Guide: WebEx vs Zoom: Comparison and Review
Work from home is the new normal, and the ongoing pandemic will have a lasting effect on the way we work forever. One way to work and communicate effectively is video conferencing, which enables teamwork in a professional setup. Two leading apps in this segment are WebEx and Zoom. WebEx is owned and operated by Cisco, a leader in the space for years. They offer many other IT services (both hardware and software). Zoom is a newcomer who has seen crazy growth in recent weeks and couldn’t keep up up with increasing demand. There have been multiple reports of hacks and vulnerabilities where the team struggled to release security updates – more on that below. Download Zoom Download WebEx Let’s take a look at how these two apps compare fairly and why you should be using WebEx, even after Zoom has released a ton of updates.
1. Participate in meetings
This is what I like about Zoom. You don’t need an account or sign upunless you want to host meetings. Just download the app, enter the code you received via message or link and go to the room. The onboarding process couldn’t be easier. It is different if you want to organize a meeting. You need an account for that, and you need to add your contacts before you can send invitations. That is understandable.
WebEx has two versions: WebEx Teams for collaboration and WebEx Meetings for conferences. WebEx also allows you to join meetings without signing up, but like Zoom, you need to create an account when you organize a meeting. WebEx does it even better here by allowing users to join a meeting using “any Cisco or standards-based SIP video device.” Skype is a good example. You don’t need to become familiar with a new technology to join a meeting alone now. WebEx also has Call Me featurewhich means that you will be called immediately when it is time for the meeting.
Creating an account is easy with Google and other social media sign-up options in both. WebEx Teams behaves more like Slack, where you can manage channels and call, text, and share files. For this comparison I will omit it because it will be like comparing apples to pears.
2. Set up and host meetings
There are two types of rooms in Zoom and WebEx. One of them is a regular room that you can create at any time and send invitations to contacts. Another is a personal room that is permanent so that anyone can contact you at any time. For privacy reasons, I recommend that you do not share your room with everyone.
Once the meeting has started, a number of options are available, such as recording meetings for future references, screen and file sharing, and whiteboarding. Plus, because WebEx is designed with business users in mind, it provides People Insights feature, which allows an in-depth analysis of visitors. Both apps offer video recording and transcripts, but WebEx will email you the files immediately.
3. When the meeting is in progress
With Zoom and WebEx, you can raise your virtual hand to speak while a meeting is in progress. You do not have to interrupt the speaker abruptly. WebEx goes a little further here with a number of extra tools such as Polls, Attendance and Attention Indicator. The latter will try to gauge whether you are paying attention during the meeting or not. Polls are also available on Zoom, as is the ability to stream the meeting live on YouTube.
Not happy with your background? You can choose a virtual background during Zoom meetings so no one knows how rich or poor or even where you are. Income inequality is real and can be embarrassing for some people. Very thoughtful.
4. Webinars and breakout rooms
Zoom comes with Breakout Rooms, where you can divide a large meeting room into several smaller rooms. Each room has its own group of participants with their individual topics, discussions, and so on. You can create up up to 50 breakout rooms in the same conference. Examples are marketing, sales and finance teams or budget teams. WebEx lacks these.
Both video conferencing apps support webinars, but Zoom also offers the possibility to create webinars on demand. That means you can record a webinar and users can access it whenever they want. You can share files with the viewer, stream to YouTube and viewers can ask questions in real time. WebEx also allows you to track leads, offer discounts on products / services, attend attendees, and view detailed analytics. This extra features make it very useful for marketers.
5. Privacy and security
WebEx is designed with businesses and business users in mind. Therefore, security and privacy were a major concern. Zoom has been all over the news lately due to security holes, hacks and several companies and even countries outright banning it. Paints a very bad picture, but not all hope is lost. Zoom has since released a statement detailing a number of security updates, more of which are in the works. I wish they had done it sooner. I guess they weren’t expecting the exponential growth since December. Still, that’s no excuse for what happened.
Some steps in the right direction include a password to prevent Zoom bombing, waiting room, the ability to kick out and restrict users during the meeting, and hide the meeting ID so that screenshots are more secure, among other things. WebEx, unlike Zoom, offers end-to-end encryption using the TLS protocol. Zoom recently added the ability to remove participants and password protection, but they are already present in WebEx. You can also force users to use OTPs before joining a meeting in WebEx. Fun fact: A former Cisco WebEx employee founded Zoom. While the recent security flaw was shocking, I think the company is serious about security and its reputation.
6. Pricing, Platforms and Integrations
Zoom has a free plan with unlimited 1-on-1 meetings and group meetings with a limit of 40 minutes. No more than 100 participants are allowed in this plan, but you do get screen sharing and collaboration tools. Pricing starts at $ 14.99 / month per host and continues up up to $ 19.99 and deals features Like it up up to 1000 participants, personal branding, meeting transcription and cloud storage. WebEx also comes with a free plan up up to 100 participants, and prices start at $ 13.5 / month per host up up to $ 26.95 / month per host. Additional features include file sharing, transcripts, personal branding and cloud storage.
Zoom is available on all popular desktop operating systems, mobile, and browsers with add-ins for Outlook and IBM Notes. The same is true for WebEx, but as it integrates with more apps, there are more options. Zoom integrates with many apps such as Slack, Skype, Outlook, Google and some selected others. The same goes for WebEx that works with Gmail, Outlook, Office365, Salesforce, Slack, GitHub and Trello, among others. Between the two, WebEx again offers more integrations.
Zoom in Zoom out
Whether you’re watching, WebEx offers more features or security or whatever. It’s also more expensive, but on the other hand, security and privacy are invaluable, and any lapses can be even more expensive. It’s worth noting that WebEx is more suitable for businesses and business users. Zoom can be used by schools, small businesses, startups, and even families. Part of the reason it went viral was the free plan and easy on-boarding process. But Zoom’s time has not yet come. The recent security updates are useful, but gaining trust after a loss can be difficult. The next up: Zoom is a powerful video conferencing tool and we have written an extensive version guide am working on it. It’s called the ultimate zoom GuideClick on ” button below to check it out.
WebEx vs Zoom: Comparison and Review: benefits
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