/US Canada Unlimited Plan Features Plus:  Direct Dial Number Unlimited domestic calling in 40+ countries

 

Zoom United Plans

	United Pro	United Business	United Enterprise
Pricing	$25.00/user per month	$30.00/user per month	Quote-Based
Zoom Phone Features	Unlimited calling in US/Canada Dial by name directory ACD One USA/Canada phone number per user	All Pro Features Included custom calling plan	All Pro and Business Features Included long-distance custom calling plan Add on unlimited calling in 18 countries
Zoom Meetings Features	Standard meeting features Up to 100 participants 1 GB cloud recording storage Livestreaming	Standard Features Up to 300 participants Single Sign-On Recording transcripts  Managed Domains Company Branding	Standard and Business Features Up to 500 participants

 

Zoom Webinar Pricing 

All Zoom Webinar plans contain the same features, the only difference between the plans is the maximum number of attendees.

 

Pricing	Number of Attendees
$40.00/month per license	100
$140.00/month per license	500
$340.00/month per license	1000
$990.00/month per license	3000
$2940/month per license	5000
From $6,490/month per license	10,000+

 

As with Zoom, WebEx pricing is available on an annual or monthly basis (with annual plans offering a 10% savings.) 

 

However, unlike Zoom, many of WebEx’s tools do not have publicly-listed pricing tiers and require an individual quote. The lack of transparency is frustrating to potential users, as this means it’s tough to know which platform truly offers the better deal. 

 

That being said, Zoom Meetings is currently more affordable than WebEx Meet, the only WebEx product with publicly listed pricing (outlined below.) 

 

Note that all WebEx Meet plans, including the Free Plan, offer: 

 

• Desktop and mobile screen sharing
• Four views
• Mobile Apps for iPhone and Android
• Chat messaging, hand raising, polling
• Meeting recording and ability to save recording to computer
• Breakout sessions
• Virtual backgrounds
• Online support
• Whiteboarding

 

WebEx Meet Pricing

Features	Free Plan	WebEx Starter Plan	WebEx Business Plan	WebEx Enterprise Plan
Pricing	Free, 1 host maximum	$13.50/host per month for 1-50 users	$26.95/host per month for up to 100 users	Quote-based, custom number of users
Meeting Length	50 minutes	24 Hours	24 Hours	24 Hours
Cloud Recording Storage	X	5GB	10GB	Customizable
Recording Transcriptions	X	✓	✓	✓
Alternate Hosts	X	✓	✓	✓
File Sharing	X	✓	✓	✓
Customer Support	Online Only	Chat and Calling	Chat and Calling	Chat, Calling, Dedicated Rep.
Toll-Free Dial-in	X	X	X	✓

 

 

Zoom vs WebEx: User Experience

After reading numerous reviews of Zoom and Cisco WebEx, as well as evaluating both tools with hands-on analysis, we’ve compiled a list of the most consistent pros and cons of each platform below.

 

Zoom Pros	Zoom Cons
User-friendly, intuitive, and easy installation process	No browser-based access, requires an app download
Industry-specific solutions (Zoom for Education, Zoom for Financial Services, Zoom for Healthcare, etc.)	Privacy and security issues mean that some companies and industries have completely forbidden the use of Zoom as a video meeting platform
Excellent team collaboration features that make it easier to replicate an in-person meeting over video chat	Frequent latency/lag and jitter can cause frustration, delays, and miscommunication
Bundled Zoom United services saves users 15%, and unlimited team chat messaging is included with Zoom Meetings	Free version has limitations of 40-minute meetings and 100 guests maximum
The ability to edit recordings allows users to turn past meetings into future training materials	Frequent conversion issues with local Zoom Meeting recordings

 

Cisco WebEx Pros	Cisco WebEx Cons
The Free WebEx plan allows users to meet for longer	Paid plans have a small video meeting maximum attendee number, users may need to upgrade to WebEx Events for higher meeting capacity
Advanced features allow for a higher level of customization and provide more communication capabilities	Features can make the interface crowded and have a steep learning curve, impacts overall user-friendliness
Allows for streamlined workflow and task management capabilities even when not using the Meeting platform	Long customer support resolution times
Two-way whiteboarding tool allows for better collaboration	WebEx Events registration process is overly complicated
Complete Contact Center software available	Cisco Cloud Phone has limited features when compared to the Contact Center solution

 

 

Zoom vs WebEx: Is There A Clear Winner?

Which side you choose in the Zoom vs WebEx debate depends heavily on the specific features you need and your small business’s priorities.

If your number-one focus is overall ease of use, opt for Zoom. If your main priority is a host of advanced features, go for WebEx. Teams that usually host large-scale but still internal video meetings will likely benefit more from Zoom, while businesses that use webinars to connect with internal and external viewers (or even companies who sometimes sell webinars as a product) will be happier with WebEx.

Finally, if your small business needs a complete contact center solution with email and AI-powered chatbots, opt for WebEx’s omnichannel solution. But if you’d simply like to add a VoIP phone system to your video calling platform? Zoom Phone will be all you need.

Looking for additional video conferencing and cloud communication solutions? Check out our comparison table of the top web conferencing software to see how other providers stack up against WebEx and Zoom.