Google Meet takes on Zoom by making video conferencing free for all

(Image credit: Google)

Google Meet, the company's premium video conferencing service, is going gratuitous for all users in order to better compete with Zoom and give people even so another means of staying in touch during the coronavirus pandemic.

Google Meet has previously been the domain of corporate video calls for organizations that make heavy use of Google's Grand Suite; for consumer-level calls, Google has Hangouts. But now the search giant is switching gears and opening Meet upwards.

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"Today, we're making Google Meet, our premium video conferencing product, free for everyone, with availability rolling out over the coming weeks," Javier Soltero, vice president and general director for G Suite said. "Starting in early on May, anyone with an email accost can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business organisation and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt to your preference, including an expanded tiled view."

People interested in Run into will have to wait until Google notifies them that the service is ready for them to use. Soltero said the gradual rollout is in order to go along Meet users rubber and secure, and ensure they get a reliable experience from the service.

Google Meet free for all — (Epitome credit: Google)

While the likes of Zoom and Houseparty have become popular tools for groups of people to keep in contact while under coronavirus lockdown or practicing social distancing, Google Meet is a viable Zoom alternative.

In fact, Google has been expanding the service'southward features, taking inspiration from some of the capabilities Zoom has and integrating them into its user interface. For case, Come across now has a Zoom-similar layout, simply besides has an ace up its sleeve in the form of Gmail integration, which can help make setting up video calls a lot easier.

Encounter also has another neat features, such every bit the ability to live stream to up to 100,000 viewers within a user's domain. That's handy if y'all're a budding stay-at-home rockstar or wannabe comedian.

There is 1 small caveat in that those using the gratis Meet service volition have to make do with meetings beingness limited to up to 60 minutes in length. Merely Google isn't going to enforce that limit until after September 30.

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Roland Moore-Colyer is U.Chiliad. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes most gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he'due south also got an involvement in cars. When non at his desk-bound Roland can exist plant wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.