The 12 Best Video Conferencing Apps for Teams
In 1884, eight years after Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson had the world’s first phone call, industrialist John Jacob Astor IV published his predictions for the 21st century. Along with ill-fated predictions of steel-covered roads and the discovery an anti-gravitational force, he also foresaw video calls.
“Telephones have been so improved that one person can speak in his natural voice with another in any part of the globe, the wire that enables him to hear also showing him the face of the speaker,” wrote Astor. Wires aside, that prediction came true.
Video calls came in starts and fits. The earliest came from AT&T’s labs in 1927, with a room full of equipment. Public videophone booths were available by the 1970’s, and in the early 1990’s you could buy a video phone for around $1,000.
Then, apps and wider bandwidth came, and video calls and conferencing became more ubiquitous–as long as you had a decent internet connection and a capable device, that is. Today, if you’re shopping and want advice from a friend, a video call is only a couple taps away. If you need to interview or consult with a dozen people who live in another city, you can do so face-to-face without leaving your desk. Sometimes, FaceTime is clearer and cheaper than a “normal” phone call.
And yet, team video calls can still be an exercise in frustration, with delayed video, glitchy graphics, and batteries drained in minutes. We know.
As a fully remote team, Zapier relies on video conferencing to hold team meetings, share ideas, and check in on each other. We’ve tried a lot of video call apps—and have suffered through one too many terrible calls. And so, after trying nearly two dozen video conferencing apps, we’ve settled on the ones that consistently work well.
Here are the best apps to make a video call whenever you want, including the brand new Amazon Chime and our team’s long-time favorites: Zoom, Appear.in, and Hangouts.
| App | Icon: | Best for: | Free for: | Plans from: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appear.in |  |
Quick, small group chats in a browser | 8 users | $12/mo |
| FaceTime |  |
One-to-one video calls that feel as simple as a phone call | 2 users | N/A |
| Gruveo |  |
Receiving one-to-one video calls in your browser with a dedicated line | 2 users | $12/mo |
| Slack |  |
Making a call directly from team chat | N/A | $8/mo |
| Zoom |  |
Reliable, clear group video calls | 50 users | $14.99/mo |
| Google Hangouts |  |
Quick calls from Google Calendar | 25 users | N/A |
| GoToMeeting |  |
Professional video conferencing and webinars | 3 users | $19/mo |
| Amazon Chime |  |
Jumping on a call right on schedule | 2 users | $150/mo/user |
| BlueJeans |  |
Video conferencing from any device | N/A | $19.95/mo |
| Rabbit |  |
Showing a video to a group | 25 users | N/A |
| Pexip |  |
Presentations across multiple video conference systems | N/A | $25/mo/user |
| Join.me |  |
Collaborating in a call | 10 users | $20/mo |
| Cisco WebEx |  |
Working around a virtual whiteboard | 3 users | $24/mo |
AIVAnet 