The best Zoom alternatives in 2026 are Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi Meet, Webex and Discord. Which one suits you depends on three things: how long your calls run, how many people join them, and whether your team already works in Google or Microsoft tools.
If you're leaving because of the 40-minute limit on Zoom's free plan, it helps to know that the limit also applies to calls with just one other person. Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are far more generous there: a free call between two people can run for 24 hours on Meet and 30 hours on Teams. For group calls, both stop at 60 minutes, and Jitsi Meet is the free option that publishes no time limit at all.
If cost is the problem, Zoom Pro costs $14.16 a month on an annual plan. Some of the tools below cost less, and two of them may already be included in a subscription your company pays for. The table puts all five side by side, with Zoom's own free plan as the reference point.
Best Zoom Alternatives at a Glance
Every price and plan limit in the table was checked on each vendor's own pricing page or help center.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan: call length | Free plan: people per call | What you give up vs Zoom | Paid plans from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom (reference) | What you use today | 40 minutes, 1:1 calls included | 100 | Nothing, this is the baseline | $14.16/user/month (Pro, annual) |
| Google Meet | Teams on Gmail and Google Calendar | 1:1 up to 24 hours; 3 or more people up to 60 minutes | 100 | Recording starts on the Business Standard plan | $7/user/month (Business Starter, annual) |
| Microsoft Teams | Companies on Microsoft 365 | 1:1 up to 30 hours; groups up to 60 minutes | 100 | A busier app built around chat and channels | $4/user/month (Teams Essentials, annual) |
| Jitsi Meet | Quick calls where guests have no account | No published limit | Not published | No support; free meet.jit.si use is capped at 25 active end points per calendar month | Free (open source) |
| Webex | Zoom-style meetings from a large vendor | 40 minutes | 100 | Doesn't fix the 40-minute cut-off on the free plan | $12/user/month (Webex Meet, annual) |
| Discord | Communities and informal groups | Not stated in its help center | 25 in a server video chat | Built for ongoing servers, not client meetings | Free; Nitro from $2.99/month |
Table last updated: September 22, 2026.
Did you know? In MeetGeek's data from the first half of 2026, Google Meet accounted for 43.0% of meetings, Microsoft Teams for 38.6% and Zoom for 18.4%. That's why this list starts with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams: in that dataset, both had a larger share than Zoom, so moving to either one isn't a move to a niche tool.
The 5 Best Zoom Alternatives, Reviewed
1. Google Meet
Best for: teams that already work in Gmail and Google Calendar.
If you already use Gmail, Google Calendar or Google Drive, Google Meet is one of the easiest tools to start with. It runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install, and every event you create in Google Calendar can carry a Meet link automatically.
The free plan is where Meet beats Zoom most clearly. A call between two people can run for up to 24 hours, and a call with three or more people gets 60 minutes, for up to 100 participants. For a closer look at the two side by side, see how Google Meet compares with Zoom.
Key features:
- Free 1:1 calls up to 24 hours and group calls up to 60 minutes;
- Up to 100 participants on the free plan;
- Meet links created straight from Google Calendar and Gmail;
- Live captions during the call;
- Gemini note-taking in Google Meet on eligible paid Workspace plans;
- Screen sharing and in-meeting chat.
Pros:
- Very easy to use if you already live in Google tools;
- Free 1:1 calls can run for up to 24 hours, compared with Zoom's 40-minute limit;
- Nothing to download for you or your guests.
Cons:
- Group calls on the free plan still stop at 60 minutes, only 20 minutes more than Zoom;
- Recording is a paid feature that starts on the Business Standard plan, not the cheapest one;
- Meeting transcripts also start with Business Standard and other eligible Workspace editions.
Pricing: Free for 1:1 calls up to 24 hours and group calls up to 60 minutes. Google Meet's paid plans come with Google Workspace, starting at $7 per user a month on the Business Starter plan with an annual commitment. Recording starts on Business Standard, at $14 per user a month.
2. Microsoft Teams
Best for: companies that already run on Microsoft 365.
If your company already pays for a Microsoft 365 plan that includes Teams, you may already have access to it. Zoom is a video meeting tool first. Teams is a place where your team chats, shares files and edits documents together, with video calls built in. To see where each one wins, read our Microsoft Teams vs Zoom comparison.
Its biggest advantage is how closely it works with Outlook, Word, Excel and SharePoint. You can schedule a call from your Outlook calendar, edit a Word document with others during the meeting, or share a file from OneDrive without leaving the app. People can usually join from a meeting link without a Teams account, although organizer or admin policies can require sign-in or email verification.
Key features:
- Free 1:1 calls up to 30 hours and group calls up to 60 minutes;
- Up to 100 participants and 5 GB of cloud storage per user on the free plan;
- Guests can usually join from a link without a Teams account, depending on the organizer's settings;
- Close integration with Outlook, Word, Excel and SharePoint;
- Live captions, screen sharing and digital whiteboards;
- Intelligent meeting recap in Microsoft Teams with a Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot license;
- Available on the web, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, with a web app (PWA) on Linux.
Pros:
- Works hand in hand with the Microsoft Office apps your team already uses;
- Strong teamwork features, such as group chats, file sharing and editing documents together;
- Paid plans allow meetings of up to 30 hours with up to 300 people.
Cons:
- Can feel like a lot if all you need is a simple video call;
- Group calls on the free plan stop at 60 minutes;
- Not every Microsoft 365 business plan includes Teams.
Pricing: Free for 1:1 calls up to 30 hours and group calls up to 60 minutes. Paid plans start at $4 per user a month for Teams Essentials, or $7 per user a month for Microsoft 365 Business Basic, both billed yearly. Our Microsoft Teams pricing guide breaks down every plan.
3. Jitsi Meet
Best for: quick calls where guests shouldn't need an account.
Jitsi Meet is a free, open-source video call tool. You go to meet.jit.si, give your meeting a name, and share the link. Guests join from their browser without creating an account. Jitsi describes it as a service you can use "all day, every day, for free".
On meet.jit.si, the first person to open a meeting room signs in with a Google, Facebook or GitHub account, or waits for a moderator. Everyone else just clicks the link.
There's one limit to know before you move a whole team onto it. The meet.jit.si terms of service cap free use at 25 "active end points" a month across all your accounts. An end point is any device or browser tab connected to a meeting with at least one other person. Go past that, and 8x8, the company that runs the service, can limit your use or ask you to move to a paid plan. That makes the free service a good fit for occasional calls. For daily team meetings, the other route is to run Jitsi on your own server, which the open-source license allows.
Key features:
- Free, with no account needed for guests;
- Runs in the browser, with apps for iOS and Android;
- Encryption turned on by default;
- Screen sharing, chat and shared document editing;
- Open-source code you can run on your own server.
Pros:
- No published time limit on meet.jit.si;
- Getting someone on a call takes one link, with no sign-up for guests;
- Full control over your data if you host it yourself.
Cons:
- Free use of meet.jit.si is capped at 25 active end points per calendar month;
- The service comes "as-is and without support", according to its terms;
- Running your own server takes technical skill.
Pricing: Free. 8x8, which operates meet.jit.si, sells paid services for business use.
4. Webex Meetings
Best for: teams that want Zoom-style meetings from a large vendor.
Webex is Cisco's video meeting platform. It's a direct Zoom alternative for teams that want a standalone meeting app from a large enterprise vendor.
The free plan looks a lot like Zoom's: meetings stop at 40 minutes and hold up to 100 people. Where it pulls ahead is what you get for free on top of that, including local recording, unlimited whiteboards and advanced noise cancellation. The paid Webex Meet plan raises the limit to 24 hours and 200 people and adds the Webex AI Assistant. Our Webex vs Zoom comparison goes through the differences in detail.
Key features:
- Free meetings up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees;
- Local recording, unlimited whiteboards and advanced noise cancellation on the free plan;
- Screen sharing with annotation;
- Vidcast for recording and sharing short videos;
- Calendar integration and connections with apps like Slack and Outlook;
- Closed captions, cloud recording and the AI Assistant on Webex Meet.
Pros:
- Local recording, whiteboards and advanced noise cancellation are included on the free plan;
- Meetings up to 24 hours with up to 200 attendees on the $12 Webex Meet plan;
- Available on desktop, mobile and the web.
Cons:
- The free plan has the same 40-minute limit as Zoom;
- Closed captions and cloud recording are paid features;
- The AI Assistant isn't included on the free plan.
Pricing: Free for meetings up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees. Webex Meet costs $12 per user a month ($144 a year), with meetings up to 24 hours.
5. Discord
Best for: communities, study groups and informal teams.
If you want something more casual, Discord is a popular free Zoom alternative built around communities and always-on voice channels. It started as a chat app for gamers and has grown far beyond that. Today creators, study groups, remote teams and some businesses use it as a relaxed place to talk, share their screens and hang out on video.
What sets Discord apart is the server. You create one, split it into channels by topic, give people roles such as moderator, and invite others with a link. A server video chat holds up to 25 people.
That also explains its weak spot. Discord works well for ongoing conversations and brainstorming, but it isn't built for one-off meetings with clients. If you do use it for calls you need to keep, here's how to record a Discord call.
Key features:
- Free text, voice and video chat;
- Server video chats for up to 25 people;
- Free public or private servers with channels and roles;
- Screen sharing at up to 720p and 30 fps for free, and up to 4K with Nitro;
- Integrations with tools such as Twitch, GitHub and YouTube;
- Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, plus Discord voice support on Xbox and PS5.
Pros:
- Voice channels stay open, so people can drop in without a scheduled call;
- Great for building a community around a topic;
- Highly customizable, with lots of integrations.
Cons:
- Server video chats mean guests join your server first, which feels odd for a single meeting;
- File uploads are small unless you pay for Nitro;
- The interface can feel cluttered at first.
Pricing: Free to use. Nitro Basic costs $2.99 a month and adds larger uploads. Nitro costs $9.99 a month and adds HD streaming and much larger uploads.
When Most of Your Calls Are Phone Calls: Aircall
Some teams looking for a Zoom alternative don't need video at all. If most of your calls are with customers over the phone, in sales or support, a cloud phone system such as Aircall is a better fit than any video tool.
Aircall replaces desk phones with calls over the internet. You can get local, toll-free and international numbers in minutes, route calls to the right person, and manage your team from one dashboard. It connects to 250+ tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce and Slack, and through this template from Make, you can send Aircall recordings to MeetGeek automatically for AI call summaries.
Aircall has no built-in video meetings. Its Essentials plan costs $30 per license a month, billed annually, with a minimum of 3 licenses ($90 a month).
Why Look for a Zoom Alternative?
People start looking beyond Zoom for a few reasons:
- Free plan limits: Zoom's free plan ends every call at 40 minutes, even a call with just one other person, and removing the limit means paying for Pro;
- Price: at $14.16 per user a month on an annual plan, Zoom Pro adds up for small teams, especially if you already pay for Google Workspace or a Microsoft 365 plan that includes video calls;
- Joining: Zoom supports browser joining too, but its join flow can depend on host settings, while Google Meet and Jitsi Meet are browser-first;
- Security and privacy: past issues such as Zoombombing attacks and the debate over how meeting content could be used for AI training made some teams take a second look, even though Zoom has made changes since.
How to Choose the Right Zoom Alternative
Most people don't need the tool with the longest feature list. They need the one that fixes whatever made them leave Zoom, without creating a new problem for the people they meet with. These five questions cover the choice.
How Long Do Your Calls Run?
Start with the thing that pushed you away. If it's the 40-minute limit, look at who is on your calls. For two-person calls, Google Meet (24 hours) and Microsoft Teams (30 hours) already solve it for free. For group calls, both stop at 60 minutes on their free plans. Jitsi Meet publishes no limit, and Discord's help center doesn't state one either. If your group meetings regularly run past an hour, a paid plan on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Webex is the reliable fix.
Who Do You Meet With?
The easiest switch is to the platform your colleagues and clients already use. In MeetGeek's first-half 2026 data, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams both accounted for a larger share of meetings than Zoom, so the practical question is which of the two your company and your main clients work in.
If you often meet people from outside your company, make sure guests can join without friction. Jitsi Meet lets guests join from a link with no account, and Microsoft Teams usually does too, depending on the organizer's settings.
What Do You Already Pay For?
Check your existing subscriptions before you buy anything new. Google Workspace includes Google Meet. Microsoft sells business plans both with and without Teams, so check whether Teams is already included in your current Microsoft 365 subscription. If you already pay for one of them, the cheapest Zoom alternative may cost you nothing extra. Compare that with Zoom's pricing plans before you renew.
How Good Are the Calls on a Weak Connection?
Not every platform handles a slow connection the same way. Try your shortlist on the connection you actually use, and look for features that help, such as advanced noise cancellation (included free on Webex) and the option to switch off video and stay on audio.
How Does It Handle Privacy and Security?
If you discuss client work, health or money on your calls, look for encryption, clear settings for who can join and record, and a data policy you can read in a few minutes. We cover what to check in more detail in our guide to AI meeting assistant security and privacy.
Keep Your Meeting Notes in One Place When You Switch
Switching tools has a side effect that's easy to miss. The recordings and notes from your old Zoom calls stay in Zoom, and your new calls live in the new tool's storage, often behind a paid plan: on Google Meet, recording starts on the Business Standard plan. If your team ends up with clients on Teams and colleagues on Meet, the record of what was decided is split across two apps.
MeetGeek solves that by working across all of them, with integrations for Zoom meetings, for Google Meet calls and for Microsoft Teams meetings. On each one, it joins the call, records and transcribes it, and sends you an AI meeting summary with the key points and action items. With the MeetGeek desktop app, you can capture calls on other platforms too, including Slack and WhatsApp, without a bot joining the call.
Every meeting lands in one searchable library, whichever platform it happened on. Wondering when the budget update came up? Search for "budget" and MeetGeek takes you to that moment in the meeting.
From there, the notes can go where your team works. On paid plans, MeetGeek sends summaries to tools like Slack, Notion and your CRM through native integrations and 10,000+ connected apps via Zapier, Make and n8n. The MeetGeek mobile app covers in-person meetings as well.
The free plan includes 3 hours of transcription a month, which is enough to try it on your next few calls. Paid plans start at $9.99 per user a month billed annually, or $15.99 billed monthly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Zoom Free Still Only 40 Minutes?
Yes. On Zoom's free Basic plan, meetings end after 40 minutes, and that includes calls with just one other person. The one exception is a meeting where you are the only participant: it isn't cut at 40 minutes as long as it stays active.
Is There Anything Like Zoom but Free?
Yes. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Jitsi Meet all offer free video calls with screen sharing and chat. Google Meet and Teams give you 60 minutes for group calls, Webex gives you 40, and Jitsi Meet publishes no time limit.
What Is the Best Free Zoom Alternative With No Time Limit?
For two-person calls, Google Meet (up to 24 hours) and Microsoft Teams (up to 30 hours) are the easiest choices. For group calls, Jitsi Meet publishes no time limit, although its terms cap free use of meet.jit.si at 25 active end points per calendar month. Running Jitsi on your own server removes that cap.
Who Is Zoom's Biggest Competitor?
Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are two of Zoom's main competitors. In MeetGeek's first-half 2026 dataset, both accounted for a larger share of meetings than Zoom. Google Meet comes with Google Workspace, and Teams comes with Microsoft 365 plans that include it, so many teams can switch without buying anything new.
Which Is Better Than Zoom?
It depends on what you need. Google Meet is better for free two-person calls and for teams using Gmail. Microsoft Teams is better for companies on Microsoft 365. Jitsi Meet is better for quick calls where guests have no account. Zoom still holds up well if you need a standalone meeting app and don't mind paying for Pro.
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