Zoom Competitors

Business / By Gennaro Cuofano / November 1, 2023 November 2, 2023

Zoom is a video platform, which enabled remote working. As such it competes with other large tech players like Google and Microsoft for the productivity space, and other startups like Slack and Go-To-Meetings.

Competitor	Description	Key Insights	Competitive Overlap	Differentiation
Microsoft Teams	Part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft Teams offers video conferencing, chat, and collaboration tools for businesses. Microsoft Teams competes directly with Zoom in the enterprise communication and collaboration market.	Microsoft Teams provides a suite of communication and collaboration tools, directly competing with Zoom in the enterprise communication and collaboration market.	Both compete in the enterprise communication and collaboration market, offering video conferencing, chat, and productivity tools, but with Microsoft Teams’ integration with Microsoft 365 apps and services.	Microsoft Teams’ integration with Microsoft 365 and a comprehensive collaboration suite.
Cisco Webex	Cisco Webex is a video conferencing and collaboration platform designed for businesses, offering features such as video meetings, webinars, and messaging. Cisco Webex competes with Zoom in the video conferencing and collaboration market.	Cisco Webex provides video conferencing and collaboration tools for businesses, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the video conferencing and collaboration segments.	Both compete in the video conferencing and collaboration market, offering features like video meetings and webinars, but with Cisco Webex’s emphasis on security and integrations.	Cisco Webex’s focus on security and extensive integrations.
Google Meet	Google Meet is a video conferencing platform offered as part of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), providing video meetings and collaboration tools. Google Meet competes with Zoom in the video conferencing and business communication market.	Google Meet offers video meetings and collaboration tools as part of Google Workspace, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the video conferencing and business communication segments.	Both compete in the video conferencing and business communication market, but with Google Meet’s integration with Google Workspace and Google services.	Google Meet’s integration with Google Workspace and Google services.
GoToMeeting	GoToMeeting is a video conferencing and online meeting platform that offers features such as video meetings, webinars, and screen sharing. GoToMeeting competes with Zoom in the video conferencing and online meeting market.	GoToMeeting provides video conferencing and online meeting tools, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the video conferencing and online meeting segments.	Both compete in the video conferencing and online meeting market, offering features like video meetings and webinars, but with GoToMeeting’s emphasis on ease of use and integrations.	GoToMeeting’s user-friendly interface and integrations.
BlueJeans	BlueJeans by Verizon is a video conferencing platform known for its high-quality video and audio, offering video meetings and webinars. BlueJeans competes with Zoom in the video conferencing and online meeting market.	BlueJeans provides video conferencing and online meeting solutions, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the video conferencing and online meeting segments.	Both compete in the video conferencing and online meeting market, with BlueJeans’ focus on high-quality video and audio experiences.	BlueJeans’ emphasis on high-quality video and audio.
Slack	Slack is a messaging and collaboration platform known for team communication. While it’s primarily a messaging platform, Slack offers integrations with video conferencing tools like Zoom and competes indirectly in the online collaboration and communication market.	Slack is a messaging and collaboration platform with integrations for video conferencing tools like Zoom, indirectly competing in the online collaboration and communication market.	Both offer online collaboration and communication solutions, with Slack’s focus on messaging and integrations with various tools and services, including Zoom.	Slack’s messaging and integrations with third-party services.
RingCentral	RingCentral offers cloud-based communication and collaboration solutions, including video conferencing, messaging, and phone systems for businesses. RingCentral competes with Zoom in the cloud communication and collaboration market.	RingCentral provides cloud-based communication and collaboration solutions, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the cloud communication and collaboration segments.	Both compete in the cloud communication and collaboration market, offering video conferencing, messaging, and phone systems, but with RingCentral’s focus on unified communication.	RingCentral’s unified communication solutions.
Jitsi Meet	Jitsi Meet is an open-source video conferencing platform that offers secure video meetings and is often used by organizations seeking self-hosted solutions. Jitsi Meet competes with Zoom in the video conferencing and open-source communication market.	Jitsi Meet provides open-source video conferencing and communication solutions, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the video conferencing and open-source communication segments.	Both compete in the video conferencing and open-source communication market, with Jitsi Meet’s emphasis on open-source and self-hosted options.	Jitsi Meet’s open-source nature and self-hosted capabilities.
FreeConferenceCall	FreeConferenceCall.com offers free video conferencing, audio conferencing, and screen sharing services, with premium options available. It competes with Zoom in the online conferencing and collaboration market.	FreeConferenceCall.com provides video conferencing and audio conferencing services, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the online conferencing and collaboration segments.	Both compete in the online conferencing and collaboration market, offering free and premium conferencing services, but with FreeConferenceCall.com’s focus on simplicity and affordability.	FreeConferenceCall.com’s free and affordable conferencing options.
Whereby	Whereby (formerly Appear.in) is a video conferencing platform designed for simple, browser-based video meetings. It competes with Zoom in the browser-based video conferencing market.	Whereby offers browser-based video conferencing, sometimes overlapping with Zoom in the browser-based video conferencing market.	Both compete in the browser-based video conferencing market, with Whereby’s emphasis on simplicity and ease of use, requiring no downloads or installations.	Whereby’s browser-based, no-download approach to video meetings.

Table of Contents

How the pandemic propelled Zoom’s brand

zoom-business-model — Zoom is a video communication platform, which mission is to “make video communications frictionless.” Leveraging on the viral growth from its freemium model, Zoom then uses its direct sales force to identify the opportunity and channel those in B2B and enterprise accounts.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, it was Zoom that was best placed to take advantage.

From March to June 2020, the number of daily active users on the Zoom platform jumped from 10 million to over 200 million.

A further 90,000 schools across 20 countries also utilized Zoom video conferencing to conduct classes remotely.

However, the immense popularity of Zoom has resulted in security and privacy concerns.

In a world that is progressively shifting to remote work, many Zoom users are seeking alternative video conferencing options.

Skype Meet Now

Skype has been synonymous with online communication for almost two decades.

Now owned by Microsoft, Skype Meet Now was created to be a light-weight alternative to Zoom.

Users can easily host a meeting with their team without having to sign up for a service or download software.

By simply creating a room and sharing a link asking participants to join the call, the platform appeals to many professionals who want to avoid the hassle of signing up for a dedicated service.

Importantly, Skype Meet Now allows for up to 50 people to attend the conference at any one time.

Conferences can also be recorded where necessary on either a smartphone app or desktop client.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a more streamlined version of the Google Hangout app for texting and video calling.

Google Meet matches Skype Meet Now for simplicity. Users are only tasked with creating a room and then sharing a link with their colleagues to get started.

The platform can support video conferencing for up to 100 participants with 16 of those visible on the screen.

Given that it is integrated with G Suite, users can join the meeting from an email invite or calendar event.

Offline users can also attend by dialing a unique conference phone number.

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Meet was made free worldwide in a direct move to take market share from Zoom.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is one the most popular video conferencing apps, with Microsoft claiming over 44 million daily active users.

Like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams enjoys integration with parent company software.

As part of the Office 365 suite of applications, conference members can collaborate and share information in multiple ways.

Microsoft Teams has a competitive edge over Zoom – particularly where larger organizations are concerned – with the capacity to host 250 conference members simultaneously.

Slack

slack-business-model — Slack follows a freemium model, where a free version is offered, and users can convert to paying customers if they want more usage or advanced functionalities. Slack combines the free model with a direct sales force to acquire enterprise customers with yearly recurring revenue of over 100K. Those customers were 575 in 2019, and they accounted for 40% of its revenues.

Slack is commonly associated with team chat, but it does have video conferencing functionality also.

Many businesses prefer to use Slack because the platform does not force them to use its features.

Indeed, Slack conversations are easily integrated with Zoom or Microsoft Teams to allow a seamless transition between text, audio, and video conferencing.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting was one of the first video conferencing services available and enjoys significant market share as a result.

The service is feature-packed, incorporating the ability to record meetings, share screens, and designate multiple facilitators.

It is also a versatile offering, readily accessible on Mac, PC, Linux, Android, and web browsers.

GoToMeeting offers a range of plans suitable for most organizations.

The entry-level plan alone allows for up to 150 participants.

For larger needs, the Enterprise plan can accommodate up to 3,000 participants.

Key takeaways:

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom saw its popularity explode during the early part of 2020. However, security concerns caused many remote workers to seek alternatives.
Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are worthy options for business people who need integrated services such as email and scheduling and presentation software.
Slack provides a worthy point of differentiation because it does not force businesses to use its proprietary features.

Key Competitors of Zoom:

Skype Meet Now:
- Owned by Microsoft, Skype Meet Now offers a lightweight alternative to Zoom.
- Users can create a meeting room and share a link for participants to join without signing up.
- Supports up to 50 participants and allows recording of conferences.
Google Meet:
- Streamlined version of Google Hangouts, integrated with G Suite.
- Users create a room, share a link, and can have up to 100 participants with 16 visible on screen.
- Made free during the pandemic to compete with Zoom’s market share.
Microsoft Teams:
- One of the most popular conferencing apps with integration into Microsoft’s software suite.
- Part of Office 365, allowing collaboration and information sharing.
- Supports up to 250 conference members, particularly useful for larger organizations.
Slack:
- Offers team chat and video conferencing functionalities.
- Provides integration with other platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams for seamless transitions.
- Uses a freemium model with a direct sales force to acquire enterprise customers.
GoToMeeting:
- One of the earliest video conferencing services, offering features like recording and screen sharing.
- Versatile and accessible on various platforms, including Mac, PC, Linux, Android, and web browsers.
- Plans suitable for different organization sizes, accommodating up to 3,000 participants.

Related Visual Stories

Who Owns Zoom?

who-owns-zoom — Zoom’s principal private shareholders comprise Eric S. Yuan, a Chinese-American billionaire businessman that founded Zoom. Dan Scheinman, board member and angel investor in Zoom since the start, and Santiago Subotovsky, also an early investor in Zoom. Zoom follows a freeterprise business model where free accounts are channeled into enterprise customers.

Zoom Competitors

zoom-competitors — Zoom is a video platform, which enabled remote working. As such it competes with other large tech players like Google and Microsoft for the productivity space, and other startups like Slack and Go-To-Meetings.

Zoom Business Model

zoom-business-model — Zoom is a video communication platform, which mission is to “make video communications frictionless.” Leveraging on the viral growth from its freemium model, Zoom then uses its direct sales force to identify the opportunity and channel those in B2B and enterprise accounts.

Zoom Revenue

zoom-revenue — Zoom passed $4 billion in revenue in 2022, compared to over $2.6 billion in revenue in 2021, and over $622 million in 2020.

Zoom Profits

zoom-profits — In 2022, Zoom generated over $1.37 billion in profits, compared to over $672 million in profits in 2021. Zoom has been profitable since 2019.

Zoom Employees

zoom-employees — By January 2022, Zoom had 6,787 employees, compared to 4,422 employees in 2021.

Zoom Revenue Per Employee

zoom-revenue-per-employee — Zoom generated $604K per employee in 2022, compared to $599K in 2021, and almost $246K in 2020.

Freeterprise

freeterprise-business-model — A freeterprise is a combination of free and enterprise where free professional accounts are driven into the funnel through the free product. As the opportunity is identified the company assigns the free account to a salesperson within the organization (inside sales or fields sales) to convert that into a B2B/enterprise account.

Competitors Case Studies

Zoominfo Competitors

zoominfo-competitors — Zoominfo is an American software-as-a-service (SaaS) company founded by Henry Schuck and Kirk Brown in 2007. The company sells access to the most comprehensive B2B database in the world to help sales and marketing teams better communicate with prospects. Zoominfo held an IPO in June 2020 raising $935 million. Like similar software companies that are valuable to remote teams, demand for the Zoominfo platform increased because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is now used by over 20,000 businesses, with clients including T-Mobile, Zoom, Amazon, and Google.

Spotify Competitors

spotify-competitors — Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform with over 381 million users across 184 markets around the world. The company was founded by Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek in 2008 in response to the shutdown of peer-to-peer music service Napster. Spotify became a success because it was the first company to determine how to distribute music legally and compensate the music industry at the same time. The platform now offers various curated music discovery services, music stations, audio customization, and private listening. In recent times, it has also ventured into the streaming of audiobooks, podcasts, comedy, poetry, and short stories.

Poshmark Competitors

poshmark-competitors — Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace where users can buy and sell new or used clothing. The company was founded in 2011 by Manish Chandra, Tracy Sun, Gautam Golwala, and Chetan Pungaliya. Poshmark is one of many companies looking to profit from the explosive growth in the second-hand clothing and resale industry, which is expected to be worth around $51 billion by 2023. Scores of women, in particular, are opting to sell their unwanted fashion items online instead of donating them to charity or thrift stores.

Afterpay Competitors

afterpay-competitors — Afterpay is an Australian fintech company operating in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. Founded in 2014 by Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen, the company enjoyed a first-mover advantage in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space. Less than seven years later, the company reached 13.1 million active customers with gross sales amounting to $10.1 billion. Despite its success, some suggest the company has lost its edge in the buy-now-pay-later space with the emergence of several high-profile competitors exerting their influence and giving merchants more choice.

Carvana Competitors

carvana-competitors — Carvana is an online used car retailer with vending machines located around the United States. The company was founded in 2012 by Ryan Keeton, Ben Huston, and Ernest Garcia III. The company is the fastest growing online used car retailer in North America and was recently one of the youngest companies to be added to the Fortune 500 list. While Carvana is currently the only American company selling cars in vending machines, its growth and success have not gone unnoticed by other players. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the company’s major competitors.

Carvana Competitors

carvana-competitors — Carvana is an online used car retailer with vending machines located around the United States. The company was founded in 2012 by Ryan Keeton, Ben Huston, and Ernest Garcia III. The company is the fastest growing online used car retailer in North America and was recently one of the youngest companies to be added to the Fortune 500 list. While Carvana is currently the only American company selling cars in vending machines, its growth and success have not gone unnoticed by other players. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the company’s major competitors.

GoodRx Competitors

goodrx-competitors — GoodRx is an American healthcare company known for its telemedicine platform and a website and mobile app that track prescription drug prices. As part of this service, the company makes drug coupons available for free to consumers. GoodRx was created by Trevor Bezdek, Doug Hirsch, and Scott Marlette. Hirsch, an early employee at both Yahoo and Facebook, got the idea for the company after picking up a prescription with private health insurance and still having to pay $450. Given the high variability in prices between different pharmacies, Hirsh went on a mission to make prescription drug prices more transparent and affordable for ordinary Americans. Revenue in the second quarter of 2021 amounted to $177 million with over 7.5 million app customers using the GoodRx app. While the company was the first to provide a comprehensive list of pharmacy drug prices, new players have entered the market. The rest of this article will be devoted to looking at the main GoodRx competitors.

DoorDash Competitors

DoorDash Competitors — DoorDash is an online food ordering and delivery platform founded by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore in 2013. Together with its subsidiaries, DoorDash has a 56% market share in food delivery and a further 60% in the convenience delivery sector.

Pepsi Competitors

pepsi-competitors — In 1965, PepsiCo acquired Frito-Lay in what the chairmen of both companies called a “marriage made in heaven”. The resultant company transformed PepsiCo from a soft drink organization and set it on a path to becoming one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies. Today, PepsiCo claims to operate in more than 200 countries and territories around the world with seven distinct divisions and many successful brands.

Coca-Cola Competitors

coca-cola-competitors — The Coca-Cola Company has 21 different billion-dollar brands or brands that generate more than $1 billion or more in revenue each year. The company also sells its products in nearly every country in the world, with Cuba and North Korea the only two countries where it is not sold officially. What’s more, the Coca-Cola brand is worth $87.6 billion, making it one of the most valuable among all companies. Though these figures allow Coca-Cola to enjoy market dominance in many countries, the company is nevertheless subject to intense competition.

Disney Competitors

disney-competitors — Headquartered in Burbank, California, Disney has global reach and influence with its universally popular resorts, movies, streaming services, video games, and merchandise. But as one of the largest media conglomerates in the world with a diverse range of products in multiple marketplaces, Disney is no stranger to competition.

IBM Competitors

ibm-competitors — International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American multinational technology company. It was founded in New York as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911 by Charles Ranlett Flint. IBM is a diverse company with a similarly diverse portfolio of products and services. It produces and sells hardware, middleware, and software. It also offers hosting and consultancy services in nanotechnology and mainframe computers. What’s more, IBM has a strong culture in research and development, filing the most U.S. patents of any business for the past 28 years.

Uber Competitors

uber-competitors

Starbucks Competitors

starbucks-competitors — Starbucks is a multinational coffee chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker in 1971. From a single and very humble bean roasting store in Pike Place Market, the company is now a global giant operating almost 33,000 stores around the world. This large global footprint obviously increases the competition for Starbucks in many different markets. The coffee industry itself is also highly competitive, with established players including McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Boeing Competitors

boeing-competitors — Boeing is best known for designing and manufacturing commercial aircraft, but the company also produces helicopters, rockets, satellites, spacecraft, missiles, and telecommunications infrastructure. Founded in 1916 by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington, the company is one of the largest aerospace manufacturers and defense contractors in the world.

Google Competitors

google-competitors — While Google (now Alphabet) has been born as a search engine, it is now a diversified company, even though its core business remains search, as most of its revenues still come from Google, the search engine, and YouTube, the “video engine.” However, as a tech giant, which business is primarily based on advertising, the company does compete with Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft (with Bing), and Amazon (with e-commerce search and its advertising machine).

Peloton Competitors

peloton-competitors — Peloton is a media and exercise equipment company primarily making money making money via its fitness products. The idea for the company came from John Foley, who argued that technology could help time-poor individuals get a full workout at home. The company competes with other players like Bowflex, NordicTrack, Life Fitness, MYX Fitness.

IKEA Competitors

ikea-competitors — IKEA was founded in 1943 by Swedish businessman Ingvar Kamprad as a mail-order catalog business. The company is best known for selling affordable flat-pack furniture, but it also sells home accessories and kitchen appliances. Today, IKEA offers approximately 9,500 products across 445 stores in 52 countries. With such broad reach, IKEA is not immune to competition.

Airbnb Competitors

airbnb-competitors — The Airbnb story began in 2008 when two friends shared their accommodation with three travelers looking for a place to stay. Just over a decade later, it is estimated that the company now accounts for over 20% of the vacation rental industry. As a travel platform, Airbnb competes with other brands like Booking.com, VRBO, FlipKey, and given its massive amount of traffic from Google. Also, platforms like Google Travel can be considered potential competitors able to cannibalize part of Airbnb’s market.

Salesforce Competitors

salesforce-competitors — Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) provider, allowing businesses to build meaningful and sustained relationships with their customers. With robust, customizable software that integrates with social media, Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook, the Salesforce CRM platform is rated highly among businesses of all shapes and sizes. Recent data has shown that the company has captured 19.5% of the global CRM market.

Shopify Competitors

shopify-competitors — In just fifteen short years, Shopify has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the fastest-growing eCommerce platforms online. The Shopify eCommerce solution is perhaps best suited to users who desire an easy, flexible and affordable starter solution for their online store. The provider now has upwards of 820,000 stores accounting for 20% of the total market share. However, the continued success of any company in the dynamic digital market is never guaranteed.

Netflix Competitors

netflix-competitors — Netflix is the largest streaming video subscription service in the world. Created by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in 1997, the company has revolutionized the video content subscription model with over 139 million subscribers in 190 countries. The success of Netflix is due to two factors. The first is a recommendation system that gives suggestions on what customers should watch based on their viewing history. The second is the vast catalog of content on offer – produced by third parties and by Netflix itself. These factors have resulted in Netflix competing against influential TV networks and film producers for viewership.

Nike Competitors

nike-competitors

YouTube Competitors

youtube-competitors — YouTube is the most popular online video platform, a hybrid between a video search engine and a social media platform with a continuous feed prompted by social interactions and engagement. In fact, the platform is so popular that YouTube.com is the second most visited website on the internet. After being acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion, the platform now boasts over 2 billion registered users. Collectively, these users upload 500 hours of video every minute. The platform competes with other video engines like Vimeo, Dailymotion, and social platforms like IGTV, TikTok, and Twitch.

Zoom Competitors

zoom-competitors — Zoom is a video platform, which enabled remote working. As such it competes with other large tech players like Google and Microsoft for the productivity space, and other startups like Slack and Go-To-Meetings.

Tesla Competitors

tesla-competitors — As an electric automaker and builder of sports cars and now trucks, Tesla’s competitors comprise companies like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, Rivian Lucid Motors, Toyota, and more. At the same time, Tesla is an electric energy production and storage company (SolarCity); it competes with Sunrun, SunPower, and Vivint Solar. And as an autonomous driving company, it competes with companies like Zoox, Waymo, and Baidu with the self-driving software.

Amazon Competitors

amazon-competitors — Amazon is a consumer e-commerce platform with a diversified business model spanning across e-commerce, cloud, advertising, streaming, and more. Over the years, Amazon acquired several companies. As it operates across several industries, Amazon has a wide range of competitors across each of those industries. For instance, Amazon E-commerce competes with Shopify, Wix, Google, Etsy, eBay, BigCommerce.

Read Next: Business Competition, Direct vs. Indirect Competition

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About The Author

Gennaro Cuofano

Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.