Buzz
Skype and Zoom stand as two of the most prevalent online meeting solutions today. Both are user-friendly and cater to the needs of businesses and organizations alike.
Assessing Skype vs ZOOM Cloud Meetings: Which Application Excels for Online Meetings and Learning?
A. Overview of Skype vs Zoom
Zoom is a cloud-based online video conferencing service designed for businesses and individuals, supporting meetings, teaching, and online learning. The application operates across various popular platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.
Skype is Microsoft's free messaging and video calling app. The platform offers users multiple options to connect with members of their group, through chat, voice calls, and video calls.
B. Comparison between Skype and Zoom
1. User Interface
Zoom's interface is designed to be quite intuitive, simple, and easy to understand. New users can easily start scheduling online meetings without spending too much time figuring it out.
Skype is highly praised by users for its simple interface, supporting both light and dark mode options. Users can easily organize meetings, chat, or make voice calls with just a few clicks.
2. Number of Participants and Duration
The free version of Skype limits support to a maximum of 50 participants in a meeting. Meanwhile, Zoom Basic package supports up to 100 participants, with users being able to see a maximum of 49 participants joining at once.
Additionally, group meetings on Zoom are limited to 40 minutes while on Skype, calls are limited to 4 hours per call, totaling 10 hours per day and 100 hours per month.
Thus, Zoom is suitable for online meetings with many participants, while Skype is suitable for longer duration meetings.
3. Support Platforms
Both Skype and Zoom are supported and run on popular platforms today, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Additionally, both online learning and teaching solutions are available in web versions.
4. Usage
In addition to intuitive and easy-to-understand interfaces, Zoom and Skype are highly praised by users for their ease of use.
Using Zoom:
To set up an online meeting on Zoom, all you need to do is access New Meeting =>Start a Meeting.
Next, to invite participants to the meeting, access Participants =>Invite =>Copy Invite Link and paste, send it to the members you want to invite to the meeting.
Finally, to join a Zoom online meeting, simply click on the link you received. You will then be redirected to the meeting.
Using Skype:
Skype offers a similar feature called Meet Now, allowing users to easily start a meeting. To do this, first log in to your Skype account and then find and click on Meet Now.
To invite other members to join the meeting, click on Share Invite => Copy Link and paste, send the link to the members you want to invite.
Once done, click on the Start Meeting button to initiate the call. Additionally, you can join Skype calls as a guest on both the Skype app and the web version.
5. Security and Privacy
In terms of security and privacy, Zoom utilizes 356-bit TLS encryption and AES-256 to safeguard all chat and content data shared by users through the application.
All messages, voice and video calls, and data files transmitted on Skype are securely encrypted. Additionally, Skype employs TLS (transport-level security) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption protocols to protect all sensitive data and information from being compromised.
6. Other Features
- On Zoom:
In addition to the core features, Zoom also offers a feature that allows users to change the background during online meetings. To do this, on the Zoom video call window, click on the More button => Virtual Background and choose from Zoom's provided background images or upload and use your own.
Tip: To learn more about how to enable virtual backgrounds, change the background during online meetings, you can visit here.
- See Also: How to enable virtual backgrounds on Zoom for PC
Additionally, Zoom also allows users to screen share. All you need to do is find and click on the Share Screen button and select the screen you want to share.
Tip: Visit here to learn more about how to screen share in Zoom Meeting.
- See Also: How to screen share in Zoom
- On Skype:
Apart from Zoom, Skype also supports an option that allows users to share screens with each other during video calls.
Readers can visit here to learn more about how to screen share between 2 Skype accounts.
- See Also: How to screen share between 2 Skype accounts
C. Skype vs. Zoom, which one is better for online learning and virtual meetings?
It cannot be denied, Skype and Zoom are currently the most popular and best solutions for online learning and virtual meetings. However, to evaluate Skype vs Zoom, which solution is better is very difficult. Each solution has its own advantages and disadvantages.
If you're looking for an online conferencing solution for your organization or business, Zoom is perhaps the best choice for you. Zoom supports group video calls of up to 100 participants and is compatible with all popular platforms. Another plus point is that the application is very user-friendly and easy to navigate.
This article from Mytour just answered your question about Skype vs. Zoom, which one is better for online learning and virtual meetings? Also, if you have any further questions or queries, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below the article.
